Best Tech Companies To Watch In Right Now

Strategic metals and specialty materials are vital to a host of major; the time to invest in the makers of these "miracle materials" is now, as global recovery boosts demand, explains John Persinos in Personal Finance.

Two of the strongest and most valuable materials in existence are carbon composites and titanium. They��e crucial in the manufacture of a wide range of products, especially in the thriving industries of aerospace, energy, defense, and high technology.

The standout stocks in this segment are Hexcel Corp. (HXL), the leading producer of carbon composites, and Allegheny Technologies (ATI), which dominates the market in titanium.

Hexcel is the largest US-based producer of carbon fiber and the number one producer of aerospace composite materials. Aircraft made from composites enjoy reduced weight, improved fuel burn, and better resistance against corrosion and damage.

Hexcel reported fourth-quarter 2013 earnings per share of $0.46, for a year-over-year increase of 28%. Fourth-quarter revenue reached $427 million, up 10.2%.

Hot Cheapest Companies For 2015: LogMein Inc.(LOGM)

LogMeIn, Inc. provides on-demand, remote-connectivity, collaboration, and support solutions to small and medium-sized businesses, information technology (IT) service providers, mobile carriers, and consumers in the United States and internationally. Its services include remote user access services, which allow users to access computers and other Internet-enabled devices to continue working while away from the office or to access personal systems while away from home; remote support and management services to deliver support and management of IT resources remotely; and remote collaboration to conduct online meetings and share documents, images, and their desktop with other users. The company?s remote user access services comprise LogMeIn Free, a free remote access service, which provides secure access to a remote computer or other Internet-enabled device; LogMeIn Pro, a remote access service; LogMeIn Hamachi, a hosted virtual private network service; and LogMeIn Ignition, a service that delivers access to remote computers that subscribe to LogMeIn Free or LogMeIn Pro. Its remote support and management services consist of LogMeIn Rescue, a Web-based remote support service to support remote computers and applications, and assist computer users via the Internet; LogMeIn Rescue+Mobile, an add-on of LogMeIn Rescue?s Web-based remote support service to remotely access and support smartphones and tablet computers; LogMeIn Central, a Web-based management console; and LogMeIn Backup, a service that subscribers install on two or more computers to create a backup network. The company?s remote collaboration services include join.me and join.me pro, which are browser-based online meetings and screen sharing services. LogMeIn, Inc. has a strategic agreement with Intel Corporation. The company was formerly known as 3am Labs, Inc. and changed its name to LogMeIn, Inc. in March 2006. LogMeIn, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Woburn, Massachu setts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines feature upgrades for mini-industrialist Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS  ) �and for remote computer access specialist LogMeIn (NASDAQ: LOGM  ) but a downgrade for publicly traded soccer club Manchester United (NYSE: MANU  ) . Let's take them one at a time, beginning with...

• [By Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, we're focusing on tech stocks, as analysts pull back on Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) and Dolby Labs (NYSE: DLB  ) , but become more bullish on LogMeIn (NASDAQ: LOGM  ) . Let's start with that last one.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of software company LogMeIn (NASDAQ: LOGM  ) soared 21% today after its quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street expectations.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Remote-access software maker LogMeIn (NASDAQ: LOGM  ) reported strong Q1 earnings Thursday evening, beating analyst estimates on both profits and revenues, and guiding investors to expect higher-than-consensus earnings for both Q2 and the full year. LogMeIn said it earned $0.12 per share in the fiscal first quarter, will earn $0.11 to $0.12 in Q2, and keep on that track, with about $0.48 per share at the midpoint of guidance for the year.

Best Tech Companies To Watch In Right Now: Lenovo Group Ltd (LNVGY)

Lenovo Group Limited (Lenovo) is a personal technology company serving customers in more than 160 countries. The Company is a personal computer (PC) vendor. The Company develops, manufactures and markets technology products and services. Its product lines include Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile Internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo operates seven research and development centers and more than 46 world-class labs, including research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina, the United States. The Company is also engaged in investment holding. It operates in three segments: China, emerging markets (excluding China) and mature markets. Lenovo offers a range of commercial desktops to businesses of all sizes.

The Company�� products include laptops, tablets, desktops, workstations and servers. In May 2010, it launched the LePhone smartphone in China. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 (fiscal 2011), China accounted for 46.4% of the Company�� total sales. During fiscal 2011, Emerging Markets (excluding China) accounted for 17.9% of the Company�� total sales. During fiscal 2011, Mature Markets accounted for 35.7% of the Company�� total sales. Its brands include ThinkPad notebook, as well as products carrying the ThinkCentre, ThinkStation, ThinkServer, IdeaCentre and IdeaPad sub-brands.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By vinaysingh]

  Apart from the above-mentioned business areas, HP's core competency still lies in PC markets and we are already aware of the smart devices wave that has almost swept the demand for desktops. In spite of battered demand in consumer PC market, HP increased the unit shipments by 6% y-o-y due to improved demand conditions in the commercial PC markets. As a result of a sturdy performance, HP's market share is now just slightly lower than that of Lenovo (LNVGY), the leader in the PC market. A report from Gartner showcases the shares of enterprises that occupy this market.

• [By fedezaldua]

  On the other hand, IBM seems to be focusing in its most promising businesses and is willing to sell those segments that are not compelling from a ROIC standpoint. A great example of this is IBM's recent agreement to sell the company's x86 server business to Lenovo (LNVGY) for approximately $2.3 billion ($2.0 billion in cash and $300 million in Lenovo stock) or 0.5 times 2013 sales. On top of the cash and stock price, around 7,500 IBM employees shall be hired by Lenovo.

• [By Mihir Mehta, Mehta]

  It is prudent for investors to watch out for the development of Apple's share in China, especially after Google announced the sale of Motorola's mobility division to Lenovo (NASDAQOTH: LNVGY  ) . This deal can prove to be a major threat to Apple in the Chinese markets, as Lenovo has a better position there . Thus, the onus will be on Apple to maintain its innovation streak and develop a robust way to capture the Asian markets amid competition from low-priced devices from Lenovo and Samsung.

• [By Analyse360Degree]

  In contrast Samsung had a superb time, reporting a YoY growth of 32.0%, as its shipments increased from 8.5 million to 11.2 million in a years time. However, the most impressive growth was displayed by the fast growing Chinese manufacturer Lenovo (LNVGY). The company reported a stupendous growth of 224.3% in tablet shipments and presently accounts for 4.1% of the global tablet market, up from 1.3% in 1Q13. Lenovo has been taking its devices very seriously and seems to be hell-bent on making a mark on the space, clearly understood from its acquisition of Google (GOOG) owned Motorola.

Best Tech Companies To Watch In Right Now: OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (OMED)

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OncoMed) incorporated on July 19, 2004, is a clinical development-stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company focuses on discovering and developing monoclonal antibody therapeutics targeting cancer stem cells (CSCs). It utilizes its technologies to identify, isolate and evaluate CSCs; identify and/or validate multiple potential targets and pathways critical to CSC self-renewal and differentiation; and develop targeted antibody and other protein-based therapeutics that are designed to modulate these CSC targets and inhibit the growth of CSCs. The Company's anti-cancer therapeutics include anti-DLL4 (demcizumab, OMP-21M18), Anti-DLL4/Anti-VEGF Bispecific, and Anti-Notch2/3 (OMP-59R5), Anti-Notch1 (OMP-52M51, Anti-Fzd7, Fzd8-Fc, RSPO-LGR.

Anti-DLL4 (demcizumab, OMP-21M18) is a humanized monoclonal antibody that inhibits Delta Like Ligand 4 (DLL4) in the Notch signaling pathway. The Company has completed a single-agent Phase Ia trial in advanced solid tumor patients. The Company focuses on conducting two Phase Ib combination trials of demcizumab. Anti-DLL4/anti-VEGF bispecific is a monoclonal antibody that targets and inhibits both DLL4 and vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF). VEGF is the target of Avastin. Anti-Notch2/3 (OMP-59R5) is a human monoclonal antibody that targets the Notch2 and Notch3 receptors.

Anti-Notch1 OMP-52M51 is a humanized monoclonal antibody targeted to the Notch1 receptor. Anti-Fzd7 OMP-18R5 is a human monoclonal antibody identified by screening against the Frizzled7 receptor (Fzd7) that binds a conserved epitope on five Frizzled receptors and inhibits Wnt signaling. OMP-18R5 is in a Phase I single-agent trial in advanced solid tumor patients. Fzd8-Fc OMP-54F28 is a fusion protein based on a truncated form of the Frizzled8 receptor ( Fzd8). RSPO-LGR ligands signal through the LGR receptor family.

The Company utilizes several robust technologies for the discovery and optimization of its antibody and protein-bas! ed therapeutics, including multiple proprietary technologies. Its antibody technologies include Mammalian Display Technology, Bispecific Antibody Technology, Hybridoma Technology. Mammalian Display Technology utilizes flow cytometry to isolate mammalian cells expressing antibodies on the cell surface with desired characteristics from large libraries of candidate antibodies. Bispecific Antibody Technology is used to generate its anti-DLL4/anti-VEGF antibody. Hybridoma Technology is used for isolating antibodies from mice, including multiplex single-cell screening techniques.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  OncoMed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OMED) shares tumbled 12.05 percent to $20.90 after the company voluntarily stopped enrollment for Phase 1 Vantictumab.

• [By Stephen Quickel]

  Recently, too, Celgene has formed a strategic partnership with OncoMed (OMED) to develop up to six anti-cancer stem-cell antibodies.

  Celgene itself has posted four successive quarters of revenue growth, which is expected to lift annual sales from $5.5 to $6.4 billion for calendar 2013, and to $7.5 billion in 2014. Despite its expanding size, earnings per share are projected to grow by 23.2% a year, by 28 Street analysts following its stock.

Best Tech Companies To Watch In Right Now: Arc Wireless Solutions Inc.(ARCW)

ARC Wireless Solutions, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides wireless network components and solutions in the United States. It is involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of antennas and related wireless communication systems, including cellular base stations, mobiles, cellulars, and flat panel antennas. The company?s products also include global positioning systems; and conformal, portable, and other antennas, as well as antenna accessories. ARC Wireless Solutions, Inc. markets its commercial line of antennas directly to distributors, installers, and retailers of antenna accessories, as well as to commercial, government, and retail markets. It offers its products under the Freedom Antenna Exsite, Omnibase, Parity, Arc Vlpa, Airbase, and And Freedom Blade brand names. The company was formerly known as Antennas America, Inc. and changed its name to ARC Wireless Solutions, Inc. in October 2000. ARC Wireless Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1987 and is based in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Meanwhile, top decliners in the sector included ARC Group Worldwide (NASDAQ: ARCW), down 6.8 percent, and 8x8 (NASDAQ: EGHT), off 5.7 percent.

  Top Headline
  Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is in talks to acquire headphone maker Beats Electronics, according to a Financial Times report from Thursday afternoon. The deal is rumored to be around $3.2 billion, which would make it Apple's largest acquisition to date.

Best Tech Companies To Watch In Right Now: Accelrys Inc.(ACCL)

Accelrys, Inc. develops and commercializes scientific business intelligence software and solutions in the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers Pipeline Pilot, Accelrys enterprise R&D platform, which allows users to aggregate, integrate, and mine structured and unstructured scientific data, such as chemical structures, biological sequences, and complex digital images; and filters, normalizes, and performs statistical analysis on the scientific data and provides visual reports to scientists and scientific managers. It also provides computer aided design modeling and simulation software that allows scientists to perform computations of chemical, biological, and materials properties to simulate, visualize, and analyze chemical and biological systems, as well as communicate the results to other scientists; and data management and informatics software to capture, store, manage, and mine scientific data information. In addition, the company offers Enter prise Lab Notebook, which provides a digital environment to plan, execute, record, store, back-up, and share daily research activities; lab execution systems; and content databases to support research activities through a collection of factual databases and reference works. Further, it provides software wrappers that allows customers to run their own algorithms on the company?s R&D platform; enterprise-wide informatics systems, which integrate customers? internal systems with software from various vendors; contract research services; onsite training and implementation, Web-based training, and data migration services; and support services. The company serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, energy, chemicals, aerospace, consumer packaged goods, and industrial product industries, as well as government and academic entities through direct sales force, telesales, and distributors. Accelrys, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  What: Shares of Accelrys (NASDAQ: ACCL  ) are down by over 20% today after the company took a big, ugly swing and a miss on its first-quarter earnings and upcoming guidance.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Accelrys (Nasdaq: ACCL  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Best Tech Companies To Watch In Right Now: Redhill Biopharma Ltd (RDHL)

Redhill Biopharma Ltd. is an Israel-based biopharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on the development and acquisition of therapeutic candidates. The Company�� pipeline consists of six late clinical development therapeutic candidates, two of which have completed bioequivalence clinical trials subject to review and approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration and, in some cases, regulatory authorities in other countries. The Company�� six clinical stage therapeutic candidates include RHB-101, RHB-102, RHB-103, RHB-104, RHB-105 and RHB-106.

RHB-101

RHB-101 is a treatment of hypertension, heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction (following myocardial infraction) by means of controlled release of an active ingredient known as carvedilol, which is designed to be administered to patients on a once-daily basis. RHB-101 is based on a patented technology for the controlled release of drugs administered orally.

RHB-102

RHB-102 is a once-daily controlled release oral formulation of ondansetron. RHB-102 utilizes a technology called CDT that uses salts to provide a controlled release of ondansetron.

RHB-103

RHB-103 is an oral thin film formulation of rizatriptan intended for the treatment of acute migraine headaches. Migraine is a neurovascular disorder (related to nerves and blood vessels) characterized by recurrent headaches in one side or both sides of the head.

The product is based on a technology called VersaFilm.

RHB-104

RHB-104 is an antibiotic combination therapy for the treatment of Crohn's disease (with a PIII clinical study underway), as well as Multiple Sclerosis (with an ongoing PIIa clinical study) and Rheumatoid Arthritis. RHB-104 is a combination of clarithromycin, clofazimine and rifabutin, three generic antibiotic ingredients, in a single capsule.

RHB-105

RHB-105, an antibiotics and proton pump inhibitor drug targeting Helico! bacter Pylori infection. RHB-105 is a combination of three approved drug products omeprazole, which is a proton pump inhibitor (the natural body pump that produces the gastric acids used for digesting the food in the stomach), and amoxicillin and rifabutin which are antibiotics. Chronic infection with Helicobacter pylori irritates the mucosal lining of the stomach and small intestine.

RHB-106

RHB-106, is a tablet for the preparation and cleansing of the gastrointestinal tract prior to the performance of abdominal procedures. Its abdominal procedures include diagnostic tests, such as colonoscopy, barium enema or virtual colonoscopy, as well as surgical interventions, such as laparotomy.

The company competes with GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis Groupe, Hoffman-La Roche Ltd, Merck and Co., Inc, Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Salix Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Breaking news

  Vitran Corporation (NASDAQ: VTNC) announced today that it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement with TransForce pursuant to which TransForce has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Vitran not already owned by TransForce for US$6.50 in cash per share, in accordance with TransForce's prior proposal. To read the full news, click here. ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) today announced it signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) to sell three utility-scale projects in Western China, with a total capacity of 60MW, to Jiangsu Akcome Solar Science & Technology Co on December 30, 2013. To read the full news, click here. Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: CTB) today announced it has terminated the merger agreement with Apollo Tyres (NSE:ApolloTYRE). To read the full news, click here. RedHill Biopharma (NASDAQ: RDHL) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with leading healthcare investor OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, an affiliate of OrbiMed Advisors LLC, for the sale of RedHill's American Depository Shares and warrants in a private placement transactionor a total sum of $6.0 million. To read the full news, click here.

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Best Tech Companies To Watch In Right Now: BIND Therapeutics Inc (BIND)

BIND Therapeutics, Inc., incorporated on May 19, 2006, is a clinical-stage nanomedicine platform company developing Accurins, its targeted and programmable therapeutics. Accurins are designed with specified physical and chemical characteristics to target specific cells or tissues and concentrate a therapeutic payload at the site of disease to enhance efficacy while minimizing adverse effects on healthy tissues. Its drug candidate, BIND-014, is in Phase II clinical trials for non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC, and metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Accurins represent the evolution of targeted therapies and nanomedicine. Accurins are polymeric nanoparticles that incorporate a therapeutic payload and are designed to have prolonged circulation within the bloodstream, enable targeting of the diseased tissue or cells, and provide for the controlled and timely release of the therapeutic payload. The four components include Targeting ligands, Stealth and protective layer, Controlled-release polymer matrix and Therapeutic payload. The Company focuses to use its medicinal nanoengineering platform to develop Accurins in several therapeutic areas, with an initial focus on the treatment of various types of cancer. In addition, the Company entered into collaboration agreements with several biopharmaceutical companies to develop and commercialize Accurins that are based on its collaborators��therapeutic payloads. The Company�� programs include BIND-014, solid tumor accurin and hematologic cancer accurin.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday, small cap biotech Acceleron Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: XLRN) rose 9.76%�plus shares are up 183.6% for retail investors since its September IPO, meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of other biotech IPOs like BIND Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: BIND), Ophthotech Corp (NASDAQ: OPHT) and Foundation Medicine Inc (NASDAQ: FMI) which also debuted at the same time.

• [By Anna Prior]

  Bind Therapeutics sa(BIND)id a collaboration with Amgen Inc.(AMGN) has been ended after both companies agreed not to pursue an option to jointly develop a molecularly targeted cancer therapy. Bind Therapeutics shares fell 11% to $11.50 premarket.

• [By John Udovich]

  The biotech sector has been pretty exciting this year�with small cap biotech stocks Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ: PRAN) and TNI BioTech (OTCMKTS: TNIB) having recently produced noteworthy news for investors�while Acceleron Pharma, Inc (NASDAQ: XLRN), Ophthotech (NASDAQ: OPHT) and BIND Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BIND) have just�set term sheets for their upcoming IPOs. Just consider all of the following recent news:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  BIND Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BIND) was down, falling 10.56 percent to $11.52 after the company reported the closing of collaboration deal with Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN).