Top Promising Companies For 2015

Part of what keeps the world of energy interesting is that new oil and gas discoveries are constantly being made. Most recently, London-based oil giant BP (NYSE: BP  ) and its joint venture partners announced what could be a major new gas discovery off the eastern coast of India. Let's take a closer look.

Reliance and BP's new gas discovery
Last month, Reliance Industries, India's largest publicly traded company by revenue and BP's joint venture partner, announced what it called a "significant" discovery in an offshore gas field it owns jointly with the British oil major.

Investors greeted the announcement enthusiastically, responding by sending Reliance shares sharply higher. The new find, dubbed D-55, marks a promising new chapter in the two companies' efforts to explore the "KG-D6" deepwater gas block located off India's eastern coast.

Since BP bought a 30% stake in the acreage for $7.2 billion back in 2011, major technical difficulties and regulatory hurdles had beset exploration in KG-D6. But new regulations enacted by India's government earlier this year cleared the path for Reliance and its joint-venture partners to move forward with exploring the promising new prospect.

Top Promising Companies For 2015: Paradise Inc (PARF)

Paradise, Inc., incorporated in September, 1961, conducts operations through two business segments: Candied Fruit and Molded Plastics. The Candied Fruit segment is engaged in the production of candied fruit, a basic fruitcake ingredient, sold to manufacturing bakers, institutional users, and retailers for use in home baking. Based on market conditions, it is also engaged in the processing of frozen strawberry products for sale to commercial and institutional users, such as preservers, dairies and drink manufacturers. The Molded Plastics segment is engaged in the production of plastic containers for the Company�� products and other molded plastics for sale to unaffiliated customers.

During the year ended December 31, 2011, in terms of candied fruit sales, approximately 20% were shipped to manufacturing bakers and other institutional users, with the balance being sold through supermarkets and other retail outlets for ultimate use in the home. Sales to retail outlets are usually generated through registered food brokers operating in exclusively franchised territories.

The Company�� trademarks Paradise, Dixie, Mor-Fruit and Sun-Ripe are registered with the appropriate Federal and State authorities for use on the Company�� candied fruit. During 2011, the Company derived approximately 15% of its consolidated net sales from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  What is the advantage of being a huge company? There are some. For one, we know the business is ��or was ��growable. A lot of small companies stay small because their circle of competence is small. Paradise (PARF) is an over the counter stock. It has a market cap of $10 million. And it dominates the candied fruit market in the U.S. Why isn�� the company bigger?

Top Promising Companies For 2015: Thales SA (HO)

Thales SA is a France-based provider of integrated solutions and equipment of security systems primarily to the aerospace and defense markets. The Company operates in numerous countries through its divisions, including Aerospace, specialized in onboard equipment, electronics and systems for the civil and military markets; Space, offering solutions combining space and terrestrial technologies; Defence, which designs and delivers systems for all four environments: air, land, sea and space; Security, which offer the emergence of new types of threats from terrorism and organized crime to drug trafficking, mass immigration and cyber attacks; and Transportation, which offers a range of railways signaling solutions and integrated transportation systems, to ensure safe and secure transportation of operators, freight and passengers. In November 2013, it acquired XPI Simulation Ltd. In February 2014, it created a new business line called Critical Information Systems and Cybersecurity. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By USATODAY 8 a.m. EST February 15]

  Alex Pettyfer about to take the wheel of the Maserati Gran Turismo for a joyride with co-star Dayo Okeniyi.(Photo: HO)

  Pettyfer and Okeniyi's character end up joyriding in the car along with Gabriella Wilde, who plays the rich girl falling in love with Pettyfer.

Top Oil Companies To Watch In Right Now: Century Aluminum Company(CENX)

Century Aluminum Company, through its subsidiaries, produces primary aluminum in the United States, China, and Iceland. The company offers high purity primary aluminum, molten aluminum, standard-grade ingots, extrusion billets, and other value-added primary aluminum products. It also holds a 40% joint venture interest in a carbon anode and cathode facility located in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of south China. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Monterey, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Basic materials shares jumped about 1.72 percent in Monday's trading. Leading the sector was strength from Century Aluminum Co (NASDAQ: CENX) and Horsehead Holding (NASDAQ: ZINC). In trading on Monday, utilities shares dropped by 0.13 percent.

• [By Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include upgrades for both Century Aluminum (NASDAQ: CENX  ) and Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB  ) . But the news isn't all good, so let's start off with a few words on why...

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Basic materials shares jumped about 1.72 percent in Monday's trading. Leading the sector was strength from Century Aluminum Co (NASDAQ: CENX) and Horsehead Holding (NASDAQ: ZINC). In trading on Monday, utilities shares dropped by 0.13 percent.

Top Promising Companies For 2015: IsoRay Inc (ISR)

IsoRay, Inc. (IsoRay), incorporated on June 15, 2004, develops, manufactures and sells isotope-based medical products and devices for the treatment of cancer and other malignant diseases. IsoRay International LLC (International) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. IsoRay obtained clearance from the Food and Drug Association (FDA) for treatment for all solid tumor applications using Cesium-131. Such applications include prostate cancer; ocular melanoma; head, neck and lung tumors; breast cancer; liver cancer; brain cancer; colorectal cancer; gynecological cancer; esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer. The seed may be used in surface, interstitial and intracavity applications for tumors with known radio sensitivity. The Company has an existing distribution agreement with UralDial LLC (UralDial) that allows UralDial to distribute Proxcelan Cs-131 brachytherapy seeds in Russia. The Company, through UralDial, has regulatory approval to sell Cs-131 seeds in Russia.

IsoRay markets the Proxcelan Cesium-131 brachytherapy seed for the treatment of prostate cancer; lung cancer; ocular melanoma; head and neck cancers; colorectal cancer, brain cancer; and gynecological cancer. The Company focuses to market Cesium-131 for the treatment of other malignant disease, such as breast cancer, in the near future through the use of existing technologies that have received FDA-clearance. Cesium-131 is a radioactive isotope that can be produced by the neutron bombardment of Barium-130 (Ba-130). When placed into a nuclear reactor and exposed to a flux of neutrons, Ba-130 becomes Ba-131, the radioactive material that is the parent isotope of Cesium-131. The radioactive isotope Cesium-131 is normally produced by placing a quantity of stable non-radioactive barium (ideally barium enriched in isotope Ba-130) into the neutron flux of a nuclear reactor. The irradiation process converts a small fraction of this material into a radioactive form of barium (Ba-131). The Ba-131 decays by electron capture to the ! radioactive isotope of interest (Cesium-131).

As of June 30, 2011, IsoRay had agreements with several independent radiopharmacies to assay, preload, and sterilize loose seeds. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, the Company loaded approximately 90% of Mick cartridges in the Company's own facility, which accounted for approximately 61% of seeds sold. Approximately 33% of seeds sold are strand configurations, including strands preloaded in needles and the remaining 6% of seeds are sold as loose seeds.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  I hate to be the one to say I told you so, but, I told you so. Back on February 26th I suggested IsoRay, Inc. (NYSEMKT:ISR) shares were a budding breakout play. The 48% rally that's played out for ISR in the meantime unfurled right on cue. While overbought in the very short run, this small cap stock looks like it's earning the right to be compared to the likes of bigger brothers in the cancer-treatment space... names like Roche Holding Ltd. (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) or Theragenics Corporation (NYSE:TGX).

Top Promising Companies For 2015: NRG Yield Inc (NYLD)

NRG Yield, Inc., incorporated on December 20, 2012, serves as the primary vehicle, through which NRG Energy, Inc. will own, operate and acquire contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets. The Company owns a diversified portfolio of contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets in the United States. The Company�� contracted generation portfolio includes three natural gas or dual-fired facilities, eight utility-scale solar and wind generation facilities and two portfolios of distributed solar facilities that collectively represent 1,324 net megawatt. The Company also own thermal infrastructure assets with an aggregate steam and chilled water capacity of 1,098 net megawatt and electric generation capacity of 123 net megawatt. In December 2013, it acquired the assets of privately held Energy Systems Company.

The Company�� thermal infrastructure assets provide steam, hot water and/or chilled water, and in some instances electricity, to commercial businesses, universities, hospitals and governmental units in ten locations, principally through long-term contracts or pursuant to rates regulated by state utility commissions. The Company�� conventional operations consist of 910 net megawatt of natural gas and dual-fired generation assets, Marsh Landing and GenConn, located in the West and Northeast regions of the United States, respectively. The Company�� seven utility-scale solar generation assets generate electricity through the use of photovoltaic panels, with each facility equal to or exceeding 20 megawatt and collectively totaling 303 net megawatt of capacity. These facilities are located in Arizona, California and New Mexico, all states with attractive solar resources. The Company�� distributed solar generation facilities, which it generally define as facilities of less than 20 megawatt in operating capacity, each generate electricity through the use of photovoltaic panels.

The Company�� wind! operations are consists of the 101 megawatt South Trent wind farm located near Sweetwater, Texas. It consists of 44 Siemens 2.3 megawatt wind turbines capable, at rated capacity, of powering approximately 80,000 homes. The Company�� thermal operations are consists of district energy systems and combined heat and power plants (Energy Centers) that utilize an energy-efficient, environmentally sound method of heating and cooling buildings. These Energy Centers produce steam, hot water and/or chilled water and in some instances, electricity at a central plant.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Early returns suggest this proposition is generating plenty of enthusiasm. When�NRG Energy�(NYSE: NRGY) became the first company to spin off a YieldCo subsidiary holding solar generating assets last July, the offering price for�NRG Yield�(NYSE: NYLD) provided for a 5.5 percent yield at the promised dividend rate. The IPO was more than 10 times oversubscribed — an indication of pent up investor demand for such offerings. Less than 11 months later, NYLD’s share price has more than doubled, so even though it has already raised its dividend the yield is down to 2.7 percent.

• [By Richard Stavros]

  For example, NRG Energy recently created a yield company spinoff, known as NRG Yield Inc (NYSE: NYLD). NRG Yield holds the parent company�� contracted assets and trades at a much higher multiple than NRG Energy.

• [By David Dittman]

  Question: Any comments on NRG Yield Inc (NYSE: NYLD), the IPO of NRG Energy from this year? Its looks set for strong dividend growth in the next couple years.

Top Promising Companies For 2015: Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (GARAN)

Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (the Bank) is a Turkey-based financial services company. The Bank provides retail, commercial, corporate and small and medium size enterprises (SME) banking, leasing, insurance, asset management and factoring services. Other operation heading under the banking segment include mainly treasury and investment banking activities as well as unallocated income and expense items. It has a network of 822 domestic branches, seven foreign branches, three representative offices abroad and 104 offices. In addition to its branches, the Bank has 100% ownership in three banks each of which is located in Amsterdam, Bucharest and Moscow. The Bank and its affiliates operate principally in Turkey, but also have operations in the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Malta, Luxembourg and Germany. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ian Sayson]

  Russia�� Micex Index declined, trimming its weekly gain to 2.5 percent. OAO Mechel, the nation�� biggest producer of coal for steelmakers, slumped 1.7 percent. The Borsa Istanbul National 100 Index sank 2 percent as Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (GARAN) led losses in lenders. Benchmark gauges in the Czech Republic and Hungary declined at least 1.2 percent.

• [By Halia Pavliva]

  Turkiye Garanti (GARAN) Bankasi AS, the largest Turkish lender by market value, led gains on the Borsa Istanbul National 100 Index, which rose 1.5 percent. Garanti climbed 1.3 percent after slumping 4.1 percent to the lowest level since Sept. 13 yesterday. The government is selling $1.25 billion of five-year Islamic bonds today, according to a person with direct knowledge of the transaction, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

Top Promising Companies For 2015: CyberOptics Corporation (CYBE)

CyberOptics Corporation supplies optical process control sensors and inspection systems to control the manufacturing process and ensure the quality of electronic circuit boards worldwide. The company also manufactures and sells sensors that assist with yield enhancement during semiconductor fabrication. Its products include surface mount technology (SMT) electronic assembly alignment sensors, including LaserAlign sensor that is incorporated into component placement machines used in the SMT production lines; BoardAlign camera, which identifies fiducial markings on a circuit board and aligns the board in the component placement machine prior to component placement; and InPrinter inspection camera that identifies fiducial markings on a circuit board to ensure accurate board registration prior to placement of solder paste. The company also offers photovoltaic and fuel cell alignment sensors, such as solar wafer alignment cameras for alignment measurements; and embedded process verification inspection technology products and solder paste inspection sensors. In addition, it provides SMT stand-alone inspection system products, which include solder paste inspection and automated optical inspection products; and WaferSense sensors that provide measurements of critical factors in the semiconductor fabrication process, as well as wafer mapping and alignment sensors, frame grabber products, and machine vision subsystems. The company sells its products to the manufacturers of electronic circuit board assembly equipment, manufacturers of semiconductor DRAM memory, and semiconductor capital equipment manufacturers, as well as end-user electronic assembly manufacturers, including original design manufacturers and electronic manufacturing service providers. CyberOptics Corporation markets its products through independent representatives and distributors. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Emerson]

  I even recorded a tax loss carry-forward on my original purchase of CAMT for which I had paid $2.05 per share. It seems that I was a slow learner in regard to the necessity of selling AOI companies long before they entered a cyclical trough in their earnings. Happily, I have since remedied that problem. For informational purposes I must disclose that in the spring, I repurchased shares of CAMT and made a larger purchase in a Cyberoptics (CYBE) another AOI company, which was near a multiyear low at the time.

Top Promising Companies For 2015: PBF Energy Inc (PBF)

PBF Energy Inc. (PBF Energy), incorporated on November 7, 2011, is an independent petroleum refiners and suppliers of unbranded transportation fuels, heating oils, petrochemical feedstocks, lubricants and other petroleum products in the United States. The Company produces a range of products at each of its refineries, including gasoline, ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD), heating oil, jet fuel, lubricants, petrochemicals and asphalt. The Company sells its products throughout the Northeast and Midwest of the United States, as well as in other regions of the United States and Canada, and are able to ship products to other international destinations. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned and operated three domestic oil refineries and related assets. The Company's refineries have a combined processing capacity of approximately 540,000 thousand barrels per day. The Company's three refineries are located in Toledo, Ohio, Delaware City, Delaware and Paulsboro, New Jersey.

The Company's Midcontinent refinery at Toledo processes light, sweet crude, has a throughput capacity of 170,000 thousand barrels per day and a Nelson Complexity Index of 9.2. Toledo's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) based crude is delivered through pipelines, which originate in both Canada and the United States. The Company's East Coast refineries at Delaware City and Paulsboro have a combined refining capacity of 370,000 thousand barrels per day and Nelson Complexity Indices of 11.3 and 13.2, respectively. These refineries process medium and heavy and sour crudes.

Delaware City Refinery

The Delaware City refinery is located on a 5,000-acre site, with access to waterborne cargoes and a distribution network of pipelines, barges and tankers, truck and rail. Delaware City is a fully integrated operation, which receives crude through rail at the crude unloading facility, or ship or barge at its docks located on the Delaware River. The crude and other feedstocks are transported, through pipes, to a tank! farm where they are stored until processing. In addition, there is a 17-bay, 50,000 thousand barrels per day capacity truck loading rack located adjacent to the refinery and a 23-mile interstate pipeline that are used to distribute clean products.

The Delaware City refinery has a throughput capacity of 190,000 thousand barrels per day and a Nelson Complexity Index of 11.3. The Delaware City refinery processes a range of medium to heavy, sour crude oils. The refinery has conversion capacity with its 82,000 thousand barrels per day fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, 47,000 thousand barrels per day fluid coking unit (FCU) and 18,000 thousand barrels per day hydro cracking unit with vacuum distillation. Hydrogen is provided through the refinery's steam methane reformer and continuous catalytic reformer. The Delaware City refinery has total storage capacity of approximately 10 million barrels.

Paulsboro Refinery

Paulsboro has a throughput capacity of 180,000 thousand barrels per day and a Nelson Complexity Index of 13.2. The Paulsboro refinery is located on approximately 950 acres on the Delaware River in Paulsboro, New Jersey, just south of Philadelphia and approximately 30 miles away from Delaware City. Paulsboro receives crude and feedstocks through its marine terminal on the Delaware River. Paulsboro is one of two operating refineries on the East Coast with coking capacity, the other being Delaware City. Units at the Paulsboro refinery include crude distillation units, vacuum distillation units, an FCC unit, a delayed coking unit, a lube oil processing unit and a propane de-asphalting unit. The Paulsboro refinery processes a range of medium and heavy, sour crude oils. The Paulsboro refinery produces gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel and also manufactures Group I base oils or lubricants. In addition to its finished clean products slate, Paulsboro produces asphalt and petroleum coke. In addition, separate from the Company's agreement with Statoil the Company ha! s a long-! term contract with Saudi Aramco. The Paulsboro refinery has total storage capacity of approximately 7.5 million barrels. Of the total, approximately 2.1 million barrels are dedicated to crude oil storage with the remaining 5.4 million barrels allocated to finished products, intermediates and other products.

Toledo Refinery

Toledo has a throughput capacity of approximately 170,000 thousand barrels per day and a Nelson Complexity Index of 9.2. Toledo processes a slate of light, sweet crudes from Canada, the Midcontinent, the Bakken region and the United States Gulf Coast. Toledo produces a high percentage of finished products, including gasoline and ULSD, in addition to a range of petrochemicals, including nonene, xylene, tetramer and toluene. The Toledo refinery is located on a 282-acre site near Toledo, Ohio, approximately 60 miles from Detroit. Units at the Toledo refinery include an FCC unit, a hydrocracker, an alkylation unit and a UDEX unit. Crude is delivered to the Toledo refinery through three primary pipelines: Enbridge from the north, Capline from the south and Mid-Valley from the south. Crude is also delivered to a nearby terminal by rail and from local sources by truck to a truck unloading facility within the refinery.

Toledo is connected through pipelines, to a distribution network throughout Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The finished products are transported on pipelines owned by Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. and Buckeye Partners.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Will the price of oil collapse this year? Investors are worried they will and that could push refiners like�Phillips 66 (PSX) and PBF Energy (PBF) higher.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  PBF Energy (NYSE: PBF) tumbled 5.85 percent to $28.16 after the company priced secondary offering of 15 million shares at $28 per share. Gulfport Energy (NASDAQ: GPOR) was down, falling 6 percent to $55.66 after the company reported 2013 exit rate of 27,780 barrels of oil equivalent per day. RBC Capital downgraded Gulfport Energy from Outperform to Sector Perform and cut the price target from $64.00 to $61.00.

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  Texas and North Dakota have been making the news for the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to produce shale oil, and many think that applying those techniques in other states like California could drive production up even further.

  Foolish takeaway
  That charts above directly impact our energy investments. For example, Valero (NYSE: VLO  ) and Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX  ) are two refiners that have a strong presence on the Gulf Coast and can clearly benefit from buying less oil from expensive foreign sources, and they will be the first ones to check on if imports start to rise again. More Canadian crude flowing into the Midwest can mean great opportunities for refiners with operations in Toledo, like PBF Energy� (NYSE: PBF  ) , provided Canadian crude stays cheap. Taking a look at the broader scope of the U.S. import story can help us better evaluate our energy investments, and prepare us for whatever energy trends the future holds.

  If you're on the lookout for some currently intriguing energy plays, check out The Motley Fool's "3 Stocks for $100 Oil." For FREE access to this special report, simply click here now.

Top Promising Companies For 2015: Arca Biopharma Inc.(ABIO)

ARCA biopharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of genetically-targeted therapies for cardiovascular diseases. Its principal product candidate, Gencaro (bucindolol hydrochloride), is an investigational, pharmacologically unique beta-blocker and mild vasodilator being developed for the treatment of chronic heart failure and also for the prevention of atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure. The company has identified common genetic variations in the cardiovascular system that it believes interact with Gencaro?s pharmacology and may predict patient response. ARCA has collaboration with Laboratory Corporation of America to develop the Gencaro Test, a companion test for the genetic markers that identify these common genetic variations. The company is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Were you listening back on December 20th when yours truly suggested Arca Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ABIO) was a budding bullish play? I hope so. If you stepped in then, you'd now be up 9.3%. No, it's not a lot. Then again, it's been less than two weeks. Regardless of whether or not you got into ABIO then, though, as of today, Arca Biopharma have cleared a hurdle that suggests the best is yet to come.

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Congratulations if you were in a GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:GWPH) position anytime before today's open. Now get out. Not only is the party over for GWPH, there's something better you could do with your money now. It's a not-so-obscure-any-longer biotech called Arca Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ABIO), and though the stock's up pretty nicely since two Fridays ago, ABIO is also just getting started.

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  If you happened to catch - and respond to - my bullish thoughts on Arca Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ABIO) from December 20th and/or January 2nd, then congratulations. You're now up anywhere between 29% and 42%, depending on which of the two write-ups prompted your entry into an ABIO trade. No matter when you got into Arca Biopharma though, here this now - it's time to lock in your profits and get out. Today's big 25% jump has carried the stock to what I see as its near-term maximum value, and rather than ride out a dip, it would make more sense to step out now.

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Three days ago I suggested Arca Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ABIO) was a buy, recommending anyone who was lucky enough to own GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:GWPH) at the time take their profits on GWPH and place that money in Arca. After several weeks' worth of buildup, and after finally seeing a decided break above the horizontal ceiling at $1.50, ABIO looked like it had rocked its way out of a rut and was headed for sunnier skies and greener pastures.