Top Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2015

"And, by the way, the bulk of the billions in Berkshire Hathaway has come from the better businesses. ... And most of the other people who've made a lot of money have done so in high-quality businesses."
-- Charlie Munger�

At Tier 1 Investments, a Motley Fool Real-Money Portfolio, I seek out and invest in elite businesses. These include companies with the most valuable brands, best management, superior products and services, and strongest competitive advantages. This strategy has proved to be very effective, with Tier 1 returning 49% since its inception nearly two ago, which has outperformed the S&P 500 by nearly five percentage points during that time.

But I also appreciate the power of dividend growth when it comes to earning market-beating returns. In fact, a study by C. Thomas Howard published in Advisor Perspectives found that for every percentage point a stock's yield rises, its annual return increases by 0.22 percentage points if it's a large cap, 0.25 if it's a mid cap, and 0.46 if it's a small cap. Even better, Howard found that dividend-growing stocks outperformed dividend cutters by 10 percentage points per year from 1973 to 2010 and beat both flat- and no-dividend stocks. And the icing on the cake is that Howard showed that this outperformance came with a third less volatility. Higher returns, less volatility-induced stress, and a steadily growing income stream -- three powerful aspects of dividend growth investing that can help you grow your wealth.

Top 10 Industrial Conglomerate Companies To Own In Right Now: Synacor Inc (SYNC)

Synacor, Inc. (Synacor) is a provider of solutions for delivery of online content and services. Synacor delivers its solutions as a set of services through its hosted and managed platform, enabling cable and telecom service providers and consumer electronics manufacturers to provide the online content and services. The Company platform allows its customers to package an array of online content and services with their Internet, communications, television and other offerings. Its platform includes Website design and development, unified registration and login (single sign-on), billing integration, personalization, video delivery capability, content management system, household management, toolbar and television listings. Its customers offer the services under their own brands on Internet-enabled devices such as personal computers (PCs), tablets, smartphones and connected televisions. In January 2012, Synacor acquired the assets of Carbyn, Inc. (Carbyn). In May 2012, the Company acquired Carbyn, the hypertext markup language 5 (HTML5) Platform. In November 2013, Synacor Inc acquired Teknision.

Synacor�� acquired assets consist of mobile device software and technology and other property, which it enhances the efforts in the development of next generation Web applications for mobile devices. The Company�� hosted and managed platform allows the customers to enhance their consumers��online experience. Its customers use the platform to develop personalized Websites that serve as their consumers��respective online hubs for communication services, entertainment offerings and support services. Its platform enables the customers to combine entertainment, such as television shows, multi-player games and streaming music based on a subscriber�� access rights and preferences with communications offerings, such as voicemail, e-mail, and third party messaging services, such as Yahoo Mail, Google Gmail, AOL Mail, Facebook, and Twitter. Its platform also allows the customers to deliver appropriate ! account tools, support, bill pay services and up-sell promotions to their consumers, all without leaving the applicable customer�� Website.

Website Design and Development

Synacor creates, designs and develops branded Websites for the customers. The Company�� Websites is designed to be the online destination for the customers��consumers and aggregate an array of resources, including free-to-subscriber content and service offerings, value added services, online content and search, all in one location.

Unified Registration and Login (Single Sign-On)

Synacor�� platform gives subscribers access to all of the services and paid content, including subscription television programming the consumer have the right to consume, using a single user ID and password, which are the same credentials that they use for e-mail. Single sign-on for subscribers is integrated with both its customers and the content and value added service partners.

Billing Integration

Synacor�� platform allows the customers to integrate billing for services and paid content purchases with other services and products provided to their subscribers, including television and telephony service. A customer may collect transaction fees through credit card or on the subscriber�� service provider bill, and it may bill transactions each time the consumer occur or on a monthly basis using monthly summary totals. The Company's system enables online bill review, providing subscribers with access to a detailed transaction account.

Personalization

Synacor�� platform enables the consumer to personalize his or her online experience through customization and localization. Consumers may add, delete, move, and otherwise customize the content displayed on its customers��branded Websites, such as by setting preferred television stations in its television-at-a-glance module. Localization allows consumers to set a Website to a favorite zip code to ! gain acce! ss to radio stations, weather, movies, and events, all in the local area. The Company�� platform also allows consumers to comment on online articles and to create shortcuts to their favorite content using an online personal assistant on the personalized Website.

Video Delivery Capability

Synacor�� video delivery capability includes two primary components: a video player and a video discovery and delivery system. The video player contains video controls, such as play, pause, fast forward and rewind and full-screen viewing and can be configured to play within or on top of a page. The Company's video discovery and delivery system is database-driven, supports multiple video hosting methods and enables transcoding from a number of video formats to formats that are playable on a variety of devices. The system contains a number of access control mechanisms, including the ability to restrict access based on Internet protocol (IP) address location, consumer type or household management settings. The system also permits consumers to search videos and browse by channel, genre or content type.

Content Management System

Synacor�� content management system enables the customers and it to create customizable online experiences containing content from various sources. Content is distributed through Web services in an architecture that is portable to multiple devices and platforms. The Company�� system is comprised of administrative interfaces, a scalable content storage system and a system to distribute content to the platform. The interface is easy to use and displays a preview of page or component designs prior to approval and publishing. Its system can also automatically publish content from outside sources or assign publishing rights, by site section, to outside vendors.

Household Management

Synacor�� household management system puts parents in control of the content their children are allowed to purchase or consume through i! ts platfo! rm. This system allows the head of household to specify the range of products the consumer�� child accounts may access and utilize and to establish preset spending limits for content purchases, such as music.

Toolbar and Television Listings

Synacor offers its customers the ability to create branded toolbars that can be personalized by their consumers. The toolbar can be updated automatically as new features become available and may be configured with search, weather, television and movie listings, as well as services and paid content packages, enabling consumers to access their favorite features on the platform even when they leave the customers��Websites. The toolbars can also integrate internal services, such as instant messaging, customer support and e-mail. The Company�� platform provides television listings and corresponding television channels, which enables consumers to search and browse local television programming.

The Company competes with Yahoo! Inc., Google, AOL LLC, Microsoft Corporation, Netflix, Inc., Hulu, LLC and Amazon.com Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Although Small cap Synacor Inc (NASDAQ: SYNC) calls itself the place "where Tech, Hollywood and Madison Avenue meet in the cloud,��its not exactly been a blockbuster for investors���meanings its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of potential benchmarks like the First Trust ISE Cloud Computing Index (NASDAQ: SKYY), iShares North American Tech-Software (NYSEARCA: IGV) and Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ: SOCL).

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another under-$10 stock that's starting to trend within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Synacor (SYNC), a provider of startpages, TV Everywhere solutions, Identity Management services and various cloud-based services across multiple devices for cable, satellite, telecom and consumer electronics companies. This stock has been hammered by the bears so far in 2013, with shares off by 39%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Synacor, you'll notice that this stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $2.85 to $2.96 a share. Following that bottom, shares of SYNC have started to surge higher and move back above its 50-day moving average at $3.27 a share. That move is quickly pushing SYNC within range of triggering a major breakout trade.

  Market players should now look for long-biased trades in SYNC if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.43 to $3.56 a share and then once it takes out more resistance at $4 to $4.17 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 388,369 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then SYNC will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $6 to $6.50 a share.

  Traders can look to buy SYNC off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $2.96 to $2.85 a share. One can also buy SYNC off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap Synacor Inc (NASDAQ: SYNC) says its "where Tech, Hollywood and Madison Avenue meet in the cloud��but its not exactly been a blockbuster for investors���meanings its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with the performance of potential benchmarks like the First Trust ISE Cloud Computing Index (NASDAQ: SKYY), iShares North American Tech-Software (NYSEARCA: IGV) and Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ: SOCL).

Top Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2015: Sina Corporation(SINA)

SINA Corporation provides online media and mobile value-added services (MVAS) in the People?s Republic of China. It provides advertising, non-advertising, and free services through SINA.com, Weibo.com, and SINA Mobile. SINA.com offers free interest-based channels that provide region-focused format and content, including news, sports, automobile-related news, finance, entertainment, luxury, technology, digital, tools, collectibles, video, music, and wireless application protocol, as well as interactive platform for fashion-conscious users to share comments and ideas on a range of topics, such as health, cosmetics, and beauty. The company's microblogging platform, Weibo.com, enables its users to follow the hottest topics being discussed online, as well as discussions related to people they know. Weibo accounts consist of celebrities, commercial enterprises, government entities, and grass root Internet users. Its SINA Mobile service allows users to receive news and informatio n, download ring tones, mobile games and pictures, and participate in dating and friendship communities. The company also offers SINA Game, which serves as an interactive platform that provides users with downloads and gateway access to popular online games; SINA eReading, a shop for book reviews; SINA.net, an enterprise solutions platform to assist businesses and government bodies; and SINA Mall, an online shopping Website. In addition, it provides a platform for Chinese bloggers; photo-sharing platform; free email, VIP mail, and corporate email for enterprise users; audio and video-based instant messaging tools; proprietary search technology; and classified advertising services, as well as hosts topic-specific discussion forums in Chinese language; and creates user-maintained and supported online communities. The company has strategic cooperation agreement with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. SINA Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the Peop le?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Melvin Backman]

  JD.com is the latest in a number of big Chinese tech IPOs this year. But several of them have fizzled after hot starts. Weibo (WB), the Twitter-like social media site owned by Sina (SINA), is down nearly 10% from where it began trading last month. Jumei International Holding (JMEI), a cosmetics website that debuted last week, is now barely above its IPO price.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  A month ago he was concerned about SINA (NASDAQ: SINA  ) , fearing that Alibaba purchasing an 18% stake in SINA Weibo might lead to problems for Baidu. SINA could potentially limit access to its real-time searches of Weibo content, just as domestic search giants had to shell out for access to Twitter. It would be a pretty big gamble for the popular micro-blogging platform since Baidu still commands the lion's share of China's search requests.

• [By Vera Yuan]

  So far this year, our holdings in this area did not work well and the overall IT sector performance was dragged down especially by two small-cap companies��ina Corp (SINA) and Digital China Holdings. Sina, one of China�� most popular web portals, came under selling pressure due to market concerns that its Twitter-like online communications services Weibo, may be losing its growth momentum to a main competitor. However, we continue to hold Sina as we believe the target market for its competitor is different from Weibo and we also believe Sina�� current valuation does not reflect its other attractive underlying assets.From Matthews China Fund (Trades, Portfolio)�� Second Quarter 2014 Commentary.Also check out: Matthews China Fund Undervalued Stocks Matthews China Fund Top Growth Companies Matthews China Fund High Yield stocks, and Stocks that Matthews China Fund keeps buying Currently 0.00/512345

  Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes)

Top Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2015: Syntel Inc.(SYNT)

Syntel, Inc. provides information technology (IT) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) services worldwide. It operates in four segments: Applications Outsourcing, KPO, e-Business, and TeamSourcing. The Applications Outsourcing segment provides software applications development, maintenance, testing, migration, and infrastructure services. The KPO segment offers a host of outsourced solutions for knowledge and business processes. It focuses on middle and back-office business processes of the transaction cycle in the capital markets, banking, healthcare, and insurance industries. The e-Business segment provides technology services in the areas of architecting, implementing, and maintaining Web solutions, data warehousing/business intelligence, enterprise application integration, business process management, and enterprise resource planning solutions. The TeamSourcing segment offers professional IT consulting services directly to customers on a staff augmentation basis. It s services include systems specification, design, development, implementation, and maintenance of complex IT applications involving computer hardware, software, data, and networking technologies and practices. Syntel, Inc. provides services to a range of companies primarily in the financial services, healthcare and life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, automotive, retail, logistics, and telecom industries. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Troy, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, IT services specialist Syntel (NASDAQ: SYNT  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2015: Volterra Semiconductor Corporation(VLTR)

Volterra Semiconductor Corporation engages in the design, development, and marketing of analog and mixed-signal power management semiconductors for computing, storage, networking, and consumer markets. The company?s products include integrated voltage regulator semiconductors, integrated power protection and distribution semiconductors, and scalable voltage regulator semiconductor chipsets that transform, regulate, deliver, and monitor the power consumed by digital semiconductors. Its analog and mixed signal power management semiconductor products are primarily used in applications that require voltage regulating performance, such as data networking equipment, desktop and notebook computers, digital televisions, digital video recorders, game consoles, enterprise storage equipment, graphics cards, hard disk drives, printers, raid cards, servers, telecommunications equipment, base stations, and workstations. The company sells its products primarily to original equipment man ufacturers, original design manufacturers, contract equipment manufacturers, and merchant power supply manufacturers directly through its internal sales force, as well as indirectly through distributors and outsourced suppliers. It has operations in the United States, China, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, and Germany. Volterra Semiconductor Corporation was founded in 1996 and is based in Fremont, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Volterra Semiconductor Corp. (1.2%) (VLTR - $23.00 - NASDAQ)(VLTR) is a California based designer of power management semiconductors for the computing, storage and networking sector. On August 15, 2013, the company received a $23.00 cash tender offer from nearby competitor Maxim Integrated Products Inc., a producer of integrated circuits for various industrial applications with greater scale and presence in the industry. The tender, which commenced on August 30, is expected to close on October 1 of this year. October 4, 2013.

• [By Sally Jones]

  Volterra Semiconductor Corp. (VLTR)

  Up 30% over 12 months, Volterra Semiconductor Corp. has a market cap of $575.49 million; shares trade with a P/E of 41.20.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2015: First Financial Corporation Indiana(THFF)

First Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial services. Its deposit products include interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing demand deposits, savings accounts, time deposits, and certificates of deposit. The company?s loan portfolio comprises commercial, financial, and agricultural loans; residential loans; and consumer loans. It also provides mortgage lending; lease financing; trust account and depositor services; and insurance services, such as property and casualty insurance, surety bonds, employee benefit plans, life insurance, and annuities. The company operates 54 branches in west-central Indiana and east-central Illinois. First Financial Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Doug Hughes]

  Doug Hughes: Sure, there is another one. The next one, the symbol would be (THFF). They're in Indiana, a very large bank. First Federal Financial Corporation. Again, their book value is $27.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2015: Baytex Energy Corp (BTE)

Baytex Energy Corp. (Baytex), incorporated on October 22, 2010, through its subsidiaries, are engaged in the business of acquiring, developing, exploiting and holding interests in petroleum and natural gas properties and related assets in Canada (in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and in the United States (in the states of North Dakota and Wyoming). The Company acts as the financing vehicle for its subsidiaries by providing access to debt and equity capital markets. As of December 31, 2011, its primary assets are Baytex Energy Ltd. (Baytex Energy), which it owns. On February 3, 2011, the Company acquired heavy oil assets located in the Reno area of northern Alberta and the Lloydminster area of western Saskatchewan. On August 9, 2011, the Company acquired natural gas assets located in the Brewster area of west central Alberta. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it completed two dispositions of undeveloped lands; in the Kaybob South area of west central Alberta, it sold six sections of leasehold, including five sections with Duvernay rights, and in the Dodsland area in southwest Saskatchewan, it sold 32,600 net acres of leasehold in the halo of the field.

During 2011, the Company�� production averaged 50,132 barrel of oil equivalent per day, from its properties in Canada. During 2011, production averaged 50,132 barrel of oil equivalent per day. During 2011, light oil and natural gas liquid (NGL) production was 6,769 barrels per day. During 2011, heavy oil production was 35,252 barrels per day. During 2011, natural gas production was 48.7 million cubic feet per day. Its crude oil and natural gas operations are organized into three business units: Alberta/B.C., Saskatchewan and United States. Each business unit has a portfolio of mineral leases, operated and non-operated properties and development prospects. These plays include the Bakken/Three Forks in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and southeast Saskatchewan and the Viking in southwestern Saskatche! wan and eastern Alberta.

Saskatchewan Business Unit

As of December 31, 2011, the Saskatchewan Business Unit accounted for more than 38% of production. The Saskatchewan Business Unit's heavy oil operations include cold primary and thermal (steam-assisted gravity drainage) production. Production is generated from vertical, slant and horizontal wells using progressive cavity pumps capable of handling heavy oil combined with gas, water and sand. Once produced, the oil is delivered to markets in both Canada and the United States on pipelines, tanker trucks or railways. Heavy crude is blended with light-hydrocarbon diluents (such as condensate) prior to being introduced into a sales pipeline. The blended crude oil is then sold by Baytex. During 2011, production in the Saskatchewan Business Unit averaged approximately 20,958 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which was comprised of 19,828 barrels per day of heavy oil, 154 barrels per day of light oil and 5,860 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas. During 2011, Baytex drilled 93 (87.9 net) wells in the Saskatchewan Business Unit resulting in 84 (78.9 net) oil wells, four stratigraphic test wells, four service wells, and one dry and abandoned well.

The Company�� Ardmore, Alberta is developed in the Sparky, McLaren and Colony formations. During 2011, average production was approximately 652 barrels per day of heavy oil and 158 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas. During 2011, one well was drilled. As of December 31, 2011, Baytex had 34,000 net undeveloped acres in this area. Its Carruthers property consists of separate North and South oil pools in the Cummings formation. During 2011, 13 wells were drilled. During 2011, average production was approximately 2,444 barrels per day of heavy oil and 489 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas. As of December 31, 2011, Baytex had 10,600 net undeveloped acres in this area. During 2011, the Company�� Celtic, Saskatchewan producing property produced averaged 3,013 ! barrels p! er day of heavy oil and 538 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas. During 2011, Baytex drilled seven oil wells in the area. The Company�� Cold Lake, Alberta is a heavy oil property. Production is from the Colony, Upper McLaren, Rex and Sparky formations. During 2011, average oil production was approximately 270 barrels per day. During 2011, Baytex had 11,300 net undeveloped acres in this area.

During 2011, in Kerrobert SAGD project, the Company placed two new well pairs on production. During 2011, average production from the Kerrobert area was approximately 3,350 barrels per day of heavy oil, 154 barrels per day of light oil, and 1,999 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas. During 2011, Baytex drilled five oil wells and eight service wells in this area. As of December 31, 2011, Baytex had 38,600 net undeveloped acres in this area. Lindbergh is a non-operated heavy oil property. Baytex has a 21.25% working interest in this property. During 2011, average production in this area was approximately 673 barrels per day of heavy oil and 71 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas. During 2011, four wells were drilled in this area. As of December 31, 2011, Baytex had 800 net undeveloped acres in this area. During 2011, its Marsden/Epping/Macklin/Silverdale, Saskatchewan produced approximately 2,102 barrels per day of oil and 290 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas. During 2011, nine oil wells were drilled in this area. Its Tangleflags is characterized by multiple-zone reservoirs with production from the Colony, McLaren, Waseca, Sparky, General Petroleum and Lloydminster formations. During 2011, Baytex drilled 11 horizontal oil wells in the Lloydminster formation. During 2011, average production was approximately 1,763 barrels per day of heavy oil and 543 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas.

Alberta/B.C. Business Unit

The Alberta/B.C. Business Unit possesses a range of light oil, heavy oil and natural gas properties. During 2011, the Alberta/B.C.! Business! Unit produced light and heavy gravity crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids from fields in Alberta and British Columbia and accounted for approximately 58% of production. During 2011, production from this business unit averaged 27,833 barrel of oil equivalent per day, which was comprised of 15,425 barrels per day of heavy oil, 5,282 barrels per day of light oil and NGL and 42.8 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. During 2011, the Alberta/B.C. Business Unit participated in the drilling of 71 wells resulting in 61 oil wells, one natural gas well, seven stratigraphic test wells, one service well and one dry and abandoned well. As of December 31, 2011, its net undeveloped lands in this business unit totaled approximately 474,000 acres. During 2011, production from Bon Accord area was averaged approximately 905 barrels per day of light oil and 1,742 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. Natural gas is processed at two Baytex-operated plants and oil is treated at three Baytex-operated batteries. During 2011, in this area, Baytex drilled 11 horizontal Viking oil wells. As of December 31, 2011, Baytex had 18,300 net undeveloped acres in this area.

The Company�� Darwin/Nina/Goodfish/Lafond, Alberta produces natural gas from the Bluesky formation. During 2011, production averaged approximately 3,746 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. As of December 31, 2011, Baytex had 27,300 net undeveloped acres in this area. During 2011, the Company�� Leahurst, Alberta produced averaged approximately 2,633 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and 13 barrels per day of NGL from this multi-zone, year-round access area. Natural gas production from the Edmonton, Belly River, Viking and Mannville formations is processed. Baytex holds a total of 263 net sections of oil sands leases in the Peace River oil sands area, which includes the legacy Seal area and the Reno area. During 2011, production from the Peace River area was 15,425 barrels per day, which was comprised of 13,746 barr! els per d! ay from Seal and 1,679 barrels per day from Reno. During 2011, Baytex drilled 25 cold horizontal production wells and seven stratigraphic test wells at Seal and two cold horizontal production wells at Reno. The Peace River area includes 152,500 net undeveloped acres, including 57,000 net undeveloped acres at Seal and 95,500 net undeveloped acres at Reno.

During 2011, the Company�� Pembina production averaged 2,633 barrels per day of light oil and NGL and 22,428 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. During 2011, Baytex participated in drilling 19 wells in this area, resulting in 17 oil wells, one natural gas well, and one dry and abandoned well. During 2011, Pembina area drilling included five operated and 12 non-operated Cardium horizontal wells and completed with multi-stage fracture stimulations. During 2011, the Company�� production from Red Earth area averaged approximately 42 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and 522 barrels per day of light oil and NGL. During 2011, the Company�� Richdale/Sedalia property�� production averaged approximately 3,845 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and eight barrels per day of NGL. During 2011, the Company�� production from Stoddart area averaged approximately 4,498 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and 713 barrels per day of oil and NGL. During 2011, production from Turin was averaged approximately 345 barrels per day of oil and NGL and 856 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. Production is from the Second White Specks, Milk River, Bow Island, Mannville, Sawtooth and Livingstone formations.

United States Business Unit

During 2011, the Company focused its activities on the light oil resource play located in the Divide and Williams Counties of North Dakota. Production is from horizontal wells using multi-stage hydraulic fracturing in the Bakken and Three Forks formations. As of December 31, 2011, Baytex owned approximately 61,000 (24,800 net) developed acres. During 2011, Baytex parti! cipated i! n the drilling of 34 Bakken/Three Forks oil wells. During 2011, net production from the United States properties averaged 1,341 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephan Dube]

  Peace River's most notable producers:

  PennWest Exploration (PWE), see article here.Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), see article here.Baytex (BTE), see article here.Strata Oil and Gas (SOIGF.PK), see article here.Petrobank Energy & Resources (PBEGF.PK), see article here.

  Cold Lake's most notable producers:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  There are a number of quality Canadian E&P companies that are attractive at current prices. Among my favorites are Baytex Energy (NYSE: BTE, TSE: BTE), Cenovus Energy (NYSE: CVE, TSE: CVE) and Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE: CNQ, TSE: CNQ) I also like Peyto Exploration & Development (TSE: PEY, OTC: PEYUF) for aggressive investors. We have often discussed putting Peyto in one of the portfolios, but I would ideally like it a bit cheaper.

• [By Ari Charney]

  Baytex Energy Corp (TSX: BTE, NYSE: BTE) is among the heavy crude-oriented E&Ps to which the firm recommends increased exposure.

  Although Baytex has risen 9.8 percent over the trailing 12-month period, the stock is down about 14 percent from its mid-June high. Nevertheless, analyst sentiment remains firmly bullish, at 18 ��uys,��three ��olds,��and one ��ell.��/p>

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  Canadian Trusts- Baytex Energy Trust (BTE) | Yield: 6.1%
  - Enerplus Resources Fund (ERF) | Yield: 5.6%
  - Pengrowth Energy Trust (PGH) | Yield: 7.1%

Top Mid Cap Companies To Watch For 2015: Blucora Inc (BCOR)

Blucora, Inc., formerly InfoSpace, Inc., is a provider of online solutions for consumers and business partners. The Company owns and operates two Internet businesses. Through its InfoSpace business, the Company provides online search and monetization solutions to a network of more than 100 global partners. Through TaxACT, The Company provides online tax preparation solutions to consumers and professional preparers. The Company's search business consists primarily of a business to business offering that provides its search technology, aggregated content and services to its distribution partners. The search business also offers search services directly to consumers through its own Internet search properties. On June 22, 2011, InfoSpace sold its Mercantila e-commerce business to Zoo Stores, Inc. On January 31, 2012, InfoSpace acquired TaxACT Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiary, 2nd Story Software, Inc. In August 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Monoprice.

InfoSpace primarily offers search services through the Web properties of its distribution partners, which are generally private-labeled and customized to address the requirements of each distribution partner. The search business also distributes aggregated search content through its own Websites, such as Dogpile.com and WebCrawler.com. The Search segment consists of the Company�� search services operations and the Tax Preparation segment is the TaxACT business. The Company�� revenues are generated primarily from its Web search services. The Company�� metasearch technology offers users a search experience, which combines the results of several search engine content providers, including Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, among others, and aggregates, filters, and prioritizes the results. This combination provides a more relevant search results page and leverages the investments made by its Search Customers to continually improve the user experience. Partner versions of its Web offerings are private-labeled and d! elivered with each distribution partner�� requirements.

The Tax Preparation segment generates its revenue through three primary methods: the sale of state and upgraded federal income tax preparation software and online services to consumers, the sale of ancillary services to any user, paid or not, and the sale of its professional edition income tax preparation software to professional tax preparers. The ancillary services include, among other things, additional support, data archiving, a deferred payment option, and a bank card product.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But then, H&R Block ran into trouble with its software. The IRS said that a limited number of software company products failed to provide for the correct treatment of the American Opportunity educational tax credit, forcing an estimated 660,000 taxpayers to have to wait an additional six weeks for their refunds, and H&R Block had been informing its customers about the problems. Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU  ) already has a commanding lead over H&R Block with Intuit's TurboTax software, so H&R Block's slip-up likely didn't add much to Intuit's dominance. But even Blucora's (NASDAQ: BCOR  ) TaxAct software might well benefit from the issue, forcing H&R Block to rely even more on its bricks-and-mortar stores in order to keep its sales up.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of Blucora (NASDAQ: BCOR  ) have popped by as much as 24% today after the company announced first-quarter results.

  So what: Revenue in the first quarter totaled $165.3 million, which translated into non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.95. Investors would have been happy with just $158.8 million in sales, and Blucora's bottom-line result decimated the consensus estimate of just $0.50 per share in profit. CEO Bill Ruckelshaus said both the company's online search and tax preparation segments are off to a strong start for 2013.

• [By Michael Lewis]

  Sea change
  As with many industries, tax prep is witnessing a period of technological disruption in the form of Web-based software. Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU  ) is the leader in the space with its Turbo Tax product. Lesser-known Blucora (NASDAQ: BCOR  ) has its hand in the game as well with TaxACT. The latter is a small but healthy business. TaxACT maintains strong margins and grows at roughly 8% to 10% annually. Currently, the company maintains around 12% of online tax-prep market share.

• [By Igor Novgorodtsev]

  Combining Perion's and Conduit's number allows us to compare a "new Perion" to its peer group: AVG, IACI, AOL (AOL), and Blucora (BCOR). The numbers are nothing short of incredible demonstrating how grossly the new company is underpriced.