Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now

"Made in China." It's a slogan emblematic of many things -- of cheap labor, of the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to lower-wage nations, of China's rapid ascent to the ranks of the largest economies on Earth. China's been blamed for the loss of many American jobs over the recent past, and data abounds to back up that claim. Washington's Economic Policy Institute projects that more than 2 million manufacturing jobs and 2.7 million total jobs fled the U.S. for China between 2001 and 2011, fueling a renaissance in cheap products in American stores but also sending America's trade deficit skyrocketing.

China's jobs boom may be short-lived. Minimum wages are rising, workers are demanding higher labor standards, and a rising middle class has turned from cheap manufacturing jobs to employment in the service sector. The IMF believes that China will experience a worker shortage of more than 100 million jobs by 2040, something unthinkable during the peak of the "Made in China" era.

Technology has replaced some of China's cheap labor, but many more jobs and companies have outsourced from the nation, once the very king of outsourcing itself. Where are these jobs and businesses going? Let's look at the three nations that stand to gain the most business from the dramatic shift in China's job market.

Top 5 Dividend Stocks To Own Right Now: 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 Robert Hanley]

  The company's gross margin of 26.4% in fiscal year 2013 is in line with its peers, but pales in comparison to organic king Whole Foods Market's (NASDAQ: WFM  ) gross margin of 35.9% in fiscal year 2013.�

• [By James E. Brumley]

  Quick, what do Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), and Jamba, Inc. (NASDAQ:JMBA) - the purveyor of Jamba Juice smoothie shops - have in common? They're all three offering at least one product from KonaRed Corp. (OTCBB:KRED). All told, KRED products can be found in a variety of retail outlets, ranging from mass marketers like WMT to niche players like WFM to service providers like JMBA to convenience stores like 7-Eleven to grocers like Albertson's to.... well, the point becomes clear. KonaRed is in a lot of places. Yet, the number of spots where a KRED could multiply by eight by the middle of the year. In fact, the organization's growth rate is the most exciting - and perhaps most understated - aspect of the KonaRed story.

• [By Steve Symington]

  Here's who it won't affect
  That said, investors absolutely�should not�assume Wal-Mart's initiative poses any realistic threat to specialty organic grocery businesses like Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM  ) and The Fresh Market (NASDAQ: TFM  ) , which both typically serve�very�different client bases than those to which Wal-Mart caters.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  With natural and organic grocers sprouting up everywhere and giving both investors and shoppers a broad assortment of supermarket alternatives to choose from,�Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM  ) finds itself under increasing pressure to combat slowing sales growth.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: USG Corporation(USG)

USG Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and distribution of building materials worldwide. The company offers gypsum and related products, including gypsum wallboard, joint compounds used for finishing wallboard joints, cement boards, glass mat sheathing, gypsum fiber panels, poured gypsum underlayments, ultra light panels, and various construction plaster products. Its gypsum products are used in various building applications to finish the interior walls, ceilings, and floors in residential, commercial, and institutional constructions, and repair and remodel constructions. The company also produces gypsum-based products for agricultural and industrial customers to use in various applications, including soil conditioning, road repair, fireproofing, and ceramics. In addition, it manufactures ceiling grid and acoustical ceiling tile for electrical and mechanical systems, and air distribution and maintenance applications. USG Corporation distribut es its gypsum products through specialty wallboard distributors, building materials dealers, home improvement centers and other retailers, contractors, and a network of distributors. Further, it distributes other manufacturers? gypsum wallboard, joint compound and other gypsum products, as well as drywall metal, insulation, and roofing products and accessories. The company sells its products under SHEETROCK, DUROCK, FIBEROCK, SECUROCK, LEVELROCK, RED TOP, IMPERIAL, DIAMOND, SUPREMO, AURATONE, ACOUSTONE, DONN, DX, FINELINE, CENTRICITEE, CURVATURA, and COMPASSO brands. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Pimco managing director Mark Kiesel mentions Whirlpool (WHR), Weyerhaeuser (WY), USG (USG), Toll Brothers (TOLL) and KB Home (KBH) as good plays on housing:�

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc.(WEN)

The Wendy's Company operates as a quick-service hamburger company in the United States. The company, through its subsidiary, Wendy's International, Inc., operates as a franchisor of the Wendy's restaurant system. As of December 26, 2011, the Wendy's system comprised approximately 6,500 franchise and company restaurants in the United States and the United States territories, as well as in 26 other countries worldwide. The company was formerly known as Wendy's/Arby's Group, Inc. and changed its name to The Wendy's Company in July 2011. The Wendy's Company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mike Deane]

  Before the opening bell on Monday, fast food chain Wendy’s (WEN) released its preliminary Q4 earnings. The company also announced that its board has approved a $275 million stock repurchase. The company is releasing its official results on February 27.

  WEN Preliminary Unaudited Earnings

  In North America, Wendy’s saw a 3.1% increase in same restaurant sales, which is up from a 0.2 percent decrease in last year’s Q4. Consolidated quarterly earnings fell despite the company’s improving restaurant sales, due to Wendy’s having less company operated restaurants. The earnings came in at $592.2 million, down from $629.9 million in last year’s same quarter. The company’s operating profit was also down, coming in at $24.1 million compared to $32.3 million in last year’s Q4. WEN adjusted earnings per share were between 10 cents and 11 cents (the company does not have a hard number due to the company not completed its tax closing procedures). For the full year, Wendy’s revenues came in at $2.487 billion, down from $2.505 billion last year. Operating profit for the full year was up to $130.3 million from $122.7 million last year.

  CEO Commentary

  Wendy’s president and CEO, Emil Brolick, had the following comments about the company’s earnings release:�”Wendy’s庐 made tremendous strategic and financial progress in 2013. We gained significant traction with consumers through ‘A Cut Above’ brand positioning, accelerated Wendy’s brand transformation with Image Activation and refined our Company-operated restaurant portfolio through System Optimization. These efforts contributed to improving metrics and solid financial performance, highlighted by 2013 North America Company-operated same-restaurant sales growth of 1.9 percent, record average annual sales of $1.51 million at North America Company-operated restaurants, and overall Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Earnings P

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Although Wendy's (NASDAQ: WEN  ) second-quarter profit was itself notable, particularly after McDonald's own rather lackluster performance, it's the news that it is selling 425 of its restaurants that was the real eye-opener.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Compass Minerals Intl Inc(CMP)

Compass Minerals International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces and markets inorganic mineral products primarily in North America and the United Kingdom. The company operates in two segments, Salt and Specialty Fertilizer. The Salt segment produces salt and magnesium chloride for use in road deicing and dust control, food processing, water softeners, pool salt, and agricultural and industrial applications. This segment also purchases potassium chloride and sells as a finished product. The Specialty Fertilizer segment produces and markets sulphate of potash crop nutrients and industrial grade sulfate of potash for use in the production of specialty fertilizers for vegetables, fruits, potatoes, nuts, tobacco, and turf grass. The company also produces and markets consumer deicing and water conditioning products, ingredients used in consumer and commercial food preparation, and other mineral-based products for consumer, agricultural, and industrial applications. In ad dition, Compass Minerals provides records management services to businesses located in the U.K. The company operates rock salt mines in Goderich, Ontario, Canada; and Winsford, Chesire, the United Kingdom. It primarily serves producers of intermediate chemical products used in the production of vinyls and other chemicals, and pulp and paper, as well as water treatment and other industrial uses. The company markets its products through direct sales personnel, contract personnel, and a network of brokers or manufacturers? representatives. Compass Minerals International, Inc., formerly known as Salt Holdings Corporation, was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By cody56]

  Meridian Growth Fund performance

  Compass Minerals�(CMP) is a leading producer of rock salt and specialty potash fertilizer. Its unique collection of resource assets has helped the company generate historically high returns on capital. We invested in Compass as we believed that earnings were due to turn after four years of weak road salt demand driven by mild Northeast winters and production problems at its potash mines. During 2013 the potash industry was rocked by the potential collapse of a European cartel, which led to falling potash prices. Facing significant uncertainty for the future of the potash market, we sold the stock.

  We continue to remain focused on individual stock selection and portfolio construction that identifies quality companies that we believe are experiencing temporary disruptions to their businesses. These disruptions enable us to buy the businesses at attractive prices and provide the portfolio with what we believe is an attractive risk-reward profile for our shareholders.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Partner Communications Company Ltd.(PTNR)

Partner Communications Company Ltd. provides various telecommunications services in Israel. It offers cellular telephony services on GSM/GPRS and UMTS/HSDPA networks. The company also provides basic services, including domestic mobile calls, international dialing, roaming, voice mail, short message services, intelligent network services, content based on its cellular portal, data and fax transmission, and other services. In addition, it offers Internet services provider services that provides access to the Internet, as well as home WiFi networks; value added services, such as anti-virus and anti-spam filtering; and transmission services; and Web video on demand services, music tracks, and games. Further, the company provides voice over broadband and primary rate interface fixed-line telephone services; and data capacity services. Additionally, it offers content services comprising voice mail, text, and multimedia messaging, as well as downloadable wireless data application s, including ring tones, music, games, and other informational content; and sells handsets, phones, routers, and related equipment. The company markets its products through its sales centers, business sales representatives, traditional networks of specialized dealers, and non-traditional networks of retail chains and stores under the Orange brand name. Partner Communications Company Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Rosh Ha-ayin, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another under-$10 wireless telecom player that's starting to move within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Partner Communications (PTNR), a telecommunications company, provides cellular and fixed-line telecommunication services in Israel. This stock is off to a strong start in 2013, with shares up sharply by 29%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Partner Communications, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways for the last month, with shares moving between $7.28 on the downside and $7.96 on the upside. Shares of PTRN are bucking the overall market weakness today as the stock starts to move within range of triggering a breakout trade above the upper-end of its sideways trading chart pattern.

  Market players should now look for long-biased trades in PTNR if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $7.80 to $7.85 a share and then once it clears its 52-week high at $7.96 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that registers near or above its three-month average volume of 107,303 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then PTNR will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $10 to $12.20 a share.

  Traders can look to buy PTNR off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $7.38 to $7.28, or below its 50-day at $6.97 a share. One can also buy PTNR off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

• [By Eddie Staley]

  Telecommunications services shares jumped around 1.19 percent in today’s trading. Top gainers in the sector included NQ Mobile (NYSE: NQ), China Unicom (Hong Kong) (NYSE: CHU), and Partner Communications Company (NASDAQ: PTNR).

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Lionbridge Technologies Inc.(LIOX)

Lionbridge Technologies, Inc. provides language, development, and testing services. Its Global Language and Content segment provides product localization services, such as creating foreign language versions of its clients? products and software applications, including the user interface, online help systems, and documentation; and content translation services, such as translating and maintaining clients? Web-based content, eLearning courseware and training materials, technical support, and sales and marketing information. It also offers technical authoring, eLearning courseware development, and production and integration of content; and global language and content services delivery. The company?s Global Development and Testing segment develops and maintains on-premise, SaaS, and smart phone and tablet applications, as well as provides Web production services. This segment also offers various testing services under the VeriTest brand, including managed test teams, test proc ess design, test automation, functional testing, performance testing, globalization testing, and product certification. In addition, it provides specialized search relevance, online content editorial, keyword optimization, and related services. Its Interpretation segment offers interpretation services for government business and healthcare organizations that require experienced linguists to facilitate communication. It provides interpretation communication services, such as onsite interpretation, over-the-phone interpretation and interpreter testing, training, and assessment services in approximately 360 languages and dialects. The company serves the technology, mobile and telecommunications, Internet and media, life sciences, government, manufacturing, automotive, retail, and aerospace sectors in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Lionbridge Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Lionbridge Technologies (Nasdaq: LIOX  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Hewlett-Packard Company(HPQ)

Hewlett-Packard Company and its subsidiaries provide products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as well as to the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. Its Personal Systems Group segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, calculators and other related accessories, and software and services for the commercial and consumer markets. The company?s Services segment provides consulting, outsourcing, and technology services to infrastructure, applications, and business process domains. Its Imaging and Printing Group segment provides consumer and commercial printer hardware, supplies, media, and scanning devices, such as inkjet and Web solutions, laser jet and enterprise solutions, managed enterprise solutions, graphics solutions, and printer supplies. The company?s Enterprise Servers, Storage, and Networking segment offers industry standard s ervers, business critical systems, storage platforms, and networking products, including switches, routers, wireless LAN, and TippingPoint network security products. Its HP Software segment provides enterprise IT management software, information management solutions, and security intelligence/risk management solutions. The company?s HP Financial Services segment offers leasing, financing, utility programs, and asset recovery services; and financial asset management services for enterprise customers, as well as specialized financial services to SMBs, and educational and governmental entities. Hewlett-Packard Company also provides business intelligence solutions that enable businesses to standardize on consistent data management schemes, connect and share data across the enterprise, and apply analytics, as well as licenses its specific technology to third parties. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Bleeker, CFA, Lyons George, and Alison Southwick]

  In this segment, Eric and Lyons look at the cutthroat pricing battles in the tablet market as detailed this week in the�Financial Times. While American consumers might be wowed by cheap tablet pricing such as�Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) iPad Mini at the $330 price point, or Google's Nexus 7 at $200, or�Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ  ) Slate 7 tablet at $140, those "cheap" prices are nothing compared with the tablet battles in China.�

• [By Matt Thalman]

  Before we hit the Dow losers, let's look at the index's big winner of the week: Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) . Shares of Meg Whitman's turnaround project rose 13.82% this past week after the company released quarterly earnings. The company beat expectations on both the top revenue line and the bottom profit line despite a 10% drop in sales. But the real reason shares popped is that Whitman is doing what she promised investors she'd do, which is turn the company around and make it less reliant on the PC industry. She told analysts that the company, which is about 18 months into its five-year turnaround plan, is a little ahead of schedule with that turnaround, and that was something investors loved hearing. �