Best Oil Service Companies For 2014

I'm window shopping for shares again, and there are plenty of goodies for sale. Should I pop Petrofac� (LSE: PCF  ) into my basket?

Just the 'facs
These are tough times for oil stocks, with Brent crude falling below $100 a barrel on fears of a China and U.S. slowdown and weak demand from Europe. Oil services company Petrofac looked cheap last month, when you could buy it for around 拢15. Today, you would pay just 拢13.40. Is this a great time to buy?

Petrofac's share price is now down a meaty 20% over the last three months, despite signing a couple of lucrative contracts in April. Last week, it announced it had won the lion's share of a $3.7 billion deal to develop oil fields for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. That followed a $500 million contract from the Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company. My suspicions that Petrofac is being unfairly punished by a wider market sell-off were confirmed by its recent full-year results, which revealed a 17% rise in profits, neatly matched with a 17% dividend hike.

Best Oil Service Companies For 2014: ViroPharma Incorporated(VPHM)

ViroPharma Incorporated, a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes therapeutic products that address serious diseases in the United States and internationally. It focuses on developing products used by physician specialists or in hospital settings. The company markets and sells Cinryze, a C1 esterase inhibitor therapy for the routine prophylaxis against angioedema attacks in adolescent and adult patients with hereditary angioedema, a life-threatening genetic disorder; and Vancocin HCl capsule, an oral capsule formulation for the treatment of C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) and to treat enterocolitis caused by staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains. It also offers Plenadren, an orphan drug for treatment of adrenal insufficiency in adults; Buccolam, a oromucosal solution for treatment of prolonged, acute, and convulsive seizures in infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents; and maribavir, an antiviral compound for the treatment o f CMV disease through a license agreement with GlaxoSmithKline. The company?s primary development programs include Cinryze, a C1 esterase inhibitor for management of hereditary angioedema; and VP 20621, a non-toxigenic strain of C. difficile. Its clinical stage drug candidate comprises VP-20629 for the treatment of Friedreich?s Ataxia. The company sells its products directly to wholesale drug distributors and specialty pharmacies/distributors. ViroPharma Incorporated was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Harding]

  ViroPharma Inc. specializes in drug development and commercialization for medications to treat C. difficile, Staph. aureus and other infectious diseases found in hospital settings. Their pipeline includes a number of products in Phase II and III trials, two on the market, and they have strategic relations with giants like EliLilly and GlaxoSmithKline. VPHM stock, worth about $8 in January 2012, is priced at nearly $13 today, and is still steadily climbing. The company, founded in 1994, employs 170 people.

Best Oil Service Companies For 2014: pSivida Corp.(PSDV)

pSivida Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops drug delivery products for treatment of back-of-the-eye diseases that are administered by implantation, injection, or insertion. The company?s lead product candidate includes Iluvien, which is in Phase III clinical trials and delivers fluocinolone acetonide (FA) for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME), a cause of vision loss. It is also conducting Phase II clinical trials with Iluvien for the treatment of wet and dry form of age-related macular degeneration, and retinal vein occlusion. In addition, the company?s products include Retisert for the treatment of posterior uveitis, an autoimmune condition characterized by inflammation of the posterior of the eye that can cause sudden or gradual vision loss; and Vitrasert for cytomegalovirus retinitis, a blinding eye disease that occurs in individuals with advanced AIDS. It is developing the Latanoprost product, an injectable, bioerodible drug delivery implant i n Phase I/II dose-escalating study for the treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension; the Posterior Uveitis product candidate in a Phase I/II study for the treatment of posterior uveitis; BioSilicon technology system, which is nano-structured porous silicon designed for use as a drug delivery platform and to deliver smaller molecules; and Tethadur, which utilizes BioSilicon to deliver large biologic molecules, including peptides and proteins. It has strategic collaborations with Bausch & Lomb Incorporated; Alimera Sciences, Inc.; Pfizer, Inc.; and Intrinsiq Materials Cayman Limited. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.

10 Best Up And Coming Stocks To Buy For 2014: Rotork(ROR.L)

Rotork p.l.c. engages in the design, manufacture, and support of actuators, systems, and related products worldwide. It provides a range of products, systems, and services for the motorization and manual operation of adaption to industrial valves and dampers for isolation duty and process control applications. The company operates in four segments: Controls, Fluid Systems, Gears, and Instruments. The Controls segment designs, manufactures, and sells various electric valve actuators. The Fluid Systems segment is involved in the design, manufacture, and sale of pneumatic and hydraulic valve actuators. The Gears segment designs, manufactures, and sells gearboxes, adaption, and ancillaries for the valve industry. The Instruments segment offers high precision pneumatic controls and power transmissions for flow control, pressure control, flow measurement, and pressure measurement. The company also provides various services comprising field services, retrofit services, actuator o verhaul, preventative maintenance, shutdown outages, extended scope, spares parts, factory fit, technical support, and product training services. It serves oil and gas, power generation, water and sewage, and marine industries. The company is headquartered in Bath, the United Kingdom.

Best Oil Service Companies For 2014: Cullen Resources Ltd(CUL.AX)

Cullen Resources Limited explores for mineral properties in Australia. It focuses its exploration activities on gold, iron, copper, nickel, uranium, tungsten, lead, zinc, coal, and other base metals. The company primarily holds interest in the Catho Well Channel Iron deposit in the West Pilbara of Western Australia, as well as in properties located in New South Wales, Queensland, and Northern Territory. The company is based in South Perth, Australia.

Best Oil Service Companies For 2014: KongZhong Corporation(KONG)

KongZhong Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides wireless interactive entertainment, media, and community services to mobile phone users in the People's Republic of China. It also involves in the development, distribution, and marketing of consumer wireless value-added services, including wireless application protocol, multimedia messaging services, short messaging services, interactive voice response services, and color ring back tones. In addition, it offers interactive entertainment services, such as mobile games, pictures, karaoke, electronic books, mobile phone personalization features, entertainment news, chat, and message boards; and through Kong.net offer news, community services, games, and other interactive media and entertainment services; and sells advertising space in the form of text-link, banner, and button advertisements. Further, the company develops and publishes mobile games, including downloadable mobile games and online mobile games cons isting of action, role-playing, and leisure games. As of December 31, 2009, it had a library of approximately 300 internally developed mobile games. Additionally, it develops online games; and provides consulting and technology services, as well as media and net book services. The company was formerly known as Communication Over The Air Inc. and changed its name to KongZhong Corporation in March 2004. KongZhong Corporation was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louis Navellier]

  Thanks largely to the country’s tremendous economic growth, there’s a new middle class in China. They have more leisure time than ever before, and that means big opportunity for entertainment provider KongZhong Corporation (KONG).

  The company provides wireless interactive entertainment, media and community services to mobile phone users, but it also offers interactive entertainment services, including mobile games, pictures, logos, karaoke, electronic books and mobile phone personalization features such as ring tones. The Chinese love their cell phones, and KongZhong provides much of the content that goes on those phones.

  Investors certainly haven’t been hesitant to dial up shares of KONG, as the stock is up over 218% in the last 12 months.

  I rate KONG an A, making it a strong buy.

Best Oil Service Companies For 2014: Great Panther Silver Limited(GPL)

Great Panther Silver Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base metal properties in Mexico. The company primarily produces silver. It also produces gold, lead, and zinc properties. The company principally holds a 100% interest in the Guanajuato silver-gold mine comprising 28 claims totaling 1,107 hectares located on the Central Plateau of Mexico in the state of Guanajuato. The company was formerly known as Great Panther Resources Limited and changed its name to Great Panther Silver Limited in January 2010. Great Panther Silver Limited was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Barker]

  If this stock traded on a major U.S. exchange, it would have placed substantially higher on this list. Because unsponsored pink-sheet offerings carry an unquantifiable element of risk, I have adjusted the standings accordingly. Targeting a 72% growth spurt from 2.2 million silver equivalent ounces (SEOs) in 2009, to 3.8 million ounces by 2012, Great Panther is among my very favorite growth stories in the silver space!