Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014

It takes money to make money. Most investors know that, but with business media so focused on the "how much," very few investors bother to ask, "How fast?"

When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS  ) .

Let's break this down
In this series, we measure how swiftly a company turns cash into goods or services and back into cash. We'll use a quick, relatively foolproof tool known as the cash conversion cycle, or CCC for short.

Why does the CCC matter? The less time it takes a firm to convert outgoing cash into incoming cash, the more powerful and flexible its profit engine is. The less money tied up in inventory and accounts receivable, the more available to grow the company, pay investors, or both.

Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: IRISH CONTINENTAL GROUP UNITS(COMP 1 ORD EUR0.65 & 3 RED SHS)

Irish Continental Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a passenger and freight shipping service between Ireland and France. It engages in the transport of passengers and cars, roll on roll off freight, and container lift on lift off freight on routes between Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Continental Europe; and operates container terminals in the ports of Dublin and Belfast. The company operates in two segments, Ferries, and Container and Terminal. The Ferries segment engages in the operation and external charter of combined RoRo passenger ferries. The Container and Terminal segment offers door-to-door and feeder LoLo freight, stevedoring, and container storage services. Irish Continental Group plc also provides ferry travel and holiday packages primarily in France, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: Kingfisher(KGF.L)

Kingfisher plc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a home improvement retailer. The company primarily provides home improvement and garden products; kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom products; and DIY products. Its principal brand portfolio includes B&Q, Castorama, Brico Depot, and Screwfix. Kingfisher plc offers its products through 860 stores in 8 countries in Europe and Asia, primarily the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Turkey, and China, as well as through online. The company has a strategic alliance with Hornbach Holding A.G. Kingfisher plc was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Top 5 Gold Companies For 2014: NCC Group Plc(NCC.L)

NCC Group plc provides information technology assurance and protection services to the public and private sectors worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Escrow and Assurance Testing. The Escrow segment ensures source code, data, or other business critical material is protected and accessible, as well as confirms the material held is protected by verifying that could be rebuilt from its source code components. The Assurance Testing segment provides site confidence services, including testing and monitoring relevant aspects of system, network, and Web site performance to ensure that the technology used could deliver optimum performance. It also offers security testing services, including forensics, vulnerability research, and the development of software to aid organizations in their on-going with information security breaches; and penetration testing, secure systems development, security education, software design verification, and security assessments. This segmen t also conducts security audits; and offers strategic advisory services for card manufacturing, data preparation, and personalization, as well as provides business analysis, project management, test resourcing, network and application performance analysis, functional and non-functional testing, test automation, software testing, and tools training. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Manchester, the United Kingdom.

Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: Olam International Limited (O32.SI)

Olam International Limited engages in sourcing, processing, packaging, merchandising, and exporting agricultural products. The company operates in five segments: Edible Nuts, Spices and Beans; Confectionery and Beverage Ingredients; Industrial Raw Materials; Food Staples and Packaged Foods; and Commodity Financial Services. The Edible Nuts, Spices and Beans segment offers cashews, peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, spices and vegetable ingredients, sesame, dehydrated vegetables, tomatoes, and specialty vegetables, as well as beans comprising pulses, lentils, and peas. The Confectionery and Beverage Ingredients segment provides cocoa, coffee, and shea nuts. The Industrial Raw Materials segment offers cotton, wool, wood products, and rubber products, as well as agri inputs, such as fertilizers. This segment is also involved in the development of a special economic zone project. The Food Staples and Packaged Foods segment provides rice, sugar and natural sweeteners, palm and dairy products, and packaged foods, as well as grains, including wheat, barley, and corn. The Commodity Financial Services segment offers market making and volatility trading, risk management solutions, and commodity funds management services. The company serves various customers worldwide. Olam International Limited was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Singapore.

Hot Services Companies To Buy For 2014: Urban Outfitters Inc.(URBN)

Urban Outfitters Inc. operates lifestyle specialty retail stores under the Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN brand names in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Its Urban Outfitters stores sell women?s and men?s fashion apparel, footwear, accessories, and gifts, as well as apartment wares, such as rugs, pillows, shower curtains, books, candles, and novelties to young adults aged 18 to 28; and Anthropologie stores provide women?s casual apparel and accessories, shoes, gifts, and decorative items, as well as home furnishings, including furniture, rugs, lighting, antiques, table top items, and bedding to women aged 28 to 45. The company?s Free People stores primarily offer Free People branded merchandise mix of casual women?s apparel, intimates, shoes, accessories, and gifts to young contemporary women aged 25 to 30; Terrain store provides lifestyle home and garden products, antiques, live plants, flowers, wellness products, and accessori es, as well as landscape and design service solutions; and BHLDN store offers a range of weeding collections consisting of wedding gowns, bridesmaid frocks, party dresses, assorted jewelry, headpieces, footwear, lingerie, and decorations. As of January 31, 2012, it operated 197 Urban Outfitters stores, 168 Anthropologie stores, 62 Free People stores, 1 Terrain garden center, and 1 BHLDN store. The company also operates a wholesale business under the Free People brand name that distributes apparel to other retailers and department stores in the United States. In addition, it markets its brands directly to consumers through its e-commerce Websites, including urbanoutfitters.com, anthropologie.com, freepeople.com, urbanoutfitters.co.uk, urbanoutfitters.de, urbanoutfitters.fr, anthropologie.eu, shopterrain.com, and bhldn.com, as well as through its Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People catalogs. The company was founded in 1970 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvani a.