10 Best Safest Stocks For 2014

Food industry is one of the safest options to invest in since food can never be out of vogue. Moreover, even snack making industry is quite a lucrative one with some of the prominent players being Kellogg (K), Mondelez International (MDLZ) and J&J Snack Foods (JJSF). However, it is important to understand which among these will be the best pick for any investor.

Stock price comparison of industry players

When stock price performance is compared for all the three players, J&J Snack Foods proves to be the best performer, providing the highest return to its investors.

With a stock price appreciation of 28.6%, J&J has outpaced its peers. Mondelez, too, has performed well with a return of 10.2% in the last one year. The company has not been able to live up to investors' expectations in its last quarter, missing on the top line estimates. This is mainly because of decrease in coffee prices, which hampered the retailer's sales. Also, it has been witnessing lower demand for gum in the developing nations. However, coffee prices are expected to increase in the future, which should lead to higher revenue.

Top Safest Stocks To Watch Right Now: Cvent Inc (CVT)

Cvent, Inc., incorporated on August 20, 1999, is a cloud-based enterprise event management platform. The Company offers an integrated cloud-based software platform that addresses the lifecycle of events and meetings. It provides solutions for both sides of the events and meetings value chain, which include event and meeting planners, and hotels and venues. Its integrated, cloud-based solution addresses the entire event lifecycle by allowing event and meeting planners to organize, market and manage their meetings, conferences, tradeshows and other events. The Company�� online marketplace connects event planners and venues through its vertical search engine that accesses its database of detailed hotel and venue information. It offers six product categories: event management software, strategic meetings management (SMM) software, mobile event apps, pre- and post-event Web surveys, ticketing software and the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN).

The Company offers planners a platform that addresses the lifecycle of events and meetings, including budgeting, planning, venue sourcing, marketing, management and measurement of meetings. The combination of these solutions creates an integrated platform that allows the Company to generate revenue from both sides of the events and meetings value chain. Through the CSN, the Company has created an online marketplace to connect hotels and venues with enterprise event and meeting planners. The Company�� online marketplace, the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN), connects tens of thousands of event and meeting planners seeking the venue for their event with more than 200,000 venues featured in its database.

The Company�� solutions include online event registration; event marketing; budgeting and project management; event logistics and integrations; measurement and reporting, and training and support. Its event marketing solution provides e-marketing tools that allow planners integrate their event marketing and communication process wit! h registration. The Company�� budgeting and project management includes a project management suite that allows for assignment and tracking of event planning tasks. The Company�� event logistics and integrations solution includes tools for table and seating management, name badge and certificate creation, resource and space allocation, speaker management, appointment scheduling, continuing education credit tracking, onsite registration and check-in functionality. Its measurement and reporting platform measures aspects of the event management process. The Company provides training and support to its event management subscription customers, which is available through phone, e-mail and the Internet during the subscription period.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt Jarzemsky]

  The deal by the data-analysis software maker follows well-received offerings by software makers Workday Inc.(WDAY) and Cvent Inc.(CVT) last week, suggesting investor interest in cloud computing and ��ig data��analysis remain high. Those deals bucked the broader market�� sluggish tone, with indexes little changed out of the gate this year and many strategists predicting muted returns after 2013�� rally.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Cvent Inc. (NYSE: CVT) was started as Buy with a $41 price target at Stifel Nicolaus, started as Outperform with a $40 price target at Pacific Crest and started as Buy with a $42 price target at Needham & Company. Shares are up about 1.5% at $36.15

10 Best Safest Stocks For 2014: Euromedis Groupe SA (EMG)

Euromedis Groupe SA is a France-based company that specializes in the design, manufacture, distribution, rental and export of medical and surgical equipment and products, and services for medical home care for hospitals, clinics, retirement homes, physicians, pharmacies, and individuals. The Company's product portfolio include products, such as syringes and needles; surgical equipment, such as catheters, instrumentation and compresses; gloves; hygiene products, comprising disposable clothing, masks and paper towel products, and pharmaceutical equipment, offering cotton wool and thermometers. Euromedis Groupe SA exports its products to Europe and Africa. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Man Group Plc (EMG) advanced 3.6 percent to 85.85 pence. The world�� largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager posted its first quarterly net inflows in two years as clients added money to funds at its GLG Partners unit. Sales of Man Group�� funds totaled $4.1 billion in the third quarter, exceeding $3.4 billion of redemptions.

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Commodity producers increased as base metals rallied, with BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the largest mining company, climbing 3.7 percent. Man Group (EMG) Plc soared 13 percent on a plan to redeem debt. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc dropped by the most in two months after Britain�� biggest state-owned lender reported operating profit that fell short of analysts��estimates.

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Man Group Plc (EMG) jumped 6.8 percent to 104.3 pence. The world�� largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager said it no longer needs to hold a $300 million capital buffer after it confirmed with the U.K.�� Financial Conduct Authority a change in the company�� regulatory status.

10 Best Safest Stocks For 2014: Northwest Pipe Company (NWPX)

Northwest Pipe Company manufactures and markets large-diameter, high-pressure steel pipeline systems for use in water infrastructure applications, primarily related to drinking water systems. Its pipeline systems are also used for hydroelectric power systems, wastewater systems, and other applications. The company also manufactures smaller diameter, electric resistance welded steel pipes and other welded steel pipe products for use in a range of applications, including energy, construction, agriculture, industrial, and traffic signpost systems. In addition, it manufactures products for various structural piling applications and in-plant pipeline systems for power plants and other industrial applications. The company sells its water transmission products to public water agencies directly or through installation contractors; and tubular products to distributors and original equipment manufacturers through a network of direct sales force personnel and sales agents in the Unit ed States and Canada. Northwest Pipe Company was founded in 1966 and is based in Vancouver, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  Enter Northwest Pipe (NWPX).

  NWPX is the leading supplier of high-pressure steel pipe used in wastewater, hydroelectric power and potable drinking water applications. While Northwest�� steel pipes are more expensive to install and use than similar concrete ones, water authorities in dryer climates prefer them as they have zero evaporation rises.

10 Best Safest Stocks For 2014: Dolby Laboratories Inc (DLB)

Dolby Laboratories, Inc., incorporated in 1967, develops and delivers products and technologies that are used in the entertainment industry. Its audio technologies are used throughout the global entertainment industry. It is developing and marketing video technologies to improve the quality of video presentation. Its offerings include video products aimed at the cinema market, such as its digital cinema server, its Dolby three-dimensional (3D) Digital Cinema products, and its Dolby PRM-4200 Professional Reference Monitor. It offers products and services to content creators, such as studios, broadcasters, and downloadable content service providers to encode content using Dolby�� technologies. As of September 24, 2010, the Company sold its products and provide services in over 85 countries. In addition, it has licensed its technologies to CE manufacturers and to software vendors in 40 countries, which in turn distribute their products incorporating its technologies throughout the world.

The Company designs and manufactures video and audio products for the film production, cinema, and television broadcast industries. Distributed in over 60 countries, these products are used in content creation, distribution and playback to improve image and sound quality, provide surround sound, and increase the efficiency of sound storage and distribution. Its product sales are derived from sales of its digital 3D products, which provide 3D capabilities, as well as sales of digital cinema servers that load, store, decrypt, and decode encrypted digital film files for presentation on digital projectors in theaters. Revenue is also derived from sales of its traditional cinema processors, which movie theaters use to process film soundtracks, and from sales of broadcast products used to encode and distribute content to viewers. It also offers related digital cinema processors and media adapters to decode digital cinema soundtracks, and digital cinema accessories that allow exhibitors to integrate its digital ! cinema servers with their existing automation systems.

The Company offers a variety of services to support film production, television broadcast and music production. The Company enters into service agreements with motion picture studios or filmmakers to provide them with production services related to the preparation of a Dolby soundtrack, such as equipment calibration, mixing room alignment and equalization. Dolby provides other services, such as print quality control, professional film mastering services to prepare movies for digital release, and theatre system calibration for important screenings, such as premieres, film festivals, and press screenings. Its engineers also provide training, system design consultation and onsite technical expertise to cinema operators throughout the world to help them configure their screening rooms and equipment to ensure that movies are replayed with consistent high quality.

The Company�� technologies include dolby digital, dolby digital plus, dolby digital surround EX, dolby digital EX, advanced audio coding (AAC), HE AAC, dolby pulse, dolby trueHD, dolby E, dolby digital live, dolby pro logic II, dolby pro logic II(x), dolby pro logic IIz, dolby virtual speaker, dolby headphone, dolby mobile, dolby axon, PC entertainment experience (PCEE), dolby digital stereo creator, dolby digital 5.1 creator, dolby volume, dolby contrast, dolby vision and analog signal processing technologies. Its products include traditional cinema processors, digital cinema products, digital 3D products, digital media adapters, broadcast products and professional reference monitor.

Traditional cinema processors are used to read, decode and play back a film�� soundtrack and calibrate the sound system in a movie theater. Digital cinema products are used for digital cinema encoding, distribution and playback. Our digital cinema server is used to load, store, decrypt, decode and re-encrypt digital film files for presentation on a digital cinema project! or. We al! so provide products that encrypt, encode and package digital films, and digital cinema processors to decode digital cinema soundtracks. Digital 3D products deliver a 3D image with an existing digital cinema server and white screen, providing exhibitors a flexible 3D solution. Its Dolby 3D glasses feature high-quality multicoated lenses with a special curvature that delivers 3D images.

Digital media adapters are used to adapt existing analog cinema audio systems to the latest digital audio technologies. Broadcast products are used to encode, transmit and decode multiple channels of high-quality audio for Digital Television (DTV) and high-definition television (HDTV) program production and broadcast distribution and to measure the subjective loudness of audio content within broadcast programming. Professional reference monitor is a video monitor used during the production and post-production of cinematic and video content in situations, where grade one reference performance is required.

The Company competes with Audyssey Laboratories, DTS, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, Microsoft, Philips, RealNetworks, Sonic Solutions, Sony, SRS Labs, Thomson, Barco, Doremi, GDC, IMAX, MasterImage 3D, NEC, Panavision, QSC Audio Products, Qube Cinema, REAL D, Technicolor, Texas Instruments, USL, XpanD and DTS.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, we're focusing on tech stocks, as analysts pull back on Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) and Dolby Labs (NYSE: DLB  ) , but become more bullish on LogMeIn (NASDAQ: LOGM  ) . Let's start with that last one.

• [By Sue Chang]

  Dolby Laboratories (DLB) : ��he Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug��is presented in Dolby Surround 7.1. The stock is up 28% so far in 2013.

• [By Steve Symington]

  Given the last 2.5 years, it seems an understatement to say Dolby (NYSE: DLB  ) shareholders have had it tough.

  Following the stock's relentless climb through the end of 2011, shares of the audio specialist have underperformed the S&P 500 by almost 75% as demand for its products waned in its core PC, DVD, and Blu-ray device markets:

10 Best Safest Stocks For 2014: Quanta Resources Inc (QR)

Quanta Resources Inc. (Quanta), formerly T S Telecom Ltd., is a Canada-based mineral exploration company. The Company focuses on acquiring, exploring and developing of mineral properties. The Company has been seeking and reviewing exploration opportunities in Canada and other parts of the world. The Company's property included White Pelican Property. The White Pelican Property lies in the Cariboo Mining Division and consists of 13 mining claims totaling approximately 5,994 hectares. As of March 31, 2012, the Company had no revenues. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  Next, I run graphs on liquidity ratios and additional data on various valuation ratios to include price to book value (pb), price to cash flow (pcfl), price to free cash flow (pfcfl) and others that can be seen as options on the navigation bar to the left of the sample graph which only plots the current ratio (cr), a quick ratio (qr) and for those diehards concerned with volatility [size=11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">��/p>

10 Best Safest Stocks For 2014: Career Education Corp (CECO)

Career Education Corporation, incorporated on January 5, 1994, through its colleges, schools and universities offers education to a student population of more than 75,000 students across the world in a variety of career-oriented disciplines through online, on-ground and hybrid learning program offerings. The Company operates four business units: University Schools, Career Schools, International and Transitional Schools. The Company�� institutions include, among others, American InterContinental University (AIU); Brooks Institute; Colorado Technical University (CTU); Harrington College of Design; INSEEC Group (INSEEC) Schools; International University of Monaco (IUM); International Academy of Design & Technology (IADT); Le Cordon Bleu North America (LCB), and Sanford-Brown Institutes and Colleges. In December 2013, Career Education Corp announced sale and transfer of control of its European education properties to private equity firm Apax Partners.

University Schools

The Company�� Colorado Technical University (CTU) schools collectively offer academic programs in the career-oriented disciplines of business studies, information systems and technologies, criminal justice, computer science and engineering, and health sciences in an online, classroom or laboratory setting. American InterContinental University (AIU) schools collectively offer academic programs in the career-oriented disciplines of business studies, information technologies, criminal justice and design technologies in an online, classroom or laboratory setting.

Career Schools

The Company�� Health Education includes its Sanford-Brown schools, along with Brown College, Briarcliffe College and Missouri College. These schools collectively offer academic programs in the career-oriented disciplines of health education, complemented by certain programs in business studies and information technology in a classroom, laboratory or online setting. Culinary Arts includes its Le Cordon Bleu schoo! ls in North America that collectively offer hands-on programs in the career-oriented disciplines of culinary arts and patisserie and baking in the commercial kitchens of Le Cordon Bleu, and advanced degree programs in culinary arts and hotel and restaurant management online. Design and Technology includes IADT, Harrington College of Design and Brooks Institute schools. These schools collectively offer academic programs primarily in the career-oriented disciplines of fashion design, game design, graphic design, interior design, film and video production, photography and visual communications in a classroom, laboratory or online setting, as well as jobs training in the field of energy conservation.

International

The Company�� International includes its INSEEC schools and IUM school which are located in France, the United Kingdom and Monaco. These schools collectively offer academic programs in the career-oriented disciplines of business studies, health education, advertising, communications and technologies and luxury goods and services in a classroom or laboratory setting.

Transitional Schools

The Company�� Transitional Schools includes its campuses that are being taught out. Schools that operate within this segment include Collins College, Phoenix, AZ, Colorado Technical University (CTU), CTU Pueblo, Pueblo, CO, and CTU Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls, SD.

The Company competes with Apollo Group, Bridgepoint Education, Inc., Capella Education Company, Corinthian Colleges, Inc., DeVry Inc., Education Management Corporation, Grand Canyon Education, Inc., ITT Educational Services, Kaplan and Strayer Education.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  While the given problems that are plaguing Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ:COCO) are unique to that particular for-profit school today, the underpinnings for today's 62% implosion from COCO shares are just as big of a threat to the likes of Apollo Education Group Inc. (NASDAQ:APOL), Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO), and most other for-profit education names. In fact, those woes have been well documented for a while, and showing up each company's books for almost as long. Pictures tell the grim tale for CECO, APOL, and all the rest as effectively as any words could, so let's let the images of what's going on here do most of the talking, beginning with... Career Education Corp.

10 Best Safest Stocks For 2014: NII Holdings Inc.(NIHD)

NII Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides wireless communication services under the Nextel brand name to businesses and individuals in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. Its services include mobile telephone service; Nextel Direct Connect service, which allows subscribers to talk to each other on a push-to-talk basis for private one-to-one calls or on group calls. The company also provides value-added services, including text messaging services; mobile Internet services; e-mail services; location-based services, such as the use of global positioning system technologies; digital media services; and a set of applications available via its content management system and the Android open application market. In addition, it offers business solutions, such as security, work force management, logistics support, and other applications to improve productivity; and international roaming services. NII Holdings, Inc. sells its products and services through direct sales representatives, indirect sales agents, retail stores, kiosks, and Website. The company was formerly known as Nextel International, Inc. and changed its name to NII Holdings, Inc. in December 2001. NII Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is based in Reston, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Latin American mobile telecom NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD  ) reported earnings Thursday, featuring revenues down 13%, to $1.41 billion for the first quarter of 2013, and a $208 million consolidated net loss�-- but that wasn't all NII had to report. It's also got itself a new Chief Executive Officer.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  This acquisition of GTP will add another 5,400 or so domestic towers and 800 domestic property interests under third-party communications sites. GTP also has management rights to more than 9,000 domestic sites. On top of the $3.3 billion purchase price will be another $1.5 billion in debt. Keep in mind that American Tower agreed to an $800 million deal over the summer with NII Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) to purchase somewhere around 4,500 sites in Brazil and Mexico.