10 Best Stocks For 2013

Stocks traded modestly higher after a mixed batch of economic news tempered a series of strong earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 15 points a day after technology stocks sparked a rally that sent the blue-chip index to a nearly 3-year high.

Here are three that are on the move:

10 Best Stocks For 2013:Canadian National Railway Company (CNI)

 Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail and related transportation business in North America. It provides transportation for various goods, including petroleum and chemicals, grain and fertilizers, coal, metals and minerals, forest products, and intermodal and automotive products. The company operates a network of approximately 20,600 route miles of track that spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico. It serves the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert (British Columbia), Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile (Alabama), as well as metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth (Minnesota)/Superior (Wisconsin), Green Bay (Wisconsin), Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, and Jackson (Mississippi), with connections to various points in North America. The company was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• By Vodicka At 2011-10-29

  Montreal-based Canadian National Railway (CNI) operates
  about 21,000 route-miles of rail that span all the way from the frozen north down to the Mississippi Delta — nearly enough track to wrap around the entire world. Since Canada is one of the largest countries in the world by geography (second only to Russia with an area of about 4 million square miles), the transportation and freight industries are vital and very lucrative parts of the nation’s economy.

  The reason I’m so bullish on CNI right now is that the company is a large player in transporting commodities, including Canada’s exports of timber and metals and imports of energy from the United States. In Canadian National’s latest earnings report in January, the company stated that Q4 shipments grew for coal, grain and fertilizers and petroleum and chemicals — and this is in spite of bad weather and a five-day strike that really messed with CNI’s schedule. Just imagine how CNI will do in the warmer months as the economy continues to improve.

10 Best Stocks For 2013:Harvard Bioscience Inc. (HBIO)

 Harvard Bioscience, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets apparatus and scientific instruments used in life science research in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities, and government laboratories in the United States and internationally. The company?s products target ADMET testing, and molecular biology and liquid handling application areas. Its ADMET testing products comprise absorption diffusion chambers that measure the absorption of a drug into the bloodstream; well equilibrium dialysis plates for serum protein binding assays; organ testing systems; infusion pumps for infusing liquids; behavioral products used in neuroscience, cardiology, psychological, and respiratory studies to evaluate the effects of situational stimuli, drugs, and nutritional infusions on motor and sensory, activity, and learning and test behavior; cell injection systems; ventilators; and electroporation products. The company also distributes various devices, instruments, and consumable items used in experiments involving cells, tissues, organs, and animals in the fields of proteomics, physiology, pharmacology, neuroscience, cell biology, molecular biology, and toxicology. It sells its ADMET testing products under the Harvard Apparatus, BTX, KD Scientific, Hugo Sachs Elektronik, Panlab, and Warner Instruments brands names. Its molecular biology and liquid handling products include molecular biology spectrophotometers, DNA/RNA/protein calculators, multi-well plate readers, amino acid analysis systems, liquid dispensers, gel electrophoresis systems, and consumables primarily consisting of pipettes, pipette tips, autoradiography films, gloves, thermal cycler accessories, and reagents. The company sells its products to researchers through catalogs, its Website, and distributors, as well as directly in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, and Canada. Harvard Bioscience, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Holliston, Massachusetts.

10 Best Stocks For 2013:General Mills Inc. (GIS)

 General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. It also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the foodservice and commercial baking industries. The company offers ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, ready-to-serve soup, dry dinners, shelf stable and frozen vegetables, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, grain, fruit and savory snacks; and a range of organic products, including soup, granola bars, and cereals; and ice cream and frozen desserts, and grain snacks. It sells its products through its direct sales personnel, as well as through broker and distribution arrangements to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, and convenience stores. The company was founded in 1928 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

10 Best Stocks For 2013:Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. (BHLB)

 Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides personal and business banking, insurance, and wealth management services. Its primary deposit products include checking, NOW, money market, savings, and time deposit accounts; and primary lending products comprise residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, commercial business loans, and consumer loans. The company also offers electronic banking, cash management, and other transaction and reporting services; and interest rate swap contracts to commercial customers. In addition, it offers wealth management services, including trust, financial planning, and investment services. The company serves individuals, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and municipalities with 48 branch offices in western Massachusetts, northeastern and central New York, and southern Vermont. It also operates five community banking offices in Rome, Lee; and New Hartford, New York. Further, it operates as an agent for various lines of property and casualty, life, disability, and health insurance. Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1846 and is headquartered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

10 Best Stocks For 2013:Streamline Health Solutions Inc. (STRM)

 Streamline Health Solutions, Inc. operates as a healthcare information technology company in the United States. It focuses on developing and licensing software solutions that enhance document-centric information flows and transaction-centric hospital information systems. The company�??s systems enable medical and administrative personnel to capture, store, manage, route, retrieve, and process clinical, financial, and patient information. Its solutions include accessANYware, a patient-centric document management-based repository solution, which allows authorized users to perform document searching, retrieval, viewing, processing, printing, and faxing, as well as report generation; and access to images, such as digitized slides, videos, and photographs, as well as provides the ability to store and retrieve document images. The company also offers FolderView that provides capture/indexing of non-patient centric documents, storage in a historical repository, document search/viewing, reporting, auditing, and optional modules for patient financial services or administrative services applications; and Workflow Solutions that provides solutions in the health information management and revenue cycle, which enables users to access and utilize workflow applications to process information. Its Workflow Solutions comprise cash management, referral order, chart completion, coding, release of information, chart tracking, financial screening, pre-operative, family medical leave and leave of absence, and contract and contractor management workflows. The company also provides health information management suites, and professional services and business process management consulting services. It sells its products through its direct sales force and reseller partnerships, as well as to direct remarketers, hospitals, clinical, and ambulatory services. The company was formerly known as LanVision Systems, Inc. Streamline Health Solutions was founded in 1989 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

10 Best Stocks For 2013:Kimco Realty Corporation (KIM)

 Kimco Realty Corporation is a publicly owned real estate investment trust. The firm engages in acquisitions, development, and management of neighborhood and community shopping centers. It also provides property management services relating to the management, leasing, operation, and maintenance of real estate properties. The firm primarily invests in real estate markets across the globe with a focus in North America. It also invests in operating properties. The firm also provides equity and mezzanine debt to developers and owners of commercial properties. It also makes secondary market investments including under performing mortgage loans, secured bank debt, and corporate securities. Kimco was formed in 1960 and is based in New Hyde Park, New York with additional office in Mesa, Arizona; Daly City, California; Granite Bay, California; Irvine, California; Carmichael, California; Vista, California; Walnut Creek, California; West Hartford, Connecticut; Largo, Florida; Margate, Florida; Sanford, Florida; Lisle, Illinois; Rosemont, Illinois; Columbia, Maryland; Lutherville, Maryland; Bellevue, Washington; Mesquite, Texas; Houston, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Austin, Texas; Ardmore, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; Kettering, Ohio; Canfield, Ohio; Raleigh, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; New York, New York; and Las Vegas, Nevada.

10 Best Stocks For 2013:Campbell Soup Company (CPB)

 Campbell Soup Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and marketing of branded convenience food products worldwide. The company?s U.S. Soup, Sauces, and Beverages segment offers condensed and ready-to-serve soups; broth, stocks, and canned poultry; pasta sauces; Mexican sauces; canned pastas, gravies, and beans; juices and beverages; and tomato juices. Its Baking and Snacking segment provides cookies, crackers, and bakery and frozen products in the United States; and biscuits in Australia and the Asia Pacific. The company?s International Soup, Sauces, and Beverages segment offers soups, sauces, and beverages in Europe, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific region, as well as in the Russian Federation, China, and Canada. Its North America Foodservice segment distributes various products, such as soup, specialty entrees, beverage products, other prepared foods, and farm products through various food service channels in the United States and Canada. The company markets its products directly, as well as through broker and distributor arrangements. Its customers include retail food chains, mass discounters, mass merchandisers, club stores, convenience stores, drug stores and other retail, and commercial and non-commercial establishments. Campbell Soup Company was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.

10 Best Stocks For 2013:FirstMerit Corporation (FMER)

 FirstMerit Corporation operates as the bank holding company for FirstMerit Bank, N.A. that provides a range of banking, fiduciary, financial, insurance, and investment services to corporate, institutional, and individual customers in northern and central Ohio, and western Pennsylvania. The company?s commercial business offers commercial term loans, revolving credit arrangements, asset-based lending, leasing, commercial mortgages, real estate construction lending, letters of credit, cash management services, and other depository products. Its retail business provides various financial products and services, including consumer direct and indirect installment loans, debit and credit cards, debit gift cards, residential mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, fixed and variable annuities, and ATM network services, as well as deposit products comprising checking, savings, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company?s wealth business provides asset management, private banking, financial planning, estate settlement and administration, and credit and deposit products and services. FirstMerit Corporation also offers trust and investment services, including personal trust and planning, and investment management; retirement plan services; retail mutual funds, other securities, variable and fixed annuities, personal disability and life insurance products, and brokerage services; and private banking services, including credit, deposit, and asset management solutions. As of December 31, 2009, it operated a network of 160 full service banking offices and 182 ATMs. The company was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Akron, Ohio.