Hot Forestry Stocks To Invest In Right Now

The following video is from Monday's MarketFoolery podcast, in which host Chris Hill, along with analysts Andy Cross and Jason Moser, discuss the top business and investing stories of the day.

Shares of J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP  ) rose on Monday after one Wall Street analyst gave the stock a significant upgrade. Not to be outdone, another analyst lowered his price target on J.C. Penney's stock by more than 40%. In this segment from MarketFoolery, our guys analyze the future of J.C. Penney and discuss why other retailers such as Macy's (NYSE: M  ) may be keeping a close watch on the embattled retailer.

J.C. Penney's stock cratered under Ron Johnson's leadership, but could new CEO Mike Ullman present the opportunity investors have been waiting for? If you're wondering�whether J.C. Penney is a buy today,�you're invited to claim a copy of The Motley Fool's must-read report on the company. Learn everything you need to know about Penney's turnaround -- or lack thereof. Simply�click here now�for instant access.

Hot Trucking Stocks To Invest In 2015: Mears Group PLC (MER)

Mears Group PLC (Mears Group) is a holding company. The principal activities of the Company are the provision of a range of outsourced services to the public and private sectors. The Company operated in three business segments: social housing, which provides a full repair and maintenance service to local authorities and other registered social housing landlords in the United Kingdom; domiciliary care, which provides personal care services to people in their own homes and mechanical and electrical (M&E), which consists of provision of design and build M&E services. The Company�� subsidiaries include Mears Limited, Haydon Mechanical & Electrical Limited, Scion Technical Services Limited, Scion Estates Limited, Jackson Lloyd Limited, Morrison Facilities Services Limited, Morrison Facilities Services Limited, Manchester Working Limited and Mears Home Improvements Limited. Effective August 13, 2013, Mears Group PLC acquired a 50% interest in Just Call 24/7 (UK) Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Heinzl]

  If you're uncomfortable picking individual preferred shares, a diversified exchange-traded fund, such as CPD can be a good option. The fund, which has about $1.4-billion under management, holds more than 200 preferred shares, with banks and insurance companies accounting for more than half of the assets. The fund has a management expense ratio (MER) of 0.5%.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Molex Incorporated(MOLX)

Molex Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of electronic components worldwide. It offers micro-miniature connectors, B-to-B connectors, SIM and SD card sockets, keypads, electromechanical subassemblies, internal and on-ground antennas, standard antennas, magnetic jacks, and subsystems for the telecommunications market; and power, optical, and signal connectors and cables for end-to-end data transfer, linking disk drives, controllers, servers, switches, and storage enclosures for the info-tech market. The company also designs and manufactures connectors for home and portable audio, digital still and video cameras, DVD players, and recorders, as well as devices that combine multiple functions in the consumer market, earphones, jumpers, and components for gaming machines. In addition, it provides network interface cards, software for industrial networks, cord sets, electrical solutions, and I/O connectors for industrial pr oduction equipment, as well as portable lighting to power distribution solutions for commercial construction, utility, petrochemical, and food and beverage industries; and cable assemblies, sealed and panel mount connectors, and other products for use in the infotainment and navigation, powertrain, safety and chassis, and body electronics in the automotive market. Further, the company offers connectors and custom integrated systems for diagnostic and therapeutic equipment used in hospitals, including x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, and dialysis machines; and solid-state lighting products. Additionally, it provides manufacturing services to integrate specific components into a customer?s product. The company sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers, and distributors. It markets its products through direct sales force and a network of distributors. Molex Incorporated was founded in 1938 and is based in Lisle, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Diane Alter]

  Koch Industries, one of the largest private companies in the United States, announced Monday it will buy electronic components manufacturer Molex Inc. (Nasdaq: MOLX) for $7.2 billion.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Clifton Star Resources Inc (CFO)

Clifton Star Resources Inc. (Clifton) is a mineral exploration company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral resource properties in Canada. Clifton�� focuses on gold exploration in Quebec, but it also has precious and base metal projects in Quebec and Manitoba. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, a total of 41,730 meters have been drilled, with 124 holes completed. As of June 30, 2012, the Company had two drills operating on the Duparquet Project. The Company's exploration properties include Beattie, Donchester and Dumico properties, Central Duparquet, Duquesne property, Hunter Property and Cat Lake Property. The Duparquet Project covers 7.7 kilometers of strike length along the prolific gold bearing Porcupine-Destor Fault. The Central Duparquet property consists of 18 mineral claims totaling 293 hectares located in the Duparquet Township, Quebec. Duquesne property owns 55 mineral claims and one mining concession located in Destor Township, Quebec. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Muhammad Bazil]

  There are four criteria used to determine how profitable a company is. Of these four criteria, Facebook satisfies three, making it appear to be a very profitable company. Those criteria are as follows:

  Return on Assets (ROA): This figure is essentially the company�� net income. In order to meet this criterion in Piotroski�� method, the ROA must be a positive number. With an ROA of 0.40, Facebook meets this requirement and receives a 1.
  � Cash Flow from Operations (CFO): This tells investors how much the company is earning from its regular business activities (production, sales, etc). It must be a positive number in order to receive a score of 1. Facebook�� cash flow from operations was $1,612 meaning it definitely satisfies this requirement and receives a 1.
  � Change in ROA: In order for the profitability of a company to be considered sustainable, it must show a steadily increasing return on its assets. To calculate this, we take Facebook�� current ROA of 0.40 and subtract the previous year�� ROA (15.80). This gives us a difference of -15.40, showing a decrease. Therefore, Facebook does not meet this requirement and receives a 0.
  � Accrual: This criterion simply checks to make sure that the company�� cash flow from operations is higher than its return on assets. As we can see above, Facebook�� CFO of $1,612 is definitely greater than its ROA of 0.40 meaning that it receives a score of 1.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Home BancShares Inc.(HOMB)

Home BancShares, Inc. operates as a holding company for the Centennial Bank that provides various commercial and retail banking, and related financial products and services to businesses, real estate developers, investors, individuals, and municipalities. It offers various deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also offers commercial real estate, construction and land development, commercial and industrial, residential real estate, agricultural, and consumer loans. In addition, it provides Internet banking and voice response information, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, the United States savings bonds, and automatic account transfers services. Further, the company provides trust services focusing on personal trusts, corporate trusts, and employee benefit trusts, as well as writes insurance policies for commercial and personal lines of businesses. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 49 branches in Arkansas, 9 branches in the Florida Keys, 6 branches in central Florida, 3 branches in southwest Florida, and 29 branches in the Florida Panhandle. Home BancShares, Inc. is headquartered in Conway, Arkansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of Home BancShares (NASDAQ: HOMB  ) , the holding company of Centennial Bank, jumped as much as 13% after receiving an analyst upgrade.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Vanguard Large Cap Etf (VV)

Vanguard Large-Cap ETF, formerly known as Vanguard Large-Cap VIPERs, is an exchange-traded share class that seeks to track the investment performance of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) US Prime Market 750 Index (Index). The Fund employs an indexing approach to provide exposure to predominantly large-cap companies in the United States, diversified across growth and value styles.

The Index represents the universe of predominantly large-capitalization companies in the United States equity market. Using full replication, the Fund invests in all of the Index stocks, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you'd like to add some large-cap stocks to your portfolio but don't have the time or expertise to hand-pick a few, the Vanguard Large-Cap ETF (NYSEMKT: VV  ) could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which large-cap stocks will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in lots of them simultaneously.
  
  The basics
  ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual-fund cousins. This ETF, focused on large-cap stocks, sports a relatively low expense ratio -- an annual fee -- of 0.1%. It yields about 2%.
  
  This ETF has performed reasonably, but it's also very young, with just a few years on the books. It underperformed the S&P 500 in 2008 and 2010, though it beat it substantially in 2007 and 2009. As with most investments, of course, we can't expect outstanding performances in every quarter or year. Investors with conviction need to wait for their holdings to deliver.