Top Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014

It's pretty easy to win an election if nobody's running against you.

Unfortunately for investors, this strategy dominates corporate board elections, in which insiders have almost complete control over who serves on their boards.

Who gets to choose?
At most public companies, shareholders have very little say over who serves on the board of directors. Prospective directors are almost all nominated by company insiders and compete in uncontested elections. Within this structure, shareholders have to dump money into an expensive proxy contest if they wish to put up competing candidates. Alternatively, they can express disapproval for the existing candidates by withholding votes and hoping the shunned directors will be replaced by better candidates.

But in uncontested elections, directors may not leave even when the majority of shareholders refuse to vote for them. For example, Cablevision refused to get rid of directors Thomas V. Reifenheiser, John R. Ryan, and Vincent S. Tese when they failed to receive majority support in the company's 2010 and 2012 elections. Worse, Cablevision renominated the shunned directors yet again in 2013.

Top 5 Services Companies For 2015: iShares Russell 3000 Index Fund (IWV)

iShares Russell 3000 Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 3000 Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the United States equity market. The Index serves as the underlying index for Russell 3000 Growth and Value Series, and the Russell 1000 and Russell 2000 Indexes, as well as their respective Growth and Value series. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index and consists of the 3000 largest companies domiciled in the United States and its territories.

The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. iShares Russell 3000 Index Fund's investment advisor is Barclays Global Fund Advisors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Maxfield]

  Over the past five years, this ETF has beaten the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) by 23 percentage points. It's outperformed the Russell 3000 (NYSEMKT: IWV  ) by 21 percentage points. And it's done the same to the eponymous S&P 500, exceeding it by 11 percentage points.

Top Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014: NIC Inc. (EGOV)

NIC Inc. provides eGovernment services that enable governments use the Internet to provide various services to businesses and citizens in the United States. It operates in two segments, Portal Outsourcing, and Software and Services. The Portal Outsourcing segment enters into long-term contracts with governments to design, build, and operate Web-based enterprise-wide portals on their behalf. These portals consist of Web sites and applications that enable businesses and citizens to access government information online and complete transactions, including applying for a permit, retrieving driver?s history records, and filing a government-mandated form or report. The Software and Services segment involves in the software development and services to state and local governments, and federal agencies; development and management of the national motor carrier pre-employment screening program; design and development of online campaign expenditure and ethics compliance systems for fe deral and state government agencies; and provision of software applications and services for electronic filings and document management for the California Secretary of State. It also provides consulting, application development, and portal management services to governments. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Olathe, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael A. Robinson]

  Indeed, NIC Inc. (Nasdaq: EGOV) is an expert at building government websites that operate flawlessly. It counts 3,500 government agencies as e-government clients.

• [By CRWE]

  NIC Inc.(NASDAQ:EGOV), the nation�� premier provider of eGovernment services, will discuss its 2012 second quarter financial results via a conference call on Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. (EDT), with the news release issued at 4 p.m. (EDT) the same day.

Top Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014: Badger Daylighting Ltd (BAD)

Badger Daylighting Ltd. and its subsidiaries (Badger) provide non-destructive excavating services to the utility, transportation, industrial, engineering, construction and petroleum industries in Canada and the United States. Its key technology is the Badger Hydrovac excavator, which is used primarily for digging trenches in congested grounds. The Company�� excavation services include daylighting and potholing, slot trenching, debris removal and cleanups, maintenance and installation service pits, poles and piling holes and trench shoring/shoring. Badger slot trenching provides a non-destructive method of digging trenches for water lines, wiring and pipeline installations or excavations. Its applications include pipeline tie-ins, investigative slot trenching, installation slot trenching, drain tile trenching and line fault repairs. In November 2013, the Company acquired the business and operating assets of Fieldtek Holdings Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kim Hjelmgaard]

  There have been some good (read: bad) predictions over the years.

  Before the 2013 forum, DealBook's Andrew Ross Sorkin recalled that in 2003 the serial Davos attendee, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, said of Google: "These Google guys (co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin), they want to be billionaires and rock stars and go to conferences and all that. Let us see if they still want to run the business in two to three years."

Top Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014: Brookline Bancorp Inc.(BRKL)

Brookline Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Brookline Bank, Bank Rhode Island, and The First National Bank of Ipswich, which provide commercial and retail banking services, and cash management and investment services to customers in Central New England. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest-bearing checking accounts, interest-bearing NOW accounts, savings accounts and money market savings accounts, certificate of deposit accounts, individual retirement accounts, and other qualified plan accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises first mortgage loans secured by commercial, multi-family, and residential real estate properties; auto loans; loans to business entities consisting of commercial lines of credit; and loans to condominium associations, as well as loans for financing equipment used by small businesses. Brookline Bancorp, Inc. also provides financing for construction and development projects, home equity, and other consumer l oans; and loans to finance coin-operated laundry, dry cleaning, and convenience store equipment and businesses. As of January 25, 2012, it operated 43 branches in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The company was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Memberships and Peers: PBCT is a member of the S&P 500 and a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers��Index. The company's peer group includes: Bank of America Corporation (BAC) with a 0.3% yield, Brookline Bancorp, Inc. (BRKL) with a 3.7% yield and Westfield Financial Inc. (WFD) with a 3.5% yield.

• [By CRWE]

  Brookline Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRKL) announced today that it will report third quarter earnings 2012 at the close of business Wednesday, October 24, 2012. Management will host a conference call to review this information at 1:30 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, October 25, 2012.

Top Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014: Coinstar Inc.(CSTR)

Coinstar, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides automated retail solutions primarily in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The company owns and operates self-service Redbox kiosks that enable consumers to rent or purchase movies and video games; and self-service coin-counting kiosks where consumers can convert their coin to cash, a gift card, or an E-certificate. It also engages in identifying, evaluating, building, and developing new self-service concepts in the automated retail space, which includes coffee, refurbished electronics, and photo self-service concepts. As of December 31, 2011, the company had 35,400 Redbox kiosks in 29,300 locations and 20,200 coin-counting kiosks in 19,900 locations primarily in supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants, financial institutions, convenience stores, and restaurants. Coinstar, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Canadian Value]

  Position % of Fund Assets 1) First American Financial Corp. (FAF) 7.0% 2) Apple, Inc. (AAPL) 6.5% 3) Coinstar, Inc. (CSTR) 4.8% 4) EMC Corp. (EMC) 4.4% 5) Coach, Inc. (COH) 4.4% 6) Kohl's Corp. (KSS) 4.1% 7) Blucora, Inc. (BCOR) 4.0% 8) Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) 3.1% 9) OM Group, Inc. (OMG) 3.0% 10) American International Group, Inc. (AIG) 2.8% TOTAL 44.1% One area that we believe still offers some value in the market is in high quality, large��ap technology stocks that may be momentarily out��f��avor as they transition from rapid growth to slower growth. In particular, we become interested when that transition is also accompanied by a change in capital allocation policies designed to return more cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. We believe that Apple and EMC are two of the absolute highest quality technology businesses in the world and both have recently announced very material, shareholder��friendly changes to how they will allocate capital.

Top Sliver Stocks To Own For 2014: Societe B I C SA (BB)

Societe B I C SA is a France-based company specialized in the manufacturing of stationery products, lighters and shavers. The Company's portfolio of trademark brands belong: BIC, Sheaffer, BIC Kids, Wite-out, Pimaco and Tipp-ex, among others. Channels of distribution include stationery stores, office product companies, mass-merchandisers, convenience stores, wholesalers and cash and carry outlets. It operates worldwide through numerous subsidiaries in Europe, Middle East, Africa Northern America, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. In addition, the Company provides, via BIC Graphic and Norwood PP, advertising and promotional products for marketing purposes to companies around the world, as well as a range of windsurfing boards, kayaks and others, under the brand BIC Sport. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI/B) and Telus Corp. advanced at least 5.5 percent as telephone stocks surged the most in more than four years. Teck Resources Ltd. and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. added more than 1.7 percent as the price of copper climbed on signs of improving growth in China and the U.S. BlackBerry Ltd. (BB), which is weighing a sale, increased 1 percent after Microsoft Corp. agreed to acquire Nokia Oyj�� handset business.