Top European Companies To Own For 2014

Love it or hate it, Obamacare is now the American health care system. But even ardent supporters acknowledge that it's not perfect. Some would prefer a universal health care system similar to several European countries.�

There is another path to potentially addressing shortcomings in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, though. Singapore boasts one of the world's most effective and low-cost health systems. And it's quite different from what you'll find in much of Europe. Here are three intriguing ways that Obamacare could change to replicate some of Singapore's success.

1. Implement a new individual mandate
Singapore's health care system incorporates an individual mandate, but it's not what you might think. Instead of merely requiring citizens to purchase insurance, the country mandates that individuals save money for their health care needs. We're not talking piggy bank money, though. Singapore residents below the age of 50 pay 20% of their salaries, with another 16% kicked in by their employers. Those percentages decrease for older citizens.

Top 5 Regional Bank Stocks To Invest In 2015: Flamel Technologies S.A.(FLML)

Flamel Technologies S.A., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development and commercialization of controlled-release therapeutic products based on its proprietary polymer based technology in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, France, and Europe. The company develops nanogel Medusa technology, which is intended to provide controlled release following injection of therapeutic proteins, peptides, and other molecules; a microparticle adaptation of the Medusa platform that is intended for use in the delivery of smaller proteins and peptides; and Micropump technology, a microparticle technology for oral administration of small molecule drugs with applications in controlled-release, taste-masking, and bioavailability enhancement; and Trigger-Lock technology, an adaptation based on Micropump technology, which is intended to minimize the misuse and abuse of medications subject to abuse. Its principal product based on Micropump technology is Coreg CR, which is intended for the treatment of moderate to severe heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction following myocardial infarction. The company?s products under development based upon Medusa technology include Interferon-alpha, a naturally occurring protein that the body uses for the treatment of Hepatitis C virus and as a immune response; and FT-105, an injectable insulin formulation for diabetic patients. Its products based on its Micropump technology comprise LiquiTime for the elderly and pediatric patient patients, or others who have difficulty swallowing. The company has strategic alliance with Baxter International, Inc.; GlaxoSmithKline; Merck Serono; and Pfizer Inc, as well as has a joint development agreement with Digna Biotech, S.L. Flamel Technologies S.A. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Venissieux, France.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Healthcare shares gained 0.81 percent in the US market on Friday. Top gainers in the sector included Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG), StemCells (NASDAQ: STEM), and Flamel Technologies SA (NASDAQ: FLML).

Top European Companies To Own For 2014: British American Tobacco Industries p.l.c.(BTI)

British American Tobacco p.l.c., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of tobacco products. The company offers cigars, cigarettes, smokeless snus, roll-your-own, and pipe tobacco products under the Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Vogue, Viceroy, Kool, Rothmans, Peter Stuyvesant, Benson & Hedges, and State Express 555 brand names. It has operations in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, eastern and western Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. British American Tobacco p.l.c. operates independently of Remgro Ltd. as of November 03, 2008.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Muhammad Bazil]

  Altria Group Inc (MO) is a producer of cigarettes and other tobacco related products. Two of its competitors include; British American Tobacco (ADR) (BTI) and Imperial Tobacco Group Plc (ADR) (ITYBY)

• [By Alan Oscroft]

  British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS  ) (NYSEMKT: BTI  )
  Thursday will also bring us a first-quarter update from British American Tobacco, and yet again we're seeing a share price rise that has started to tail off. The price hit a 52-week peak of 3,640 pence on March 12 (the same day the FTSE 100 reached a five-year high of 6,534) but has since slipped back to 3,502 pence.

• [By G. A. Chester]

  British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS  ) (NYSEMKT: BTI  ) , Tesco (LSE: TSCO  ) (NASDAQOTH: TSCDY  ) , and Severn Trent (LSE: SVT  ) fit the bill, and the table below gives the low-down on them.

• [By Jon Wallis]

  LONDON -- British American Tobacco� (LSE: BATS  ) (NYSE: BTI) -- the world's second-biggest cigarette maker -- is currently up more than 2% following this morning's interim management statement for the first quarter of 2013, in which the company reported revenue growth of 5% (on a constant current basis) despite difficult market conditions.

Top European Companies To Own For 2014: Fresenius Medical Care Corporation (FMS)

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, a dialysis company, provides products and services for patients with chronic kidney diseases. As of May 12, 2011, it provided dialysis care services to 216,942 patients through its network of 2,769 dialysis clinics primarily in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, and Africa. The company also develops and manufactures various dialysis products, including hemodialysis machines, dialyzers, hemofilters, dialysis fluid filters, tubing systems, fistula needles, dialysis related equipment, acute hemodialysis machines, plasma filters, acute tubing systems and cassettes, catheters, and related disposable products for chronic hemodialysis, acute therapy, home therapy, and therapeutic apheresis, as well as dialysis drugs. In addition, it provides laboratory services. Fresenius Medical sells its products through distributors. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louie Grint]

  Still unaffected
  First, Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: FMS  ) is the No. 1 global provider of dialysis equipment. It enjoys leading market share of almost 33% in its home country.

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap dialysis stock Rockwell Medical Inc (NASDAQ: RMTI) looks set to decline when the market opens after Brean Capital initiated coverage with a sell rating and a price target of $4.00, meaning it might be time to take a closer look at what is going on with the stock along with�the performance of large cap dialysis stocks DaVita Healthcare Partners (NYSE: DVA)�and Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: FMS) along with small cap dialysis stocks NxStage Medical, Inc (NASDAQ: NXTM).�

• [By Charles Carlson, CEO and Portfolio Manager, Horizon Investment Services]

  For investors looking for growth but also income, I especially like three health-care related stocks��resenius Medical (FMS), Novo Nordisk (NVO), and Smith & Nephew (SNN).

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Dialysis provider DaVita Healthcare Partners (DVA) soared almost 8.9% to close at $61.55 after the market learned that Medicare funding cuts would come in lower than expected. Rival Fresenius Medical Care (FMS) rose 7.2% on the same news.

Top European Companies To Own For 2014: Telefonica SA(TEF)

Telefonica, S.A. provides fixed and mobile telephony services primarily in Spain, rest of Europe, and Latin America. Its fixed telecommunication services include PSTN lines; ISDN accesses; public telephone; local, domestic, and international long distance and fixed-to-mobile communications; corporate communications; video telephony; supplementary and business-oriented value-added services; network services; leasing and sale of handset equipment; and telephony information services. The company?s Internet and broadband multimedia services comprise Internet service provider service; portal and network services; retail and wholesale broadband access; narrowband switched access to Internet; naked ADSL, a broadband connection; residential-oriented value-added services; companies-oriented value-added services; television services, such as IPTV, cable television, and satellite television; and Fiber to the Home, a service for high speed Internet access and digital video recording. Its data and business-solutions services principally include leased lines; virtual private network services; fiber optics services; the provision of hosting and application; outsourcing and consultancy services; desktop services; and system integration and professional services. The company?s wholesale services for telecommunication operators primarily comprise domestic interconnection services; international wholesale services; leased lines for other operators? network deployment; local loop leasing under the unbundled local loop regulation framework; and bit stream services. It also offers various mobile and related services and products that include mobile voice services, value added services, mobile data and Internet services, wholesale services, corporate services, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services. The company has a strategic alliance with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. Telefonica, S.A. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spai n.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday, Silver Spring Networks apparently plunged after the�UK government announced that Capita, CGI, Arqiva and Telefonica S.A. (NYSE: TEF) are the "preferred bidders" for contracts to support the UK's smart meter roll-out���no small project as the entire scheme is expected to worth or cost around�拢11.5 billion.�Silver Spring Networks had partnered with Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ: VOD) on a bid to both create and run the telecom infrastructure behind the smart meters, but they will now go away empty handed. ��

Top European Companies To Own For 2014: Aercap Holdings N.V. (AER)

AerCap Holdings N.V., through its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated aviation company worldwide. It engages in leasing and trading aircraft and engines; and selling parts. The company also provides aircraft management services, as well as aircraft and limited engine MRO services, and aircraft disassembly services through its repair stations. In addition, it offers aircraft services, including remarketing aircraft; collecting rental and maintenance payments, monitoring aircraft maintenance, monitoring and enforcing contract compliance, and accepting delivery and redelivery of aircraft; conducting ongoing lessee financial performance reviews; inspecting the leased aircraft; coordinating technical modifications to aircraft to meet new lessee requirements; conducting restructurings negotiations in connection with lease defaults; repossessing aircraft; arranging and monitoring insurance coverage; registering and de-registering aircraft; arranging for aircraft and aircraft engine valuations; and providing market research. The company?s management services include leasing and remarketing, cash management and treasury, technical advisory, and accounting and administrative services. As of March 31, 2011, it owned 272 aircraft and 95 engines, which it leased under operating leases to 118 lessees in 53 countries. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Schiphol, the Netherlands.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  More than two years ago, American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO) in its aircraft leasing group, International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC). That filing came to nothing, and AIG found little interest from buyers for ILFC, until Monday morning when it announced that AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE: AER) will buy the leasing operation for $3 billion in cash and 97.56 million shares of new AerCap stock. The total value of the deal is approximately $5.4 billion.

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday around midday,�Netherlands based aviation leasing stock�AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE: AER) began surging on rumors and closed up 11.6%, meaning its probably time to take a closer look at those rumors along with aviation leasing peers like small caps or mid caps�Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR), Air Lease Corp (NYSE: AL), Fly Leasing Ltd (NYSE: FLY) and AeroCentury Corp (NYSEMKT: ACY).

Top European Companies To Own For 2014: TotalFinaElf S.A.(TOT)

TOTAL S.A., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated oil and gas company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemicals. The Upstream segment engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas. It also involves in the transportation, trade, and marketing of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as in LNG re-gasification and natural gas storage operations. In addition, this segment engages in the shipping and trade of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG); power generation from gas-fired power plants, nuclear, or renewable energies; production, trade, and marketing of coal, as well as in solar power systems and technology operations. As of December 31, 2010, it had combined proved reserves of 10,695 Mboe of oil and gas. The Downstream segment involves in refining, marketing, trading, and shipping crude oil and petroleum products. It also produces a range of specialty products, s uch as lubricants, LPG, jet fuel, special fluids, bitumen, marine fuels, and petrochemical feedstock. This segment holds interests in 24 refineries located in Europe, the United States, the French West Indies, Africa, and China, as well as operates a network of 17,490 service stations. The Chemicals segment produces base chemicals, including petrochemicals and fertilizers, as well as engages in rubber processing, resins, adhesives, and electroplating activities. TOTAL S.A. was founded in 1924 and is based in Paris, France.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Carroll]

  Outside the defense sector, Chevron's (NYSE: CVX  ) among the only Dow stocks making any headway today: The oil giant's shares are up about 0.2%. Chevron agreed to sell its retail network in Egypt to French competitor Total (NYSE: TOT  ) in a deal announced by the latter today. With more than 1.4 million tons of annual sales in a network consisting�of 66 service stations and other assorted infrastructure, it's a big move for Total as it looks to develop its reach outside of Europe.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Howard Weil’s Blake Fernandez�explains why he prefers ConocoPhillips to�other oil companies like Total (TOT) and�Chevron�(CVX):

  After years of portfolio rationalization, concerns re: dividend coverage, etc. the asset base is now poised to deliver 6- 10% cash flow CAGR through ��7 from a combination of 3-5% production growth and 3-5% margin expansion. Additionally, our confidence in the Company�� unconventional prowess is increasing based on the recent analyst day presentation, higher production targets and efficiency gains in the underlying assets…