Best Stocks To Buy For 2014

We think the recovery trends in housing are strong, and that the recent sharp increases in mortgage rates won't derail it. For exposure to this area, we are buying one of the leading home improvement retailers, suggests Genia Turanova of Leeb Income Performance.

While this is not the only company that stands to benefit from the ongoing rebound in both the prices and sales of new and existing homes, we chose Lowe's Companies (LOW), due to its still-attractive valuation.

The general case for home-improvement stores includes the rising number of home buyers and sellers who tend to engage in renovation and home improvement projects, in addition to purchasers of new homes, who also tend to add home décor, window treatments, and furnishings.

Lowe's in particular has been undergoing a turnaround, which means that its stock is still cheaper than that of its larger rival, Home Depot.

Best Stocks To Buy For 2014: Liang Huat Aluminium Ltd (C4P.SI)

Liang Huat Aluminium Limited designs, fabricates, manufactures, and sells of aluminum and other metal parts and components. The company provides building façade and interior wall systems, such as curtain walling systems, cladding systems, aluminum grilles, doors and windows, and other aluminium engineering and industrial products. It also offers design and consultancy services. In addition, the company designs, manufactures, and markets vehicle traction equipment. It offers its products and services in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and India. The company was founded in 1978 and is based in Singapore.

Best Stocks To Buy For 2014: E-House(China)

E-House (China) Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate services company in China. It provides primary real estate agency services, secondary real estate brokerage services, real estate information and consulting services, real estate advertising services, real estate online services, and real estate investment fund management services. The company offers primary real estate agency services to real estate developers of residential properties. Its secondary real estate brokerage services include offering advisory services on choices of properties; accompanying potential buyers on house viewing trips; drafting purchase contracts; negotiating price and other terms; and providing preliminary proof of title, as well as coordinating with the notary, the bank, and the title transfer agency. The company also provides market information to buyers and sellers based on its research, as well as listing and brokerage services comprising sales and rentals. Its real estate consulting services include land acquisition consulting and land development consulting. The company?s real estate information services comprise the sale of online subscriptions to its proprietary CRIC system to support its primary and secondary real estate agency services. Its real estate advertising services comprise advertising design and sales in print and other media. The company?s real estate online services include real estate news, information, property data, and access to online communities to real estate consumers and participants through local Web sites. Its real estate investment fund management activities consist of investments in China?s real estate sector. E-House (China) Holdings Limited was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People?s Republic of China.

Best Stocks To Buy For 2014: Bank of America Corporation(BAC)

Bank of America Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and nonbanking financial services and products to individuals, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally. The company?s Deposits segment generates savings accounts, money market savings accounts, certificate of deposits, and checking accounts; and Global Card Services segment provides the U.S. consumer and business card, consumer lending, international card and debit card services. Its Home Loans & Insurance segment offers consumer real estate products and services, including mortgage loans, reverse mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and home equity loans. It also provides property, disability, and credit insurance. The company?s Global Commercial Banking segment offers lending products, including commercial loans and commitment facilities, real estate lending, leasing, trade finance, short-term credit, asset-based lending, and indirect consumer loans; and capital management and treasury solutions, such as treasury management, foreign exchange, and short-term investing options. Its Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial products, advisory services, settlement, and custody services; debt and equity underwriting and distribution, merger-related advisory services, and risk management products; and integrated working capital management and treasury solutions. The company?s Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and brokerage services, estate management, financial planning services, fiduciary management, credit and banking expertise, and asset management products. Bank of America Corporation serves customers through a network of approximately 5,900 banking centers and 18,000 automated teller machines. It was formerly known as NationsBank Corporation and changed its name on October 1, 1998. Bank of America Corporation was founded in 1874 and is based in Charlott e, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was the best performer of all 30 DJIA components in 2012. With gains of over 100%, the stock is now overvalued according to Wall St. analysts. Meredith Whitney may have recently upgraded Bank of America, but the year-end consensus price target of $10.60 was implying a negative return of almost 9%. There is at least something positive to say here, and that is that analysts are ratcheting their targets slightly higher already. Thomson Reuters already has lifted its consensus mean target to $11.13. Bank of America only yields 0.3% because it has not been allowed to raise its dividend. What if that changes in 2013?

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Four years after purchasing Merrill Lynch, Bank of America (BAC) said it will end investment bank's days as a separate legal entity. Bloomberg has the details:Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. lender, plans to merge its Merrill Lynch subsidiary into the parent company to reduce complexity and costs.

  The move could happen as early as the fourth quarter and means Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America assumes all the investment bank’s obligations and debt, Merrill Lynch said in an Aug. 2 filing. Dissolving the legal entity also ends Merrill Lynch’s need to file separate regulatory disclosures.

  Shares of Bank of America have gained 1% to $14.47 today, while JPMorgan Chase (JPM)  has risen 0.7% to $53.66, Citigroup (C) has ticked up 0.3% to $51.01 and Wells Fargo (WFC) is up 0.3% to $43.13. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) has gained 0.5% to $20.16.

• [By Philip van Doorn]

  Shares of Bank of America (BAC) closed at $9.49 on Tuesday, returning 71% year-to-date, following an epic 58% decline during 2011. Despite that remarkable run, the shares trade for just 0.7 times the company's Dec. 30 tangible book value of $12.95, and for a relatively low nine times the consensus 2013 EPS estimate of $1.06. KBW analyst Jefferson Harralson rates Bank of America "Market Perform," with a price target of $9.00, and estimates the company will report first-quarter EPS of six cents, followed by full-year earnings of 65 cents, and 2013 EPS of $1.20.

• [By John Grgurich]

  To any investors following the financial sector in 2012, it will come perhaps as no surprise that B of A is the year's top financials performer: moving from $5.81 per share to its year high of $11.61, for a whopping percentage gain of 100.17%. At the height of the financial crisis, in February 2009, B of A's stock traded for as low as $3.95.