Top 5 Mid Cap Stocks To Watch For 2014

U.S. stocks had an excellent 2013

Results for U.S. stock markets were exceptionally strong during 2013. Stock markets continued their more than four year advance from the financial panic lows reached in March 2009. The backdrop for this advance was an improving economy, less than median stock prices based on historic valuations and, inexpensive credit increasingly available through a healed banking system. We believe U.S. stock markets were helped meaningfully by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank's LSAP, large scale asset purchase program, more commonly called "quantitative easing." The stated purpose of the bank's strategy is to encourage businesses to invest to grow and create jobs. By keeping interest rates low and creating inflation, the Fed's LSAP is also intended to help our businesses and citizens continue to deleverage. During 2013, stocks advanced on average about 30% from the prior year. Stocks of smaller and mid cap companies often increased in price more than 40%! Further, U.S. stocks' closing prices at year end 2013 exceeded peak prices they achieved in October 2007 by about 35%, as measured by the S&P 500.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Watch Right Now: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.(RCL)

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates in the cruise vacation industry worldwide. It owns five cruise brands, which comprise Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises, and CDF Croisi�es de France. The Royal Caribbean International brand provides various itineraries and cruise lengths with options for onboard dining, entertainment, and other onboard activities primarily for the contemporary segment. It offers surf simulators, water parks, ice skating rinks, rock climbing walls, and shore excursions at each port of call, as well as boulevards with shopping, dining, and entertainment venues. The Celebrity Cruises brand operates onboard upscale ships that offer luxurious accommodations, fine dining, personalized services, spa facilities, venue featuring live grass, and glass blowing studio for the premium segment, as well as resells computers and other media devices. The Pullmantur brand provides an array of onboard activities and serv ices to guests, including exercise facilities, swimming pools, beauty salons, gaming facilities, shopping, dining, complimentary beverages, and entertainment venues serving the contemporary segment of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American cruise markets. The Azamara Club Cruises brand offers various onboard services, amenities, gaming facilities, fine dining, spa and wellness, butler service for suites, and interactive entertainment venues for the up-market segment of the North American, United Kingdom, German, and Australian markets. The CDF Croisieres de France brand offers seasonal itineraries to the Mediterranean; and various onboard services, amenities, entertainment venues, exercise and spa facilities, fine dining, and gaming facilities for the contemporary segment of the French cruise market. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 39 ships with a total capacity of approximately 92,650 berths. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. was founded in 1968 and is headqua rtered in Miami, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricio Kehoe] Carnival Corporation (CCL) for a package deal, since these two companies control 75% of the global cruise market. But let�� see what it is about Carnival Corporation that has caught investment guru John Hussman (Trades, Portfolio)�� attention enough to add more of this company�� shares to his portfolio.

  Cruising All over the World

  As the world�� largest global cruise company, Carnival Corporation owns over 100 ships and operates 10 brands worldwide, which attract an anual customer base of�10 million. This extensive portfolio includes among others the Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises and Seabourn in North America; AIDA in Germany, Costa Cruises in Southern Europe, and the P&O Cruises in both Australia and the UK. This firm also owns the tour company Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, which operates in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. However, it�� the company�� 200,000 passenger ship capacity that has allowed it to reach a diverse group of consumers in a lightly penetrated vacation segment, earning it $15.5 billion in revenue.

  The global cruise market is a largely untapped industry, an aspect that Carnival Cruise benefits from greatly. With the 65 and older demographic growing at a 36% rate between 2010 and 2020, while the cruise industry�� capacity grows at 3%, baby boomers looking to retire and spend their money on leisure will surely be swooped-up by this industry giant. In fact, the company�� long-term business model is focused on international expansion, especially in the Asian continent. In 2013, for example, the firm opened its second office and launched a home port in Japan, in addition to other office openings in China (5), South Korea (1), Taiwan (1), Hong Kong (1) and Singapore (1). The larger international presence, combined with an improving economic environment and increasing cost leverage, should help boost operating margin from its current 10.70%.

  Competitive Advantages vs. Brand Perception

Top 5 Mid Cap Stocks To Watch For 2014: Ishares Trust Dow Jones United States Real Estate (IYR)

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the real estate sector of the United States equity market.

The Index includes companies in sub sectors, such as real estate holding and development, and real estate investment trusts (REITs). The Fund uses a representative sampling strategy in seeking to track the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Markos Kaminis]

  As the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) has gained 18.1% this year, Annaly Capital shares sank approximately 17.6%; American Capital Agency and Two Harbors are down 22% and 12%, respectively. The whole real estate stock sector has been under pressure, as evidenced by the iShares US Real Estate (IYR) drop of 1.3% year-to-date. Despite a steadily improving actual real estate market, the mREIT group has faced criticism about what damage could ensue to held asset portfolio values in a rapidly rising rate environment. Also, the mortgage REITs' abilities to manage their businesses would become complicated by a rising cost of borrowing matched against longer duration income streams at low relative yields. Reduced dividends result from less income, and lower security values are priced in.

Top 5 Mid Cap Stocks To Watch For 2014: MICROS Systems Inc (MCRS)

MICROS Systems, Inc. (MICROS), incorporated on September 8, 1977, is a global designer, manufacturer, marketer, and servicer of enterprise information solutions for the global hospitality and retail industries. The Company operates in two segments: the United States/Canada and International. The retail industry consists of retail operations selling directly to consumers, including retailers of clothing, shoes, food, hardware, jewelry, and other specialty items. Its enterprise information solutions consists three areas: hotel information systems, restaurant information systems and retail information systems. In addition to its software enterprise solutions and hardware products, it offers a range of services and other products for its hotel, restaurant and retail information systems. The hotel information systems consist of software, encompassing property based management systems (PMS), related property-specific modules and applications, and central systems, including central reservation systems (CRS). The restaurant information systems consist of hardware and software for point-of-sale (POS) and operational applications, a range of back office applications, including inventory, labor and financial management, and centrally hosted enterprise applications. The retail information systems consist of hardware and software encompassing POS, loss prevention, Web commerce applications, business analytics, customer gift cards, electronic payments and enterprise applications. Its retail solutions are provided through its MICROS-Retail group of subsidiaries, which includes Datavantage, CommercialWare, Advance Retail Systems (Mexico), MICROS Retail and Manufacturing Ltd. (United Kingdom), eOne, Fry, Fortech (Italy), MICROS eCommerce EAME (London), and MICROS Retail Austria GmbH. On May 31, 2012, MICROS acquired Torex Retail Holdings, Ltd. of Dunstable, England (Torex).

Hotel Information Systems

For the hotel and resort industry, the Company develops, distributes, and supports a range of ! hotel software products and services under the OPERA brand name. Its OPERA suite includes PMS, sales and catering, CRS, customer information system, revenue management, sales support, data mining, financial statements, condominium reservations and accounting, golf reservations, spa management, and quality management. It also offers a range for OPERA, which enables guest check-in and check-out, and other interactive features, through a kiosk.

The PMS software provides for hotel room check-in and checkout, reservations, guest accounting, travel agent accounting, and engineering management. The PMS software also interfaces to central reservation systems, to on-line travel services, and to global distribution systems. The OPERA sales and catering software enables hotel sales staff to evaluate, reserve and invoice meetings, banquets and related events for a property. The OPERA CRS software enables hotels to coordinate, process, track, and analyze hotel room reservations at a central facility for electronic distribution to the appropriate lodging site. The OPERA revenue management software enables hotels to manage room rates, occupancy, and the mix of business between corporate and transient customers. It also offers an Internet-based hotel reservation service through its myfidelio.net service. This service enables corporations, tourist representation services, and consumers to reserve rooms and manage reservations directly with designated hotels. This service also enables those hotel properties without internal reservation capabilities to outsource to us the maintenance of their connectivity to the global distribution systems and certain alternative distribution systems. The Company offers limited versions of the OPERA property management system called OPERA Xpress, OPERA Lite, and Operetta. As of June 30, 2012, approximately 20,200 hotel sites have installed either OPERA, OPERA Xpress PMS, OPERA Lite, or Operetta.

OPERA runs on two operating systems: Microsoft Windows (Server and X! P) and IB! M AIX, and uses an Oracle database. It offers hosting services for hotel customers in various data centers globally (including Ashburn and Manassas, Virginia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Frankfurt, Germany, and Singapore) with the OPERA applications accessed through Internet or high speed connections. In addition to OPERA, it supports a range of hotel software products (PMS and other modules) under the Fidelio Version 7.0 brand name. Fidelio Version 7.0 uses the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface and runs on an Oracle database. As of June 30, 2012, approximately 2,875 hotels were using Fidelio Version 7.0. The Company also markets a PMS product in Europe under the brand name Fidelio Version 8. This product uses the Windows operating system with an Oracle database. As of June 30, 2012, the product was installed in over 3,750 hotel sites.

Through the Company�� subsidiary Fidelio Cruise, it markets the Ships Property Management System (SPMS) suite of applications, which includes a PMS product designed for use by the cruise industry. The SPMS application enables cruise operators to manage passenger, visitor, group, and crew information at various stages from check-in to check-out, invoicing, credit card handling with online functionality, safety and security, and automated check-in with picture taking for passengers, crew, and visitors. The software maintains the count of passengers and staff on-board, as required by international industry regulations. In addition SPMS modules support the operation of on-board health spas, on-board MICROS point-of-sale systems, on-board business centers, on-board medical centers, and on-board casinos, as well as shore excursions. It also markets Fidelio Cruise Crew Management System, which supports the shore side and shipboard crew resource operations for a cruise ship, and the Fidelio Cruise Fleet Management System, which enables fleet-wide data analysis for cruise ship operators. Fidelio Cruise software is installed on approximately 220 cruise ships.

Restaurant Information Systems

The Company�� restaurant systems include POS applications, kitchen product applications, mobile applications, marketing applications, and hardware. Its front-of-house restaurant products operate on either industry standard personal computers (PCs) or terminals that have additional functionality and design appropriate for food service environments. The workstations the Company has designed, and which it markets and sells, are the Workstation 5A and 2015 PC Workstation. It also integrates other hardware devices into its complete product offerings.

Workstation 5A is a PC based POS terminal using Microsoft�� Embedded CE 6.0 and POSReady 2009 operating systems. The MICROS 2015 PC Workstation is a POS terminal designed to operate its restaurant applications and other third party PC-based software applications. The product uses Intel chip architecture. It can be configured to accommodate memory and storage requirements. The product supports Microsoft operating systems and Linux.

The Protege Customer Display System and MICROS Order Confirmation Systems are designed for the quick service restaurant market, and provide information to a restaurant�� customers regarding their order. The Protege Customer Display System is connected to a MICROS Workstation. It is a Microsoft Windows CE client equipped with a touchscreen allowing for interactive use. The MICROS Order Confirmation System is also a Microsoft Windows CE client, and provides order detail through a remote 15 inches daylight viewable display. It also markets a product named the Keyboard Workstation 270. This product enables orders to be entered through the MICROS Simphony and 9700 HMS through a workstation with a keyboard interface in lieu of a touchscreen. The Keyboard Workstation is used in institutional food service environments, convention centers, and sports complexes. Through its JTECH subsidiary, it offers pagers, wireless systems, alert software, and related products for! use in r! estaurants, retail, medical, and other environments.

The Company resells various other hardware products, including personal computers, servers, printers, network cards, and other related computer equipment. The Company�� restaurant POS software systems are Simphony, the MICROS Restaurant Enterprise Series (3700 POS) system, the MICROS 9700 Hospitality Management System (HMS), Hospitality Solution�� Profit Series, and the MICROS e7 Series. These systems provide transaction control for table service, quick service and food service and entertainment venues. Its design architecture enables existing users of MICROS POS products to access third party software applications in conjunction with their existing MICROS POS systems. In addition, MICROS restaurant information system products interface with back office accounting and property management systems, including its hotel PMS products.

The Simphony software solution is designed to be an all-inclusive software application for use by table service restaurants, quick service restaurants, and enterprise operations. It is capable of operating at single site venues, such as airport and other travel-related food service concessions, casinos, theme parks, and resorts as well multi-unit quick service and table service restaurant operations. The enterprise Simphony database is supported either by Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. As of June 30, 2012, MICROS has installed over 9,300 sites with Simphony, and hosts approximately 800 of those sites.

The MICROS 9700 HMS is designed for leisure and entertainment venues, which include resorts, casinos, airport and other travel-related food service concessions, stadiums/arenas, theme parks, table service and quick service restaurants in hotels, and restaurants. The MICROS 3700 POS is designed for table service and quick service restaurants. It has an open systems architecture using the Microsoft�� Windows operating system and a Sybase relational database, and can run on standard PCs! or works! tations. It uses a color touch screen with a Microsoft Windows based graphical user interface.

The Company markets a range of back office and operation focused software solutions, which extend beyond point-of-sale. The suite is called the MICROS Restaurant Enterprise Series (RES). The MICROS RES software solutions include point-of-sale transaction control, restaurant operations, data analysis, and communications. The POS software comprises the front-end application for the RES system. The restaurant operations modules include inventory, product forecasting, labor management, financial management, gift cards, customer loyalty and enterprise data management. Other components include Mobile MICROS and MICROS RES Kiosk, which enables customer information and self-ordering on third-party kiosks or directly through the use of smart phones and tablets.

For management of multiple restaurants, MICROS RES includes a range of software products called Enterprise Management. This suite enables data to be transmitted to a remote site for data collection and analysis. In addition, pricing and menu changes can be made from a remote site and downloaded to specified restaurant locations. It also markets a POS system called MICROS e7. This product runs on the MICROS Workstation 5 and 5A series and uses the Microsoft Windows CE Operating system. The Company markets an Internet-based portal product called mymicros.net. The mymicros.net product posts restaurant transaction POS detail to a centralized data warehouse in near real time. This product enables the customer to view reports and charts for a single site, a group of restaurants, or the entire enterprise from any location that has an Internet connection. In addition, mymicros.net incorporates additional products for inventory management, labor scheduling and control, gift cards, loyalty cards and other marketing programs. The mymicros.net software product can either be purchased through a perpetual use license or by an annual or multi-year so! ftware-as! -a-service (SaaS) subscription contract. It hosts mymicros.net, Simphony, and other hosted POS-related applications in the same data centers where it offers hosting services for its OPERA PMS. As of June 30, 2012, it hosted applications supporting over 29,000 restaurants.

Retail Information Systems

Through the Company�� MICROS-Retail group of subsidiaries (MICROS-Retail), it markets retail store software systems, direct commerce solutions and business intelligence applications. The retail store software systems are called Store21 Store Management System (Store21), Tradewind Store Management System (Tradewind) and Xstore Store Management System (Xstore). Store21 is a POS product designed for specialty retailers. The products operate on Microsoft�� Windows NT and 2000 and 2003 operating systems and use a Sybase database. Both products can be integrated with the retailer�� back office systems, and it also offers additional back office, communications, and reporting modules for use with Tradewind and Store21.

Xstore is the Company�� retail POS software system. It is a full service oriented architecture (SOA) compliant architecture. It runs on the Sun Microsystems Java operating system, and its architecture enables it to be integrated to both Windows and Linux-based back office systems. It can operate on any Java compatible operating system and database. Like Store21 and Tradewind, its predecessor products, Xstore is a front-end POS software system. Xstore is designed to run in a Windows or a Linux environment, while Store21 and Tradewind, as designed, can operate only in a Windows environment.

The Company offers the MICROS-Retail Home Office Business Intelligence Suite for retail stores, which includes loss prevention (marketed under the trade name XBR), customer relationship management, gift cards (marketed under the trade name Relate), and audit control (marketed under the trade name Balance). It also offers XBR to its restaurant customers throug! h MICROS ! provided centrally hosted or self-hosted environment. MICROS-Retail also offers in-store mobile solutions with Apple Corporation�� iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad systems. These solutions enable the store associate to ring up sales, handle inventory and service customers using the mobile devices. MICROS-Retail offers an eCommerce platform with features, marketed under the trade name Open Commerce Platform, as well as creative and design services to help customers create custom Websites.

MICROS-Retail offers order management and order broker software and services (marketed under the trade names CW Serenade and Locate, respectively), which enable a retailer to manage customer purchase transactions through multiple sources, including a store, the Internet, catalog phone-in orders, call centers, kiosks, and wireless devices. MICROS-Retail develops, supports, and distributes software solutions, which provides for collaborative end-to-end product and supplier lifecycle management and ingredient legal compliance tracking under the names Creations and myCreations. Creations and myCreations customers include accounts, such as Tesco, Sainsbury��, Wm Morrison, Sobeys, H.E. Butt, Metro, Kodak, Bodyshop and Booker.

The Company provides a range of services to its customers, including system installation, operator and manager training, on-site hardware maintenance, customized software development, application software support and credit card software support. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), service revenue constituted approximately 65.6% of its total revenue. Maintenance service contracts include on-site and depot hardware maintenance, application software support, credit card software support, and software hosting. The Company provides on-site hardware maintenance and software support through a combination of direct and indirect channels. The on-site hardware maintenance is provided to customers using MICROS POS hardware and software systems. It also operates other! more lim! ited help desk operations, including Fidelio Cruise support desks in Hamburg, Germany and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the JTECH help desk in Boca Raton, Florida, and a help desk in Scottsdale, Arizona for certain legacy POS products. Its corporate customer support center in Columbia, Maryland provides back-up support for its regional centers in Buenos Aires, Singapore, and Galway, and its research and development operation in Naples, Florida, provides support for its hotel software products. The regional support centers also provide back-up support and guidance for local and in-country support providers.

The Company operates data centers in Ashburn and Manassas, Virginia, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Frankfurt, Nottingham, England, and Singapore in conjunction with third-party vendors to serve as hosting centers for customers deploying its hosted and application service products. It offers Website design and portal management services, for the retail industry. These include the development and management a customer�� Website for ordering, sales promotion, and marketing. It also offers Web based marketing services to hotels, restaurants and retail companies.

The Company competes with NCR, Panasonic, Par Technology, Sharp, Agilysys, Positouch, Xpient Solutions, Casio, Dell, HP, IBM, Toshiba, Multi-Systems, Newmarket, Northwind, Par Technology, Protel, Softbrands, Pegasus, Trust International/TravelPort, Vantis, Sabre, TravelClick, Epicor, Escalate Retail, JDA Software, Oracle, SAP, DemandWare and eBay.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Damian Illia]

  Although my track record as an investor is not at all comparable to Carl Icahn麓s, one thing can still be said: Following Icahn麓s investments blindly is not a good idea. Icahn is not just an investor, but also an activist, with his own agenda, his own interests, which many times can diverge from yours. Having said this, I would recommend staying away from Nuance at the time, mainly in account of its high valuation and somewhat uncertain prospects. Instead, I would recommend considering Autodesk or Micros Systems (MCRS), which I will look into in my next article, for your long-term portfolios.
  

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) announced its plans to buy Micros Systems (NASDAQ: MCRS) in a $5.3 billion deal.

  The offer price of $68 per share represents a 3.4% premium over Micros' closing price on Friday.

Top 5 Mid Cap Stocks To Watch For 2014: Derma Sciences Inc.(DSCI)

Derma Sciences, Inc. operates as a medical technology company. The company provides advanced wound care products, including Medihoney dressings that are used for the management of non-chronic and hard-to-heal wounds, such as chronic ulcers, burns, and post-operative wounds; Bioguard dressings that are used for prophylactic use in the prevention of hospital or community acquired infections through wound sites; Algicell Ag, antimicrobial dressings; Xtrasorb dressings that convert fluid within the dressings to a gel and lock the exudates into the dressings; TCC-EZ, a dressing system for the management of diabetic foot ulcers; and occlusive dressings, such as hydrocolloids, foams, hydrogels, alginates, additional silver antimicrobial dressings, cleansers, and Dermagran products. It also offers traditional wound care products, such as of gauze sponges and bandages, non-adherent impregnated dressings, retention devices, paste bandages, and other compression devices, as well as a dhesive bandages and related first aid products. In addition, the company provides pharmaceutical wound care products, including DSC127, an angiotensin analog for use in wound healing and scar reduction. It markets wound closure strips, nasal tube and catheter fasteners, barrier creams and ointments, antibacterial cleansing foams and sprays, shampoos and body washes, hand sanitizers, bath additives, body oils, and moisturizers to doctors, clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, home healthcare agencies, and other institutions. The company sells its products to health care providers, such as wound care centers, extended care facilities, acute care facilities, home health care agencies, and physicians? offices through direct sales representatives in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom; retail channels; manufacturers? representatives and independent distributors in international markets. Derma Sciences, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [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 Derma Sciences (Nasdaq: DSCI  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Alexander Maxwell]

  Grafix has raised the bar on chronic diabetic foot ulcer treatment. Another company developing treatments for CDFU is Derma Sciences� (NASDAQ: DSCI  ) . Derma is developing a treatment called DSC 127, which is currently in phase 3 trials with results expected in 2015.