Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Invest In Right Now

Although Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) stock may look cheap compared to the S&P 500, there's good reason for the low price tag. Between a faltering PC market, anemic revenue growth, and profitability concerns, Intel investors have a lot of things to worry about. Together, these factors certainly beg the question: Should you sell your Intel stock today?

PC sales still top dog
As exciting as it is for Intel to develop cutting-edge technology that threatens ARM Holdings' mobile computing stronghold, the company remains deeply entrenched in the PC market. Intel reported its second-quarter earnings results last week, showing that more than 63% of the company's revenue came from its PC client group segment. With worldwide PC shipments as bad as they've been, it's not surprising that investor enthusiasm would be muted toward the company's mobile computing ambitions. Simply put, it's going to take a considerably large tail to wag this dog.

Anemic revenue growth
Without revenue growth, a company's earnings growth potential is dampened because there's only so far cost-cutting can take profitability to new heights. Intel lowered its full-year forecast, now expecting revenue to be flat year over year, which doesn't bode well for profit growth. Analysts expect Intel to post a 12.2% decline in earnings this year and grow by 5.9% in full-year 2014, driven by a 3.9% increase in revenue. For the long-term investor, profitability growth remains a fundamental driver of shareholder returns. Will a 5.9% growth in earnings from a weak comparable be enough to drive Intel stock higher?

Best Shipping Companies To Buy For 2015: FibroGen Inc (FGEN)

FibroGen, Inc. (FibroGen) is a research-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat unmet medical needs. The Company focuses in the areas of fibrosis and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) biology. FibroGen�� products include Roxadustat (FG-4592), which is an oral small molecule inhibitor of HIF prolyl hydroxylases (HIF-PHs), in Phase III clinical development for the treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD), and FG-3019, which is a monoclonal antibody in Phase II clinical development for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), pancreatic cancer and liver fibrosis. The Company�� subsidiaries include FibroGen Europe Oy (FibroGen Europe) and FibroGen China Anemia Holdings, Ltd. (FibroGen China).

Roxadustat is the HIF-PH inhibitor in Phase III clinical development, which acts by stimulating the body�� natural pathway of erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production. Roxadustat represents a new paradigm for the treatment of anemia in CKD patients and offers injectable erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs). 1,449 subjects have participated in 26 completed Phase I and II clinical studies for roxadustat in North America, Europe and Asia. The Company, along with its collaboration partners, Astellas Pharma Inc., (Astellas) and AstraZeneca AB,(AstraZeneca), has designed a global Phase III program to support regulatory approval of roxadustat in both NDD-CKD and DD-CKD patients in multiple geographies.

FG-3019 is the Company�� fully-human monoclonal antibody that inhibits the activity of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a critical common element in the progression of fibrosis and associated diseases. In Phase II IPF clinical studies, FG-3019 demonstrated the stabilization of disease and, in human studies, reversal of lung fibrosis in some patients. In an open-label Phase II pancreatic cancer study of FG-3019 plus gemcitabine and erlotinib, FG-3019 demonstrated a dose-depen! dent improvement in one year survival rate. In 10 Phase I and Phase II clinical studies of FG-3019 to date involving over 340 subjects, FG-3019 has been tolerated across a range of doses studied, and there have been no dose-limiting toxicities observed as of November 13, 2014.

The Company competes with Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Gilead Sciences, Inc., Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc., Gilead Sciences, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Janssen Biotech, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Inc., Sanofi, Novartis and Biogen Idec.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Recent IPO�FibroGen Inc (NASDAQ: FGEN) surged 22.96% today, reportedly after the journal Hepatology published the results of a workshop between the FDA and the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) which laid out criteria for a phase three study of a treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)���meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of potential small cap or mid cap liver disease stock peers like Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: CNAT), Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ICPT) and Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp (NASDAQ: RPTP) which rose 24.35%, 10.98% and 2.02%, respectively. According to Investors Business Daily, NASH (the more serious version of fatty liver disease) is potentially an enormous market with about 6 million�US patients but the�lack of previous treatments had left it unclear how the FDA would measure success against the disease while FibroGen Inc doesn't yet have a NASH human trial in the works, it has said it hopes to start one for its lead candidate FG-3019 (its in mid-stage trials for pulmonary fibrosis and liver fibrosis due to hepatitis B infection).

Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Pacific Gas & Electric Co.(PCG)

PG&E Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility company that engages in electricity and natural gas distribution primarily in northern and central California. The company also involves in the generation, procurement, transmission, and distribution of electricity; and procurement, transportation, storage, and distribution of natural gas. It owns and operates electricity generation facilities, transmission and distribution lines, and substations; and an integrated natural gas transportation, storage, and distribution system, as well as has underground natural gas storage fields in California. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, public street and highway lighting, and other electric utility customers. As of December 31, 2009, it served approximately 5.1 million electricity distribution customers and approximately 4.3 million natural gas distribution customers. The company also operated 18,650 circuit miles of intercon nected transmission lines and 141,213 circuit miles of distribution lines for electricity; and 42,142 miles of distribution pipelines, 6,438 miles of backbone and local transmission pipelines, and 3 storage facilities for natural gas. PG&E Corporation was founded in 1905 and is based in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Richard Stavros]

  At present, when looking at the top five utilities with the largest capital expenditure programs, we found many firms were barely exceeding their cost of capital, while there were a few that weren’t. According to Bloomberg analytics, those that earned above their cost of capital were: Duke Energy Corp (NYSE: DUK) (1.32 percent), American Electric Power (1.12 percent), NextEra (0.64 percent) and Southern Company (2.94 percent), while those firms not earning their cost of capital were Dominion (-2.27 percent) and PG&E Corp (NYSE: PCG) (-0.36 percent).

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE: PCG) confirmed that it faces a possible $1.1 billion fine over the San Bruno blast. Shares lost 1.93 percent, closing at $45.70.

• [By David Dittman]

  Answer: I don’t anticipate a spate of dividend cuts. FirstEnergy Corp’s (NYSE: FE) problems were apparent last fall, when it announced 2013 Q3 numbers. We do have TECO Energy Inc (NYSE: TE) and PG&E Corp (NYSE: PCG) on the UF Dividend Watch List, though the latter is in a much more precarious position than the former.
  
  The regulatory environment is generally improving, as state and federal authorities are beginning to recognize the investment utilities have made over the past half-decade in system reliability and capacity expansion.
  
  Another key supporting dividends is a healthier US economy, which should support better power demand from commercial and industrial customers.

• [By Myra P. Saefong , Sital S. Patel]

  PCG: PG&E Corp. (PCG) �shares lost 4%. The utility said late Thursday that it expects the federal government to bring criminal charges against it over the fatal 2010 San Bruno, Calif. natural-gas transmission pipeline blast.

Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Cognex Corporation(CGNX)

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate tasks primarily in manufacturing processes. It operates in two divisions, Modular Vision Systems and Surface Inspection Systems. The Modular Vision Systems division develops, manufactures, and markets modular vision systems that are used to automate the manufacture of discrete items, such as cellular phones, aspirin bottles, and automobile wheels by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing process. The Surface Inspection Systems division develops, manufactures, and markets surface inspection vision systems that are used to inspect the surfaces of materials processed in a continuous fashion, including metals, papers, nonwoven, plastics, and glass. The company serves customers in factory automation, semiconductor and electronics capital equipment, and surface inspection markets. Cognex Corporation sells its products through direct sales force, as well as through a network of integration and distribution partners worldwide. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Shares of Cognex (NASDAQ: CGNX) got a boost, shooting up 14.94 percent to $43.45 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and issued a strong Q3 revenue outlook.

Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Con-way Inc (CNW)

Con-way Inc. (Con-way), incorporated in 1958, provides transportation, logistics and supply-chain management services for a wide range of manufacturing, industrial and retail customers. Con-way�� business units operate in regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload and full-truckload freight transportation, contract logistics and supply-chain management, multimodal freight brokerage, and trailer manufacturing. Con-way is divided into four segments: Freight, Logistics, Truckload, and Other. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Freight operated 286 freight service centers, of which 144 were owned and 142 were leased. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Freight owned and operated approximately 9,200 tractors and 26,400 trailers, including tractors held under capital lease agreements.

Freight

The Freight segment consists of the operating results of the Con-way Freight business unit. Con-way Freight is a less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carrier that utilizes a network of freight service centers to provide day-definite regional, inter-regional and transcontinental less-than-truckload freight services throughout North America. LTL carriers transport shipments from multiple shippers utilizing a network of freight service centers combined with a fleet of line-haul and pickup-and-delivery tractors and trailers. Freight is picked up from customers and consolidated for shipment at the originating service center. Freight is consolidated for transportation to the destination service centers or freight assembly centers. At Freight assembly centers, freight from various service centers can be reconsolidated for transportation to other freight assembly centers or destination service centers. From the destination service center, the freight is delivered to the customer. Typically, LTL shipments weigh between 100 and 15,000 pounds. In 2011, Con-way Freight�� average weight per shipment was 1,305 pounds.

Logistics

The Logistics segment consists of the operating results o! f the Menlo Worldwide Logistics business unit. Menlo Worldwide Logistics develops contract-logistics solutions, which can include managing complex distribution networks, and providing supply-chain engineering and consulting, and multimodal freight brokerage services. Menlo Worldwide Logistics��supply-chain management offerings are primarily related to transportation-management and contract-warehousing services. Transportation management refers to the management of asset-based carriers and third-party transportation providers for customers��inbound and outbound supply-chain needs through the use of logistics management systems to consolidate, book and track shipments. Contract warehousing refers to the optimization and operation of warehouses for customers using technology and warehouse-management systems to reduce inventory carrying costs and supply-chain cycle times. For several customers, contract-warehousing operations include light assembly or kitting operations.

Menlo Worldwide Logistics provides its services using a customer- or project-based approach when the supply-chain solution requires customer-specific transportation management, single-client warehouses, and/or single-customer technological solutions. However, Menlo Worldwide Logistics also utilizes a shared-resource, process-based approach that leverages a centralized transportation-management group, multi-client warehouses and technology to provide scalable solutions to multiple customers. Additionally, Menlo Worldwide Logistics segments its business based on customer type. At December 31, 2011, Menlo Worldwide Logistics operated 76 warehouses in North America, of which 55 were leased by Menlo Worldwide Logistics and 21 were leased or owned by clients of Menlo Worldwide Logistics. Outside of North America, Menlo Worldwide Logistics operated an additional 63 warehouses, of which 48 were leased by Menlo Worldwide Logistics and 15 were leased or owned by clients. Menlo Worldwide Logistics owns and operates a small fleet of tr! actors an! d trailers to support its operations, but primarily utilizes third-party transportation providers for the movement of customer shipments.

Truckload

The Truckload segment consists of the operating results of the Con-way Truckload business unit. Con-way Truckload is a full-truckload motor carrier that utilizes a fleet of tractors and trailers to provide short- and long-haul, asset-based transportation services throughout North America. Con-way Truckload provides dry-van transportation services to manufacturing, industrial and retail customers while using single drivers as well as two-person driver teams over long-haul routes, with each trailer containing only one customer�� goods. This origin-to-destination freight movement limits intermediate handling and is not dependent on the same network of locations utilized by LTL carriers. On average, Con-way Truckload transports shipments more than 800 miles from origin to destination. Under its regional service offering, Con-way Truckload transports truckload shipments of less than 600 miles, including local-area service for truckload shipments of less than 100 miles.

Con-way Truckload offers through-trailer service into and out of Mexico through all major gateways in Texas, Arizona and California. For a shipment with an origin or destination in Mexico, Con-way Truckload provides transportation for the domestic portion of the freight move, and a Mexican carrier provides the pick-up, linehaul and delivery services within Mexico. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Truckload operated five owned terminals with bulk fuel, tractor and trailer parking, and in some cases, equipment maintenance and washing facilities. In addition, Con-way Truckload also utilizes various drop yards for temporary trailer storage throughout the United States. At December 31, 2011, Con-way Truckload owned and operated approximately 2,700 tractors and 8,000 trailers, including tractors held under capital lease agreements.

Other

! The Other! reporting segment consists of the operating results of Road Systems, a trailer manufacturer, and certain corporate activities for which the related income or expense has not been allocated to other reporting segments, including results related to corporate re-insurance activities and corporate properties. Road Systems primarily manufactures and refurbishes trailers for Con-way Freight and Con-way Truckload.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Heartland Express have gained 50% this year, trumping the 38% rise in Con-Way (CNW) and the 29% advance in J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) but lagging Old Dominion Freight Lines (ODFL) and Swift Transportation (SWFT).

• [By Rich Smith]

  Con-Way (NYSE: CNW  ) announced that after polling its drivers for feedback on various truck manufacturers and models, it has decided to refresh its truck fleet with 525 new tractors -- 325 Kenworth T680s from Paccar, and another 200 Navistar ProStars.

• [By John Kell]

  Con-way Inc.(CNW) issued a weaker-than-expected profit outlook for the fourth quarter after the trucking company encountered challenges at its Con-way Freight and Menlo Worldwide Logistics operations. The company’s shares declined 6.1% to $38.89 premarket.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Navistar hasn't been entirely locked out of the trucking market, though. The company won several contracts from the Defense Department in support of its military vehicles, including its MaxxPro mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored vehicle. On the commercial front, Navistar won part of an order in May from trucking company Con-Way (NYSE: CNW  ) , which purchased 200 ProStar vehicles from the company. Still, the fact that rival Paccar (NASDAQ: PCAR  ) got an even bigger portion of the Con-Way order is just one more sign of the ongoing struggles Navistar faces.

Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Invest In Right Now: (VIAB)

Viacom Inc. operates as an entertainment content company in the United States and internationally. The company connects with audiences through compelling content on television, motion picture, Internet, and mobile platforms through various entertainment brands. It operates in two segments, Media Networks and Filmed Entertainment. The Media Networks segment provides entertainment content and related branded products to advertisers, content distributors, and retailers across various distribution platforms, such as television, Internet, and mobile devices; and through various consumer products. Its MTV Networks operates approximately 160 channels and multiplatform properties, which include MTV, VH1, CMT, PalladiaHD, Logo, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick at Nite, Atom, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV Land, Spike TV, Tr3s, BET, and CENTRIC, as well as a casual games business that includes Web sites, such as AddictingGames.com and Shockwave.com. This segment also op erates BET Networks, which provide entertainment, music, news, and public affairs programming to the African-American audience and consumers of Black culture; and BET channel, CENTRIC, BET Gospel, and BET Hip Hop. The Filmed Entertainment segment produces, finances, and distributes motion pictures and other entertainment content under the Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies brands. This segment also acquires films for distribution and has a presence in the games business; and also distributes motion pictures and other entertainment content on DVD and Blu-ray, video-on-demand, subscription video-on-demand, pay and basic cable television, broadcast television, and syndicated television platforms. It has a library of approximately 3,300 motion pictures and television programs. The company is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Adam Levine-Weinberg and Isaac Pino, CPA]

  Furthermore, Netflix has recently been growing its library of original content, to differentiate itself from other streaming video services. For example, after Netflix lost the rights to a variety of children's shows from Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB  ) , it struck back by signing a deal for several original children's series from DreamWorks Animation (NASDAQ: DWA  ) . However, these original series tend to be even more expensive than the content they replace.

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB) reported weaker-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings.

  The New York-based company posted quarterly earnings of $610 million, or $1.40 per share, versus $643 million, or $1.31 per share, in the year-ago period. Its adjusted earnings per share rose 10% to $1.42, missing analysts’ estimates of $1.44 per share.

Best Healthcare Equipment Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Lonestar Resources Ltd (LNR)

Lonestar Resources Limited is an Australia-based independent oil and gas company involved in exploration, production, and acquisition of oil and gas reserves in the United States. The Company�� operations are focused onshore with primary activity in the Fort Worth Basin (Barnett Shale), Eagle Ford Shale, and the Williston Basin in Montana. The Company is active in sourcing other assets in producing areas. The Company�� Eagle Ford Shale portfolio comprises three separate assets: Beall Ranch, Asherton and Gonzo. The Company�� operations in the Williston Basin are focused on the Roosevelt County, Montana. The Company owns and operates a single lease in the Barnett Shale, a gas producing basin in North Texas. On January 2, 2013, the Company acquired Ecofin Energy Resources plc. In August 2013, the Company announced that it has sold its producing assets outside the state of Texas for its Louisiana assets and for its Oklahoma assets. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Linamar Corp. (LNR) soared 14 percent to a record C$40.72 for the biggest gain in the S&P/TSX. The Guelph, Ontario-based auto parts maker reported third-quarter adjusted profit of 80 Canadian cents a share, topping analysts��projections for 66 cents.