10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015

 If you're long tech stocks, you now have a powerful market phenomenon on your side...   As we reminded you two weeks ago, many of the world's dominant tech companies – like Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, and Intel – are trading for cheap valuations right now, especially once you take their big cash hoards into consideration.   And over the past few weeks, the market phenomenon known as "acting well" has come into play...    When we say an asset is "acting well," we mean that it's advancing – rather than declining – in the face of bad news.   When a beaten-down asset can advance in the face of bad (or at least "not good") news, it's a sign that the worst is over for that market... sellers are exhausted... and prices are ready to rise. It's a sign that powerful bullish forces are working in the asset's favor.

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: Whole Foods Market Inc.(WFM)

Whole Foods Market, Inc. engages in the ownership and operation of natural and organic food supermarkets. The company offers produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, coffee and tea, nutritional supplements, and vitamins. It also provides specialty products, such as beer, wine, and cheese; body care and educational products, such as books; and floral, pet, and household products. As of February 9, 2011, the company operated 302 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

  That growth places the company firmly in between Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM  ) , which is growing comparable sales at 7%, and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT  ) , with its 1.4% decline last quarter. Still, Kroger is valued cheaper than both of these retailers. At just under 12 times earnings, shares are a deal compared with Wal-Mart's 15 P/E, or Whole Foods' 37.

• [By Steve Symington]

  Following a brief uproar�less than�two weeks ago regarding its language policy, organic grocery specialist Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM  ) Friday officially softened the previous "English-only" stance outlined in its employee handbook.

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: Kohl's Corporation(KSS)

Kohl?s Corporation operates department stores in the United States. The company?s stores offer private and exclusive, as well as national branded apparel, footwear, and accessories for women, men, and children; soft home products, such as sheets and pillows; and housewares primarily to middle-income customers. As of January 29, 2011, it operated 1,089 stores in 49 states. The company also offers on-line shopping on its Web site at Kohls.com. Kohl?s Corporation was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Moskowitz]

  When it comes to investing in department stores, most people would opt for Macy's (NYSE: M  ) or Kohl's (NYSE: KSS  ) over J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP  ) or Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD  ) .

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Macy�� Inc. (NYSE: M), Kohl�� Corp. (NYSE: KSS), and Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) have all already reported poor quarterly results that barely met expectations in most cases. There�� no reason to expect anything substantially different this week, except perhaps from Home Depot, which has history of being cautious with its estimates.

• [By Steve Mauzy]

  Retailing also allows any investor to easily kick the tires. When I walk into Sears, I see an antiquated retailing concept. When I walk into Sears' subsidiary, K-Mart, I see dilapidation. J.C. Penney, to me, is a poor imitation of Kohl's (KSS).

10 Best Regional Bank Stocks To Invest In 2015: Global Payments Inc.(GPN)

Global Payments Inc. provides electronic transaction processing services for merchants, independent sales organizations (ISO), financial institutions, government agencies, and multi-national corporations located in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. It offers a comprehensive line of processing solutions for credit and debit cards; business-to-business purchasing cards; gift cards; and electronic check conversion and check guarantee, verification, and recovery, including electronic check services, as well as terminal management. The company also offers proprietary software products to establish revolving check cashing limits for the casinos? customers in the gaming industry. In addition, it sells, installs, and services automated teller machine and point of sale terminals; and provides card issuing services, including card management and card personalization. The company markets its products directly, as well as through ISOs, retail outlets, tra de associations, alliance bank relationships, and financial institutions. Global Payments Inc. has a joint venture with La Caixa Group to provide merchant acquiring services to merchants in Spain. Global Payments Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Global Payments�(GPN) has gained 6.8% to $54.12 in pre-open trading after the payment processing company reported a profit of $1 a share, beating analyst forecasts of 95 cents. It also said it would buy back stock.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  Shares of Global Payments Inc. (GPN) �advanced 4.8% to $67.50 on moderate volume after the company raised its earnings outlook for the year to a range of $4.03 to $4.10 a share. Analysts were forecasting $4.04 a share.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) reported upbeat fiscal first-quarter results and raised its annual forecast. Global Payments named Jeffrey S. Sloan as its new chief executive and announced its plans to buy back up to $100 million of its common stock. Global Payments shares surged 6.80% to $54.15 in the after-hours trading session.

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: AeroVironment Inc.(AVAV)

AeroVironment, Inc. designs, develops, produces, and supports unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and efficient energy systems for various industries and governmental agencies. Its UAS provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, including real-time tactical reconnaissance, tracking, combat assessment, and geographic data to the small tactical unit or individual war fighter. The UAS wirelessly transmit critical live video and other information generated by their payload of electro-optical or infrared sensors directly to a hand-held ground control system, enabling the operator to view and capture images during the day or at night on a hand-held ground control unit. AeroVironment also provides spare equipment, alternative payload modules, batteries, chargers, repair services, and customer support for the UAS. In addition, the company produces industrial productivity and clean transportation solutions for commercial and government customers, develops potential clean t ransportation solutions, and performs contract engineering services; offers PosiCharge electric vehicle charging systems for industrial electric material handling fleets, electric vehicle charging systems for passenger and fleet vehicles, and power cycling and test systems for developers and manufacturers of plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as battery packs, electric motors, and fuel cells; and supplies power cycling and test systems to research and development organizations that focus on developing electric propulsion systems, electric generation systems, and electricity storage systems. It supplies its UAS primarily to the organizations within the United States department of defense. AeroVironment, Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Monrovia, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, unmanned aerial vehicle specialist AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

• [By Blake Bos]

  In the video below, Blake observes how smaller companies like iRobot� (NASDAQ: IRBT  ) and AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV  ) , as well as huge defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin� (NYSE: LMT  ) and Northrop Grumman� (NYSE: NOC  ) , are positioned to benefit from this trend.

• [By Alex Planes]

  Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV  ) fit the bill? Let's look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.

• [By Rich Smith]

  AlamyA US Navy X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System aircraft is towed into the hanger bay aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush -- the first aircraft carrier to successfully catapult launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck. With a fiscal 2013 defense budget of nearly $614 billion, the United States is widely known to be a big spender on defense. By some estimates, U.S. defense spending accounts for nearly 60 percent of the $1.19 trillion the top 10 military powers spent on defense in 2011. In fact, our country allocates more than five times more money to defense than does its closest spending rival, China. And that's not the half of it. In the cutting-edge field of military unmanned aerial vehicles, the United States has such a huge lead over its rivals that it makes their combined UAV fleets look like a rounding error in a world that's essentially 100 percent dominated by U.S. drones. Pax Americana As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, the U.S. military commands a fleet of 429 "large drone" aircraft such as the General Atomics Predator and Northrop Grumman (NOC) Global Hawk. Meanwhile, America's smaller drones, built by everyone from Boeing (BA) to Textron (TXT) to tiny AeroVironment (AVAV), maker of the ubiquitous Raven man-portable UAV, number in the thousands. In contrast, the military of the United Kingdom, not even a U.S. rival but a close ally, boasts a fleet of precisely 10 large drones, most of which we built for them, and the rest imported from Israel. Italy has nine, France, four, and Germany has three. As a result, when allied forces need a drone to "put eyes" on a target, more often than not, they have to ring up the U.S. military to get one. Who You Gonna Call? For allied nations, that has to be embarrassing -- but it's a situation unlikely to change soon. As the Journal reports, European defense giant European Aeronautic Defence & Space (EADSY), the parent company of Airbus, is only just now beginning to test a

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: Oracle Corporation(ORCL)

Oracle Corporation, an enterprise software company, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and services database and middleware software, applications software, and hardware systems worldwide. It licenses of database and middleware software, including database management software, application server software, service-oriented architecture and business process management software, data integration software, business intelligence software, identity and access management software, content management software, portals and user interaction software, development tools, and Java; and applications software comprising enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, enterprise performance management, supply chain management, business intelligence applications, enterprise portfolio project management, Web commerce, and industry-specific applications software. The company also offers customers with rights to unspecified software product upgrades and maintenance releases; Internet access to technical content; and Internet and telephone access to technical support personnel. In addition, its hardware systems products consist of computer server and hardware-related software, including the Oracle Solaris Operating System; and storage products, such as tape, disk and networking solutions for open systems and mainframe server environments. Its hardware systems support solutions include software updates for the software components. Further, the company offers consulting solutions in business and IT strategy alignment, enterprise architecture planning and design, initial product implementation and integration, and ongoing product enhancements and upgrades; cloud services, including Oracle Cloud Services and Advanced Customer Services; and education solutions comprising instructor-led, media-based, and Internet-based training in the use of its software and hardware products. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Redwood Ci ty, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Brugger]

  The good news for SAP (NYSE: SAP  ) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL  ) , Nos. 1 and 2 on Gartner's list with $2.9 billion and $1.95 billion in revenues, respectively, each retained their top positions. The downside, and especially troubling for Oracle CEO Larry Ellison considering his desire to grow cloud and related revenues, is that Oracle saw a mere 2% improvement from the prior year and 2012 BI sales were essentially flat for SAP.

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  Oracle (ORCL) offers several lessons on how to calculate the returns from your common stock investments. First of all, we see a strong correlation between earnings and stock price for most of the 15-year time frame. However, we also see the extreme and unwarranted overvaluation that occurred during the irrationally exuberant technology bubble of the late 1990s.

• [By Anders Bylund]

  salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM  ) was started by former Oracle (NYSE: ORCL  ) vice president Marc Benioff, and the two companies have been fierce rivals in a very vocal way ever since. So when Oracle promised that it would share a "startling announcement" regarding Salesforce this week, the company wasn't kidding.

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.(FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. engages in the exploration, mining, and production of mineral resources. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and cobalt. It holds interests in various properties, located in North and South America; the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; and the Tenke Fungurume minerals district in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s consolidated recoverable proven and probable reserves totaled 120.5 billion pounds of copper, 35.5 million ounces of gold, 3.39 billion pounds of molybdenum, 325.0 million ounces of silver, and 0.75 billion pounds of cobalt. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  The country�� two largest copper miners, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) and Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) have refused to pay the new tax claiming that it violates their existing contracts. The government backed off a bit last week, saying that it would ��onsider reducing the duty for miners who are ��erious��about smelting their mineral concentrates in the country before shipping the metals to buyers abroad,��according to report in The Wall Street Journal.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, global mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

• [By Taylor Muckerman]

  The market has not been kind to gold miners or gold investors in 2013. With prices finally crossing back above $1,300 per ounce this week, will the miners' quarterly reports add to the momentum? Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX  ) will kick things off on Tuesday, July 23, followed by much larger gold-producing peers Goldcorp (NYSE: GG  ) and Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM  ) .

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: The Travelers Companies Inc.(TRV)

The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Business Insurance; Financial, Professional, and International Insurance; and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers property and casualty products and services, such as commercial multi-peril, property, general liability, commercial auto, and workers? compensation insurance. It operates in six groups: Select Accounts, which serves small businesses; Commercial Accounts that serves mid-sized businesses; National Accounts, which serves large companies; Industry-Focused Underwriting that serves targeted industries; Target Risk Underwriting, which serves commercial businesses requiring specialized product underwriting, claims handling, and risk management services; and Special ized Distribution that offers products to customers through licensed wholesale, general, and program agents. The Financial, Professional, and International Insurance segment provides surety and financial liability coverage, which uses a credit-based underwriting process; and property and casualty products primarily in the United States., the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals. It distributes its products through independent agents, sponsoring organizations, joint marketing arrangements with other insurers, and direct marketing. The company was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Travelers (NYSE: TRV  )
  For insurance giant Travelers, all it took for a big beat was for the company to avoid a major catastrophic event. The company reported an 11% jump in earnings and a record operating profit, beating expectations by $0.29 per share and boosting its dividend.

• [By John Maxfield]

  On the individual stock front, shares of Travelers Companies (NYSE: TRV  ) are leading the Dow higher this afternoon, up by 2.3% at the time of writing. Given that it's an insurance company, the fact that the jobs report wasn't outright awful probably has a lot to do with Travelers' ascent today. The better the economy is doing, the sooner long-term interest rates will increase. And the sooner long-term rates increase, the sooner Travelers' bottom line will pick up to full steam.

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is based in Armonk, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mark Morelli]

  Positive trends have Silicon Valley tech giants Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) , Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) , and the century-old�International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM  ) �poised for future success in each of their diverse, but somewhat interrelated, businesses.�

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  One of Accenture's biggest areas of growth has been in technology-related consulting, with the company having become the No. 2 IT consulting company in the world, trailing only rival IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) . Accenture's ability to take advantage of diversity in its employee ranks comes from its lack of a physical corporate headquarters, allowing employees to work in their home countries, and thereby attracting the most talented workers available in a given area. In particular, Accenture has focused much of its attention on India, with more than a quarter of its employees hailing from the subcontinent.

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Continued softness in competitors like Oracle (ORCL) and IBM (IBM) hints that the enterprise IT business is suffering, and CSCO�� outlook confirms that. So investors better be prepared for a bumpy ride over the next several months — particularly if the market experiences a broad selloff.

• [By Charley Blaine]

  International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) shares were at $172.71, right on their 52-week low of $172.56. IBM was the only Dow stock to decline in 2013, falling 2.1%. The shares are off about 8% this year. Investors have been frustrated with slow growth rates. The consensus price target is $192.67, which would be a 12% gain from current levels

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated(UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated provides healthcare services in the United States. Its Health Benefits segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; and non-employer based insurance options for purchase by individuals. It also provides health and well-being services for individuals aged 50 and older; and for services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals, as well as health plans for the beneficiaries of acute and long-term care Medicaid plans. This segment offers its services through a network of 730,000 physicians and other health care professionals, and 5,300 hospitals. Its OptumHealth segment provides health, financial, and ancillary services and products that assist consumers through personalized health management solutions; benefit administration, and clinical and network management; health-based financi al services; behavioral solutions; and specialty benefits, such as dental, vision, life, critical illness, short-term disability, and stop-loss product offerings. The company?s Ingenix segment offers database and data management services, software products, publications, consulting and actuarial services, business process outsourcing services, and pharmaceutical data consulting and research services. Its Prescription Solutions segment provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services comprising retail network pharmacy contracting and management, claims processing, mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy, benefit design consultation, rebate contracting and management, drug utilization review, formulary management programs, disease therapy management, and adherence programs to employer groups, union trusts, managed care organizations, Medicare-contracted plans, Medicaid plans, and third party administrators. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Minne tonka, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: United Health Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH), Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Philip Morris Inc (NYSE: PM), Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG), American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Economic Releases Expected: �German PPI, Canadian CPI, Chinese house price data

  Friday

• [By Travis Hoium]

  UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH  ) was up 6.8% this week to lead the Dow. On Monday, an analyst projected that United Health would be able to grow Medicare Advantage enrollment despite reimbursement cuts. After concerns about government cuts hit health-care companies in early 2013, there's now growing understanding that Obamacare or cuts to Medicare won't slash profits. One of the reasons is the insurance lobby, which has been able to bend policy to make sure companies like UnitedHealth are still posting solid profits. ��

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  Elsewhere, UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH  ) shares got a bump after Deutsche Bank raised its price target on the insurance giant from $60 to $63 and maintained its hold rating. Deutsche Bank recently met with UnitedHealth's CEO and VP of Investor Relations, and said it believed the insurance giant had a strong long-term position. UnitedHealth finished up 2% and hit a 52-week high on the news. Considering that the insurance company was downgraded yesterday to a hold by Standpoint Research, the two items seem to be a wash.

10 Best Cheap Stocks To Invest In 2015: S&P GSCI(GD)

General Dynamics Corporation, an aerospace and defense company, provides business aviation; combat vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions; military and commercial shipbuilding; and communications and information technology products and services worldwide. Its Aerospace group designs, manufactures, and outfits various large and mid-cabin business-jet aircraft; provides maintenance, repair work, fixed-based operations, and aircraft management services; and performs aircraft completions for aircraft. The company?s Combat Systems group offers tracked and wheeled military vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions. Its product lines include wheeled combat and tactical vehicles; battle tanks and infantry vehicles; munitions and propellant; rockets and gun systems; and axle and drivetrain components and aftermarket parts. This group also manufactures and supplies engineered axles, suspensions, and brakes for heavy-load vehicles for military and commercial customers. The company Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  According to the DSCA, contractors General Dynamics (NYSE: GD  ) , Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) , and Wyle Laboratories are in line to perform avionics software upgrades and engine component improvements and to sell ground support equipment, spare parts, technical documentation, and other "technical and logistics support services" to Kuwait for an estimated $200 million.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Although no other defense or aerospace contractors had announced any layoffs or furloughs due to the government shutdown, the Aerospace Industries Association said last Friday that “tens of thousands” of employees at member companies would have to be furloughed if the shutdown continued. The group includes defense firms Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC), Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) and General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) among its membership. None of these firms had announced plans to idle workers.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of General Dynamics (GD). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis: Company Description: General Dynamics is the world's fourth largest military contractor and also one of the world's biggest makers of corporate jets.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) is down the least of defense stocks with a late-Tuesday drop of 1.4% at $83.08 against a 52-week trading range of $61.70 to $87.85. According to Thomson Reuters, its consensus analyst target is $95.80.