Top 10 Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now

Kellogg (NYSE: K  ) is a favorite among breakfast-eaters everywhere, with its cereals and other food products being an essential part of the diets of people around the world. Yet, while Kellogg stock has soared in response to the recognition of the industry's importance in producing dependable and consistent earnings for investors, the extent of the stock's rise to all-time highs isn't entirely justified by Kellogg's fundamentals. Let's take a closer look at Kellogg and what's been behind its big rise lately.

Where Kellogg has found growth
The food industry is generally seen as being quiet and defensive, with opportunities for solid dividend income, but not substantial growth prospects. Kellogg has a long history of steady dividend payments to shareholders, with annual payout increases every year since 2005.

But Kellogg, in particular, took advantage of a huge growth opportunity, by making the most of a potential competitor's missteps. Early last year, Kellogg was able to swoop in and buy the Pringles potato chip brand from Procter & Gamble after snack company Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND  ) failed to follow through on its initial bid for the P&G division amid a controversy about Diamond's accounting practices. Although margins from Pringles initially proved to be somewhat lower than the company's average, Kellogg has seen substantial organic growth from the division, boding well for its ability to apply pricing pressure to boost margins in the future.

Top 10 Rising Stocks To Own Right Now: TrueBlue Inc.(TBI)

TrueBlue, Inc. provides temporary blue-collar staffing services in the United States. It supplies on demand general labor to various industries under the Labor Ready brand; skilled labor to manufacturing and logistics industries under the Spartan Staffing brand; and trades people for commercial, industrial, and residential construction, and building and plant maintenance industries under the CLP Resources brand. The company also provides mechanics and technicians to the aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul, aerospace manufacturing, and assembly industries, as well as to other transportation industries under the Plane Techs brand; and temporary drivers to the transportation and distribution industries under the Centerline brand. It primarily serves small and medium-size businesses. The company was formerly known as Labor Ready, Inc. and changed its name to TrueBlue, Inc. in December 2007. TrueBlue, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By idahansen]

  The entire demand labor industry should do well as the US Department of Labor just reported that 169,000 more jobs were added to the American economy. The more work there is, the more demand there is for the services of staffing solutions firms such as Labor SMART, Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), and Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI).

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of staffing agency TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI  ) jumped 10% today after the company reported earnings.

  So what: Revenue jumped 19%, to $422.3 million, and beat estimates of $420.2 million from Wall Street. Adjusted earnings per share were also up 19%, to $0.31, outpacing estimates by $0.05.�

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  For those looking to invest in real estate stocks, highly recommended is the Dr. Housing Bubble blog. In a recent posting, the "Dr." pointed out that there was a "Lost Generation" when it came to household income. That has not happened for those investing in staffing industry stocks such as Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI), TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE: TBI), and Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC).

• [By Jonathan Yates]

  Even though the stock market rallied on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) and Standard & Poor's 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) surging, the long term winners will be stocks in the staffing industry such as Paychex(NASDAQ: PAYX), TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), Robert Half (NYSE: RHI), and Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC).

Top 10 Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: GT Advanced Technologies Inc (GTAT)

GT Advanced Technologies Inc., incorporated on September 27, 2006, is diversified technology company with crystal growth equipment and solutions for the global solar, light emitting diode (LED) and electronics industries. The Company operates in three segments: its polysilicon business, its photovoltaic (PV), business and its sapphire business. The Company's principal products are Silicon Deposition Reactors (SDR) and related equipment used to produce polysilicon, the key raw material used in silicon-based solar wafers and cells; Advanced sapphire crystallization furnaces (ASF) which are used to crystallize sapphire boules, and Directional solidification (DSS) furnaces and related equipment used to cast multicrystalline and MonoCast crystalline silicon ingots. On January 7, 2013, the Company announced the idling of its HiCz pilot manufacturing facility in Hazelwood, Missouri. On November 8, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of Twin Creeks Technologies, Inc. (Twin Creeks). In May 2013, the Company acquired the business of Thermal Technology LLC.

PV Business

The focus of the Company's PV business is the development, manufacture and sales of crystallization growth furnaces to produce silicon ingots used in the production of solar wafers. The Company's principal product line has been the DSS family of casting furnaces that are used to produce multicrystalline ingots and MonoCast ingots. As of December 31, 2012, the Company shipped approximately 3,300 DSS crystallization furnaces. The ingots are used to make photovoltaic (PV) solar wafers and cells. HiCz, or continuous Czochralski (Cz) growth process, produces monocrystalline ingots that are designed to produce more efficient wafers. The Company�� DSS furnace is a specialized furnace used to melt polysilicon and cast multicrystalline ingots. Multicrystalline ingots are used to produce solar wafers, which ultimately become solar cells. The Company markets its DSS crystallization furnaces under the names DSS450HP and DSS6! 50. The Company's largest capacity DSS furnace, the DSS650, is capable of producing ingots that weigh up to 650 kilograms using standard silicon feedstock. In January 2012, the Company introduced its MonoCast silicon casting technology that uses the DSS furnace architecture to produce ingots comprised of a high percentage of monocrystalline material. The Company is markets MonoCast technology under the name DSS450 MonoCast.

The Company�� ancillary equipment provides operators with material handling assistance during the preparation of the crucible before it is loaded with silicon and during the loading and unloading of the crucible into the DSS furnace chamber at the start of the growth process and out of the DSS furnace chamber at the conclusion of the ingot growth process. The Company's ancillary equipment includes crucible coating stations, crucible manipulators, loaders/unloaders, extraction tools and other material handling systems required to safely transport material during the ingot growth process. The Company sells replacement parts and consumables used in its DSS furnaces and other PV equipment.

Polysilicon Business

The Company's polysilicon business offers Silicon Deposition Reactors, which utilize the chemical vapor deposition process, and related trichlorosilane (TCS) technology and equipment along with engineering services to existing polysilicon producers and new market entrants. The Company's polysilicon business focuses on product design, quality control, engineering services, project management and process development related to the production of polysilicon. It markets its SDR reactors under the names SDR300, SDR400, SDR 500 and SDR 600. The Company provides equipment, technology and engineering services for the production and purification of TCSand silane. This hydrochlorination technology eliminates the need for silicon tetrachloride converters which are required when using certain other polysilicon production technology. The Company also pr! ovides an! cillary equipment and technologies for producing seed rods used in its SDR reactors and for handling and processing the polysilicon rods into a finished product.

Sapphire Business

The Company's sapphire business markets and sells of the Company's ASF systems to customers to enable them to produce sapphire material. The Company also produces sapphire material, on a limited basis, for the LED and other specialty markets at its sapphire pilot production facility in Massachusetts. Its ASF systems produce monocrystalline sapphire material, referred to as sapphire boules. The sapphire boules are used to make sapphire wafers, a substrate for manufacturing LEDs, as well as sapphire blanks and windows for such applications as medical devices and watch crystals. The Company's ASF technology is based on the heat exchanger method (HEM), which is a directional solidification technique, which crystallizes the sapphire meltstock material during the growth process. The Company also uses the facility as a research and development (R&D) center to test new technology developments prior to commercial release. The Company markets and sells its ASF systems under the name ASF100. The Company also provides engineering and product design, quality control, process engineering, engineering services and field services related to the operation of its ASF furnaces. The Company produces sapphire material on a limited basis at its pilot production facility in Massachusetts. The Company sells this material to customers in the LED and other markets, such as the aerospace, defenses and medical device.

The Company manufactures and sells two principal types of sapphire materials: hems Sapphire Material and Titanium-doped Sapphire (Ti:Sapphire) Material. Using the material derives from the sapphire boule generated with its ASF furnaces, the Company cut the sapphire material in a number of different dimensions and crystal orientations, in form factors such as cores, rods, blanks, windows and tubes. The! Company ! generates sapphire boules that are doped with titanium. The Company provides certain finishing and polishing for its Ti:Sapphire material.

The Company competes with ALD Vacuum Technologies AG, JYT Corporation, Ferrotec Corporation, PVA TePla AG, Centrotherm Elektrische Anlagen GmbH & Co., Jing Gong Technology, Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical Co., Ltd, MSA Apparatus Construction for Chemical Equipment Ltd, Centrotherm Elektrische Anlagen GmbH & Co., Morimatsu Industry Co. Ltd., Poly Plant Project, Inc., Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation, Wacker Chemie AG, MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., Renewable Energy Corporation ASA, Thermal Technology LLC, Advanced Renewable Energy Company, LLC, Rubicon Technology, Inc., Sapphire Technology Co. Ltd. (Korea), Kyocera International Inc., Saint-Gobain, Gavish Inc., and Monocrystal.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  It's been a long road for GT Advanced Technologies (NASDAQ: GTAT  ) and there are a lot of questions the company faces going forward. When will its technology take off? When will revenue pick up? And when can investors expect to see a profit.

• [By Grace L. Williams]

  Up next is GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), a manufacturer and marketer of materials for optical, laser and solar applications. Highlights for the quarter here include CEO Thomas Gutierrez, who sold and exercised-and-sold 461,300 shares for $8 million, and General Counsel Hoil Kim, who exercised-and-sold 222,800 shares for $3.3 million through 10b5-1 planned sales and regular sales. InsiderScore comments:

• [By John Udovich]

  By consumer electronics, he meant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)���the big gorilla in the room for display makers which announced in�November 2013 a $578 million deal with GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: GTAT) wherein GTAT would supply sapphire glass�to AAPL. It should be mentioned that a recent Forbes article has pointed out that Corning Incorporated���specialty materials segment posted sales of $1.17 billion in 2013 and that three customers accounted for 47% of segment sales for the year. On Thursday, Corning Incorporated rose 1.08% to $21.59 (GLW has a 52 week trading range of $12.64 to $21.76 a share) for a market cap of $30.03 billion plus the stock is up 21.4% since the start of the year, up 62% over the past year and up 35.3% over the past five years.

Top 10 Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund (JFR)

Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund is a closed-end management investment company. The Fund invests primarily in senior loans whose interest rates float or adjust periodically based on a benchmark interest rate index. Under normal market circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its managed assets in adjustable rate secured senior loans and adjustable rate unsecured senior loans, which unsecured senior loans will be, at the time of investment, investment grade quality. In addition, at least 65% of the Funds assets will be invested in senior loans that are secured by claims on specific collateral. Nuveen Asset Management is the advisor of the Fund. The sectors covered by the portfolio include media, hotels, restaurants and leisure, healthcare providers and service, chemicals, United States of America, containers/packaging and other.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Dowdee]

  The following 10 funds satisfied all of these conditions:

  BlackRock Float Rate Strategies (FRA). This CEF sells at a discount of 3%, which is low compared to an average premium of 2% over the past year. The distribution has been managed at 6.1% and a small amount (less than 10%) has been return of capital (ROC). However, this has not negatively affected net asset value (NAV) so has not been destructive. The fund holds 447 securities, with 90% in floating rate loans. FRA utilizes 27% leverage and has an expense ratio of 1.7%, including interest payments. Eaton Vance Floating Rate (EFR). This CEF sells at a 1% premium, which is low compared to an average premium of 5% over the past year. The distribution is 6.2%, none of which was ROC. The fund holds 800 securities, with 90% in floating rate loans. About 85% of the securities are from U.S. companies. EFR utilizes 35% leverage and has an expense ratio of 1.8% including interest payments. ING Prime Rate Trust (PPR). This CEF sells for a premium of 2%, which is below the average premium of 5%. It has a distribution of 6.8%, none of which was ROC. The fund has 350 holdings, virtually all in senior loans and from US companies. PPR utilizes 29% leverage and has a high expense ratio of 2.1%, including interest payments. Invesco VK Dynamic Credit Opportunities (VTA). This CEF sells for a discount of 5%, which is below the average discount of 1%. It has a distribution of 7.1%, none of which was ROC. The fund has 495 holdings, with 76% in floating rate loans. About 25% of the loans are from non-US companies. VTA utilizes a relatively low 20% leverage but still has a high expense ratio of 2.1%, including interest payments. Invesco VK Senior Income (VVR). This CEF sells for a discount of 1%, which is below the average premium of 3%. It has a distribution of 7.1%, none of which was ROC. The fund has over 500 holdings, with 89% in floating rate loans. Almost all (95%) securities are from US companies. VVR ut

Top 10 Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Portlogic Systems Inc (PGSY)

Portlogic Systems Inc. (Portologic), incorporated on June 22, 2004, is a development-stage company. The Company is engaged in developing and licensing portal software products and related services. The Company operates six divisions, including m2Meet, m2Bank (Mobile to Bank), m2Market, m2Ticket, m2Kiosk and m2Workflow. The Company has developed a product that it licensed to its customers to enable them to operate their own online social networking portal without requiring any technical programming or Website design skills. The Company licenses portal software products and provide custom software programming services to customers who license its products. The Company�� portal software products are designed to enable customers to administer a ��ortal��that can be accessed online by other users. Each type of portal that it licenses to customers has a standard pre-programmed functional framework along with content and appearance customized according to the customer�� particular requirements. The Company�� customers retain ownership rights over any content that they provide to customize their portal. On June 18, 2012, Portlogic incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, VOIP 1, Inc.

The Company hosts the portal software licensed to its customers on the Company�� own servers. The Company�� portal software products include an online administration interface which its customers can use to manage the functionality, appearance, and content of their portal, such as what users are able to see and do when they visit the portal. As a result, customers that license its software can operate their online portal using only a personal computer and Internet connection. They do not need to have any programming knowledge, additional software, hosting capabilities, or additional hardware.

The Company also offers, in exchange for additional licensing fees, plug-in products that can provide additional functions to the basic portal software licensed by the Company�� customers. The Company eithe! r owns the plug-ins or licenses them from third parties. The Company offers one fully developed portal software product. This product is an online social networking system marketed to entrepreneurs who wish to operate their own online social networking or dating business. The Company markets this product through one of its Websites, at www.internetdatingsoftware.com.

The m2Meet is a community networking software solution, being developed from its Web based source code. m2Bank is a financial transactions system that facilitates bill payments, money transfers, and account management. The m2Market is a mobile marketing solutions, including a Bluetooth push technology that is used to deliver marketing materials to mobile phones. The m2Ticket is a mobile ticketing sales engine, which manages the sale and delivery of tickets through mobile phones for the transportation and entertainment industry. The m2Kiosk is a line of standard and custom kiosks hardware and software which integrates with mobile phone applications in the marketing, financial, and ticketing industries. Its m2Workflow is a customer relations management (CRM) on mobile phones for service industries.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Muscle Warfare International (OTCMKTS: MWAR), Portlogic Systems Inc (OTCMKTS: PGSY) and Sterling Consolidated Corp (OTCBB: STCC) were all the subject of a few paid promotions as recently as last week but they sure did not start the new week out right because all were sinking on Monday. So are these small cap stocks that are either the subject of promotions or investor awareness campaigns hot or not? Here is a quick reality check:

Top 10 Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Asanko Gold Inc (AKG)

Asanko Gold Inc., incorporated on September 23, 1999, is a natural resource company engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mineral resources in West Ghana. Its mineral properties are in the exploration and development stage. Its primary property is the Esaase project. The Company is focused on advancing the Esaase Gold Project to commercial production. In addition to its principal project, the Company holds a portfolio of other Ghanaian gold concessions in various stages of exploration. As of February 28, 2014, the Company�� material properties consisted of the Asanko Gold Mine project, the Asumura Property and the Diaso Property, all in West Ghana, Africa. In February 2014, Asanko Gold Inc successfully completed the acquisition of PMI Gold Corporation.

Asanko Gold Mine Property

The Asanko Gold Mine Property is a development stage property located in the Amansi East District of Ghana, approximately 35 kilometers south west of the regional capital Kumasi. The property comprises the Nkran pit, the Adubiaso pit, the Dynamite Hill deposit, the Asuadai deposit, the Abore pit and the Esaase deposit. The Property has gold resources of approximately 7.52 million ounces and gold reserves of approximately 4.81 million ounces.

The Asumura Property

The Asumura Property is without known resources or reserves and the work being done by the Company is exploratory in nature. The Asumura Property is located in the south-western part of Ghana and is divided into two parts by the Bia River. The western part of the property is within the Western Region of Ghana in the Juabeso Bia District and the eastern part is in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. The Asumura Property consists of two exploration concessions: Fosukrom and Asumura, which together equal 279.4 square kilometers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING]

  As well, Primero Mining (NYSE: PPP) bought Brigus Gold Corp (USA)(NYSE: BRD) for $220 million, and Asanko Gold (NYSEMKT: AKG) is acquiring PMI Gold Corporation (TSE: PMV).

Top 10 Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Matthews International Corporation(MATW)

Matthews International Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets memorialization products and brand solutions for the cemetery and funeral home industries in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company's Bronze segment offers cast bronze memorials and other memorialization products; and cast and etched architectural products, as well as builds mausoleums. Its Casket segment provides wood and metal caskets; and casket components, such as stamped metal parts, metal locking mechanisms for gasketed metal caskets, adjustable beds, interior panels, and plastic ornamental hardware, as well as provides assortment planning and merchandising, and display products to funeral service businesses. The company's Cremation segment offers cremation equipment; cremation caskets; equipment service and supplies; and cremation urns and memorial products, as well as offers environmental systems; crematory operations and management services; and cremation col umbarium and niche units. Its Graphics Imaging segment provides brand management, pre-press services, printing plates, gravure cylinders, steel bases, embossing tools, special purpose machinery, engineering and print process assistance, print production management, digital asset management, content management, and package design services. The company's Marking Products segment offers a range of marking and coding products and related consumables, and industrial automation products for identifying, tracking, and conveying consumer and industrial products, components, and packaging containers. Its Merchandising Solutions segment provides merchandising displays and systems, such as permanent and temporary displays, custom store fixtures, brand concept shops, interactive kiosks, custom packaging, and screen and digitally printed promotional signage; and offers design and engineering services. The company was founded in 1850 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  The first thing to realize about StoneMor is that arcane and flexible accounting rules make it important to dig beneath its GAAP earnings. Growth throughout the industry has been substantial, as up-and-coming Carriage Services (NYSE: CSV  ) continued to stay on pace for double-digit sales growth as it rapidly expands its reach. Even well-established player Matthews International (NASDAQ: MATW  ) managed to grow revenue by nearly 14% in the quarter that ended in March, although its earnings fell slightly from the year-ago quarter. Still, StoneMor's sales haven't been able to rise as quickly as its peers, with its previous report including just a 6% gain in revenue.

Top 10 Defensive Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Methode Electronics Inc (MEI)

Methode Electronics, Inc., incorporated on April 27, 1966, is a manufacturer of component and subsystem devices with manufacturing, designs and testing facilities in China, Egypt, Germany, India, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Company operates in four segments: automotive, interconnect, power products, and other. The Company designs, manufactures and markets devices employing electrical, radio remote controls, electronic, wireless and sensing technologies. The Company's components are found in the primary end markets of the aerospace, appliance, automotive, construction, consumer and industrial equipment, communications, including information processing and storage, networking equipment, wireless and terrestrial voice/data systems, rail and other transportation industries.

Automotive

The Company�� automotive segment supplies electronic and electro-mechanical devices and related products to automobile original equipment manufacturers, (OEMs), either directly or through their tiered suppliers. The Company's products include control switches for electrical power and signals, connectors for electrical devices, integrated control components, switches and sensors that monitor the operation or status of a component or system, and packaging of electrical components.

Interconnect

The interconnect segment provides a variety of copper and fiber-optic interconnect and interface solutions for the aerospace, appliance, commercial, computer, construction, consumer, material handling, medical, military, mining, networking, storage, and telecommunications markets. Solutions include conductive polymers, connectors, custom cable assemblies, industrial safety radio remote controls, optical and copper transceivers, personal computer and express card packaging and terminators, solid-state field effect interface panels, and thick film inks. Services include the design and installation of f! iber optic and copper infrastructure systems, and manufacturing active and passive optical components.

Power products

The power products segment manufactures braided flexible cables, current-carrying laminated bus devices, custom power-product assemblies, high-current low voltage flexible power cabling systems and powder coated bus bars that are used in various markets and applications, including aerospace, computers, industrial and power conversion, inverters and battery systems, insulated gate bipolar transistor solutions, military, telecommunications, and transportation.

Other

The other segment includes a designer and manufacturer of magnetic torque sensing products, and independent laboratories that provide services for qualification testing and certification, and analysis of electronic and optical components.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Can you discuss three stocks that have been successful this year? What did you initially like about them and what helped them turn around?Methode Electronics (MEI) is an automotive component supplier, with automotive customers accounting for about 60% of its revenues. The company classifies the other 40% of its revenues as non-auto, which includes home appliance touch screens and sensors.

• [By gurujx]

  Methode Electronics Inc. (MEI): CFO Douglas A. Koman Sold 60,000 Shares

  CFO�Douglas A. Koman�sold 60,000 shares of MEI stock on 12/31/2013 at the average price of $34.13. Douglas A. Koman owns at least 203,418 shares after this. The price of the stock has increased by 3.34% since.

• [By John Udovich]

  On Thursday, small cap electronics stock Methode Electronics Inc (NYSE: MEI) soared 43.07% after beating earnings expectations and boasting its guidance. However, the stock sank around 10.5% the day before the Thursday morning earnings report came out. So was the earnings report and guidance the start of a rally or just a dead cat bounce for investors?