Best Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now

Getty Images No matter how budget-savvy you are, there's no avoiding the fact that having children is expensive. But with the help of your smartphone, you can cut your kid-related costs down considerably. Here are six apps that will help. Grocery iQ (free; iOS, Android): After housing and transportation, food is often the biggest chunk of a family's budget. Keep your grocery bill in check with this free app. Grocery iQ works with many major grocery chains, allowing you to organize your list around your favorite store's specific layout. Once you input your list, the app will calculate your total, so you can adjust it before you hit the checkout counter. Best of all, the app includes coupons (which can be linked with the store's loyalty card) to help you cut down your bill even more. Sample savings: 55 cents off Skippy peanut butter at my local Safeway (SWY). Out To Eat With Kids (free; iOS, Android): Don't feel like cooking tonight? Search this new app, which uses your location to find kid-friendly restaurant deals like "kids eat free" nights and seasonal promotions. It's also searchable by the day of the week. Most of the offers are for popular chain restaurants, but you can request that they add your family's favorite dinner spot. Sample savings: $4.79 off on a kid's meal during Moe's Southwest Grill's Tuesday night "Kids Eat Free" promotion. Chore Bank ($1.99; iOS): Why hire someone to rake the leaves or clean the house when you have free labor available right at home? Inspire your kids to pick up extra chores with Data Jedi's Chore Bank app, which allows parents to set a price for various tasks, then add that amount to the child's virtual account. The app can also track allowance and other money -- say, earnings from babysitting jobs or monetary gifts from relatives -- and deposits and withdrawals so your offspring can see where their money goes. You can even set an interest rate on savings to help kids learn the power of savings. Sample savings: $20-plus per week if you get your teen to mow the lawn instead of hiring a service. No more arguments about allowance? Priceless. Gas Buddy (free; iOS, Android, Windows phone, Blackberry): If, like many parents, your car is essentially a taxi service for your offspring, you're throwing money down the drain if you're not using this popular app. Gas Buddy easily finds the cheapest gas based on your location, so you'll never pay more at the pump than you have to. The prices are reported and confirmed by local drivers -- Gas Buddy reports it has more than 32 million users -- if you participate, you can earn points toward free gas. Sample savings: 54 cents a gallon on regular gas (the difference between the highest and lowest prices in my zip code). The Find (free; iOS, Android): Chances are, this time of year, your shopping list gets even longer than usual. Comparing prices from store to store, and asking for price matches, can save you a lot when holiday shopping. But who has time? This free app does it all for you: Just scan the barcode and watch as both online and local store prices pop up. Best Buy (BBY) and Target (TGT) are even working with the app's publisher to integrate their price-match guarantees with the iOS version. The app also includes coupons, deals (such as free shipping offers), and allows you to set price alerts when your wishlist items go on sale. Sample savings: $15 on the Lego City Town Square set on my son's Christmas list ($135 at Toys R Us, but only $120 at Lego.com). Best Baby Monitor ($3.99; iOS): A good-quality video monitor can do a lot to ease new parents' anxiety over their baby's sleep, but peace of mind doesn't come cheap. Enter Best Baby Monitor, truly a godsend app for new parents, and a real bargain if you already own a few iDevices. (It works on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. You'll need two devices to use this -- one to serve as the "parent" unit and the other to monitor the baby.) Parents can stream audio and video of their child (complete with night vision), play lullabies to soothe reluctant sleepers, talk to their babies, and get an alert when the little one wakes. Sample savings: $90 off a comparable video monitor system at Amazon.com (AMZN). Add it up and you could save more than $130 -- enough for a dinner out and a full tank of gas -- all thanks to a few apps.

Best Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: 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 Dan Dzombak]

  Today's Dow leader
  Today's Dow leader is UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH  ) , up 6.4%. UnitedHealth reported that its earnings rose by 8% to $1.40 per share, beating analyst expectations of $1.25 per share. Revenue rose 12% to $30.41 billion, slightly below analysts' estimates of $40.52 billion. The large rise in revenue and earnings owed to the addition of 3.2 million new members in the quarter. UnitedHealth also upped its full-year guidance for the year to $5.35 to $5.50 per share from its previous guidance of $5.25 to $5.50 per share.

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  UnitedHealth Group is a health and well-being company that provides essential healthcare services during a critical time in the United States. The stock has witnessed a promising move higher that has taken it to all-time high prices, where it may consolidate before coasting higher. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue numbers have been on the rise, but investors have not been too pleased with the company’s reports. Relative to its peers and sector, UnitedHealth Group has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for UnitedHealth Group to OUTPERFORM.

Best Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: 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 Monica Gerson]

  Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) is expected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.95 per share on revenue of $623.79 million.

  Synergetics USA (NASDAQ: SURG) is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.06 per share on revenue of $17.01 million.

Hot Growth Stocks To Own Right Now: 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 Chuck Carnevale]

  If you examine most of our greatest technology names, you discover that as a sector they are trading at below market valuations. Yet, as a sector, they have produced the strongest historical growth and are expected to produce some of the strongest future growth as well. Today we find Microsoft (MSFT) trading at a PE ratio of 11, Oracle (ORCL) at a PE ratio of 12.9, and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) can be bought at a PE of only 7. Even the mighty Apple (AAPL) computer only trades at a PE ratio of 15. These appear to be extremely low valuations when you consider both the importance and the promise of the technology sector�� contribution to our future.

Best 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 Ben Levisohn]

  Upgrades had a big impact on stocks today. Wendy’s (WEN), for instance, gained 4.5% to $8.62 after being upgraded to Buy at Argus, while Cash America (CSH) advanced 3.7% to $44.32 after being upgraded to Market Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities. Walgreen (WAG) proved the big winner in the S&P 500 after�Goldman Sachs called the stock a Conviction Buy.

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  Burger Kind has few advantages over its much larger�rival McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), which has almost 13,000 locations in the United States.�Burger King has just�over 7,000. Wendy’s Co. (NYSE: WEN) is gaining with almost 6,000 stores. Burger King’s sales last year were less than $2 billion, in contrast to McDonald’s sales of $27.5 billion.

• [By Matt Brownell]

  Getty Images Not all is happy in McDonaldland. McDonald's reported its first-quarter earnings Friday morning, and while profit rose slightly, comparable-store sales in the U.S. fell 1.2%. Things were even worse abroad, with comparable sales in Asia, the Middle East and Africa falling 3.3%. In a statement accompanying the filing, McDonald's (MCD) CEO Don Thompson cited "global economic headwinds" and a "challenging eating-out environment." The poor sales don't come as a complete shock. While the company reported improved profits in the fourth quarter of 2012, it also saw sales decline in key foreign markets and dealt with a drop in operating profit margins. Though popular, the McRib barbecue sandwich can't solve all of the chain's problems. So in recent months, McDonald's has introduced Chicken McWraps in a bid to stimulate sagging sales. But franchisees recently complained that the sandwiches took too long to prepare. And the company is also confronting the fact that customer-service issues are rampant at its franchises: According to one report, McDonald's officials told franchisees that "service is broken." QSR Magazine, an industry trade publication, found that the average wait time at the McDonald's drive-through window was a full minute slower than at rival Wendy's (WEN). McDonald's stock dropped by more than 2 percentage points to $99.76 a share in pre-market trading.

  Tucked away at the McDonald's C.O.B. — or Campus Office Building — is the test kitchen, where the fast food chain comes up with all sorts of products.

• [By Sean Williams]

  The last fast-food chains standing
  If Jack in the Box (NASDAQ: JACK  ) and Wendy's (NASDAQ: WEN  ) can manage to go a few weeks without sticking their foot in the their mouth, they both have a shot at picking up market share based on these PR gaffes from McDonald's and Burger King.

Best Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: 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]

  Armaments destined for the Iraqi military include Textron (NYSE: TXT  ) Bell 412 EP transport helicopters -- a dozen of them. Also, 50 M1135 Stryker wheeled armored personnel carriers from General Dynamics (NYSE: GD  ) , outfitted for survivability in a chemical warfare environment. And finally, a shipment of spare parts to be used in maintaining everything from Humvees to howitzers to heavy equipment for salvaging damaged tanks from the battlefield.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $1.68 per share on revenue of $7.76 billion.

  Posted-In: Earnings scheduleEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets

Best Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: SMTC Corporation(SMTX)

SMTC Corporation provides advanced electronics manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide. The company?s services include product design and engineering services, printed circuit board assembly production, enclosure fabrication, systems integration, testing, and configuration services. It also provides enclosure and precision metal fabrication, cable assembly, interconnect, and engineering design services. The company offers its integrated contract manufacturing services to OEMs and technology companies primarily in the industrial, computing and networking, communications, consumer, and medical market segments. SMTC Corporation was founded in 1985 and is based in Markham, Canada.

Best Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Capstone Turbine Corporation(CPST)

Capstone Turbine Corporation develops, manufactures, markets, and services turbine generator sets and related parts for use in stationary distributed power generation applications. Its stationary distributed power generation applications include cogeneration combined heat and power (CHP), integrated (CHP), resource recovery, and secure power, as well as combined cooling, heat, and power; and its products are used as battery charging generators for hybrid electric vehicle applications. The company primarily offers microturbine units, subassemblies, and components. It also provides various accessories, including rotary gas compressors with digital controls, heat recovery modules for CHP applications, dual mode controllers that allow automatic transition between grid connect and stand-alone modes, batteries with digital controls for stand-alone/dual-mode operations, power servers for multipacked installations, and protocol converters for Internet access, as well as frames, ex haust ducting, and installation hardware. Further, it remanufactures microturbine engines; and provides after-market parts and services, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and factory and on-site training services. The company?s microturbines can be fueled by various sources, including natural gas, propane, sour gas, landfill or digester gas, kerosene, diesel, and biodiesel. It primarily sells its products directly to end users, as well as through distributors in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Russian Federation, and South America. Capstone Turbine Corporation was founded in 1988 and is based in Chatsworth, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tyler Crowe and Aimee Duffy]

  Over the past couple weeks Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST  ) shares have launched into orbit on the news that the company had secured several orders for its microturbines. But 40% in a month? On the surface, it seems a bit silly that a company could gain that much on a couple news stories about sales. For a company like Capstone, which has struggled with sales, this kind of news is exactly what shareholders were looking for.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Fisher reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST  ) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK  ) . Capstone is a smallish company, making low-emission microturbines used in power generation. Its top line has been growing by double digits over the past few years, and it's poised to profit from huge interest in shale oil, but it remains in the red. Still, it has recently announced a bunch of promising deals and some think the many folks short the stock will end up burned.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  What:�Shares of Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST  ) skyrocketed 13.59% as the company announced that it had signed a major supplier deal with private real estate and investment firm Related Companies. Shares of Capstone haven't been this high in over a year.

Best Cheap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Cloud Peak Energy Inc(CLD)

Cloud Peak Energy Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in coal mining operations in the Powder River Basin of the United States. It produces sub-bituminous steam coal with low sulfur content for electric utilities and industrial customers. The company owns and operates Antelope surface coal mine located to the south of Gillette, Wyoming; the Cordero Rojo surface coal mine located to the south of Gillette, Wyoming; and the Spring Creek surface coal mine located in Montana. It also owns a 50% interest in the Decker surface coal mine located in Montana. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 970 million tons of proven and probable reserves. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Gillette, Wyoming.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Cloud Peak Energy (CLD) has gained 3.1% to %15.03 after it was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel.

  Novatris (NVS) has dropped 1.2% to $74.48 after it was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.