Top 5 Internet Stocks To Own For 2014

Folks betting on Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) calling its new gaming console the Xbox 720 were only off by 719 digits.

Then again, given the solitary nature of the platform's new bar-raising features, maybe it's appropriate that Microsoft went with Xbox One as the new name.

As much as Microsoft would love to position its new system as the ultimate set-top box to anchor a home theater experience, it's one that will largely be enjoyed by individuals on their own. After all, if you're watching an NFL game with a group of friends, do you really want one person shrinking the size of the screen to pull up his fantasy football stats? Do you want someone using hand gestures or barking out commands to launch Internet Explorer to pull up a recipe while you're all watching a cooking show?

Top 5 Internet Stocks To Own For 2014: Symantec Corporation(SYMC)

Symantec Corporation provides security, storage, and systems management solutions internationally. The company?s Consumer segment delivers Internet security, PC tune-up, and online backup solutions and services to individual users and home offices. Its Security and Compliance segment provides solutions for endpoint security and management, compliance, messaging management, data loss prevention, encryption, and authentication services to large, medium, and small-sized businesses, as well as offers solutions through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) security offerings. This segment?s products enable customers to secure, provision, and remotely manage their laptops, PCs, mobile devices, and servers. The company?s Storage and Server Management segment provides storage and server management, backup, archiving, and data protection solutions across heterogeneous storage and server platforms, as well as solutions delivered through its SaaS offerings to large, medium, and small-s ized businesses. Symantec?s Services segment offers implementation services and solutions, including consulting, business critical services, education, and managed security services. The company also provides various enterprise support offerings, such as annual maintenance support contracts, including content, upgrades, and technical support. It sells its products through its eCommerce platform, as well as through distributors, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, system builders, ISPs, and retail locations worldwide. Symantec markets and sells its products through distributors, retailers, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, original equipment manufacturers, system builders, and Internet service providers; and its e-commerce channels, as well as direct sales force, value-added and large account resellers, and system integrators. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

   Symantec (SYMC) is having a better year in 2012. Shares of the $13 billion computer security firm have rallied around 18% year-to-date, besting the broad market's performance by a slight margin. Much of Symantec's performance came in the late Summer, when the stock gapped up and started moving higher extremely quickly.

  But that straight-up trajectory wasn't sustainable, so shares have spent the last couple of months consolidating sideways in a price channel. Sideways consolidation isn't a bad thing -- it just means that investors are trying to catch their breath after a big volatile run. With resistance coming in at $19.25, buyers have a pretty well defined signal that the rest is over for SYMC and another rally leg is beginning. I wouldn't recommend buying until then.

  Remember, these setups all come down to supply and demand from buyers and sellers. After the huge push higher at the end of the summer, sellers started coming in at $19.25 -- it was a price where sellers were more eager to sell and take gains than buyers were to keep buying. That's why the breakout above $19.25 is a buy signal; a breakout indicates that buyers have gained enough strength to absorb all of the excess supply above $19.25.

  Without that upside barrier, this stock should be able to keep running higher…

Top 5 Internet Stocks To Own For 2014: IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI)

IAC/InterActiveCorp engages in the Internet business in the United States and internationally. The company�s Search segment develops, markets, and distributes various downloadable toolbars; provides search, reference, and content services through its destination search and other Websites, including Ask.com and Dictionary.com; and aggregates and integrates local advertising and content for distribution to publishers on Web and mobile platforms, as well as markets and distributes mobile applications through which it provides search and additional services. Its Match segment offers subscription-based and advertiser-supported online personals services through its Websites comprising Match.com, Chemistry.com, OurTime.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com, and OkCupid.com, as well as through mobile applications and Meetic-branded Websites. The company�s ServiceMagic segment offers Market Match service that matches consumers with service professionals; Exact Match service, which enables con sumers to review service professional profiles and select the service professional that meets their specific needs; and 1800Contractor.com, an online directory of service professionals. This segment also offers Website design and hosting services. Its Media and Other segment operates CollegeHumor.com, an online entertainment Website that targets young males; Vimeo, a Website on which users can upload, share, and view video; and Pronto.com, a comparison search engine. This segment also engages in the creation of video content for various distribution platforms; and operates as an Internet retailer of footwear and related apparel and accessories, as well as focuses on multimedia business. The company was formerly known as InterActiveCorp and changed its name to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004. IAC/InterActiveCorp was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Springer]

  IAC/InteractiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) is perhaps the forgotten Internet company. This $4 billion Web property gets very little love and respect from Wall St. because it is such a smaller competitor and it is considered a hodge-podge of Web properties. It has media, shopping and the Ask.com search engine, and that search is said to be the glue that keeps it together. Its Ask.com is still one of the largest search engines running, at number four in most rankings, but it is incredibly small when compared to Google and even compared to Microsoft along with Yahoo! Its own efforts to become a content destination have been met with a mixed reception, and the stock chart shows no real read either way at the start of 2013. What is amazing is that the company has grown without many investors paying attention.

  IAC/InteractiveCorp shares trade at $46.00, and its 52-week range is $40.87 to $55.57. Analysts have a consensus value of just over $60.00, for an implied upside of close to 30%, and IAC trades at only about 12-times earnings. Is this a Web value stock in the making?

Top 5 Financial Stocks To Own For 2014: Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)

Yahoo! Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media company that delivers personalized digital content and experiences through various devices worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of marketing services to businesses. The company?s communications and communities offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV, which provide a range of communication and social services to users and small businesses enabling users to organize into groups and share knowledge, common interests, and photos. Its search products comprise Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Local, available free to users to navigate the Internet and discover content. The company?s marketplaces offerings and services include Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Autos, and Yahoo! Small Business, which allow users to research specific topics, products, services, or areas of interest by review ing and exchanging information, obtaining contact details, or considering offers from providers of goods, services, or parties with similar interests. Its media offerings comprise Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Entertainment & Lifestyles, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Yahoo! Pulse, which are designed to engage users with online content and services on the Web. The company also offers marketing services, such as display and search advertising, listing-based services, and commerce-based transactions to advertisers. In addition, it provides software and platform offerings for third-party developers, advertisers, and publishers, such as Yahoo! Developer Network, Yahoo! Open Strategy, Yahoo! Application Platform, Yahoo! Updates, Yahoo! Query Language, and Yahoo! Search BOSS. The company has strategic alliances with Nokia and ABC News, Inc. Yahoo! Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Californi a.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) had a full shareholder recovery under new CEO Marissa Mayer, but now the company has to begin to execute on its strategy. Mayer probably has another three months before Wall St. will demand to see increasingly better results. We only say this because the shares rose by more than one-third from the summer lows to the peak above $20. Mayer has delivered on her promise to monetize the stake in Alibaba in China, and there is hope that more monetization from that may be seen, or from the Yahoo! Japan stake. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) may represent the biggest opportunity, but it also may represent the largest challenge. Yahoo! looks as though it will be a content destination rather than stepping backwards to become a search and aggregation destination.

  Yahoo! trades at $19.40, but it has lost some momentum after closing at $20.08 and peaking at $20.32 for its 52-week high on the first trading day of 2013. The company has a $23 billion market cap, and we would caution that analysts have a consensus price target of only $19.66 after a fresh downgrade by Bernstein on valuation. Yahoo! trades at about 17-times current and forward earnings expectations.

  As you might have expected, there is an ETF for that! The First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index (NYSEMKT: FDN) ETF trades at $40.60, but note that it hit a 52-week high, and that the 52-week is now $40.67. We would also note that the volume of almost 2.4 million shares seen this past Monday was basically twice as active as the three busiest trading days of 2012 in this ETF.

Top 5 Internet Stocks To Own For 2014: Google Inc.(GOOG)

Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers And roid, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kevin M. O'Brien]

  Google (GOOG) will surpass $725.00/share. Google has a lot of trouble over the last few years maintaining its all-time highs. I do not think this will be the case in 2012. The stock is really starting to show strength of late and I do believe this carries over into next year.

• [By Chuck]  

  The brokerage expect outperformance for Google, given continued strength in the paid search market driven by a modestly improving economy and online share gains and traction with non-search businesses, primarily display and mobile. The brokerage is modeling 18 percent and 19 percent revenue and EPS growth, respectively, in 2011.

• [By David Eller]

  With Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) being the king of search, we wanted to start there. Google still has approximately 67% of the online search market. In the past this had been more than 70%, but its dominance is still very much present. What is transforming Google is its Android operating system for smartphones and tablets, and now for little netbooks, on the heels of its Motorola buyout. Google shares bounced handily after a disappointing earnings report and fears about the online ad market, even after the mobile ad cannibalization, have so far been seriously overblown. Shares are now near a 52-week high again, and Wall St. remains very favorable, even with leadership questions being present.

  Google shares trade around $735, with a $214 billion market cap and with a 52-week trading range of $556.62 to $774.38. Analysts have a consensus value of just over $800.00, for upside of only about 9%. Google trades at close to 16-times its expected 2013 earnings.

• [By McWillams]

  This stock has been going up higher and higher for at least the last 10 years.  They don’t seem to be letting up.  On the fundamental side, their market share is growing as well as the market itself.  They are starting to get into the social networking space as well with the recent release of Google+.  The thing you want to watch for is their operational costs.  It’s been rising very quickly due mostly to hiring costs.  I don’t foresee that stabilizing at any point.  Just make sure the earnings are growing faster than rising costs.

Top 5 Internet Stocks To Own For 2014: Internap Network Services Corporation(INAP)

Internap Network Services Corporation provides information technology (IT) infrastructure services. The company operates through two segments, Data Center Services and IP Services. The Data Center Services segment provides colocation services, which include physical space for hosting customers? IT infrastructure network and other equipment, as well as offers associated services, such as redundant power and network connectivity, environmental controls, and security. This segment also offers managed hosting services that enable its customers to own and manage the software applications and content, as well as provides and maintains the hardware, operating system, collocation, and bandwidth. The IP services segment provides patented performance Internet protocol (IP) service; XIP acceleration-as-a-service solution; and flow control platform, a premise-based intelligent routing hardware product for customers, who run their own multiple network architectures, known as multi-homi ng. In addition, this segment offers content delivery network services that enable its customers to stream and distribute media and content, such as video, audio software, and applications to audiences through points of presence, as well as offers capacity-on-demand services to handle events and unanticipated traffic spikes. Internap Network Services Corporation provides its services and products through 76 IP service points, which include 20 CDN POPs and 1 standalone CDN POP, as well as through 37 data centers across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. It serves the entertainment and media, financial services, business services, software, hosting and information technology infrastructure, and telecommunications industries. The company was founded in 1996 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Harding]

  Internap Network Services Corporation is an Internet solutions and data Center Company providing a suite of network optimization and delivery services and products that manage deliver and distribute applications. Its EPS forecast for the current year is 0.12 and next year is 0.21. According to consensus estimates, its topline is expected to grow 2.85% current year and 9.34% next year. It is trading at a forward P/E of 34.33. Out of eight analysts covering the company, three are positive and have buy recommendations and five have hold ratings.