Best Financial Companies To Watch For 2014

With shares of International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) trading around $189, is IBM 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

IBM is an information technology company. The company operates in five segments: Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing. Technology products and services are in high demand worldwide, as consumers want to be up to speed and companies always need the latest and greatest to stay ahead of the competition. Cloud computing has been hot in recent times, which has not been good news for IBM. Should the company want to hold on to its market share, it needs to make moves quickly and provide the technology products and services that worldwide consumers and companies demand.

IBM announced a $1.2 billion commitment on Friday to build 15 data centers in key financial and geographic hubs as it initiates its first major cloud expansion since acquiring SoftLayer in June for $2 billion.�The cloud expansion will cover 15 countries in five continents (all but Africa and Antarctica), including new data centers in China, Hong Kong, London, Japan, India, Washington D.C., Canada, Mexico City, and Dallas, as well as a number of local “cloud hubs.”

Top Clean Energy Stocks To Own Right Now: WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund (DEM)

WisdomTree Emerging Markets High-Yielding Equity Fund (the Fund) seeks to track the performance of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets High-Yielding Equity Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of emerging market stocks with relatively high dividend yields. The Index is created by selecting the top 30% of Index constituents ranked by dividend yield from the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index. Companies eligible for inclusion in the Index must be incorporated in and have their shares listed on a major stock exchange in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand or Turkey. Companies must have paid at least $5 million in cash dividends on their common stock in the 12 months prior to the most recent Index measurement date. Companies are weighted in the Index based on regular cash dividends paid. The Index includes large-capitalization, mid-capitalization and small-capitalization securities.

The Fund employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Index. The Fund attempts to invest all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index. The Fund generally uses a representative sampling strategy to track the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Genia Turanova]

  WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income ETF (DEM) is designed to track the performance of the high-yielding subset of the dividend paying segment of 18 emerging-markets nations.

Best Financial Companies To Watch For 2014: CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF)

CF Industries Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, CF Industries, Inc., manufactures and distributes nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer products, serving agricultural and industrial customers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Nitrogen and Phosphate. The Nitrogen segment principally offers ammonia, granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate solution, urea liquor, diesel exhaust fluid, and aqua ammonia. The Phosphate segment primarily offers diammonium phosphate and monoammonium phosphate. The company also owns 50% interests in the GrowHow UK Limited, a nitrogen products producer in the United Kingdom; Point Lisas Nitrogen Limited, an ammonia producer; and KEYTRADE AG, a global fertilizer trading company. CF Industries Holdings� customers include cooperatives and independent fertilizer distributors primarily in the midwestern United States. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  In the following video, Fool.com contributor Maxx Chatsko analyzes the first-quarter earnings of�CF Industries� (NYSE: CF  ) . The company saw a record net income on the heels of increasing nitrogen prices -- a trend that should continue into 2013. Additionally, CF Industries is actually expecting a�positive effect from natural gas prices. Maxx explains how that is possible and why it matters heading into a record corn planting this year.

Best Financial Companies To Watch For 2014: Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC(OZM)

Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides investment advisory services for its clients. It invests in equity markets across the world. The firm makes its investments in alternative markets across the world. It employs quantitative and qualitative analysis to make its investments. The firm also manages a buyout fund, Och-Ziff Energy Fund. Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC was founded in 1994 and is based New York, New York with additional offices in London, United Kingdom; Hong Kong; Tokyo, Japan; Bangalore, India; and Beijing, China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James Brumley]

  In the meantime, the 9%-plus dividend yield — at 40 cents per share, which is a dime better than SFL stock paid out in 2009 — is nothing to sneeze at.

  Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (OZM)

  OZM Dividend Yield: 13.6%

Best Financial Companies To Watch For 2014: OmniAmerican Bancorp Inc.(OABC)

OmniAmerican Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for OmniAmerican Bank, which is a federally-chartered savings bank that provides banking services to consumers and businesses in Texas. The company involves in accepting deposits from the general public and investing those deposits together with funds generated from operations and borrowings in loans and investments. Its deposit products consist of savings accounts, interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company?s loan products include residential real estate loans, such as one-to-four-family and home equity loans; commercial loans consisting of real estate construction, commercial real estate, and commercial business loans; and consumer loans, which include direct automobile, indirect automobile, and unsecured loans. It operates through its main office in Fort Worth, Texas and 15 branches located in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and Hood County, Texas. The company was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Omniamerican Bancorp (NASDAQ: OABC) shares fell 1.40% to touch a new 52-week low of $21.08. Omniamerican Bancorp's trailing-twelve-month ROA is 0.44%.

Best Financial Companies To Watch For 2014: iShares Government/Credit Bond ETF (GBF)

iShares Lehman Government/Credit Bond Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the United States Government and investment-grade United States corporate securities of the United States bond market as defined by the Lehman Brothers U.S. Government/Credit Index (the Index). The Fund invests in a representative sample of the securities in the Index, which has a similar investment profile as the Index. Due to the use of representative sampling, the Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in the Index.

The Index measures the performance of United States dollar-denominated United States Treasuries, government-related securities and investment-grade United States corporate securities that have a remaining maturity of greater than or equal to one year, and have more than $250 million or more of outstanding face value. The securities must be fixed-rate and non-convertible securities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Morgan]

  Bilfinger SE (GBF) climbed 3.1 percent to 74.30 euros. Germany�� second-largest builder predicted a significantly stronger second half after reporting second-quarter net income of 47 million euros ($62.5 million), which was in line with analysts�� estimates.