Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own For 2014

Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.

Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.

Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Healthways (Nasdaq: HWAY  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own For 2014: lancashire hldgs com stk usd0(LRE.L)

Lancashire Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. The company underwrites risks within the property, energy, marine, and aviation segments, as well as terrorism, and political risks. It also provides coverage for natural catastrophes. The company is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own For 2014: Hewlett-Packard Company(HPQ)

Hewlett-Packard Company and its subsidiaries provide products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as well as to the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. Its Personal Systems Group segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, calculators and other related accessories, and software and services for the commercial and consumer markets. The company?s Services segment provides consulting, outsourcing, and technology services to infrastructure, applications, and business process domains. Its Imaging and Printing Group segment provides consumer and commercial printer hardware, supplies, media, and scanning devices, such as inkjet and Web solutions, laser jet and enterprise solutions, managed enterprise solutions, graphics solutions, and printer supplies. The company?s Enterprise Servers, Storage, and Networking segment offers industry standard s ervers, business critical systems, storage platforms, and networking products, including switches, routers, wireless LAN, and TippingPoint network security products. Its HP Software segment provides enterprise IT management software, information management solutions, and security intelligence/risk management solutions. The company?s HP Financial Services segment offers leasing, financing, utility programs, and asset recovery services; and financial asset management services for enterprise customers, as well as specialized financial services to SMBs, and educational and governmental entities. Hewlett-Packard Company also provides business intelligence solutions that enable businesses to standardize on consistent data management schemes, connect and share data across the enterprise, and apply analytics, as well as licenses its specific technology to third parties. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Cramer]

  Nope, not the one to own in 2011. I think that HP has taken a step backward and is now ripe for the pickings of every other company in the space, whether it be . Accenture (ACN) on the consulting side or . EMC (EMC) on the server side or Oracle (ORCL) with Sun on the hardware and software side or Apple (AAPL) on the PC side. I just don't see this company doing anything this year, and I really don't understand the strategy or the vision, in part because of a new CEO who hasn't explained it yet and in part because of the old CEO who left on such a bad note. I don't see a pickup in earnings and I think that the stock could finish lower than it starts. Call it $40. I hope I am wrong because I think that 2011 will be a good year for tech in general, but not for this company.

• [By Smart Money]

  Forward P/E: 9.2.

   

  Five-year average forward P/E: 13.8.

  Discount to five-year average: 33%.

  As the world's biggest maker of personal computers and printers, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has two knocks against it -- neither of its major markets is particularly attractive these days, says Kim Caughey, senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

  "In the PC market, HP is fighting deflation," Caughey says. "Next year's hardware is always going to be faster, better, cheaper."

  The Palo Alto, Calif., company's printer and printing business is suffering as companies downsize, she says; fewer workers translates into less printing.

  Even worse is what could happen to HP's margins as demand grows for tiny, cheap netbook computers. "I'm looking into people's pockets and I believe they will be sending their kids back to school with netbooks," says Caughey. "The (profit) margin on netbooks is terrible."

   

  That's part of the bigger problem with a company as consumer-focused as HP. If folks don't have the money, they can't spend it. For that reason, Caughey thinks Hewlett-Packard's shares, while valued at a low multiple, are unattractive.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) was the worst story of all 30 DJIA stocks in 2013. Unfortunately, what was bad is expected to get worse in 2013. With a downside price target of $13.53, HP shares are now expected to fall just over 5%, even with this yielding 3.5% now. HP’s woes do not stop with the Autonomy acquisition woes. Meg Whitman has fired many employees but warned that a real turnaround might not take hold until all the way into 2016. We expect more asset sales and ultimately more layoffs. HP’s position was not helped out after it became known that famous short sellers are continuing to bet against this PC and IT-services giant.

Best China Stocks For 2014: Key Tronic Corporation(KTCC)

Key Tronic Corporation, doing business as KeyTronicEMS Co., together with its subsidiaries, provides electronic manufacturing services (EMS) to original equipment manufacturers primarily in the United States, Mexico, and China. Its EMS services include product design, surface mount technologies for printed circuit board assembly, tool making, precision plastic molding, liquid injection molding, automated tape winding, prototype design, and full product builds. The company also manufactures keyboards and other input devices for personal computers. Key Tronic markets its products and services primarily through its direct sales department aided by field sales people and distributors. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Spokane Valley, Washington.

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own For 2014: Tennant Creek Gold Ltd(TNG.AX)

TNG Limited engages in the exploration, evaluation, and development of mineral resource projects in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The company explores for gold, zinc, lead, silver, vanadium, titanium, iron, nickel, cobalt, and copper. It principally holds 100% interest in the Mount Peake project located in the Arunta geological province; and the Manbarrum project located to the north-east of the township of Kununurra in the northern territory. The company is based in Subiaco, Australia.

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own For 2014: FreeSeas Inc.(FREE)

FreeSeas Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a bulk transportation company. The company transports various drybulk commodities, including iron ore, grain, and coal, as well as bauxite, phosphate, fertilizers, steel products, cement, sugar, rice, and minor bulks. As of December 31, 2010, it owned and operated nine vessels, including seven Handysize and two Handymax dry bulk carriers. The company was formerly known as Adventure Holdings S.A. and changed its name to FreeSeas Inc. in April 2005. FreeSeas Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Piraeus, Greece.