Top High Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now

LONDON -- Shares in�Betfair� (LSE: BET  ) sprung up 3.5% in early trade this morning, putting on 30 pence to reach 875 pence, following an unaudited trading and strategy update from the world's largest Internet betting exchange.

Estimated revenue of 387 million pounds and underlying EBITDA of 73 million pounds came in at the top end of the company's expectations, while Betfair's cash balance as of April 30 saw a 50 million pound increase to 168 million pounds from 118 million pounds in 2012.

Cost savings increased to around 30 million pounds, up from 20 million pounds in 2012, following companywide restructuring, a new management team coming in and a reduction in the number of staff by around 500.�

CEO�Breon Corcoran commented:

We have had early success and shown that the combination of the exchange and sportsbook can deliver a sustainable competitive advantage. In the last couple of months, our sportsbook-led acquisition focus has resulted in improved marketing efficiency and a two fold increase in the number of U.K. customer activations. We are confident this will enable us to accelerate revenue growth in our most important market and I believe we can grow in-line with the market in the medium term.

Top Semiconductor Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Spherix Inc (SPEX)

Spherix Incorporated (Spherix), incorporated on May 1, 1992, is a scientific research company. The Company is engaged in developing biopharmaceutical products and providing technical and regulatory consulting services to food, consumer products and pharmaceutical companies. The Company operates in two segments: Biospherics Incorporated (Biospherics), the Company's biotechnology research and development business, and Health Sciences, a technical and regulatory consulting business. The Company has created two wholly owned subsidiaries, Biospherics Incorporated and Spherix Consulting, Inc. (Spherix Consulting), for its two operating segments. The Company's Health Sciences contracts are in the name of Spherix Consulting, and the Company's patents are in the name of Biospherics Incorporated. Spherix provides management, strategic guidance, business development, marketing and other services to its subsidiaries. In September 2013, Spherix Incorporated closed on the acquisition of North South Holdings Inc.

Biospherics

The Company focuses its studies on treating high triglycerides and other dyslipidemias with a combination of D-tagatose and SPX-106, a licensed drug compound, which combination is referred to as SPX-106T. Spherix Consulting provides scientific and strategic support for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers of conventional foods, biotechnology-derived foods, medical foods, infant formulas, food ingredients, dietary supplements, food contact substances, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer products, and industrial chemicals and pesticides. Biospherics has also completed a global Phase III clinical trial investigating the use of D-Tagatose, a stereoisomer of fructose, as a treatment for glycemic control in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Health Sciences

The Company's Health Sciences business provides technical and regulatory consulting services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, as well as providing technical suppo! rt for its research and development activities. During the year ended December 31, 2011, Health Sciences provided services to 20 companies. The projects range from safety analyses of food ingredients to safety analyses of pharmaceutical manufacturing and dispensing equipment. Health Sciences is also monitoring and directing the clinical trials for Biospherics.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Kell and Lauren Pollock var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); ]

  Spherix Inc.(SPEX) on Thursday said that it is suing Cisco Inc.(CSCO) (CSCO), a leging that $43 billion in Cisco sales infringed on Spherix patents. Spherix–which described itself as an “intellectual property development company committed to the fostering and monetization of intellectual property”��aid Cisco infringes on 11 patents it acquired in December. Spherix shares rose 4.9% to $4.70 premarket.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) bounced lower today, down 1.19% to $22.06 in a 52-week range of $19.98 to $26.49. Share volume was about equal to the daily average of around 42.7 million shares traded. The networking giant was hit with a lawsuit charging that Cisco violates 11 patents owned by Spherix Inc. (NASDAQ: SPEX) and that virtually all of Cisco�� revenues from switches and routers since 2008 were generated from the patent infringements.

• [By Sue Chang and Ben Eisen]

  SPEX: Spherix Inc. (SPEX) �shares rose 5% after the intellectual property development company said it had completed a $20 million equity financing that involved selling 10 million shares of convertible preferred stock.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Big earnings movers: Chinese internet firm Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) is up 8% at $78.99 on strong earnings and a buoyant outlook. A small biotech firm, Spherix Inc. (NASDAQ: SPEX) jumped 26.7% to more than $14 on earnings. On Tuesday we are scheduled to get earnings from LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) and Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) before markets open. After Tuesday�� close we��l hear from Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), among others.

Top High Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now: East Africa Resources Ltd (EAF)

East Africa Resources Limited (EAF) is engaged in exploration of uranium projects in Tanzania. The Company has five projects in Tanzania, which include Eastern Rift, Madaba, Hemedi, Mkuju and the Mkuju South Joint Venture (JV). Mkuju South JV covers the Mkuju South project which comprises two tenements in the southern part of the Mkuju Uranium Project. The Eastern Rift Project surrounds Lake Manyara in the north of Tanzania and is targeted at U-in-calcrete mineralization. The Madaba Project consists of 23 tenements covering 4,760 kilometers square in the south-east of Tanzania. The Company�� subsidiaries include Tanganyika Uranium Corp, TZU Resources Pty Ltd, Frontier Resources Ltd and Sterling Resources Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Damian Illia]

  Here�� where I see that Nucor hold its competitive advantage: electric arc furnaces (EAF). These furnaces, in spite of being more electricity intensive, require a much lower per-unit investment and are significantly more efficient in terms of labor. Adding to this, the fact the Nucor has shifted its raw material usage from pig iron to direct-reduced iron (DRI) by building a new production capacity that utilizes cheap natural gas is also a way in which management is attaining a low-cost strategy to outperform its competitors. Moreover, Nucor�� acquisition of ferrous scrap metal broker David J. Joseph Company allows it to avoid price volatility.

Top High Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now: StanCorp Financial Group Inc.(SFG)

StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance products and asset management solutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Insurance Services and Asset Management. The Insurance Services segment offers group and individual disability, group life, group accidental death and dismemberment, group dental, and group vision insurance products, as well as absence management services to individuals and employers. This segment sells its group insurance products through sales representatives, as well as through independent employee benefit brokers and consultants; and individual disability insurance products through brokers and master general agents primarily to physicians, lawyers, executives, other professionals, and small business owners. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 31,000 group insurance policies in force covering approximately 6.8 million employees. The Asset Management segment provides 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, 457 plans, defined benefit plans, money purchase pension plans, profit sharing plans, and non-qualified deferred compensation products and services through an affiliated broker-dealer. This segment also offers investment advisory and management, commercial mortgage loan origination and servicing, and financial planning services, as well as individual fixed-rate annuity, group annuity, and retirement plan trust products. In addition, the company owns and manages real estate properties for sale; and operates an online financial life planning and management service. StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Merkel]

  The two stocks in question are Stancorp Financial (SFG) and National Western Life Insurance (NWLI). The short cases for both are based on a naive view of how insurance companies work.

Top High Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now: Oasis Petroleum Inc.(OAS)

Oasis Petroleum Inc., an independent exploration and production company, engages in the acquisition and development of oil and natural gas resources in the Montana and North Dakota regions of the Williston Basin. The company?s primary project areas include West Williston, East Nesson, and Sanish. As of December 31, 2011, it had approximately 78.7 million barrels of oil equivalent of estimated net proved reserves. Oasis Petroleum Inc. was founded in 2007 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Value Digger]

  C) Oasis Petroleum (OAS) is another one-basin energy play that is solely dependent on the Williston basin. Although the company's D/CF ratio (annualized) is 2.73x, Oasis trades at $152,400/boepd and $29.31/boe of proved reserves, based on its current EV of $4.2 billion and production of 27,556 boepd (89% oil).

• [By James E. Brumley]

  In a perfect world, Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE:OAS) and Shanda Games Limited (NASDAQ:GAME) would always reflect the true underlying value of their respective companies. In reality, GAME and OAS are both well-watched, and frequently-traded, stocks that can take on a life of their own, reflecting ever-changing opinions of the companies rather than the companies' actual value. There's an upside to that disconnect, however - knowing each chart may or may not reflect the actual value of Shanda Games Limited and Oasis Petroleum means you can take the clues given to us by their chart. After all, since charts are just a reflection of public opinion, and since public opinion is actually rather predictable, the way things appear to be - visually - may actually be the way things are. And in this case, the way things are with OAS happens to be a polar opposite with the way things are with GAME.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $55 price target at Deutsche Bank and was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $53 price target at SunTrust.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  That's exactly what Oasis Petroleum (NYSE: OAS  ) decided to do when it formed Oasis Well Services. The company made an initial investment of $24 million in equipment, which has been money well spent. The business is exceeding expectations both in terms of performance and savings since completing its first frac job last March. In the past year the business saved the company $17.5 million in capital, and it expects to save about $500,000 per gross well going forward. It also expects to generate about $200,000 per gross well of incremental cash flow from its non-operated partners going forward. This has enabled the company to already recoup its initial investment in the business.