Top 5 Defensive Companies To Own For 2014

Dominant online music streaming service�Pandora� (NYSE: P  ) recently announced a new "Pandora Premieres" station, which promises to allow users to listen to new albums before they go on sale. That includes both paying subscribers and ad-supported (free) users.

The move could be a possible defensive play at differentiating Pandora's service, seeing as how�Google� (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) just launched its own Play Music All Access streaming service. Furthermore,�Apple� (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) is also expected to jump in with some type of "iRadio" service once it gets the licensing deals worked out with record labels.

In the video below, Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, talks about how much danger Pandora is in.

Five enter, one leaves
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5 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Watch Right Now: Titan Machinery Inc (TITN)

Titan Machinery Inc., incorporated in 1980, owns and operates a network of agricultural and construction equipment stores in the United States and Europe. The Company is a retail dealer of Case IH Agriculture equipment and a retail dealer of New Holland Agriculture, Case Construction and New Holland Construction equipment in the United States. It operates in two segments: Agriculture and Construction. The agricultural equipment, which it sells and services includes machinery and attachments for uses ranging from large-scale farming to home and garden use. The construction equipment it sells and services includes heavy construction and light industrial machinery for commercial and residential construction, road and highway construction and mining. On February 28, 2011, it acquired certain assets of Tri-State Implement, Inc. On March 31, 2011, the Company acquired interest in Schoffman's Inc. In July 2012, the Company acquired Curly Olney��, Inc. and opened two Case IH dealerships in Cluj and Roman, Romania. In November 2012, the Company acquired Falcon Power Inc. In December 2012, the Company acquired VAIT D.o.o. In February 2013, it acquired Tucson Tractor Company. In March 2013, it acquired Adobe CE, LLC, consisting of one Case Construction equipment dealership located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

On April 1, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of ABC Rental & Equipment Sales. On May 13, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Carlson Tractor & Equipment, Inc. On May 31, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of St. Joseph Equipment Inc. On September 2, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Virgl Implement Inc. On September 2, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Victors Inc. On November 1, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Van Der Werff Implement, Inc. On December 1, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Jewell Implement Company, Inc. On December 23, 2011, the Company, through a newly formed subsidiary, Titan Machinery Romania, S.R.L., ac! quired certain assets of AgroExpert Capital S.R.L. On February 27, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of the Colorado division of Adobe Truck & Equipment, LLC. On March 5, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of Rimex 1-Holding EAD. On March 30, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of Haberer's Implement, Inc. On April 2, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of East Helena Rental, LLC.

Equipment Sales

The Company sells agricultural and construction equipment manufactured under the CNH family of brands, as well as equipment from a variety of other manufacturers. The used equipment it sells is from inventory acquired through trade-ins from its customers and selective purchases. The agricultural equipment, which it sells and services includes application equipment and sprayers, combines and attachments, hay and forage equipment, planting and seeding equipment, precision farming technology, tillage equipment and tractors. The construction equipment, which the Company sells and services includes articulated trucks, compact track loaders, compaction equipment, cranes, crawler dozers, excavators, forklifts, loader/backhoes, loader/tool carriers, motor graders, skid steer loaders, telehandlers and wheel loaders. The Company also sells used equipment through its outlet stores.

Parts Sales

The Company sells a range of maintenance and replacement parts on equipment that it sells, as well as other types of equipment. It maintains an in-house parts inventory to provide parts, and repair and maintenance support to its customers.

Repair and Maintenance Services

The Company provides repair and maintenance services, including warranty repairs, for its customers equipment. In addition, the Company provides customer service by maintaining service histories for each piece of equipment owned by its customers, maintaining around-the-clock service hours, providing on-site repair services, scheduling off-season maintenance acti! vities wi! th customers, notifying customers of periodic service requirements and providing training programs to customers.

Equipment Rental and Other Business Activities

The Company rents equipment to its customers on a short-term basis for periods ranging from a few days to a few months. In addition, the Company provides ancillary equipment support activities, such as equipment transportation, global positioning system (GPS) signal subscriptions in connection with precision farming and reselling CNH Capital finance and insurance products.

The Company competes with RDO Equipment Co., Butler Machinery, Ziegler Inc. and Brandt Holdings Co.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Clash of the titans
  Where Wal-Mart got a boost from its earnings, Titan Machinery (NASDAQ: TITN  ) was slashed as a result of its financial report as profits narrowed in the fourth quarter and it missed by a wide mark analyst expectations.�Even though it beat top line estimates as revenues jumped 29% from the year-ago period, Titan's per-share earnings came in at just $0.73, a $0.19 miss from what Wall Street was anticipating.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  I went out on a limb last week, and now it's time to see how that decision played out.

  I predicted that Titan Machinery (NASDAQ: TITN  ) would close lower on the week. The specialty retailer of agricultural and construction equipment has been disappointing on the bottom line in recent quarters, and analysts were expecting Titan to post its first quarterly deficit since going public six years ago come Thursday. It did. The stock declined 0.5% on the week. I was right. I predicted that the tech-heavy Nasdaq would outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) . This has been a tricky call lately, so how did it play out this time? Well, the market saved itself by rallying on Friday. The Nasdaq moved 0.4% higher on the week. The Dow managed to close 0.9% lower. I was wrong. My final call was for Francesca's Holdings (NASDAQ: FRAN  ) to beat Wall Street's income estimates in its latest quarter. The rapidly expanding boutique operator has been posting blowout quarterly results over the past year, and I was banking on seeing the trend continue. Analysts were looking for a profit of $0.26 a share during the quarter, and it merely matched that target. That was close, but not what I had predicted. I was wrong.

  One out of three? Bummer! I was an impressive 16 out of 18 over the six previous weeks.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Titan Machinery (TITN) owns and operates a network of service agricultural and construction equipment stores in the U.S. and Europe. This stock closed up 3.1% to $17.65 in Thursday's trading session.

  Thursday's Volume: 1.71 million
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 366,688
  
  Volume % Change: 377%

  From a technical perspective, TITN ripped higher off its intraday low of $15.89 with heavy upside volume. Shares of TITN are now starting to move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if TITN manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance at $18.60 and then once it takes out its 50-day at $18.91 with high volume.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in TITN as long as it's trending above that low at $15.89 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 366,688 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then TITN will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $21 to its 200-day moving average at $23.43 a share.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Titan Machinery (Nasdaq: TITN  ) reported earnings on June 6. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended April 30 (Q1), Titan Machinery met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Top 5 Defensive Companies To Own For 2014: Konica Minolta Inc (KNCAY)

Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. is a Japanese manufacturer. The Company's operating segments include Business Technologies, engaged in the manufacture of copy machines and printers; Optics, engaged in the production of optical devices and electronic materials, Photo Imaging, manufacturing photographic film and materials, ink-jet products and cameras, Medical and Graphic Imaging, engaged in the production of x-ray or graphic film and equipment for medical or graphic use, and Sensing, engaged in the manufacture of industrial or medical measurement instruments. The Others segment is engaged in the provision of business support services, the warehouse and delivery businesses, the management of real estate, the construction of facilities, the development of systems and the manufacture, sale and installation of planetariums, among others.

In March 2006, a portion of the camera production assets related to the development, design and production of digital single lens reflex (SLR) cameras was transferred to Sony Corporation. As a result, the Company ceased camera-related operations at the end of March 2006. In addition, minilab business activities were also discontinued in March 2006.

The Company competes with Canon, Xerox, Ricoh and HP.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Victor Selva]

  As we can see, the firm has a higher ROE than it peers: Ricoh Ltd. (RICOY), Konica Minolta Inc. (KNCAY), Canon�Inc. (CAJ); but is lower than the one registered by Pitney Bowes (PBI).

Top 5 Defensive Companies To Own For 2014: Pharmaxis Ltd (PXS)

Pharmaxis Ltd is a pharmaceutical company that researches, develops and commercializes therapies for undertreated respiratory diseases. Its therapeutic interests include lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and asthma, as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis and pulmonary fibrosis. The Company�� products include Aridol and Bronchitol. The Company�� Aridol product is a lung function test. The product is designed to identify twitchy or hyper-responsive airways and to assist in diagnosing and managing asthma. Aridol is approved for sale in Australia, European countries, South Korea and the United States. is a drug designed to reduce the amount of mucus build-up in the lungs of patients suffering from chronic respiratory conditions. The Company develops Bronchitol for diseases including cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and chronic bronchitis. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Trista Kelley]

  Science in Sport Ltd. broke away from its parent company, Provexis Plc (PXS), and began trading today after an initial public offering as the maker of nutritional sports gels rides a surge in Britain�� Lycra-clad cyclists.

Top 5 Defensive Companies To Own For 2014: Prima BioMed Ltd (PBMD)

Prima BioMed Ltd is a biotechnology company is engaged in the development and commercialization of medical therapies with a focus on oncology. Its product candidates in development include Cvac, an autologous dendritic cell vaccine for ovarian cancer, monoclonal antibodies for multiple tumour types, and an oral formulation for the human papilloma virus (HPV), vaccine. Its product candidate Cvac is a dendritic cell therapy, for which it is conducting a Phase IIb trial for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Cvac is designed to target the tumour antigen mucin-1, which is expressed at high levels on different tumour types. It also has two preclinical product development programs. In May 2011, Prima BioMed GmbH, a 100 % owned subsidiary of Prima BioMed Ltd, was incorporated in Germany. In May 2011, Prima BioMed Middle East FZLLC, a 100 % owned subsidiary of Prima BioMed Ltd, was incorporated in the United Arab Emirates. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Were it the first time, or even the second time, it happened, it might be dismissible. A third time though? As they say, the third time is the charm. If the old saying applies in the worlds of small cap stocks (and it usually does), then Prima Biomed Ltd. (NASDAQ:PBMD) just kick-started what could be a trade-worthy rally.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Prima Biomed (NASDAQ: PBMD) dropped 38.17% to $1.45 after the company reported top-line analysis of CVac Phase 2 trial.

  Tower Group International (NASDAQ: TWGP) plummeted 24.31% to $10.49. Tower Group announced its plans to release its Q2 results during the week of October 7, 2013. FBR Capital downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Prima Biomed (NASDAQ: PBMD) shares dipped 38.59% to touch a new 52-week low of $1.44 after the company reported top-line analysis of CVac Phase 2 trial.