Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014

You may not have heard of NeuStar (NYSE: NSR  ) , but the services it provides can affect you greatly. This $3 billion company is also handily beating the market as it shifts its focus to move deeper into the information and analytics industry.

NeuStar started its life as an operating unit within Lockheed Martin, and won its original contract to provide local telephone number portability services in 1996. It's kept that job and performed other services along the way, including administering the registry for the .biz and .us Internet domain names.

After spinning off from Lockheed and racking up years of success, NeuStar began to shift its focus to information and data analytics services under CEO Lisa Hook. That led to the acquisition of TARGUSinfo in 2011.

Our roving reporter Rex Moore attended last week's big Cable Show in Washington, D.C., and asked NeuStar's Gary Zimmerman about the opportunities in this new segment.

It's incredible to think just how much of our digital and technological lives are almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies. Find out "Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks?" in The Motley Fool's latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Hewlett-Packard Co (HWP)

Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), incorporated on February 11, 1947, is a provider of products, technologies, software, solutions and services to individual consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the Government, health and education sectors. Its operations are organized into seven segments: the Personal Systems Group (PSG), Services, the Imaging and Printing Group (IPG), Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN), HP Software, HP Financial Services (HPFS) and Corporate Investments. The Company�� offerings include personal computing and other access devices; multi-vendor customer services, including infrastructure technology and business process outsourcing, technology support and maintenance, application development and support services and consulting and integration services, and imaging and printing-related products and services. It also provides enterprise information technology infrastructure, including enterprise storage and server technology, networking products and solutions, information technology (IT) management software, information management solutions and security intelligence/risk management solutions. As of October 31, 2011, HP owned an approximately 99% equity interest in Autonomy Corporation plc. In December 2011, the Company acquired Hiflex Software GmbH.

In March 2012, HP had consolidated PSG and IPG into a Printing and Personal Systems Group. HP continues to report the results of IPG and PSG separately. Subsequent o the fiscal year ended October 31, 2011, the Company completed five others realignments, which included the transfer of Indigo and Scitex support and the LaserJet and enterprise solutions trade support business from the technology services (TS) business unit within Services to the Commercial Hardware business unit within IPG; the transfer of the TippingPoint business from the Networking business unit within ESSN to Software; the transfer of the business intelligence services business from Corpor! ate Investments to a Application and Business Services (ABS) business unit within Services; the consolidation of the Application Services, Business Process Outsourcing and Other Services business units within Services into the ABS business unit, and the transfer of the information management services business from Software to the ABS business unit within Services.

Personal Systems Group

PSG provides commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, calculators and other related accessories, software and services for the commercial and consumer markets. The Company groups commercial notebooks, commercial desktops and workstations into commercial clients and consumer notebooks and consumer desktops into consumer clients. Commercial PCs include the HP ProBook and the HP EliteBook lines of notebooks and the Compaq Pro, Compaq Elite, HP Pro and HP Elite lines of business desktops, as well as the TouchSmart and Omni PCs, HP Mini-Note PCs, retail POS systems, HP Thin Clients and HP Slate Tablet PCs. Consumer PCs include the HP and Compaq series of multi-media consumer notebooks, desktops and mini notebooks, including the TouchSmart line of touch-enabled all-in-one notebooks and desktops. PSG provides workstations that run on both Windows and Linux-based operating systems.

Services

Services provide consulting, outsourcing and technology services across infrastructure, applications and business process domains. Services delivers to its clients by leveraging investments in consulting and support professionals, infrastructure technology, applications, standardized methodologies, and global supply and delivery. Services are divided into four main business units: infrastructure technology outsourcing, technology services, applications services and business process outsourcing. Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing services encompass the data center and the workplace (desktop); network and communications; and security, compliance and business contin! uity. It ! also offers a set of managed services. Technology Services provides support and consulting services, as well as warranty support across HP's product lines. HP's technology services offerings are available in the form of service contracts, pre-packaged offerings (HP Care Pack services) or on an individual basis. The Company�� Applications Services encompass application development, testing, modernization, system integration, maintenance and management. Applications Services also provides technology consulting and systems integration solutions and services that use cloud computing, hybrid delivery, enterprise mobility, information management and real-time analytics. Business Process Outsourcing services includes both industry-specific and cross-industry solutions. Its cross-industry solutions include a range of enterprise-shared services, customer relationship management services, financial process management services and administrative services.

Imaging and Printing Group

IPG provides consumer and commercial printer hardware, supplies, media and scanning devices. IPG is also focused on imaging solutions in the commercial markets. These solutions range from managed print services to capturing high-value pages in areas, such as industrial applications, outdoor signage, and the graphic arts business. Inkjet and Web Solutions delivers HP's consumer and SMB inkjet solutions (hardware, supplies, media, web-connected hardware and services) and develops HP's retail publishing and Web businesses. It includes single function and all-in-one inkjet printers targeted toward consumers and SMBs, as well as retail publishing solutions, Snapfish and ePrintCenter. LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions delivers products, services and solutions to the medium-sized business and enterprise segments, including LaserJet printers and supplies, multi-function devices, scanners, Web-connected hardware and services and enterprise software solutions, such as Exstream Software and Web Jetadmin. Managed Enterp! rise Solu! tions provides managed print services products and solutions delivered to enterprise customers partnering with third-party software providers to offer workflow solutions in the enterprise environment. Graphics Solutions provides large format printing (Designjet and Scitex), large format supplies, WebPress supplies, Indigo printing, specialty printing systems and inkjet high-speed production solutions. Graphic Solutions targets print service providers, architects, engineers, designers and industrial solution providers. Its printer supplies offerings include LaserJet toner and inkjet printer cartridges, graphic solutions ink products and other printing-related media.

Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking

ESSN provides server, storage and networking products in a number of categories. The Company�� Converged Infrastructure portfolio of servers, storage and networking combined with HP Software's Cloud Service Automation software suite creates HP's CloudSystem. This integrated solution enables enterprise and service provider clients to deliver infrastructure, platform and software as a service in a private, public or hybrid cloud environment. Industry Standard Servers offers primarily entry-level and mid-range ProLiant servers, which run primarily Windows, Linux and Novell operating systems and Intel Corporation (Intel) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors. The business spans a range of product lines that include pedestal-tower servers, density-optimized rack servers and HP's BladeSystem family of server blades.

The Company�� Business Critical Systems delivers Converged Infrastructure with a portfolio of HP Integrity servers based on the Intel Itanium processor that run the HP-UX and OpenVMS operating systems, as well as HP Integrity NonStop solutions. Business Critical Systems also offers HP's scale-up x86 ProLiant servers for scalability of systems. In addition, HP continues to support the HP9000 servers and HP AlphaServers by offering customers. Th! e Company! �� storage offerings include storage platforms for high-end, mid-range and small business environments. Its flagship product is the HP 3PAR Utility Storage Platform, which is designed for virtualization, cloud and IT-as-a-service. The Storage business has a range of products, including storage area networks, network attached storage, storage management software and virtualization technologies, StoreOnce data deduplication solutions, tape drives and tape libraries. Its switch, router, wireless local area network (LAN) and TippingPoint network security products deliver solutions for the data center, campus and branch networks. Its networking solutions are based on HP's FlexNetwork architecture.

HP Software

HP Software provides enterprise IT management software, information management solutions and security intelligence/risk management solutions. Solutions are delivered in the form of software licenses or as software-as-a-service. HP Software solutions enables IT organizations to manage infrastructure, operations, application life cycles, application quality and security, IT services, business processes, and structured and unstructured data.

HP Financial Services

HPFS supports HP's global product and service solutions, providing a range of financial life cycle management services. HPFS enables its worldwide customers to acquire IT solutions, including hardware, software and services. The Company offers leasing, financing, utility programs and asset recovery services, as well as financial asset management services for global and enterprise customers. HPFS also provides an array of specialized financial services to SMBs and educational and Governmental entities.

Corporate Investments

Corporate Investments includes business intelligence solutions, HP Labs, webOS software and certain business incubation projects. Business intelligence solutions enable businesses connect and share data across the enterprise and apply analytics.! This seg! ment also derives revenue from licensing specific HP technology to third parties.

The Company competes with Dell, Inc., Acer Inc., ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Apple Inc., Lenovo Group Limited, Toshiba Corporation, IBM Global Services, Computer Sciences Corporation, Accenture Ltd., Fujitsu Limited, Wipro Limited, Infosys Technologies Limited, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, SAP, AG, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Lexmark International, Inc., Xerox Corporation, Seiko Epson Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Brother Industries, Ltd., International Business Machines Corporation, EMC Corporation, NetApp, Inc., CA, Inc., BMC Software, Inc., Cisco, McAfee and IBM Global Financing.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Manhattan Associates Inc.(MANH)

Manhattan Associates, Inc. develops, sells, deploys, services, and maintains supply chain software solutions for the planning and execution of supply chain activities. It offers Manhattan SCOPE and Manhattan SCALE, which are platform-based supply chain software solutions. The company?s Manhattan SCOPE is a portfolio of supply chain solution suites that include event and schedule tracking; alerts and notifications; inventory, order, and shipment visibility; cost monitoring and tracking; leading-edge analytics; and reporting with graphical depictions of critical supply chain performance metrics. Manhattan SCOPE also includes X-Suite solutions comprising flow management and extended enterprise management. The company?s Manhattan SCALE is a portfolio of logistics execution solutions that offer trading partner management, yard management, optimization, warehouse management, and transportation execution services. Manhattan Associates, Inc. also offers professional services, in cluding planning and implementation services; and customer support, software enhancement, and training services. In addition, it sells computer hardware, radio frequency terminal networks, radio frequency identification chip readers, bar code printers and scanners, and other peripherals. The company serves retailers, distributors, wholesalers, manufacturers, grocery stores, life sciences companies, government, and other organizations. It operates in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Manhattan Associates, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Manhattan Associates (Nasdaq: MANH  ) reported earnings on April 23. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Manhattan Associates met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Top Insurance Companies To Own For 2014: Rovi Corporation(ROVI)

Rovi Corporation provides digital entertainment technology solutions for the discovery and management of entertainment content. It offers interactive program guides; embedded licensing technologies, such as recommendations and search capability; media recognition technologies; licensing of the company?s database of descriptive information about television, movie, music, books, and game content; and analog content protection technologies and services. The company?s interactive program guides technology is an interactive listing of television or video program information that enables viewers to navigate through, sort, select, and schedule video programming for viewing and recording. The company also provides video delivery solutions, such as compression-decompression technology (codec) to enable distribution of content across the Internet and through recordable media in physical or streamed forms; and media manager, a personal computer application enabling consumers to man age personal media files, including music, photos, and video files. In addition, it offers digital copy solution for consumer electronics devices and PC software applications; the Rovi Entertainment Store video delivery solutions; content authoring solutions; and advertising solutions. Rovi Corporation primarily serves companies in the consumer electronics, cable and satellite, entertainment, and online distribution markets. The company was formerly known as Macrovision Solutions Corporation and changed its name to Rovi Corporation in July 2009. Rovi Corporation was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Rovi (Nasdaq: ROVI  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on May 1. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Rovi's revenues will decrease -12.8% and EPS will wither -17.9%.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc.(RSTI)

Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, engineering, manufacturing, and marketing of laser-based products worldwide. The company offers laser macro products to machine tool and automotive markets for cutting and welding of metals. It also provides laser marking products to semiconductor and electronics markets for the marking of integrated circuits, wafers, solar cells, electronic components, and smart cards, as well as to automotive markets for the marking of labels and car components. In addition, the company offers laser micro products for fine welding, fine cutting, micro structuring, and drilling applications in medical devices, semiconductor and electronics, photovoltaic, dental, and jewelry markets; and for perforating and scribing of paper and foils in packaging and paper industries. Further, it provides components to laser industry. The company sells its products in approximately 65 countries to original e quipment manufacturers, systems integrators, and industrial end-users. Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. was founded in 1975 and is based in Plymouth, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Stoffel]

  For decades, the standard technology in the laser industry has been the carbon-based laser. In reality, these lasers are still commonly used, and sold in bulk by the likes of Rofin-Sinar (NASDAQ: RSTI  ) and Coherent (NASDAQ: COHR  ) . They are used largely for precision cutting of large pieces of metal.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Omnicell Inc.(OMCL)

Omnicell Inc. provides automated solutions for hospital medication and supply management primarily in the United States and Canada. The company offers medication use products, which include OmniRx that automates the management and dispensing of medications at the point of use; SinglePointe, a software product that controls medications on a patient-specific basis; AnywhereRN, a software that allows nurses to remotely operate automated dispensing cabinets; Pandora Analytics, a reporting and data analytics tool; and Savvy Mobile Medication System, a mobile platform for hospital information systems. Its medication use products also include OmniLinkRx, a software product that automates communication between nurses and the pharmacy; WorkflowRx, an automated storage, retrieval, inventory management, and repackaging solution; controlled substance barcode inventory management system; and Anesthesia Workstation, a secure dispensing system for the management of anesthesia supplies an d medications. In addition, the company provides medical and surgical supply products, which comprise Omnicell Supply Solution that automates the management and dispensing of medical and surgical supplies at the point of use; Supply/Rx Combination Solution, which manages medications and supplies in one versatile cabinet; Omnicell Tissue Center that manages the chain of custody for bone and tissue specimens; OptiFlex SS, which supplies modules for the perioperative areas; OptiFlex CL that supplies modules for the cardiac catheterization lab and other procedure areas; and OptiFlex MS, a system for the management of medical and surgical supplies. Further, it provides customer education and training, and maintenance and support services. The company was formerly known as Omnicell Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Omnicell, Inc. in 2001. Omnicell, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  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 Omnicell (Nasdaq: OMCL  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Las Vegas From Home.Com Enterta (LVH.V)

Las Vegas From Home.com Entertainment Inc. engages in the development and marketing of software for online multi-player interactive card games. The company provides LVFH Gaming Platform that offers an array of real-money and play-for-fun games, including poker, Asian, and casino games with a library of tournament formats in download and in-browser versions. Its poker games include Texas Hold'em, Omaha, and Guts; Asian games comprise Mahjong & Mahjong 1-on-1, 13 Card Poker (Chinese Poker), Big 2 & Super Big 2, Fight the Landlord, and Si Ki Pi (Bao Bao); and casino games consist of multiplayer blackjack, card games, table games, and video pokers. Las Vegas From Home.com Entertainment Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Trina Solar Limited(TSL)

Trina Solar Limited, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells photovoltaic (PV) modules worldwide. The company offers monocrystalline PV modules ranging from 165 watts to 185 watts in power output; and multicrystalline PV modules ranging from 215 watts to 240 watts in power output that provide electric power for residential, commercial, industrial, and other applications. It also involves in the design and production of various PV modules, such as colored modules for architectural applications and larger sized modules for utility grid applications based on customers? and end-users? specifications. Trina Solar Limited sells and markets its products primarily to distributors, wholesalers, power plant developers and operators, and PV system integrators. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Changzhou, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Wall Street Strategies]

  Naturally the news is a big positive for the industry, with Chinese solar names like Yingli (YGE), Trina (TSL), Canadian Solar (CSIQ) -- which is actually Chinese despite its name -- JinkoSolar (JKS), JA Solar (JASO), and LDK Solar (LDK) each up more than 10% at midday. The Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN), which tracks several global solar companies, was up 8%, breaking to a new 52-week high.

• [By Michael Lewis]

  To be fair, the industry is showing signs of improvement. Another China-based manufacturer, Trina�Solar (NYSE: TSL  ) , announced that it is targeting a return to profitability in the back half of this year. American firm First�Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR  ) soared this week on similar news. But does any of this suggest that Buffett would want to own one of these businesses?

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Wednesday
  Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL  ) hopes to shine on Wednesday, but that's no easy feat in solar these days. China's slowing economy and slammed European economies have been forced into scaling back solar energy investments, and that has hurt the industry. Wall Street's braced for a widening deficit at Trina Solar. It's probably not a good sign that Trina Solar has reported an even larger loss than Wall Street was projecting every single quarter over the past year.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: DAQQ New Energy Corp.(DQ)

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon in China. The company sells its polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers for use in the processing of ingots, wafers, cells and modules for solar power solutions. It also produces and sells mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline modules to photovoltaic system integrators and distributors in China and internationally under its Daqo brand. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp. in August 2009. Daqo New Energy Corp. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered Wanzhou, the People?s Republic of China.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc.(CBST)

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the research, development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products that address unmet medical needs in the acute care environment. The company markets CUBICIN (daptomycin for injection), a once-daily, bactericidal, intravenous, antibiotic with activity against gram-positive organisms, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Its clinical development product pipeline consists of CXA-201, which is in the phase III clinical trial for patients with complicated urinary tract infections; and in phase II clinical trial for patients with complicated abdominal infections. The company is also developing CXA-201 for the treatment of hospital acquired pneumonia. In addition, its product under development comprises CB-183,315, an oral, bactericidal lipopeptide with in vitro bactericidal activity against C. difficile, for the treatment of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD). Further , the company?s pre-clinical programs include therapies to treat various bacterial infections and agents to treat acute pain. Additionally, it promotes MERREM I.V. (meropenem for injection), a carbapenem class intravenous antibiotic, in the United States under a commercial services agreement with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP; and DIFICID as the treatment for CDAD in adults under the co-promotion agreement with Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The company also has collaborations with Forma Therapeutics, Inc. to discover and develop antibacterial compounds; an agreement with the Broad Institute to transform natural products discovery; a collaboration with Hydra Biosciences, Inc., to develop ion channel drugs; and a collaboration agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., for the development and commercialization of Alnylam's RNAi therapeutics as a therapy for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Lexington, Mas sachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink Swann.

  Diamondback Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

• [By Rich Bieglmeier]

  Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CBST) share price is the beneficiary of an upgrade yesterday. Leerink Swann analyst Marko Kozul believes the biotech is headed to $76.

• [By Alyssa Oursler]

  Another company with a megatrend in its corner is Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST) — the midcap stock that will replace Smithfield Foods in the S&P 400.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST) is another top stock to buy making acquisitions. It recently received antitrust clearance for its�purchase of Trius Pharmaceutical. The acquisition strengthens its already strong antibiotic franchise. UBS has a $70 price target, and the consensus is placed at $65.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Kopin Corporation(KOPN)

Kopin Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets III-V products and miniature flat panel displays. It offers gallium arsenide-based heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) wafers, and other commercial semiconductor products that use gallium nitride and gallium arsenide-based substrates. The company also offers pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors (pHEMT) and BiHEMTs, which combines the HBT and pHEMTs into a single structure. Its HBT wafers help in developing gallium arsenide power amplifiers for wireless handsets. These wafers are also used in code division multiple access, global system mobile and time division multiple access power amplifiers, and third and fourth generation wireless handset standards; high-speed fiber optic switching; and the fabrication of power amplifiers for devices that communicate using wireless fidelity or WiFi integrated circuits. In addition, the company provides CyberDisplay products, which are used in military devices , such as thermal weapon sights and consumer devices, including camcorders, digital cameras, and devices that are capable of browsing the Internet using digital wireless devices and viewing video from other consumer electronics devices. Kopin Corporation sells its III-V products directly to integrated circuit manufacturers in the United States and Asia. The company sells its products directly, as well as through distributors to original equipment manufacturers, and prime contractors of the U.S. government or foreign governments. Kopin Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered Taunton, Massachusetts.