Top 5 Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2014

If you are looking for a semiconductor stock that�� focus on an area that�� not so cyclical, mid cap microcontroller (MCU) stock Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) could be a good choice���meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with other�microcontroller�players like Microchip Technology Inc (NASDAQ: MCHP), STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE: STM) and Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: CY). Microcontrollers are programmable and�embedded�chips that are increasingly�hidden inside a all sorts of products these days e.g. if you have an appliance�with a�LED or LCD screen and a keypad, it contains some kind of�microcontroller plus all new�automobiles contain at least one�and often several. I should mention that we have also recently added Atmel Corporation to our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio and we are down about 5.6% mostly due to the recent market volatility.

Top 10 Supermarket Companies To Watch In Right Now: Orthofix International N.V.(OFIX)

Orthofix International N.V., a medical device company, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes medical equipment used principally by musculoskeletal medical specialists for orthopedic applications. The company offers spinal implant products, and related human cellular and tissue based products used in surgical procedures; non-invasive regenerative stimulation products for use in bone growth and spinal fusions, and to treat non-union fractures; external and internal fixation devices for use in fracture repair, limb lengthening, and bone reconstruction; and bracing products for use in ligament injury prevention, pain management, and protection of surgical repair. Its products also include a device for cold therapy and bone cement, as well as devices for the removal of bone cement used to fix artificial implants. The company provides its products for the spine, orthopedics, and sports medicine market sectors serving independent third parties, including hospi tals, doctors, healthcare providers, and third-party payors, as well as patients. It distributes its products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Brazil, and Puerto Rico through direct sales representatives and independent distributors. Orthofix International N.V. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of Orthofix International (NASDAQ: OFIX  ) , a medical device company specializing in spinal and orthopedic applications, shed as much as 21% of their value after the company reported its first-quarter results and received four analyst downgrades.

Top 5 Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2014: Sterling Bancorp(STL)

Sterling Bancorp operates as a bank holding company for Sterling National Bank that provides a range of banking and financial products and services in the Untied States primarily in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It accepts various deposit products, including checking accounts, money market accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, rent security accounts, retirement accounts, and certificates of deposits; and deposit services comprising account management and information, disbursement, reconciliation, collection and concentration, ACH, and others. The company also provides business and consumer lending, asset-based financing, factoring/accounts receivable management services, equipment leasing, commercial and residential mortgage lending and brokerage, and trade financing services for commercial, industrial and financial companies, and government and non-profit entities. In addition, it offers financing and human resource business process outsourcing support services for the temporary staffing industry, which comprise full back-office, computer, tax, and accounting services, as well as financing to independently-owned staffing companies. The company operates 12 offices, including 9 offices in New York City, two branches in Nassau County, and 1 branch in Yonkers, New York. Sterling Bancorp was founded in 1929 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  The M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) and Hudson City Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) transaction is the only pending deal of 2012 vintage due to various regulatory concerns. MTB currently has 9% short interest outstanding and PACW 15%. Another merger covered is the deal between Provident New York Bancorp (NASDAQ: PBNY) and Sterling Bancorp (NYSE: STL), and the balance are simply too small for us to warrant effort.

• [By Corinne Gretler]

  Statoil ASA (STL) rose 4.2 percent to 137.60 kroner. Norway�� biggest energy company made its third oil discovery off the coast of Canada in the Flemish Pass basin. Bank of America Corp. raised the stock to buy from neutral.

Top 5 Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2014: State Bank of India (SBIN)

State Bank of India (SBI) is an India-based commercial bank. Its primary banks include Treasury, Corporate / Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking and Other Banking business. The Treasury Segment includes the entire investment portfolio and trading in foreign exchange contracts and derivative contracts. The Corporate / Wholesale Banking segment comprises the lending activities of Corporate Accounts Group, Mid Corporate Accounts Group and Stressed Assets Management Group. These include providing loans and transaction services to corporate and institutional clients and further include non-treasury operations of foreign offices. The Retail Banking Segment consists of branches in National Banking Group, which primarily includes Personal Banking activities, including lending activities to corporate customers having banking relations with branches in the National Banking Group. This segment also includes agency business and automated teller machines (ATMs). Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Calev Ben-David]

  Credit-default swaps for the State Bank of India (SBIN), a proxy for the sovereign, have risen by almost two thirds since May 22, while the rupee slid about 10 percent. In Turkey, swaps jumped by about half, and the currency dropped about 6 percent.

• [By Lyubov Pronina]

  India�� S&P BSE Sensex Index dropped 4 percent in Mumbai as State Bank of India (SBIN) tumbled to the lowest level in four years. ICICI Bank Ltd. slumped 5.2 percent. The rupee touched an unprecedented 62.0050 per dollar today before closing 0.3 percent weaker from Aug. 14 at 61.6550 in Mumbai, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg.

Top 5 Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2014: QLogic Corporation(QLGC)

QLogic Corporation engages in the design and supply of storage networking, high performance computing networking, and converged networking infrastructure solutions. It offers various host products, including fiber channel and Internet small computer systems interface (iSCSI) host bus adapters; fiber channel over Ethernet (FCoE) converged network adapters; and intelligent Ethernet adapters. The company also provides network products, which consist of fiber channel switches, including stackable edge switches, bladed switches, virtualized pass-through modules, and high-port count modular-chassis switches; Ethernet pass-through modules; and storage routers for bridging fiber Channel, FCoE, and iSCSI networks, as well as for migrating data between storage devices. In addition, it offers silicon products comprising fiber channel, iSCSI, converged network, and Ethernet controllers. Further, the company involves in the design and development of application-specific integrated circ uits, adapters, and switches based on fiber channel, iSCSI, FCoE, and Ethernet technologies. Its products are used in server, workstation, and storage subsystem solutions that are used by small, medium, and large enterprises with various business data requirements. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers and distributors worldwide. QLogic Corporation was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Also in the news...
  Network infrastructure products provider QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC  ) may have ended the week higher by about 1%, but it certainly got no help from Morgan Stanley, which downgraded the company to underweight from equal weight, and cut its price target to $9. Morgan Stanley cited the expectation of weak enterprise server demand in relation to businesses shifting to cloud providers as its reasoning for the downgrade. As a shareholder, I'm not too concerned, because of QLogic's hefty cash position, steady profits, and ability to stay on the leading edge of the innovative curve.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Shareholders in networking equipment maker QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC  ) certainly have a reason to rejoice, as it will be added to the S&P Small Cap 600 as of the close of business on Friday. Being added to the S&P Small Cap 600 index will mean that mutual funds that track the index will be required to purchase shares of QLogic. With more than $5 in cash per share on its balance sheet, the downside risk in QLogic is quickly abating.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC) appointed Tony Carrozza as the senior vice president of worldwide sales. The company also announced its plans to report its FQ1 results after the closing bell on July 24, 2014. QLogic shares declined 0.10% to close at $10.24 yesterday.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Also in the news ...
  Let's not sugarcoat this one iota: It was a really busy week for earnings news, with network equipment maker QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC  ) , printing and IT specialist Xerox (NYSE: XRX  ) , and telecommunication services provider Orange (NYSE: ORAN  ) all reporting results.