Top Internet Stocks For 2014

Stock markets got back in black today after a three-day losing streak. A 0.6% rise in retail sales last month and a relatively low 334,000 new initial jobless claims had investors back in a good mood. At 3:25 p.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) was up 1%, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) had gained 1.2%.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) continues to be one of the Dow's leaders, gaining 1.9% today. The company's chips have been designed into the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, and Intel is expanding in the convertibles market as well. The big rumor this week surrounded Intel's efforts to disrupt the television market by distributing TV over the Internet. Intel is one of many companies working on streaming TV, but it appears willing to pay a premium for content, and it may be willing to dig in against the entrenched cable industry. If the company can break the hold, this is a huge opportunity for Intel and investors. �

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) is up 2.3% a day after announcing a 15% boost to its quarterly dividend. Investors will now be paid a dividend of $0.60 per quarter, with the first installment going to shareholders of record on July 22. Dividends are one of the best ways for companies to provide a return for investors, and an increase like this is an indication that management is confident about the future of the company.

Top 5 Beverage Companies To Invest In 2015: Symantec Corporation(SYMC)

Symantec Corporation provides security, storage, and systems management solutions internationally. The company?s Consumer segment delivers Internet security, PC tune-up, and online backup solutions and services to individual users and home offices. Its Security and Compliance segment provides solutions for endpoint security and management, compliance, messaging management, data loss prevention, encryption, and authentication services to large, medium, and small-sized businesses, as well as offers solutions through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) security offerings. This segment?s products enable customers to secure, provision, and remotely manage their laptops, PCs, mobile devices, and servers. The company?s Storage and Server Management segment provides storage and server management, backup, archiving, and data protection solutions across heterogeneous storage and server platforms, as well as solutions delivered through its SaaS offerings to large, medium, and small-s ized businesses. Symantec?s Services segment offers implementation services and solutions, including consulting, business critical services, education, and managed security services. The company also provides various enterprise support offerings, such as annual maintenance support contracts, including content, upgrades, and technical support. It sells its products through its eCommerce platform, as well as through distributors, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, system builders, ISPs, and retail locations worldwide. Symantec markets and sells its products through distributors, retailers, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, original equipment manufacturers, system builders, and Internet service providers; and its e-commerce channels, as well as direct sales force, value-added and large account resellers, and system integrators. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuters]

  Peter Parks, AFP/Getty ImagesThe 12-story building in Shanghai's northern suburb of Gaoqiao where a Chinese military-led hacking group allegedly conducted a series of attacks on U.S. companies networks. BOSTON -- Cybersecurity company FireEye has acquired Mandiant, the computer forensics specialist best known for unveiling a secretive Chinese military unit believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks on U.S. companies. FirEye (FEYE) shares jumped more than 20 percent after Thursday's announcement of the $1.05 billion cash-and-stock deal, which FireEye said closed Monday. It unites two companies with relatively new technologies for thwarting cyber attacks, and brings together two of the most-respected executives in the security industry: FireEye CEO Dave DeWalt and Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia. While sales of older anti-virus products have been on the decline, security experts expect strong growth in both FireEye's cloud-based systems for detecting malicious software and Mandiant's software that analyzes cyber attacks. About a year ago the two companies entered into a technology development agreement that made it easier to deploy their products together. With the merger, FireEye will gain Mandiant's team of forensics investigators. "They have these very strong Navy 'cyber' Seals who respond to breaches and are very good at what they do," DeWalt said about Mandiant. He had previously served as chairman of Mandiant's board. "My aim is to create the strongest security company in the world," DeWalt said in an interview. FireEye, which has yet to post a profit, said the acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings and expects the combined company's revenue to grow about 50 percent this year. In comparison, Symantec (SYMC), the biggest maker of anti-virus software, has said it expects fiscal 2014 revenue to drop 3 percent to 4 percent. Mandiant is best known for its forensics services. The company rose to prominence in February 2013 when it pu

• [By Amanda Alix]

  Of course, banks can't know when an attack is merely disruptive, and when it may be covering for criminal activity. Security company Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC  ) has commented that these assaults have become a way for hackers to distract banks while funds are illegally withdrawn. Though most of the thefts have occurred in Europe, where attacks have progressed from website outages to actual bank heists, at least one U.S. bank, Citigroup, disclosed some losses due to cyber thievery earlier this year.

• [By Anora Mahmudova]

  Symantec Corp. (SYMC) slid 13% after the security-software maker fired Chief Executive Steve Bennett late Thursday and replaced him with board member Michael Brown.

• [By Sue Chang]

  Symantec Corp. (SYMC) said its fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 50% on the back of a growth in revenue and cost cutting measures. The security software company reported a profit of $236 million, or 34 cents a share, versus $157 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, earnings rose to 45 cents a share. Revenue rose nearly 2% to $1.74 billion. Shares of Symantec were unchanged in late trade.

Top Internet Stocks For 2014: eBay Inc.(EBAY)

eBay Inc. provides online platforms, services, and tools to help individuals and merchants in online and mobile commerce and payments in the United States and internationally. Its Marketplaces segment operates ecommerce platform eBay.com; vertical shopping sites, such as StubHub, Fashion, Motors, and Half.com; and classifieds Websites, including Den Bl�Avis, BilBasen, Gumtree, Kijiji, LoQUo, Marktplaats.nl, mobile.de, Alamaula, Rent.com, eBay Anuncios, eBay Kleinanzeigen, and eBay Annunci, as well as provides advertising services. The company?s Payments segment offers payment and settlement services for consumers and merchants on and off eBay Websites and other merchant Websites. This segment operates PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online and through mobile devices; Bill Me Later that enables the United States merchants to offer, the United States consumers to obtain, credit at the point of sale for ecommerce and mobile tra nsactions; Zong, which allows users with mobile phones to purchase digital goods and have the transactions charged to their phone bill; and BillSAFE that enables customers pay for purchases upon receipt of an invoice. Its GSI segment offers an ecommerce services suite for enterprise clients that operate in general merchandise categories, including apparel, sporting goods, toys and baby, health and beauty, and home; and marketing services comprising full-service digital agency, enterprise email marketing, mobile advertising, affiliate marketing, advertisement retargeting, and in-depth analytics services. The company also offers X.commerce platform that provides software developers access to the company?s applications programming interfaces to develop functionality for various merchants; and Magento Connect, which allows developers to market and sell add-on functionality and solutions to merchants that use a Magento storefront. eBay Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquarter ed in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Traders Reserve]

  Amazon (AMZN)�and UPS (UPS)�will report earnings on Thursday,� eBay (EBAY) released its results last week and Best Buy (BBY)�rolls out its numbers in late February.

• [By Benjamin Pimentel]

  Shares of eBay Inc. (EBAY) �shed 0.8% to close at $58.31. The company�� battle with Carl Icahn continued as eBay director Marc Andreessen defended his role at the company, calling the billionaire�� allegations ��alse and misleading.��

• [By Tim Beyers]

  Suddenly, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) is getting grabby. According to a report from the Google Operating System, a new service called Google Mine is in the works that would allow Google+ users to document and share what they own.
  
  All Google will say is that it is always working on new things. No news there. But imagine if Google Mine does come to be. Not only could you share notes about your collections, or document valuables for insurance purposes, but you could also Imagine a barter system whereby you sell or trade via Google+, with any money exchanged via Google Wallet. A tailored credit or debit card might not be far behind, says Fool contributor Tim Beyers in the following video.
  
  At the very least, the idea threatens eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY  ) . The company depends on an ever-increasing volume of transactions to fund growth. In Q1, the auctioneer was responsible for $49 billion worth of commerce. By 2015, eBay wants to enable $300 billion in commerce annually, up from $175 billion last year. Google Mine, like Craigslist before it, could stand in the way of that.
  
  Do you agree? Please watch the video to get Tim's full take, and then let us know if having Google Mine would make you more or less bullish on the search king's long-term prospects.

• [By Steve Heller]

  According to a filing at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) could be gearing up to launch an anonymous mobile payment network. Not only would this move take direct aim at eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY  ) PayPal unit, it could potentially threaten Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) as well. In this video, Motley Fool contributor Steve Heller weighs in on the filing and what other plans Amazon may have up its sleeve.

Top Internet Stocks For 2014: Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. It operates retail Web sites, including amazon.com and amazon.ca. The company serves consumers through its retail Web sites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. It also offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its Web sites, and their own branded Web sites. In addition, the company serves developer customers through Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually various type of business. Further, it manufactures and sells the Kindle e-reader. Additionally, the company provides fulfillment; miscellaneous marketing and promotional agreements, such as online advertising; and co-branded credit cards. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

  Consider just how much of an impact these cards have had on some other businesses:

  Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX  ) : The coffee king is also the king of rewards cards. Starbucks counts over 6 million members in its loyalty program, who account for more than 30% of the company's U.S. transactions. Last quarter, those members added 32% more dollars onto their cards than in the year-ago period. We're talking billions of dollars. Starbucks' management credits that success with helping the company keep sales growth humming along, and coming in much less choppy than at other retailers.
  � Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) : We know that Amazon customers spend more at the company's site after they make a switch to becoming members of its Prime shipping service. A lot more. By some estimates, we're talking $1,224 in annual spending at the site, or double what non-Prime customers spend. Amazon can thank its Prime service for helping deliver huge sales growth, which is why boosting the number of products it offers through the service remains such a big priority for the company.

  Hitting the target
  Target has seen equally encouraging early results on its customers' spending patterns. Households tend to boost their spending in stores by 50% after they start using the Red Card. Sure, those sales put pressure on profits, as more of them qualify for the 5% discount. But that's a good trade-off if it makes Target the first choice for more consumers' shopping needs.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Ted S. Warren/APAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Amazon (AMZN) is ruffling a lot of feathers with contractual tussles with Time Warner's (TWX) Warner Home Video and Hachette Book Group. Disagreements have led Amazon to delay orders for Hachette books and suspend preorders for Warner DVD and Blu-ray releases. Customers used to finding everything they want through Amazon are now encountering barriers. Amazon wants to draw attention for things like its new Prime Music digital streaming and whatever it's introducing on Wednesday, but instead it's generating negative buzz. Bury the Hachette Flexing its muscles, the leading online retailer last month stopped taking advance orders of Hachette books and is delaying shipments by several weeks. This is a big deal. Hachette is the publisher behind several of this summer's big releases. On Thursday, we get J.K. Rowling's new book, but Amazon shoppers were being told earlier this week that they can't preorder the next installment in her gumshoe series. Holding back on "The Silkworm" has some meaty implications. Telling shoppers to sign up to be notified when the book is available -- instead of allowing them to lock in their purchases now -- is going to cost Amazon sales. It's is also delaying the promised delivery of several Hachette books, advising buyers that they will have to wait a couple of weeks instead of a couple of days. Video buffs are also finding Amazon less useful. Amazon delayed preorders of "The Lego Movie" until just before its release on Tuesday. Next week's big home release -- "300: Rise of an Empire" -- is not currently available. These are just some of the DVDs and Blu-rays being put out by Warner Home Video. Reports indicate that a contract dispute is leading to Amazon playing hardball by holding back on the releases. You're Not Getting Warner Amazon is trying to show that it's such a big force in e-tail that it can influence sales activity, but is it biting off more than it can chew? This fight coul

Top Internet Stocks For 2014: Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)

Yahoo! Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media company that delivers personalized digital content and experiences through various devices worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of marketing services to businesses. The company?s communications and communities offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV, which provide a range of communication and social services to users and small businesses enabling users to organize into groups and share knowledge, common interests, and photos. Its search products comprise Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Local, available free to users to navigate the Internet and discover content. The company?s marketplaces offerings and services include Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Autos, and Yahoo! Small Business, which allow users to research specific topics, products, services, or areas of interest by review ing and exchanging information, obtaining contact details, or considering offers from providers of goods, services, or parties with similar interests. Its media offerings comprise Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Entertainment & Lifestyles, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Yahoo! Pulse, which are designed to engage users with online content and services on the Web. The company also offers marketing services, such as display and search advertising, listing-based services, and commerce-based transactions to advertisers. In addition, it provides software and platform offerings for third-party developers, advertisers, and publishers, such as Yahoo! Developer Network, Yahoo! Open Strategy, Yahoo! Application Platform, Yahoo! Updates, Yahoo! Query Language, and Yahoo! Search BOSS. The company has strategic alliances with Nokia and ABC News, Inc. Yahoo! Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Californi a.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Neiger]

  Others tech companies have worked out deals of their own. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) are currently in a 10-year deal for the popular content site to use Microsoft's Bing search results. Right now, Microsoft receives 12% of the revenue Yahoo! makes from ads on the search results page on its site. But the Wall Street Journal reported last month that since Marissa Mayer took over at Yahoo, the company is looking to end its deal with Microsoft and wants to transition to Google's search ��a move that isn't likely to take place until at least 2015.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is projected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.33 per share on revenue of $1.08 billion.

  The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.53 per share on revenue of $12.05 billion.

Top Internet Stocks For 2014: Google Inc.(GOOG)

Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers And roid, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steve Heller]

  A brief history lesson
  Tablets as a computing medium have grown in popularity for one underlying reason: affordability. At the end of the day, the slew of low-cost Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) Android tablets offer a compelling computing experience. The fact that an everyday user can purchase an Android tablet for around $200 and have their basic computing needs met has proven to be a powerful preposition.

• [By Chris Hill]

  Last month Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) was on the verge of buying Waze, the maps and traffic data service based in Israel, for $1 billion. Yesterday came reports that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) is buying Waze for $1.1 billion to 1.3 billion. One of the key differences in the proposed deals is that Google's offer keeps Waze in Israel for the next three years, plus Waze keeps its brand and will operate independently.

Top Internet Stocks For 2014: CYNK Technology Corp (CYNK)

Cynk Technology Corp., formerly Introbuzz, Inc., is a development stage-company. The Company intends to develop a social network business. Social networks are Web based services that allow individuals to post a profile and link their profile to other friends and organizations.

The Company intends to develop a database of professional and other business persons, as well as other interested persons in providing and utilizing contacts. As of November 14, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  CYNK Technology (CYNK), the mysterious over-the-counter stock that at one point broke a $6 billion market cap, dropped roughly 80 percent in its first trades after a Securities and Exchange Commission halt. The SEC halted CYNK for two weeks following a massive rise in the stock's value -- it had been worth only a few cents per share in June, but it jumped above $21 on July 10. The Belize-based CYNK Technology supposedly operates a social networking site, but filings indicate it only has one employee and virtually no assets. Experts told CNBC the week of the SEC halt that they expected CYNK to fall precipitously after reopening, and its first day of trading is proving those predictions correct. When it was halted, the stock was worth just less than $14 per share, and is now below $3 a share after briefly hovering around $5 earlier Friday morning. An OTC Markets spokeswoman told Reuters that CYNK's shares were not trading on its platform, but were occurring over the phone. Earlier this week Reuters reported that OTC's CEO did not expect CYNK to trade on its platform at all after reopening, as no brokerages would file the required paperwork for the stock to trade on their exchanges. An SEC spokesman said that the organization cannot comment on the status of a company after a suspension period ends, citing an online explanation of the process. That document notes that broker-dealers may not solicit investors to trade the previously suspended OTC stock until they satisfy several regulatory requirements. The SEC warned, however, that "unsolicited" trading may occur after a reopening -- as CYNK is now seeing -- but "even though such trading is allowed, it can be very risky for investors without current and reliable information about the company."