Top 5 Income Companies To Watch For 2014

Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.

Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.

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 Ultimate Software Group (Nasdaq: ULTI  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Best Undervalued Stocks To Invest In Right Now: PCM Fund Inc (PCM)

PCM Fund, Inc. (the Fund), formerly PIMCO Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust, Inc., is a non-diversified, closed-end bond fund. The Fund's primary investment objective is to achieve current income by investing in a portfolio comprising primarily commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). These securities are fixed-income instruments representing an interest in mortgage loans on commercial real estate properties, such as office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, apartment buildings, nursing homes and industrial properties.

Capital gains from the disposition of investments are a secondary objective of the Fund. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing under normal circumstances at least 80% of its net assets plus the amount of borrowings for investment purposes in CMBS. Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO) is the Fund's investment manager.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sally Jones]

  Founded in 1986 by the legendary investor Bill Miller, Private Capital Management (PCM) is now owned by portfolio manager and CEO, Gregg Powers. He is widely-known for his research skill and has been a key driver at PCM since 1988.

Top 5 Income Companies To Watch For 2014: Prana Biotechnology Ltd (PRAN)

Prana Biotechnology Limited engages in the research and development of therapeutic drugs for the treatment of neurological disorders in Australia. The company primarily focuses on the Alzheimer�s, Parkinson�s, and Huntington�s diseases, as well as various cancer, age-related macular degeneration and cataract, Motor Neuron, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases. Its development stage product line comprises PBT2, a Phase IIb clinical trial product for the treatment of Alzheimer�s disease; and PBT2, a Phase IIa clinical trial product for the treatment of Huntington�s disease. The company was formerly known as Prana Corporation Ltd. and changed its name to Prana Biotechnology Limited in January 2000. Prana Biotechnology Limited was founded in 1997 and is based in Parkville, Australia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

   

   

  Another under-$10 biotechnology player that's starting to trend within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Prana Biotechnology (PRAN), which researches and develops therapeutic drugs for the treatment of neurological disorders in Australia. This stock has been crushed by the bears so far in 2014, with shares off huge by 69%.

   

  If you look at the chart for Prana Biotechnology, you'll notice that this stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $1.90 to $2 a share right above its 50-day moving average of $1.84 a share. Shares of PRAN have been consolidating and moving sideways above its 50-day for the last few weeks. This stock is now starting to spike higher today right above those near-term support levels, and it's quickly pushing within range of triggering a major breakout trade above some key overhead resistance levels.

   

  Market players should now look for long-biased trades in PRAN if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $2.22 to $2.35 a share and then above some past overhead resistance at $2.47 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.98 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then PRAN will set up to re-test or possibly take out its gap-down-day high from April at $3.24 a share. Any high-volume move above that level will then give PRAN a chance to re-fill some of its previous gap-down-day zone that started at $10.30 a share.

  Traders can look to buy PRAN off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits just below its 50-day moving average of $1.84 a share. One can also buy PRAN off strength once it starts to move above those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

   

• [By John Udovich]

  The biotech sector has been pretty exciting this year�with small cap biotech stocks Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ: PRAN) and TNI BioTech (OTCMKTS: TNIB) having recently produced noteworthy news for investors�while Acceleron Pharma, Inc (NASDAQ: XLRN), Ophthotech (NASDAQ: OPHT) and BIND Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BIND) have just�set term sheets for their upcoming IPOs. Just consider all of the following recent news:

Top 5 Income Companies To Watch For 2014: Sanofi(SNY)

sanofi-aventis engages in the discovery, development, and distribution of therapeutic solutions to improve the lives of everyone. The company offers a range of healthcare assets, including a broad-based product portfolio in prescription drugs, OTC/OTX, generics, vaccines, and animal health. It has a strategic alliance with Regulus Therapeutics Inc. to discover, develop, and commercialize micro-RNA therapeutics, initially in fibrosis. The company was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Kline]

  While Netflix has had success making its shows feel like events, other networks have struggled to gain attention for theirs. Amazon, for example, has gotten a little notice for its Alpha House series thanks to star John Goodman and creator Garry Trudeau (of Doonesbury fame), but its other comedy series,�Betas, has mostly gone unnoticed. Yahoo! is also entering a crowded field that's about to get even more crowded as Microsoft� (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) has announced plans for at least six original series for its Xbox One platform and Sony (NYSE: SNY  ) �is launching at least one show on its PlayStation Network, Bloomberg reported.

• [By EXPstocktrader]

  "Questcor Pharmaceuticals is a healthcare name that deserves to be on this list, as it generates some of the highest takeover talk on a day-to-day basis of any name today. Benzinga reported earlier this week that there was unconfirmed chatter of interest from Sanofi (SNY), and although it's been linked to some other names, the latest talk has had the strongest legs. Shares of Questcor are up almost 5% in the past week and 28% over the past three months.

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  So how can you play this trend? The iShares MSCI France ETF (EWQ) is one way, via a diversified fund that owns some of the biggest names in France. There�� also oil giant Total (TOT), which is headquartered in France but has a global flavor, as well as French healthcare giant Sanofi (SNY)

Top 5 Income Companies To Watch For 2014: Discovery Laboratories Inc.(DSCO)

Discovery Laboratories, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on developing products for the treatment of respiratory disease. The company?s product pipeline includes Surfaxin, a synthetic, peptide-containing surfactant that has completed Phase-III pivotal trial for the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature infants; Surfaxin LS, a lyophilized dosage form of Surfaxin in Phase-III clinical trials, which enhances ease of use for healthcare practitioners; and AEROSURF, a drug-device combination product that has completed first pilot Phase II clinical study of aerosolized KL4 surfactant for the prevention of RDS in premature infants. It has license agreements with Philip Morris USA Inc.; Philip Morris Products S.A.; Johnson & Johnson; and Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation for its capillary aerosolization and KL4 surfactant technologies. The company also has a strategic alliance with Laboratorios del Dr. Esteve, S.A. for the development, marketing, and sale of a portfolio of potential KL4 surfactant products in Andorra, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Discovery Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Warrington, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Williamson]

  In this video, Fool health-care analyst David Williamson discusses Discovery Labs (NASDAQ: DSCO  ) , as it struggles with yet another delay to its drug Surfaxin. Shares are down 15% on news that the FDA has requested Surfaxin product specifications and a new analytical chemistry method. It took the company an unbelievable five attempts to finally get this drug approved a year ago. David tells investors when they might expect the delays to end, and what the key things to watch with Discovery Labs will be in the meantime, as the company continues to lose out on sales and burn cash.