Top Financial Companies To Buy For 2014

LONDON (AP) -- Unemployment across the 17 EU countries that use the euro hit another record high in April -- and appears to be on course to hit 20 million this year in what would be another gloomy landmark for the currency bloc.

Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, said Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 12.2 percent in April from the previous record of 12.1 percent the month before. In 2008, before the worst of the financial crisis, it was around 7.5 percent.

A net 95,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed, taking the total to 19.38 million. At that pace, unemployment in the currency bloc -- which has a population of about 330 million -- could breach the 20 million mark by the end of the year.

Eurozone economies have been suffering because their governments are trying to improve public finances through aggressive spending cuts and tax increases. The problem is they've done it at a time when much of the private sector has been unable to plug the gap in activity left by the retreating state, unlike in the U.S., which has opted for a more gradual approach to debt reduction.

Top Financial Companies To Buy For 2014: American Independence Corp.(AMIC)

American Independence Corp., through its subsidiaries, engages in the health insurance and reinsurance businesses in the United States. The company provides specialized health coverage and related services to commercial customers and individuals. It offers various insurance products comprising medical stop-loss, fully insured health and dental, and short-term statutory disability. American Independence Corp. offers its products and services through managing general underwriter and agency subsidiaries, independent brokers, producers, and agents. The company was incorporated in 1956 and is headquartered in New York, New York. American Independence Corp. operates as a subsidiary of Independence Holding Co.

Top Financial Companies To Buy For 2014: Primo Water Corporation(PRMW)

Primo Water Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides three- and five-gallon purified bottled water, self-serve filtered drinking water, water dispensers, and carbonating beverage appliances in the United States and Canada. The company?s Primo Water segment sells multi-gallon purified bottled water and self-serve filtered drinking water vending service through retailers in the United States and Canada. It offers its services through point of purchase display racks or self-serve filtered water vending displays, and recycling centers. Its Primo Dispensers segment sells water dispensers that are designed to dispense Primo and other dispenser-compatible bottled water. This segment engages in dispensers sales primarily through retailers. The company also offers home beverage appliances, flavor concentrates, carbon dioxide cylinders, and accessories used with the appliances to make various cold beverages. As of December 31, 2011, its exchange and refill services wer e offered in each of the contiguous United States and in Canada at approximately 23,600 combined retail locations. Primo Water Corporation was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Primo Water (PRMW) is a provider of multi-gallon purified bottled water, self-serve filtered drinking water, water dispensers and carbonating beverage appliances sold through major retailers in the U.S. and Canada. This stock closed up 9.6% to $2.16 in Thursday's trading session.

  Thursday's Range: $1.97-$2.20
  
  52-Week Range: $0.69-$2.20
  
  Thursday's Volume: 329,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 145,397

  From a technical perspective, PRMW ripped higher here right above some near-term support at $1.85 with heavy upside volume. This stock broke out above some near-term overhead resistance at $2.14 and into new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in PRMW as long as it's trending Thursday's low of $1.97 and then once it sustains a move or close above its new 52-week high at $2.20 and above some past resistance at $2.28 with volume that hits near or above 145,397 shares. If we get that move soon, then PRMW will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are its next major overhead resistance levels at $3 to $3.11.

Top 5 High Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: World Heart Corporation(WHRT)

World Heart Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, focuses on the development and commercialization of implantable ventricular assist devices (VADs) primarily in the United States. The VADs are mechanical assist devices that supplement the circulatory function of the heart by re-routing blood flow through a mechanical pump allowing for the restoration of normal blood circulation for the treatment of patients with severe heart failure. The company?s products in development include Levacor, a rotary blood pump, for a range of circulatory support indications; Minimally Invasive VAD, a miniature maglev rotary pump, which provides circulatory support in adult patients in an earlier stage of heart failure, as well as late-stage heart failure patients; and Pediatric VAD, an axial rotary VAD, for use in newborns and infants. World Heart Corporation was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.