Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now

The S&P 500 Index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) ended the day and the week on a higher note, logging its third straight week of gains, as the bull market in equities continues. The index added seven points, or 0.4%, to end at 1,633. Still, a few S&P companies managed to disappoint the market, and their shortcomings were reflected in their outsized losses today.�

Just a few days after Cognizant Technology Solutions� (NASDAQ: CTSH  ) �reported earnings that sent shares in�the IT and consulting company�up�5%, the stock slipped 5%. To be fair to Cognizant, the stumble may be more due to political happenings than anything it's done wrong. An immigration reform bill in the Senate, considered a potential boon to the technology sector, is very unlikely to make it through the House of Representatives. As Cognizant President Gordon Coburn remarked in the earnings call, this is according to the very Senator who authored the bill.

Oil refiner Tesoro (NYSE: TSO  ) lost 2.9% today, on a day when the oil and gas sector, as a whole, was the worst performing of the 10 major sectors. Tesoro is reeling from a recent shutdown in a Washington state refinery earlier this week after a leak was discovered. Thankfully, the issue has been resolved, but the 125,000-barrel-per-day refinery lost some meaningful business in the process.

Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now: FutureFuel Corp. (FF)

FutureFuel Corp., through its subsidiary, FutureFuel Chemical Company, engages in the manufacture and sale of specialty chemicals and bio-based products primarily in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Chemicals and Biofuels. The Chemicals segment provides custom chemical manufacturing services for specific customers, such as bleach activators for detergent and consumer products manufacturers; proprietary herbicide and intermediates for life sciences companies; agrochemicals; and industrial and consumer products, such as cosmetics and personal care products, ink colorants, adhesion promoters, polymer additives, polymer and specialty dyes, specialty polymers, photographic and imaging chemicals, and food additives. This segment also manufactures and sells a range of performance chemicals, including a family of polymer (nylon) modifiers and small-volume specialty chemicals for various applications; a family of acetal-based solvents, consisting of diethoxy methane, dimethoxymethane, dibutoxymethane, and glycerol formal; and phenol sulfonic acid that build on sulfonations technology. Its chemical products are used in various markets and end uses, including detergents, agrochemicals, automotive, photographic imaging, coatings, nutrition, and polymer additives. The Biofuels segment produces and sells biodiesel, as well as petrodiesel in blends with or without biodiesel. This segment also operates a granary in central Arkansas that involves in the purchase and sale of agricultural commodities, primarily soybeans, rice, and corn. This segment markets its biodiesel products by truck and rail directly to customers. FutureFuel Corp. was formerly known as Viceroy Acquisition Corporation and changed its name to FutureFuel Corp. in 2006. FutureFuel Corp. was incorporated in 2005 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  3. Focus on efficiency
  A combination of factors plays a role in efficiently producing biodiesel. FutureFuel (NYSE: FF  ) , which owns an annual capacity of 59 million gallons to complement its niche chemical business, relies heavily on location. The company's two biorefineries don't have a nationwide infrastructure to aid in getting product to the market and are dependent on rail and barge access. Despite the FutureFuel's amazing progress is improving its process -- annual capacity jumped from just 35 million gallons in 2011 to 59 million gallons today -- the company admits that its relatively small operations may cease to exist given changes in feedstock prices, government mandates, and tax credits. �

Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now: Teekay Corporation(TK)

Teekay Corporation engages in the marine transportation of crude oil and gas in Bermuda and internationally. Its Shuttle Tanker and FSO segment operates shuttle tankers, and floating storage and off-take (FSO) units for offloading and transportation of cargo from oil field installations to onshore terminals; and provides floating storage services for oil field installations. The company?s FPSO segment provides floating production, processing, and storage services through floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units. Its Liquefied Gas segment comprises liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas carriers. The company?s Conventional Tanker segment operates conventional crude oil and product tankers that are employed on long-term fixed-rate time-charter contracts. As of December 31, 2010, its fleet consisted of 151 vessels, including 11 vessels under construction. The company serves energy and utility companies, oil traders, oil and LNG consumers, p etroleum product producers, government agencies, and various other entities that depend upon marine transportation. Teekay Corporation was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Top Tech Companies To Invest In 2014: Kilo Goldmines Ltd (KGL.V)

Kilo Goldmines Ltd., a development stage company, engages in the exploration and development of gold properties in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company holds interests in 3 joint ventures in a land package totaling approximately 7,000 square kilometers located in the Archaean Kabalian greenstone geological formation primarily in the Orientale province. It also explores for iron ores. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now: Ocean Wilson Hdg(OCN.L)

Ocean Wilsons Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides maritime and logistics services in Brazil. The company offers maritime services, which include harbor and ocean towage, container terminal operation, offshore support, logistics, small vessel construction, and ship agency services. It operates port terminals, which offer assistance in port operations for loading and unloading of vessels, storage, and auxiliary services, as well as provides platform supply vessels to transport equipment and supplies to and from offshore oil and gas installations. The company also provides harbor and ocean towage, salvage support, and maritime support to the offshore oil and gas industry, as well as various logistics services, such as storage, customs storage, distribution, highway transportation, multimodal transportation, and non vessel operating common carrier services. In addition, it operates a ship agency that provides commercial representation, cargo documentation, con tainer control, and vessel support services for ship owners; and holds a portfolio of international investments. The company has operations in Bermuda, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Ocean Wilsons Holdings Limited is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now: LightPath Technologies Inc.(LPTH)

LightPath Technologies, Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and distribution of optical components and assemblies in the United States and internationally. It offers precision molded glass aspheric optics, precision molded infrared molder optics, isolators, proprietary fiber-optic collimators, GRADIUM glass lenses, and other optical materials used to produce products that manipulate light. The company?s products are used for various applications in industries comprising defense products, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, barcode scanners, optical data storage, hybrid fiber coax datacom, telecom, machine vision, and sensors. It sells its products through direct sales force, distributors and channel partners, catalog distributors, and own catalog and Internet site. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now: Newstrike Resources Ltd. (NR.V)

Newstrike Resources Ltd., an early stage exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of precious and base metal properties in Canada. It principally explores for gold ores. The company holds interests in the Amalgamated Commodore property located in the Kirkland Lake region of Ontario; and the Swansea property situated in the Larder Lake area of Ontario. It also has interest in an oil and gas exploration project consisting of approximately 1,600 acres of crown and freehold mineral leases near the town of Camrose, Alberta. The company was formerly known as Newbliss Resources Ltd. and changed its name to Newstrike Resources Ltd. in January 2005. Newstrike Resources Ltd. was founded in 2004 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now: Sonic Foundry Inc.(SOFO)

Sonic Foundry, Inc., a Web communications technology company, provides Webcasting, lecture capture, and knowledge management solutions for higher education institutions, businesses, and government agencies worldwide. The company offers Mediasite, a Web communication and content management system that automates and Webcasts lectures and presentations. Its solutions include Mediasite Recorders for capturing multimedia presentations; Mediasite EX Server platform for streaming, archiving, and managing online presentation content; Mediasite Events for turnkey meeting, conference, and event Webcasting services based on the Mediasite platform; Mediasite Services for hosting, installation, training, and custom development; Mediasite Customer Assurance for annual hardware and software maintenance, and technical support. The company sells and markets its products through a sales force that manages a channel of value-added resellers, system integrators, consultants, and distributors. Sonic Foundry, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.

Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now: LyondellBasell Industries NV(LYB)

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. manufacturers and sells chemicals and polymers, refines crude oil, produces gasoline blending components, and develops and licenses technologies for production of polymers. The company?s Olefins and Polyolefins segment offers olefins, including ethylene, propylene, and butadiene; aromatics, such as benzene and toluene; polyolefins, which comprise polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and linear low-density polyethylene; specialty polyolefins, including catalloy process resins, PP compounds, and polybutene-1 resins; and ethylene derivatives, which comprise ethanol. Its Intermediates and Derivatives segment provides propylene oxide (PO); PO co-products, including styrene monomers and TBA derivative isobutylene; PO derivatives, such as propylene glycol, propylene glycol ethers, and butanediol; acetyls, such as methanol, acetic acid, and vinyl acetate monomers; ethylene derivatives, which comprise ethylene oxide , ethylene glycol, and ethylene glycol ethers; and flavor and fragrance chemicals. The company?s Refining and Oxyfuels segment offers gasoline and components, ultra low sulfur diesel, jet fuel, and lube oils; diesel, feedstock, fuel oil, gasoline, and bitumen; and gasoline blending components, including methyl tertiary butyl ether, ethyl tertiary butyl ether, and alkylate. Its Technology segment develops and licenses polyolefin and other process technologies. This segment also develops, manufactures, and sells polyolefin catalysts, as well as provides technology services, which comprise safety reviews, training and start-up assistance, engineering services for process and product improvements, and manufacturing troubleshooting. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. has operations in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company was founded in 2005 and is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is a subsidiary of Prochemie GmbH.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lu Wang]

  Bulls say stocks such as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., DuPont Co. (DD) and LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB) will continue to rebound as manufacturing expands in China, Europe and the U.S., spurring the fastest profit growth in three years for raw-material producers. Bears says the gains will be short-lived because the commodities super cycle is over and demand for metals and chemicals isn�� growing fast enough at a time when everything from copper to nickel and corn head into surpluses in the next year.

• [By Taylor Muckerman]

  Along with Dow, DuPont (NYSE: DD  ) and LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB  ) are two companies that have used this access to their advantage. All three will be reporting earnings this week. Motley Fool analyst Taylor Muckerman expects margins to remain relatively high, but the growth we have seen over the past few years might begin to slow. In addition, he touches on some of the future market dynamics that will likely roll out as the available infrastructure continues to increase. Details can be found in the video below.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  This cheap feedstock has sent production up over one-third in the past five years, and has given a nice pad to chemical company earnings. LyondellBassell (NYSE: LYB  ) reported that 2012 was a record year in terms of earnings despite a 6% drop in revenue. These kinds of results have resulted in a mad rush to increase�capacity. The entire industry has plans to spend about $30 billion in new plants to take advantage of cheap feedstock. Dow personally is looking to invest $1.7 billion to build what would be the company's largest ethylene facility and would increase the company's ethylene capacity by 1.5 million tons per year. With so much invested in cheap natural gas, it should come as no surprise that the company will look to protect that position for as long as possible.�