Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014

There is a CNBC story out today about "Business confidence booming." iStock guesses that it all depends on how you define booming. The survey of 33 chief financial officers (CFO) from Europe and Asia found, "The overwhelming majority of respondents-65 percent-see the global economy modestly improving over the next six months, with 4 percent seeing it "strongly improving" over the same period."

However, the CNBC survey showed, "Over 80 percent of respondents had fears over slowing growth to some degree. Just 9 percent indicated that they were unconcerned."

In the same story, it's noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a "growth estimate for developed countries - including the euro area, the U.S., U.K., Japan and Canada - at 1.2 percent in 2013 and 2.0 percent in 2014."

5 Best Healthcare Technology Stocks To Watch Right Now: Service Corporation International(SCI)

Service Corporation International provides deathcare products and services in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Its funeral service and cemetery operations consist of funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and related businesses. The company provides various professional services relating to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral facilities and motor vehicles, and preparation and embalming services. It also sells funeral related merchandise, including caskets, burial vaults, cremation receptacles, cremation memorial products, flowers, and other ancillary products and services at funeral service locations. The company?s cemeteries provide cemetery property interment rights, including mausoleum spaces, lots, and lawn crypts; and sell cemetery related merchandise and services comprising stone and bronze memorials, markers, merchandise installations, and burial openings and closings. It also sells preneed funeral and cemetery products and services whereby a customer contractually agrees to the terms of certain products and services to be delivered and performed in the future. As of December 31, 2009, Service Corporation operated 1,254 funeral service locations and 372 cemeteries, including 208 combination locations, covering 43 states in the United States, 8 Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as well as 12 funeral homes in Germany. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Deathcare services and products provider Services Corporation (SCI) raised its quarterly dividend 14% to 8 cents per share, payable March 28 to shareholders of record as of March 15.
  SCI Dividend Yield: 1.73%

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of funeral-home operator Stewart Enterprises (NASDAQ: STEI  ) soared 34% today, after larger rival Service Corp. International (NYSE: SCI  ) agreed to acquire it in a deal worth about $1.4 billion.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Although actual tallies were not disclosed, the Teamsters local representing funeral directors and drivers of Service Corp. International (NYSE: SCI  ) in the Chicagoland area says members voted in overwhelming numbers against the death care leader's "last, best, and final" contract offer and in favor of a strike to be effective this morning.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: BlackRock Municipal Income Trust II (BLE)

BlackRock Municipal Income Trust II is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc. It is managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC. The fund invests in fixed income markets. It primarily invests long-term and short-term investments, and money market funds. The fund seeks to invest in hospitals, industrial and pollution control, lease, transportation, tax, housing, water and sewer, tobacco, power, and education sectors. BlackRock Municipal Income Trust II was formed in 2002 and is domiciled in United States.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  None of those asset classes are your regular rank-and-file stocks, but then, neither are their dividend yields. So, let’s take a look at three of these high-yielding stocks, and the wrinkles that make them tick.

  High-Yield Stocks: BlackRock Municipal Income Trust II (BLE)

  BLE Dividend Yield: 7%

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd (TAT)

TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. is an international oil and gas company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas. The Company holds interests in developed and undeveloped oil and gas properties in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. As of March 1, 2012, it held approximately 5.4 million net onshore acres. As of March 1, 2012, it was producing an aggregate of approximately 2,638 net barrels of oil per day. As of March 1, 2012, it held interests in 57 onshore exploration licenses and nine onshore production leases covering a total of 5.3 million gross acres in Turkey. On February 18, 2011, the Company�� wholly owned subsidiary TransAtlantic Worldwide, Ltd. acquired Direct Petroleum Morocco, Inc. and Anschutz Morocco Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary TransAtlantic Petroleum Cyprus Limited. On June 7, 2011, TransAtlantic Worldwide acquired Thrace Basin Natural Gas (Turkiye) Corporation. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. (Amex:TAT) reported that the Turkish Competition Authority has approved the Company’s sale of its oilfield services business to Dalea Partners, LP (“Dalea”, an affiliate of N. Malone Mitchell, 3rd, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer).

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (TDY)

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated provides instrumentation, digital imaging products and software, aerospace and defense electronics, and engineered systems in the United States and internationally. The company?s Instrumentation segment provides monitoring and control instruments for marine, environmental, scientific, industrial, and defense applications, as well as harsh environmental interconnect products. Its Digital Imaging segment includes sponsored and centralized research laboratories benefiting government programs and businesses, as well as development efforts for innovative digital imaging products for government and space applications. It also includes infrared detectors, cameras, and optomechanical assemblies. Teledyne Technologies? Aerospace and Defense Electronics segment provides electronic components and subsystems and communications products, including defense electronics, data acquisition, and communications equipment for air transport and business aircra ft and components and subsystems for wireless and satellite communications, as well as general aviation batteries. The company?s Engineered Systems segment provides systems engineering and integration, advanced technology application, software development, and manufacturing solutions to space, military, environmental, energy, chemical, biological and nuclear systems, and missile defense requirements. This segment also designs and manufactures hydrogen generators, thermoelectric and fuel-cell based power sources, and small turbine engines. Teledyne Technologies? customers include government agencies, aerospace prime contractors, energy exploration and production companies, industrial companies, and airlines. The company was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Teledyne Technologies (NYSE: TDY) announced its plans to acquire Bolt Technology (NASDAQ: BOLT) for $22 per share. Bolt shares climbed 38.84% to $21.71 in the after-hours trading session, while Teledyne shares fell 0.29% to close at $97.40 yesterday.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  With a market cap of only $1.0 billion, FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO) may not be able to make as much noise as bigger industry peers like FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR) or Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY). On the other hand, opportunity is all relative, and right now, FARO may offer new investors a better opportunity than TDY and FLIR can.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Computershare Ltd (CPU)

Computershare Limited is an Australia-based company. The Company is engaged in the operation of investor services, plan services, communication services, business services, shareholder relationship management services and technology services. The Company operates in six geographical segments: Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, Canada, Continental Europe, United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Ireland & Africa (UCIA) and the United States. In addition, technology and other segment comprise the provision of software specializing in share registry, employee plans and financial services globally, as well as the production and distribution of interactive meeting products. In December 2013, Computershare Ltd completed the acquisition of the Olympia Corporate and Shareholder Services assets (OCSS) from Olympia Financial Group Inc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Toshiro Hasegawa]

  Leighton dropped 6 percent to A$16.24 in Sydney as profit missed analyst estimates amid a slump in mining industry demand. Computershare Ltd. (CPU) sank 6.3 percent to A$9.75 in Sydney, the most in three years, after the share-registry firm reported profit fell.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Qualys Inc (QLYS)

Qualys, Inc. (Qualys), incorporated on December 30, 1999, is a provider of clouds security and compliance solutions that enable organizations to identify security risks to their information technology (IT) infrastructures, help protect their IT systems and applications from cyber attacks and achieve compliance with internal policies and external regulations. The Company designed its QualysGuard Cloud Platform to transform the way organizations secure and protect their IT infrastructures and applications. The Company's cloud platform offers an integrated suite of solutions that automates the lifecycle of asset discovery, security assessments, and compliance management for an organization's IT infrastructure and assets, whether they reside inside the organization, on their network perimeter or in the cloud.

The Company provides its solutions through a software-as-a-service model, primarily with renewable annual subscriptions. These subscriptions require customers to pay a fee in order to access the Company's cloud solutions. The Company's QualysGuard Cloud Platform consists of a suite of IT security and compliance solutions that leverage the Company's shared and extensible core services and its scalable multi-tenant cloud infrastructure. The Company's suite of solutions provides security intelligence by automating the life cycle of IT asset discovery, security assessment and compliance management. The Company's cloud platform's infrastructure includes integrated services that deliver a automated and scalable scanning infrastructure capable of scanning IT systems and Web applications, inside and outside corporate firewalls. The Company also provides open application program interfaces (APIs), and other developer tools that allow third parties to embed its technology into their solutions and build applications on its cloud platform.

The Company's suite of solutions, which the Company refers to as the QualysGuard Cloud Suite, includes Vulnerability Management, Web Application Sca! nning, Malware Detection Service, Policy Compliance, PCI Compliance and Qualys SECURE Seal. The Company's customers can subscribe to one or more of the Company's security and compliance solutions based on their initial needs and expand their subscriptions over time to new areas within their organization or to additional QualysGuard solutions. The Company offers two editions of its QualysGuard Cloud Suite, the Enterprise edition for large and medium-sized enterprises and the Express edition for small and medium-sized businesses.

QualysGuard Vulnerability Management (QualysGuard VM), is a solution that automates network auditing and vulnerability management across an organization, including network discovery and mapping, asset management, vulnerability reporting, and remediation tracking. QualysGuard Policy Compliance (QualysGuard PC) allows customers to analyze and collect configuration and access control information from their networked devices and Web applications and automatically maps this information to internal policies and external regulations in order to document compliance.

QualysGuard PCI Compliance (QualysGuard PCI) provides organizations that store cardholder data a automated solution to verify and document compliance with PCI DSS. QualysGuard Web Application Scanning (QualysGuard WAS) uses the scalability of its cloud platform to allow customers to discover, catalog and scan a large number of Web applications. QualysGuard Malware Detection Service (QualysGuard MDS) provides organizations with the ability to scan identify and remove malware infections from their Websites. QualysGuard Web Application Firewall (QualysGuard WAF) delivers enterprise-grade Web application security without associated with appliance-based Web application firewall solutions. QualysGuard SECURE Seal helps organizations demonstrate to their online customers that they maintain a proactive security program.

Core Services include asset tagging and management, reporting and dashboards! , questio! nnaires and collaboration, remediation and workflow, big data correlation and analytics engine, and alerts and notifications. The Company�� infrastructure layer, which it refer to as its Infrastructure, includes the data, data processing capabilities, software and hardware infrastructure and infrastructure management capabilities that provide the foundation for its cloud platform and allow the Company to automatically scale its Infrastructure and Core Services to scan millions of Internet protocols (IPs).

The Company competes with Hewlett-Packard Company, Imperva, Inc., International Business Machines Corporation, McAfee, Inc., Symantec Corporation, Barracuda Networks, Inc., BeyondTrust Software, Inc., Lumension Security, Inc., nCircle Network Security, Inc., NetIQ Corporation, Rapid7 LLC, Tenable Network Security, Inc. and Trustwave Holdings, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Qualys (NASDAQ: QLYS) shares shot up 10.23 percent to $21.07 after the company reported upbeat quarterly results.

  Shares of Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) got a boost, shooting up 15.95 percent to $4.84 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings and announced its plans to close at least 400 stores in the US.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading UP
  Qualys (NASDAQ: QLYS) shares shot up 8.24 percent to $20.68 after the company reported upbeat quarterly results.

  Shares of Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) got a boost, shooting up 15.95 percent to $4.84 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings and announced its plans to close at least 400 stores in the US.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Sohu.Com Inc (SOHU)

Sohu.com Inc. (Sohu), incorporated in August 1996, is a Chinese online media, search, gaming, community and mobile service group. The Company operates matrices of Chinese language Web properties, and it operates multi-player online games and Web-based games in the People�� Republic of China. Its businesses consist of the online advertising business, the online game business, the wireless business and the others business, among which online advertising and online games are its core businesses. Its online advertising business consists of the brand advertising business, as well as the search and others business. Its brand advertising business offers products and services, such as free of charge premier content, interactive community and other competitive Internet services to its users, and provides advertising services to advertisers on its matrices of Chinese language Web properties consisting of sohu.com, a portal and online media destination; focus.cn, a real estate Website; and 17173.com, a game information portal. On December 15, 2011, the Company sold assets associated with the business of 17173.com (the 17173 Business), a game information portal in China to Changyou.com Limited (Changyou). On August 1, 2011, The Company acquired Focus Yiju Network Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Focus Yiju). On May 11, 2011, Changyou acquired, through its VIE Gamease, 68.258% of the interests of 7Road Technology Co., Ltd. (7Road).

The Company�� brand advertising business offers advertisements on its Web properties to companies. Its search and others business, provided by its search subsidiary Sogou Inc. (Sogou), offers customers pay-for-click services, priority placements in a search directory, and online marketing services on the Sogou Web Directory. Its online game business is conducted through Sohu�� subsidiary Changyou, which is an online game developer and operator in China. Changyou engages in the development, operation and licensing of online games, including massively multi-player onl! ine games (MMOGs) and Web-based games. Changyou developed and operates MMOGs Tian Long Ba Bu (TLBB) and, through licensees, operates DDTank, which is a multi-player Web-based shooting games in China.

The Company�� wireless business offers mobile related services through different types of wireless products to mobile phone users. The mobile related services consist of the provision of content, such as news, weather forecasts, chatting, entertainment information, mobile games, mobile phone ringtones and logo downloads. The content is purchased from third party content providers. The wireless products consist of short messaging services (SMS), Ring Back Tone (RBT), interactive voice response (IVR) and mobile games. Its others business includes sub-licensing of licensed video content to third parties and offering cinema advertisement slots to be shown in theaters before the screening of movies.

Online Advertising Business

The Company�� brand advertising business falls into fits categories: online portal, online video, vertical sites, and community and communication products. Sohu portal consists of Chinese language Web navigational capabilities, a range of main content channels, and Web-based communication and community services. It offers a range of free channels, which provides comprehensive content. Sohu Video is an online video service provider in China. It delivers licensed professionally produced video content and original in-house produced video content. It provides users free access its video content library, such as domestic and overseas television dramas, movies, television programs, documentaries, news, animations, entertainment related contents, live television Webcasts, in-house produced shows and programs, and user-generated content. It also offers selected content, such as movies and educational content on its advertisement-free paid channel.

Focus.cn is a real estate Websites in China, providing solutions for house seekers, homeowners! , potenti! al property or household appliance buyers with high incomes, and real estate professionals. Focus.cn provides new home and existing home information and develops thousands of homeowner�� online forums in over 100 cities across China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The 17173.com Website provides news channels, which cover topics of interest to game players, including news channels for MMOGs, Web-based games and Flash games, community pages for game player unions, and game pages for different online games.

Communication and community services help users to build customized space and personalized page layouts and offer information sharing and real-time communication. It offers a range of communication and community tools for its Chinese online users, which is promoting user affinity to its portal network micro-blog, message boards, blog and e-mail.

Micro-blog enables the Company�� users to follow topics being discussed online, as well as discussions related to people they know. Message Boards allow users to post and exchange information on message boards covering 50 topics, including education, travel, fashion, sports and all-news Web pages. Blog is an interactive platform for users to build their personalized space by posting their articles and pictures, uploading videos, and sharing information among users. In addition, Sohu blogs provide multiple applications for user-customized front page layouts, interactive communication facilities and services integrated with a selection of Sohu products. E-Mail offers free e-mail services with up to two gigabytes of memory and mail services with different features.

The Company provides brand advertising services across its matrices of Web properties. Its offerings enable advertisers to post their advertisements in different forms, including textual, rich media and video advertisements, and in different locations across the Sohu matrix of Web properties. Its brand advertising products include b! anners, l! inks, logos, buttons and stream advertisements placed on its Websites and sponsorships, which focus on a particular event or a particular Website area. It charges advertisers on a time basis with fixed fees. It also adopted a Cost Per Click (CPC) pricing model and a Cost Per Impression (CPM) pricing model. During the year ended December 31, 2011, approximately 2,600 companies advertised on its Websites. Its customers include multinational companies, which have operations in Chinese markets, as well as Chinese domestic companies.

Sogou.com, which means Search Dog, is Sohu�� search engine. Upon a search query, the user is taken through an interactive process to reach integrated Website and page search results. Sogou Browser is its self-developed browser. Sogou browser has features, including embedded playing of Web video, quick proxy functions for education networks, smart address bar, privacy protection mode, and a column for the most-visited Websites. During 2011, it launched a new version of Sogou browser, which accelerates browsing speeds and adds Web page update notification feature, as well as an online shopping security protection function. Sogou Web Directory is a Chinese Web directory navigation site which serves as an access point to Websites and applications. Online marketing services on Sogou Web Directory consist of displaying links to Sogou�� advertisers��Websites on the Web pages of Sogou Web Directory. Sogou Pinyin is the Company�� self-developed Chinese character input method software, with a vocabulary database that is tied to the search queries database of the Sogou search engine and can capture the latest trends in words used by Internet users.

Online Game Business

The Company�� online game business is conducted through Changyou. Changyou is an online game developer and operator in China by its games TLBB and DDTank. Changyou engages in the development, operation and licensing of MMOGs, which are interactive online games, which may be ! played si! multaneously by game players, and Web-based games, which are played over the Internet using a Web browser. Changyou operates several MMOGs in China, including the in-house developed TLBB and Duke of Mount Deer (DMD) and other MMOGs, which Changyou has licensed from third parties. As of December 31, 2011, Changyou�� MMOGs in China had approximately 175.5 million aggregate registered accounts. Changyou also licenses DDTank, a Web-based game developed by Changyou�� variable interest entity (VIE) 7Road. TLBB is licensed to third-party operators in Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand. DDTank is licensed to third-party operators in China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brazil. Changyou also operates a modified version of TLBB in the United States and certain European countries. All of Changyou�� games are operated under the item-based revenue model, where game players play the games for free but can purchase virtual items.

TLBB is an in-house developed 2.5D martial arts MMORPG adapted from Chinese novel, Tian Long Ba Bu. TLBB features a combination of martial arts-style-fighting and community-building among its game players. As of December 31, 2011, Changyou has developed 21 expansion packs. DDTank is a two dimensional (2D) Q-style Web-based shooting game developed by Changyou�� VIE 7Road. Players use keyboards to control weapons to compete with others, using different weapons to produces different firing effects. The game features a master and apprentice system, a card system, and customization options for avatars. DMD is an in-house developed three dimensional (3D) martial arts MMORPG. The game recreates Louis Cha�� final martial arts world with cartoon-style graphics, supported by 3D animation engine. The Blade Online (BO) series consist of two 2.5D martial-arts style fighting MMORPGs, BO, which Changyou licensed from a third party, and BH2, which is a sequel of BO. Both games are martial arts-style fighting games set to the backdrop of a Chinese myth. In BO, game play! ers can s! et their own rules for in-game fighting and take on various roles, including a human, an evil spirit or an immortal in the game. Each role has different skill sets that can be learned and improved by completing different tasks. BH2 incorporates features of BO, as well as features, such as maps, characters, fighting techniques and additional team-combat functions to give players a more intense and realistic fighting experience. DHSH is a 2D Q-style, turn-based MMORPG, which Changyou licensed from a third party.

SJQY is a 2D cartoon-style turn-based MMORPG, which Changyou licensed from a third party. Adapted from the novels, Journey to the West, it engages game players in martial arts combat and other activities, such as gardening and home building.

Changyou has several MMOGs and Web-based games in its pipeline with different graphic styles, themes and features. Games in Changyou�� pipeline include the MMORPG Tao Yuan and the Web-based game Shen Qu, which Changyou is developing in-house, and the massively multi-player first-person shooter game (MMOFPS) (MMOFPS is a subset of the MMOG category) Battlefield Online, which Changyou licensed from a third party.

Tao Yuan is a 3D cartoon-style turn-based MMORPG adapted from the stories of Three Kingdoms heroes. The game is created using the Unreal3 game engine and features cartoon-style characters and 3D graphics. The game incorporates traditional Chinese culture, such as five elements, divination inquiry and Chinese acupuncture treatment, into its gameplay design. Battlefield Online is a MMOFP developed from Electronic Arts Inc.�� Battlefield franchise, a series of first-person shooter games, for the personal computer (PC). Battlefield Online is focused on the fights for interests between the Empire and the Commonwealth. The game allows players not only to compete in small teams in group battles and raids, but also to participate in large-scale combat of up to 100 players. In addition, sub-categories of battle classes! can be f! ound in Battlefield Online. Shen Qu is a 2.5D real time strategy Web-based game set against a western universe, which is being developed by Changyou�� VIE 7Road. The game focuses on the exploration of cities and instances. When exploring instances, players can experience diverse playing modes, including chasing, escaping and counterattacking, and finally become the overlord of an area.

Wireless Business and Other Business

The Company�� wireless business offers mobile related services through different types of wireless products to mobile phone users. The mobile related services consist of the provision of content, such as news, weather forecasts, chatting, entertainment information, mobile games, mobile phone ringtones and logo downloads. The content is purchased from third party content providers. The wireless products consist of SMS, RBT, IVR and mobile games. Its other businesses includes sub-licensing of licensed video content to third parties and offering cinema advertisement slots to be shown in theaters before the screening of movies.

The Company competes with Sina Corporation, Tencent Holdings Ltd., NetEase.com, Inc., YouKu Inc., Tudou Holdings Limited, Beijing Xin Lian Xin De Advertising Media Co., Ltd., SouFun Holdings Limited, China Real Estate Information Corporation, Bitauto Holdings Limited, Bitauto Holdings Limited, Guangzhou Hua Duo Network Technology Co., Ltd., Pacific Online Limited, Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft Corporation, AOL Inc., Qihoo 360 Technology Co., Ltd., Baidu, Shanghai Ruichuang Internet Technology Development Co., Ltd., Google, Qihoo, Maxthon International Limited, Mozilla Corporation, Shanda Games Limited, Perfect World Co., Ltd., Giant Interactive Group Inc., NetDragon Websoft Inc., Kingsoft Corporation Limited, The9 Limited, Shenzhen ZQGame Co., Limited, Taomee Holdings Limited, Beijing Guangyu Huaxia Technology Limited, Guang Huan Zhong, Hangzhou Bianfeng Technology Limited, Shanghai Game Reign Network Technology Limited, Play Town! Entertai! nment Limited, Tian Shen Hu Dong Limited, Sichuan Tianshang Youjia Technology Limited and Suzhou Snail Electronics Limited.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matthew Smith]

  Shares in Sohu.com (SOHU) continued their rapid rise, hitting yet another fresh 52-week high during the session, as the company announced the special dividend from Sohou yesterday (press release located here). Sohu.com will receive nearly $161.2 million in the transaction which is part of the overall $400 million deal with Tencent (TCEHY.PK) which was announced not too long ago. These are exciting times in the internet space as we move from computers to mobile devices, but China's internet landscape looks like the 'Wild West' right now and we expect to see further deals as companies jockey for position in their respective niches and consolidation begins as the larger players look to step up growth and gain exposure to new business segments.