Top Diversified Bank Companies For 2014

The famed hedge fund manager George Soros, known for breaking the British pound in 1992, shocked the world on Friday by announcing a 7.91% stake in J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP  ) . The news sent shares of the ailing retailer sharply higher, making it the best-performing stock on the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) that day.

Besides throwing J.C. Penney a much-needed lifeline in the equity markets -- its shares are down nearly 50% over the past year alone -- the move reaffirms one of Soros' central tenets: "The worse a situation becomes, the less it takes to turn it around, and the bigger the upside."

The stake, valued at $295 million, makes J.C. Penney the third largest holding of Soros Fund Management, the privately owned hedge fund that's largely responsible for managing its founder's wealth. It also adds to an increasingly diverse portfolio of stocks. Among the fund's other large holdings are companies as disparate as AIG (NYSE: AIG  ) , Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) , and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) :

Top Diversified Bank Companies For 2014: ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ARIA)

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer. The company?s lead cancer product, ridaforolimus is being studied in multiple clinical trials in patients with various types of cancers, including metastatic sarcomas, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, prostate cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. Its product pipeline also includes ponatinib, a pan BCR-ABL inhibitor in phase 2 clinical trial for applications in various hematological cancers and solid tumors; and AP26113, an anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitor in preclinical studies for the treatment of various cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer, lymphoma, and neuroblastoma. In addition, the company focuses on a drug discovery program centered on small-molecule therapies that are molecularly targeted to cell-signaling pathways implicated in cancer. Further, it licenses its ARGENT cell-sign aling regulation technologies to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to develop and commercialize therapeutic products, and to conduct drug discovery research. The company has collaboration and license agreements with Merck & Co., Inc. for the development, manufacture, and commercialization of ridaforolimus; and license agreements with Medinol Ltd. and ICON Medical Corp. to develop and commercialize stents and other medical devices to deliver ridaforolimus to prevent restenosis of injured vessels. ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Hilary Kramer]

  Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARIA) is developing novel cancer treatments, and it has three promising drugs in its pipeline: ridaforolimus (which I expect to get FDA approval shortly), ponatinib (recently reported good Stage I/II results), and AP-26113 (a compound with strong potential that just started clinical testing). The stock is up nearly 50% since the early October lows, and while concerns over the possibility that Ariad will raise money could be a short-term overhang on the stock, I look for share prices to continue to climb as the company’s drugs move through the approval process.

Top Diversified Bank Companies For 2014: Team Inc.(TISI)

Team, Inc. provides specialty maintenance and construction services for maintaining high temperature and high pressure piping systems and vessels that are utilized in heavy industries. It offers inspection and assessment services, such as inspection and evaluation of piping, piping components, and equipment; field heat treating services, including electric resistance and gas-fired combustion; leak repair services comprising on-stream repairs of leaks in pipes, valves, flanges, and other parts of piping systems and related equipment; and fugitive volatile organic chemical emission leak detection services consisting of identification, monitoring, data management, and reporting. The company also provides hot tapping services, such as hot tapping, Line-stop, and Freeze-stop services; field machining services, including the use of portable machining equipment to repair or modify machinery, equipment, vessels, and piping systems, as well as flange facing, pipe cutting, line bori ng, journal turning, drilling, and milling services; and technical bolting services comprising the use of hydraulic or pneumatic equipment with bolt tightening techniques for leak-free connections, plant maintenance, and expansion projects, as well as bolt disassembly and hot bolting services. In addition, it offers field valve repair services consisting of on-site repairs to manual and control valves, and pressure and safety relief valves, as well as specialty valve actuator diagnostics and repair. The company markets its services to companies in a various heavy industries, which include the petrochemical, refining, power, pipeline, steel, pulp and paper, and shipbuilding industries, as well as to municipalities, original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and engineering and construction firms. It operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Alvin, Texas.

Top 5 Dow Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2014: Clean Energy Fuels Corp.(CLNE)

Clean Energy Fuels Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicle fleets in the United States and Canada. The company designs, builds, operates, and maintains fueling stations, as well as supplies compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. Its CNG is used in automobiles, light to medium-duty vehicles, refuse trucks, and transit buses as an alternative to gasoline and diesel. The company also sells non-lubricated natural gas compressors and related equipment used in CNG and LNG stations; and produces renewable natural gas, which is used as vehicle fuel or sold for power generation. In addition, it offers vehicle finance services for the purchase of natural gas vehicles, as well as for the conversion of gasoline or diesel powered vehicles to operate on natural gas. Further, the company provides natural gas conversions, alternative fuel systems, application engineering, service and warranty support, and research and development services for natural gas vehicles. As of December 31, 2011, it served approximately 530 fleet customers with approximately 25,000 natural gas vehicles; and owned, operated, or supplied 273 natural gas fueling stations in 23 states within the United States, and British Columbia and Ontario within Canada, as well as in Peru. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Seal Beach, California.

Top Diversified Bank Companies For 2014: American Caresource Holdings Inc(ANCI)

American CareSource Holdings, Inc. operates as an ancillary services company that offers access to a national network of ancillary healthcare service providers in the United States. Its ancillary healthcare services include an array of services that supplement or support the care provided by hospitals and physicians, including the non-hospital, non-physician services associated with surgery centers, diagnostic imaging centers, home health and infusion, supply of durable medical equipment, orthotics and prosthetics, laboratory, and other services. The company also provides payor customers with claims management, reporting, and processing and payment services; and performs network/needs analysis to assess the benefits to payors of adding additional/different service providers to the payor-specific provider networks. American CareSource Holdings, Inc. sells its services to various healthcare companies, including preferred provider organizations, third party administrators, in surance companies, self-funded organizations, and employee groups. The company offers its services directly, as well as through strategic partnerships with market partners, independent brokers, and consultants. It has agreements with approximately 5,000 ancillary healthcare service providers operating in approximately 36,000 sites. The company was founded in 1995 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

Top Diversified Bank Companies For 2014: Klondex Mines Com Npv (KDX.TO)

Klondex Mines Ltd., together with its subsidiary, Klondex Gold and Silver Mining Co., engages in evaluating, acquiring, owning, exploiting, exploring, and developing mineral properties in Nevada. The company focuses on exploring and developing gold and silver properties. Its principal property is the 100% owned Fire Creek Property totaling 1,235.39 acres of owned/leased fee lands located in north central Nevada. The company was formerly known as Attila Resources Limited and changed its name to Klondex Mines Ltd. in October 1974. Klondex Mines Ltd. was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Top Diversified Bank Companies For 2014: PV CRYSTALOX SOLAR PLC ORD GBP0.02 WI(PVCS.L)

PV Crystalox Solar PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and supply of multicrystalline silicon wafers to the photovoltaic market in Asia, Europe, and the United States. It offers silicon ingots and wafers for use in solar electricity generation systems. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Abingdon, the United Kingdom.