5 Best Tech Stocks To Watch For 2014

Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC  ) is helping the U.S. Navy develop its next-generation laser gun.

On Tuesday, Northrop announced that it has been awarded a Navy R&D contract to help "mature" solid state laser technology for use in shipboard defense. If testing bears fruit, the Navy ultimately hopes to build a prototype laser weapon system to test its usefulness aboard warships. The value of Tuesday's contract award was not disclosed.

Northrop has already worked on similar laser gun projects for the Navy, helping to demo the first-ever high-energy laser�fired at sea in the 2011 Maritime Laser Demonstration. It was also involved in the Laser Weapon Test demonstration that made headlines last month, and it played an integral part in the Air Force's Airborne Laser program several years ago, before the ABL program was canceled.

The challenge for Northrop now will be to progress past R&D work and demonstration projects to -- as Steve Hixon, the company's vice president for directed energy at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, puts it -- "help the Navy mature the weapon system for use by sailors in the real world."�

Top 5 Integrated Utility Companies To Invest In Right Now: Zoom Technologies Inc (ZOOM)

Zoom Technologies, Inc. (Zoom), incorporated on February 29, 2002, is engaged in design, production, marketing, sales, and support of broadband and dial-up modems, voice over Internet Protocol or (VoIP) products and services, Bluetooth wireless products, and other communication-related products. The Company through its wholly owned holding-company subsidiary, Gold Lion Holding Limited (Gold Lion) is the owner of 100% of Profit Harvest Corporation Ltd. (Profit Harvest) and through Gold Lion's wholly owned subsidiary, Jiangsu Leimone Electronics Co., Ltd. (Jiangsu Leimone) is the owner of 80% of Tianjin Tong Guang Group Digital Communication Co., Ltd. (TCB Digital). The Company through its subsidiaries is engaged in manufacturing, research and development, and sales of electronic and telecommunication products for the latest generation mobile phones, wireless communication circuitry, and related software products. On January 4, 2011, the Company acquired 100% ownership of Celestial Digital Entertainment, Ltd., (CDE). During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company acquired 55% of Portables.

TCB Digital is engaged in electronic and telecommunication product design, development, and manufacturing for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) customers and for its own products under the brand name of Leimone. The Company offers electronic manufacturing service (EMS) to both domestic and global customers including Samsung, Beijing Tianyu Langtong, CECT, Danahar and Spreadtrum. Its primary products include mobile phones, wireless telecommunication modules, digital cameras, cable television (TV) set-top boxes and global positioning system ( GPS) equipment.

The Company has developed mobile phones and Smartphones based on both of the main network technologies: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and beginning in 2010 also 3G CDMA2000 capable products. As of December 31, 2011, the Company markets its mobile phone products through di! stributors in China and also supplies GSM, CDMA and 3G CDMA2000 mobile phones to customers, including one of China's main mobile operators, China Telecom. The Company through its Portables subsidiary operates a wholesale distributor business for T-Mobile products and services in the United States. The Company also has the right to sell branded mobile handsets including those carrying the Zoom brand name and related peripherals in the retail stores managed by Portables under the agreement with T-Mobile.

The Company competes with Bird Ningbo Co., Ltd, Haier Telecom Co. Ltd., Konka Group Co., Ltd, Lenovo Group Limited, TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited, LG Electronics Ltd., Motorola Inc., Nokia Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (China) Co., Ltd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Shares of Zoom Technologies Inc.(ZOOM) soared� 37% to $5.90 after the Chinese mobile and telecommunications investor inked an all-stock deal to acquire an online business travel provider.

5 Best Tech Stocks To Watch For 2014: Acorn Energy Inc.(ACFN)

Acorn Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides technology driven solutions for energy infrastructure asset management worldwide. It offers sonar and acoustic related solutions for energy, defense, and commercial markets with a focus on underwater site security for strategic energy installations and other acoustic systems, as well as develops and produces real-time embedded hardware and software. The company also develops and markets remote monitoring systems to electric utilities and industrial facilities, which are used in a range of utility applications, including outage management, power quality monitoring, system planning, trouble shooting and proactive maintenance, and condition monitoring; and provides the intelligence to transmission and distribution network operators. In addition, it develops and produces fiber optic sensing systems for the energy, commercial security, and defense markets. The company?s patented ultra-high sensitivity fiber optic sensors a re designed to replace electronic sensors with fiber optic sensors. Further, it engages in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sale of wireless remote systems that monitor standby power generation, backup power generators, remote powered equipment, cellular towers, emergency towered communications, and remote tower sites; cathodic protection products to monitor pipeline integrity; and other wireless remote systems. Acorn Energy, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is based in Montchanin, Delaware.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  A technology stock that's starting to move within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Acorn Energy (ACFN), which provides digital solutions for energy infrastructure asset management. This stock has been hit hard by the sellers in 2013, with shares off sharply by 48%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Acorn Energy, you'll notice that this stock has started to spike higher here back above its 50-day moving average of $3.66 a share. This stock has also found significant buying interest over the last two months, each time it has pulled back to around $3.50 to $3.20 a share. Shares of ACFN are now quickly moving within range of triggering a big breakout trade above some key near-term overhead resistance levels.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ACFN if it manages to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $4.24 to $4.64 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 344,835 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then ACFN will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $5.50 to $6 a share. Any high-volume move above $6 will then put its next major overhead resistance levels at its 200-day moving average of $6.35 to $6.68 a share into range for shares of ACFN.

  Traders can look to buy ACFN off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below its 50-day at $3.66 a share, or right around some major support at $3.21 a share. One could also buy ACFN off strength once it starts to clear those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Neither Acorn Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:ACFN) nor Cardica, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRDC) may look all that compelling with just a passing glance. The longer one examines CRDC and ACFN, however - and really gets a grasp of their underlying stories - the more compelling each one becomes. In fact, newcomers may want to go ahead and put both budding stocks on their watchlists, if not in their portfolios.

5 Best Tech Stocks To Watch For 2014: NetApp Inc.(NTAP)

NetApp, Inc. engages in the design, manufacturing, marketing, and technical support of networked storage solutions. It supplies enterprise storage and data management software, and hardware products and services. The company offers Data ONTAP, an operating system that supports storage area network (SAN) and network-attached storage (NAS) environments; storage efficiency technologies, including FlexVol, FlexClone, and Deduplication technologies; storage management and application integration software, such as OnCommand management software; fabric-attached storage unified storage systems, which support a range of data for users on various platforms; and virtual storage tier; V-Series network-based virtualization solutions that provide SAN and NAS access to the data stored in heterogeneous storage arrays. It also provides data protection software products, including Snapshot, SnapRestore, SnapVault, and Open Systems SnapVault techologies; MetroCluster products; and SnapMirror data replication solution. In addition, the company offers data retention and archive products, and Flash Cache modules; and storage security products for data security and key management in IP SAN, NAS, and tape backup environments; StorageGRID that enables intelligent data management and secure content retention; and professional services, global support solutions, and customer education and training. It serves energy, financial services, government, high technology, Internet, life sciences and healthcare services, manufacturing, media, entertainment, animation and video postproduction, and telecommunications industries. It offers its products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company was formerly known as Network Appliance, Inc. and changed its name to NetApp, Inc. in March 2008. NetApp, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sally Jones] ng>Predictability: 4 out of 5 Stars

  Up 45% over 12 months, NetApp Inc. has a market cap of $13.24 billion; its shares were traded at around $38.93 with a P/E ratio of 27.20. The dividend yield is 0.80%.

  Incorporated in 1992, NetApp Inc. provides data storage systems and data management solutions that form the foundation for efficient and flexible IT infrastructures. The company�� storage systems help customers streamline operations and lower the cost associated with storing and managing data.

  The company reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2014 ended July 26, 2013, with revenue of $1.5 billion, up 5% from the same fiscal quarter a year ago. The company had quarterly net income of $82 million (GAAP), compared to $64 million in the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share were reported at $0.23 for the fiscal quarter, up from $0.17 per share, for the same quarter a year ago. The company balance sheet shows $5.084 billion of cash, cash equivalents and investments, at the end of the first fiscal quarter of 2014.

  In a company press release, president and CEO of NetApp Inc., Tom Georgens, commented on his company�� performance: "NetApp delivered solid results and innovation with the latest release to our clustered Data ONTAP庐 operating system despite an uneven macro environment, our branded business was strong, with 9% year-over-year growth. This is evidence of the tremendous value we are delivering to customers today and their confidence in our long-term strategy to enable them to navigate the future."

  Regarding guidance for the second quarter of fiscal year 2014, the company expects total revenue in the range of $1.560 billion to $1.660 billion, with EPS in the range of $0.41 to $0.46 per share (GAAP).

  Guru Action: As of June 30, 2013, David Tepper reduced his position by 10.45%, selling 74,732 shares at an average price of $36.24, for a gain of 7.4%.

  Buying 900,399 shares at an average pri

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a former high-flyer in the broad storage sector, but this stock is just now confirming more of a story of the death of growth. This does not even sound company-specific if you read the release. At less than 13 times forward earnings, NetApp sure sounds like just another value stock among former great growth stories in the technology and storage sectors.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) is the only hardware stock to be a top pick. The company commands a 14.9% market share in terms of revenue in the total data storage market, and it derives around 60% of its total revenue from its network attached storage segment. The virtual storage market is a pot of gold valued at $10 billion currently, with NetApp being one of the known players in this market. Deutsche Bank has placed a $50 target on the stock. The consensus stands at $45. Investors are paid a 1.4% dividend.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Network storage specialist NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP  ) , meanwhile, jumped 22%. The company recently initiated a dividend, and it's yielding 1.6% these days. Some have sent the shares up on hopes that an activist investor might help the company's prospects, but the stock is also significantly shorted. NetApp announced layoffs and boosted its share buyback plans ��though buybacks are often regrettable. The company recently posted disappointing revenue numbers, but it still looks attractive to some, in part due to strong free cash flow. Some also wonder whether NetApp might end up acquired by another major data player, such as Oracle.

5 Best Tech Stocks 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]

  This week's winner
  It certainly wasn't a great week for the broad-based S&P 500, which dipped 2.4% over the past five trading sessions. That didn't seem to matter much to network equipment manufacturer QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC  ) , which added on 3.7% this week following a restructuring plan announcement on Tuesday. The company's plan involves job cuts and streamlining its operations in order to save $20 million annually. Although it'll incur some negative impact on its GAAP earnings in the interim, I highly doubt this changes the long-term outlook or consistent profitability that drew me to own QLogic in the first place.

• [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.