5 Best Japanese Stocks To Watch For 2014

With shares of Sony (NYSE:SNE) trading around $18, is SNE an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework.

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Sony is involved in the electronics, games, entertainment, and financial businesses. The company operates in several different segments: Consumer Products Services, Professional Device Solutions, Movie, Music, Finance, Mobile, and Other. Through its segments, Sony is able to provide a wide range of products and services. These products include televisions, cameras, personal computers, game consoles, navigation systems, audio and video equipment, software, phones, and media platforms. The company brings new technologies to the hands of your average player as well as professional users. Look for Sony to continue to be a top choice for avid technology adopters worldwide.

Sales of Sony�� PlayStation 4 recently reached 2.1 million units worldwide, temporarily giving it bragging rights over Microsoft�� (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox. Given that the PS4 just launched and that the holiday season is critical to console sales, the news has to be among the best that the battered Japanese consumer electronics company has issued in a very long time.

Top 10 Gas Stocks To Buy Right Now: Archer-Daniels-Midland Company(ADM)

Archer Daniels Midland Company procures, transports, stores, processes, and merchandises agricultural commodities and products in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: Oilseeds Processing, Corn Processing, and Agricultural Services. The Oilseeds Processing segment engages in originating, merchandising, crushing, and processing oilseeds, such as soybeans, cottonseed, sunflower seeds, canola, rapeseed, peanuts, flaxseed, and palm into vegetable oils and protein meals. This segment also produces edible soy protein products, including soy flour, soy grits, soy protein concentrates, soy isoflavones, and soy isolates that are used in processed meats, baked foods, nutritional products, snacks, and dairy and meat analogs. The Corn Processing segment involves in corn wet milling and dry milling activities; and produces alcohol, amino acids, and other specialty food and animal feed ingredients, as well as ethyl alcohol. This segment also produces citr ic and lactic acids, lactates, sorbitol, xanthan gum, and glycols that are used in various food and industrial products, as well as astaxanthin, a product used in aquaculture to enhance flesh coloration. The Agricultural Services segment buys, stores, cleans, and transports agricultural commodities, such as oilseeds, corn, wheat, milo, oats, rice, and barley, as well as resells these commodities as food and feed ingredients for the agricultural processing industry. This segment also processes and distributes edible beans, formula feeds, and animal health and nutrition products. In addition, the company engages in milling wheat, corn, and milo into flour, as well as produces bakery products and mixes, wheat starch, gluten, and cocoa products that are sold to the baking industry; and involves in financial activities related to private equity fund investments, and futures commission merchant activities. Archer Daniels Midland Company was founded in 1898 and is based in Decatur, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) announced its plans to buy food flavoring company Wild Flavors for 2.2 billion euros ($3 billion) in cash.

  The company will also assume around 0.1 billion euros in net debt. The deal is projected to complete by the end of the year.

• [By Anora Mahmudova]

  Archer Daniels Midland Co.�� (ADM) fourth-quarter adjusted earnings beat expectations. Shares gave up earlier gains and were 1.1% lower.

5 Best Japanese Stocks To Watch For 2014: First Financial Bancorp.(FFBC)

First Financial Bancorp. operates as the holding company for First Financial Bank, National Association that provides commercial banking, and other banking and banking-related services. The company accepts various deposit products that include interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing deposit accounts, time deposits, and cash management services for commercial customers. It also offers various lending products, including residential real estate loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans for various business purposes; home equity lines of credit; and consumer loans, such as vehicle loans, second mortgages on residential real estate, and unsecured loans. In addition, the company provides trust services, brokerage, investment, and other related services. As of June 3, 2011, it operated 102 banking centers in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By , DividendChannel.com]

  Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on May 28, First Financial Bancorp�(FFBC), Goldman Sachs�(GS) and M & T Bank Corp.�(MTB) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. First Financial Bancorp will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.15 on July 1, Goldman Sachs will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.55 on June 27 and M & T Bank�will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.70 on June 30.

5 Best Japanese Stocks To Watch For 2014: Level 3 Communications Inc.(LVLT)

Level 3 Communications, Inc. engages in the communications business in North America and Europe. It offers network and Internet services, including transport services, high speed Internet protocol services, dedicated Internet access, virtual private network services, and dark fiber services, as well as managed modem, an outsourced, turn-key infrastructure solution; and colocation services. The company also provides various media services, comprising Vyvx services that provide audio and video feeds over fiber or satellite; content delivery network services; media delivery services to customers seeking to manage, protect, and monetize content delivered over the Internet; a range of local and long distance voice services, such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and traditional circuit-switch based services; and VoIP Enhanced Local, a VoIP service that enables broadband cable operators, IXCs, VoIP providers, and other companies operating their own switching infrastructure to launch IP-based local and long-distance voice services through a broadband connection. Level 3 Communications? media services also consist of SIP Trunking, a VoIP-based local phone service; Local Inbound service that terminates traditional telephone network originated calls to Internet Protocol termination points; Primary Rate Interface, a TDM local phone service that could be configured in various ways; Long Distance services portfolio comprising local and long distance transport and termination services; and Toll Free services portfolio, which terminate toll free calls that are originated on the traditional telephone network. As of December 31, 2010, its network encompassed approximately 68,000 intercity route miles in North America and an intercity network covering approximately 13,000 miles across Europe. Further, it sells coal primarily through long-term contracts with public utilities. The company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Question: You have been a long-term investor of Level 3. The company has been doing poorly and in a lot of financial stress. What is your thesis in investing in Level 3 (LVLT)? Isn�� it a value trap?

5 Best Japanese Stocks To Watch For 2014: Gray Fox Petroleum Corp (GFOX)

Gray Fox Petroleum Corp., incorporated on September 22, 2011, is a domestic oil and gas exploration and development company. The Company focuses on the acquisition and exploration of oil and natural gas properties in the Western United States.

The Company has 100% working interest and an 82% net revenue interest in the 32,723 acre West Ranch Prospect. The Company�� West Ranch Prospect is located in the Butte Valley Oil Play Region of north central Nevada in Elko and White Pine Countries, which has produced over 50 million barrels of oil in Nevada from structures and reservoir horizons similar to those under the West Ranch Prospect. The prospect consists of 22 Federal leases in the Butte Valley Oil Play Region.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  On Friday, small cap mining stocks Maverick Minerals Corp (OTCMKTS: MVRM) and Liberty Coal Energy Corp (OTCMKTS: LBTG) plus oil stock Gray Fox Petroleum Corp (OTCBB: GFOX) sank 30.9%, 16.67% and 11.2%, respectively. However, only one of these stocks appears to have been the subject of some kind of paid promotion in the form of an investment in some shares. So will these three small cap mining or oil stocks keep coming up empty for investors this week? Here is a closer look: