5 Best Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2015

GM took $5,000 off the price of a rechargeable Chevy Volt.

(Money Magazine) Electric car prices have gotten shockingly reasonable.

In August, GM took $5,000 off the $40,000 price of its rechargeable Chevy Volt. Thank California, which has passed sales quotas for eco-friendly vehicles -- and helped spark a price war.

If you buy an electric, a $7,500 federal tax credit brings the cost down to little more than a similar gas-powered car. And leases are cheap too.

The brightest electrics

Chevrolet Volt. Worried that you might run out of juice? The gas engine kicks in after 38 miles. Biggest downside: The car seats only four.

Sticker price: $34,995

Lease: $299 a month for 36 months, $2,499 down

Range per charge: 38 miles (another 343 on gas)

Top 10 Freight Stocks To Invest In 2016: 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 Sean Williams]

  Similarly, hardware sales have hit a brick wall -- just ask Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) . HP's PC sales dipped by 20% in the second quarter, with an even larger revenue hit of 37% from its business critical system segment. I'll give some partial leeway to HP given that it's early on in the midst of a restructuring that'll see 29,000 people lose their jobs, but it's nonetheless seeing hardware sales evaporate. Although Oracle derived only $849 million of its $11 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter from hardware, that didn't stop investors from being concerned about its ongoing underperformance.�

• [By Dan Carroll]

  Fear has held the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) back today after international markets were hammered overnight. The blue-chip index has dropped a nominal four points as of 2:30 p.m. EDT. What has kept the Dow afloat on a day when markets around the world are sinking? Thank Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) , which has roared to massive gains following last night's earnings report. Let's dig into the stories you need to know about today.

• [By Tim Brugger]

  Among PC suppliers, Acer saw the largest percentage drop in the region year-over-year, declining 36.8% to 1.44 million units in the first quarter. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) remains the leading supplier of PCs in the region, holding a 19.7% market share. However, HP's shipment volumes declined nearly 32% compared to last year, to 2.42 million units in Q1, Gartner's research indicates.

5 Best Cheap Stocks To Buy For 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 Andrew Tonner]

  IBM� (NYSE: IBM  ) is the only tech stock Warren Buffett owns. In this video, Andrew Tonner describes why investors should be optimistic about Big Blue's future. Most analysts expect IBM earnings to grow about 9%, from $2.78 per share to about $3.50 per share. The company has a three-pronged business model that helps funnel customers from its low-margin hardware business to its higher-margin software business. IBM also has an even higher-margin consulting business, all of which position IBM well for its long-term goal of earning $20 per share. Corporate leadership looks solid and on board for achieving this goal.

• [By Bob Ciura]

  On Oct. 20, IBM� (NYSE: IBM  ) handed in a dud of an earnings report. The company badly missed analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines, and the stock crashed 8% immediately after the quarterly numbers were released.
  

5 Best Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2015: 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 Alex Planes]

  PotashCorp's difficulty sustaining its pricing power is underscored by recent reports from sulfate of potash (SOP) producer Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP  ) , which charged a hefty premium of almost $300 per ton against Potash Corp's prices for muriate of potash. Efforts to move away from SOP sales seem to be the right choice -- PotashCorp peer Intrepid Potash's�SOP sales fell by 37%, while the average price received has slumped nearly 14% in the last quarter. Even ore miner BHP Billiton�has recently jumped into the fertilizer industry with a $2.6 billion build-out of a potash mine in Canada, which is all but certain to produce further downward pressure on potash prices.

• [By Brendan Mathews]

  Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP  ) is a sleepy producer of a boring product: rock salt. But it has a strong competitive advantage. It owns the world's largest rock salt mine, which luckily is conveniently located near the major deicing markets of the Great Lakes region. This combination of a great mining resource and ideal location provide the company with a wide, crocodile-filled competitive moat.

5 Best Cheap Stocks To Buy For 2015: MEDIWARE Information Systems Inc.(MEDW)

Mediware Information Systems, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, and marketing of software solutions targeting specific processes within healthcare institutions. The company offers software systems consisting of company's proprietary application software, and third-party licensed software and hardware. It licenses, implements, and supports clinical and performance management, blood donor, and blood and biologic management products in the United States; and medication management solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa. The company?s blood and biologics management solutions include HCLL Transfusion and HCLL Donor, which address blood donor recruitment, blood processing, and transfusion activities for hospitals and medical centers; BloodSafe suite of hardware and software that enable healthcare facilities to store, monitor, distribute, and track blood products; LifeTrak software for blood centers; a nd BiologiCare, a bone, tissue, and cellular product tracking software. Its medication management products comprise WORx, a pharmacy information system to manage inpatient and outpatient pharmacy operations; MediCOE, a physician order entry module; MediMAR, a nurse point-of-care administration and bedside documentation module; MediREC, which assists in achieving compliance with a Joint Commission mandate; and pharmacy management and electronic prescribing systems. The company?s performance management products include InSight software that tracks performance metrics to assist healthcare managers to manage performance. It also provides software installation and maintenance services, as well as billing and collection services to home infusion and home/durable medical equipment markets. The company markets its products primarily through its direct sales force. Mediware Information Systems, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Mediware Information Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:MEDW) plans to acquire the assets of Indianapolis-based Strategic Healthcare Group LLC (SHG), a leading provider of blood management consulting, education and informatics solutions.