Top 5 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014

DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- Professional traders running mutual funds and hedge funds don't just look at a stock's price moves; they also track big changes in volume activity. Often when above-average volume moves into an equity, it precedes a large spike in volatility.

Major moves in volume can signal unusual activity, such as insider buying or selling -- or buying or selling by "superinvestors."

Unusual volume can also be a major signal that hedge funds and momentum traders are piling into a stock ahead of a catalyst. These types of traders like to get in well before a large spike, so it's always a smart move to monitor unusual volume. That said, remember to combine trend and price action with unusual volume. Put them all together to help you decipher the next big trend for any stock.

With that in mind, let's take a look at several stocks rising on unusual volume today.

Blackstone Group

Blackstone Group (BX) is an alternative asset manager and a provider of financial advisory services. This stock closed up 3.8% to $23.70 in Monday's trading session.

10 Best Valued Stocks To Buy For 2015: Netflix Inc.(NFLX)

Netflix, Inc. provides Internet subscription services for TV shows and movies in the United States and internationally. The company offers its subscribers to watch unlimited TV shows and movies streamed over the Internet to their TVs, computers, and mobile devices. It also provides standard definition DVDs and Blu-ray discs to its subscribers. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  Which company will rule the America TV experience? Will it be primarily hardware or software based?�Will it be a cable company which relies on ancient set-tops and primitive pay per view?�An online service like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) TV, or Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX). Or will some hardware company like Intel�created a product which can take�place of those�boxes installed by cable and satellite companies a generation ago?

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX  ) HBO squared off with original content last week. Orange Is the New Black debuted on Netflix's streaming platform on Thursday. The second season of HBO's celebrated Newsroom kicked off on Sunday.

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  AlamyStephen Elop (left), the soon-to-be ex CEO of Nokia, with Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, which is acquiring his services. Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From fallout from an excessively generous golden parachute to applause for a new cheap tablet, here's a rundown of the week's best and worst moves in business world. Amazon.com (AMZN) -- Winner The leading online retailer introduced the new generation of its Kindle Fire tablets this week. The Kindle Fire HDX offer several enhanced features, but the real winning move by Amazon is that it's lowering the price of the Kindle Fire HD to $139. Amazon can afford to sell its tablets near cost, thanks to its ecosystem of digital books, music, movies, and games that allows it to cash in later. Pricing the perfectly acceptable 7-inch tablet at $139 -- well below last holiday season's price of $199 -- should make it one of the hottest purchases this shopping season. Nokia (NOK) -- Loser There has been some public rumbling about the $25 million bonus that Nokia's now departing CEO Stephen Elop will be receiving on the way out. Even though the Finnish cell phone pioneer saw its value crater under Elop's watch, his contract guarantees the big payout under terms of the sale of its handset business. There's an uproar in Finland, even though Microsoft (MSFT) will actually be covering most of the bonus when it buys Nokia's devices and services unit, and Elop's services along with it. However, as a matter of corporate pride, Nokia has reportedly been pleading for Elop to accept a smaller bonus for his work in devaluing the company to the point where the best it could do was to slice off its juiciest segment and sell it to his former employer. (Yes, Elop was a Microsoft exec before becoming the first American to run Nokia.) Things got hairy on Wednesday when Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that Elop is insisting on the bonus because

Top 5 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: Carrefour SA (CRERF)

Carrefour SA is a France-based company that is primarily engaged in retail distribution sector. The Company operates a network of hypermarkets, supermarkets, hard discount stores, convenience stores and cash-and-carry outlets and offers e-commerce services. The Company's hypermarkets named Carrefour offer a range of food and non-food products. Carrefour SA�� hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores are operating under the Carrefour city, Carrefour contact, Carrefour express, 8aHuit, Shopi, Marche Plus, Proxi banners and cash & carry stores are operating under the Promocash banner, which primarily offer food, clothing and household goods, among others. The Company operates in mainland France and French overseas territories, as well as in Europe, Asia, Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East through a network of consolidated and franchised stores, and stores that Carrefour SA runs with partner companies. In January 2014, it acquired 129 convenience stores. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sophia Yan]

  Carrefour (CRERF) has also shuttered many stores, and is reported to be exploring a sale of its China and Taiwan businesses.

  Hypermarkets -- big box stores that combine supermarkets and department stores -- first opened up in China's largest cities over a decade ago. And it's no wonder companies such as Wal-Mart have been keen to get a slice of the market.

Top 5 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: DXP Enterprises Inc.(DXPE)

DXP Enterprises, Inc. engages in distributing maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products, equipment, and services to industrial customers in the United States. Its Service Centers segment provides MRO products, equipment and services, including technical design expertise and logistics capabilities to industrial customers with the ability to provide same day delivery. This segment?s product categories comprise rotating equipment, bearing, power transmission, hose, fluid power, metal working, industrial supply, and safety products; and services consist of field safety supervision, in-house and field repair, and maintenance services. The company?s Supply Chain Services segment manages the supply-chain of its customers from various industries. This segment designs supply chain inventory management programs, including SmartAgreement, a procurement solution for MRO categories; SmartBuy, an on-site or centralized MRO procurement solution; SmartSource, an on-site procurem ent and storeroom management solutions; SmartStore, an e-catalog solution; SmartVend, an industrial dispensing solution; and SmartServ, an integrated service pump solution. Its Innovative Pumping Solutions segment fabricates and assembles custom-made engineered pump packages consisting of diesel and electric driven firewater, pipeline booster, potable water packages, pigging pump packages, LACT charge units, chemical injection pump packages wash down units, seawater lift pumps, jockey pumps, condensate pump packages, cooling water skids, and seawater/produced water injection packages. DXP Enterprises, Inc. distributes its products and services through service centers and distribution centers to customers in the oil and gas, food and beverage, petrochemical, transportation, mining, construction, chemical, municipal, agriculture, pulp and paper, and other general industrial industries. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Margins matter. The more DXP Enterprises (Nasdaq: DXPE  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong DXP Enterprises's competitive position could be.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ: DXPE) shares climbed 3.46% to $68.42. The volume of DXP Enterprises shares traded was 771% higher than normal. DXP Enterprises' PEG ratio is 0.64.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  The position vacated by Salix in the S&P SmallCap 600 will be filled by Agree Realty (NYSE: ADC  ) . Elsewhere on that index, DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ: DXPE  ) �will replace True Religion Apparel (NASDAQ: TRLG  ) . As with Gardner Denver in the S&P MidCap 400, True Religion Apparel is being acquired, in this case by private equity firm TowerBrook Capital Partners.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Houston-based DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ: DXPE  ) has purchased Canada's National Process Equipment, also known as Natpro, the company announced Wednesday. In so doing, DXP expanded its industrial equipment wholesaling business to include Natpro's portfolio of pumps, integrated system packaging, compressors, and related equipment.

Top 5 Services Stocks To Watch For 2014: Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (CCLAF)

Coca-Cola Amatil Limited (CCA) with its subsidiaries is engaged in the manufacture, distribution and marketing of carbonated soft drinks, still and mineral waters, fruit juices, coffee and other alcohol-free beverages. CCA operates in four business segments: The Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, and Indonesia and PNG segments. CCA is also engaged in the processing and marketing of fruits, vegetables and other food products, and the manufacture and distribution of alcohol ready-to-drink products, and the distribution of premium spirits and beer brands. The Company�� principal operations are in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). On January 13, 2012, the sale of CCA�� 50% interest in Pacific Beverages to SABMiller was completed. On February 21, 2011, the Company acquired Vending business, a non-alcohol beverage in Australia. On September 7, 2012, CCA acquired an 89.6% shareholding in Paradise Beverages (Fiji) Ltd (Paradise Beverages). Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Inman]

  Also in Sydney, Coca-Cola Amatil (AU:CCL) � (CCLAF) �dropped 4.7% after warning that its fiscal 2014 operating profit was likely to fall 5% to 7% on the previous year.

• [By MARKETWATCH]

  LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks rose modestly in early Tuesday trade, with the market reacting to a mixed batch of earnings. The S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) added 0.2% to 5,391.80, with BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP) (BHP) rising 1.7% after its July-December profit almost doubled from a year earlier, beating forecasts. However, smaller rival Arrium Ltd. (AU:ARI) (ARRMF) added 2.5% after reporting a swing back to profit. Other miners got a bump up from rising commodity prices, as Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) gained 2.3% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) added 1.2%, though Oz Minerals Ltd. (AU:OZL) (OZMLF) slipped 0.4%. Shares of Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd. (AU:CCL) (CCLAF) slumped 5.1% after the drinks firm saw a more than 80% drop in 2013 profit, weighed by a writedown on its fruit-processing business. Packaging firm Amcor Ltd. (AU:AMC) (AMCRF) lost 4.6% after its fiscal-first-half profit fell by about a third.