Hot Small Cap Companies To Invest In Right Now

Stem cells may not be in the news much�as the sector has moved beyond the use of embryotic�ones, but small cap stem cell stocks Cellular Dynamics International Inc (NASDAQ: ICEL), International Stem Cell Corp (OTCMKTS: ISCO) and BioRestorative Therapies (OTCBB: BRTX) have been fairly active over the past several trading days as ICEL went public, ISCO raised additional funding and BRTX grabbed more attention:

Cellular Dynamics International Debuts on the NASDAQ. Small cap Cellular Dynamics International,�which develops and manufactures fully functioning human cells in industrial quantities, had its IPO on Thursday where it raised $46.2 million from selling 3.8 million common at $12 a share. However, shares closed down 20.83% at $9.50 for a market cap of about $150 million. Nevertheless, that market cap is still bigger than the 14 other companies comprising the Stem Cell Stock Index compiled by William Busa, the president of Busa Consulting LLC. Busa commented to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that while ��ools companies��like Cellular Dynamics International don�� have "multibillion-dollar prospects" like therapeutics companies, very few biotech tools companies are able to pull off an IPO���something the company needs to be given some credit for. Moreover, its worth mentioning that the goal of Cellular Dynamics International is�to become the industry standard for manufactured human cells and it bills itself as the pioneer of manufacturing stem cells in industrial quantities.

Hot Small Cap Companies To Invest In Right Now: Panera Bread Company(PNRA)

Panera Bread Company, together with its subsidiaries, owns, operates, and franchises retail bakery-cafes in the United States and Canada. Its bakery-cafes offer fresh baked goods, sandwiches, soups, salads, custom roasted coffees, and other complementary products, as well as provide catering services. The company also manufactures and supplies dough and other products to company-owned and franchise-operated bakery-cafes. As of March 29, 2011, it owned and franchised 1,467 bakery-cafes under the Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co., and Paradise Bakery & Cafe names. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Andrew Marder]

  I've come to loathe precedents. Nothing is more annoying than someone telling you that their favorite new book is the next Harry Potter�or that the movie they just saw is going to be the next Godfather. So it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm not overly keen on the selling of Noodles & Company (NASDAQ: NDLS  ) as the next Panera (NASDAQ: PNRA  ) or Chipotle (NYSE: CMG  ) or Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD  ) . Instead, maybe we can judge the business on its merits, instead of on the success of restaurants that came before it.

• [By Chris Hill]

  Pepsi's (NYSE: PEP  ) �second-quarter profits rise 35%. Shares of Ford (NYSE: F  ) hit a two-year high. Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) lowers guidance in the wake of a bad quarter. And Panera's (NASDAQ: PNRA  ) �second-quarter profits come in lower than expected. In this installment of Investor Beat, Motley Fool analysts Matt Koppenheffer and Jason Moser discuss four stocks making moves on Tuesday.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA  ) will release its quarterly report tomorrow, and investors are hoping that the company will be able to produce the same growth that its rapidly rising stock price has promised. As with most high-growth stocks, Panera earnings will need to accelerate to make shareholders truly happy.

Hot Small Cap Companies To Invest In Right Now: FuelCell Energy Inc.(FCEL)

FuelCell Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacturing, and sale of high temperature fuel cells for clean electric power generation primarily in South Korea, the United States, Germany, Canada, and Japan. The company offers proprietary carbonate Direct FuelCell Power Plants that electrochemically produce electricity from hydrocarbon fuels, such as natural gas and biogas. Its fuel cells operate on a range of hydrocarbon fuels, including natural gas, renewable biogas, propane, methanol, coal gas, and coal mine methane. The company also develops carbonate fuel cells, planar solid oxide fuel cell technology, and other fuel cell technologies. It provides its products to universities; manufacturers; mission critical institutions, such as correction facilities and government installations; hotels; and natural gas letdown stations, as well as to customers who use renewable biogas for fuel, including municipal water treatment facilities, br eweries, and food processors. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Had shares of its peers and competitors performed as well, it may not even be worth bringing up. But, Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) shares have done significantly better than FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:FCEL) and Ballard Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:BLDP) since the end of March. And, PLUG has performed considerably better than FCEL and BLDP have since mid-August. This is more than "just a little volatility." This is a leader breaking away from the pack after a very long lull. Thing is, there's plenty more room for Plug Power to keep running.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  FuelCell Energy Inc.'s(FCEL) fiscal fourth-quarter loss narrowed as the power-equipment maker reported broad sales growth across all segments and wider gross margins. But the loss was still steeper than expected, sending shares down 11% to $1.65 premarket.

Top 10 Casino Stocks To Invest In 2014: ATA Inc.(ATAI)

ATA Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides computer-based testing services in the People?s Republic of China. It offers services for the creation and delivery of computer-based tests utilizing its test delivery platform, proprietary testing technologies, and testing services; and provides logistical support services relating to test administration. The company?s computer-based testing services are used for professional licensure and certification tests in various industries, including information technology (IT) services, banking, securities, teaching, and insurance. Its e-testing platform integrates various aspects of the test delivery process for computer-based tests ranging from test form compilation to test scoring, and results analysis. ATA also provides career-oriented educational services, such as single course programs, degree major course programs, and pre-occupational training programs focusing on preparing students to pass IT and other vocational certification tests; test preparation and training programs and services to test candidates preparing to take professional certification tests in securities, futures, banking, insurance and teaching industries; online test preparation and training platform for the securities and banking industries; and test preparation software for the teaching industry. In addition, the company offers HR select employee assessment solution, an online system that utilizes its proprietary software and an inventory of test titles to help employers improve the efficiency and accuracy of their employee recruitment process. As of March 31, 2010, it had contractual relationships with 1,988 ATA authorized test centers. The company serves Chinese governmental agencies, professional associations, IT vendors, and Chinese educational institutions, as well as individual test preparation services. ATA Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Hot Small Cap Companies To Invest In Right Now: InterDigital Inc.(IDCC)

Interdigital, Inc. engages in the design and development of digital wireless technology solutions. The company offers technology solutions for use in digital cellular and wireless products and networks, including 2G, 3G, 4G, and IEEE 802-related products and networks. It holds patents related to the fundamental technologies that enable wireless communications. The company licenses its patents to equipment producers that manufacture, use, and sell digital cellular and IEEE 802-related products; and licenses or sells mobile broadband modem solutions, including modem IP, know-how, and reference platforms to mobile device manufacturers, semiconductor companies, and other equipment producers that manufacture, use, and sell digital cellular products. InterDigital?s solutions are incorporated in various products comprising mobile devices, such as cellular phones, tablets, notebook computers, and wireless personal digital assistants; wireless infrastructure equipment, such as base stations; and components, dongles, and modules for wireless devices. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jason Shubnell]

  InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC) shot up 5.78 percent to $30.38 as the company and Huawei reached a settlement pact.

  Shares of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) got a boost, shooting up 6.48 percent to $152.85 after the NHTSA reaffirmed the Model S 5-star safety rating in 2014.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC  ) have gotten crushed today by as much as 20% after the company lost a patent suit against several smartphone makers.

Hot Small Cap Companies To Invest In Right Now: EZchip Semiconductor Limited(EZCH)

EZchip, a fabless semiconductor company, engages in the development and marketing of Ethernet network processors for networking equipment. Its products include network processor chips, evaluation boards and network-processor based systems, and development software toolkits. The company offers network processors for use in forming the silicon core of networking equipment, such as switches and routers; and for voice, video and data integration in various applications. Its network processors are single-chip solutions, which enable its customers to design multi-port line cards, such as processing and classification engines, traffic managers, media access controllers, as well as a range of specialized hardware blocks that accelerate various functions. The company offers Evaluation systems which enable customers to test NPU-based systems; and toolkits that assist customers in creating, verifying, and implementing solutions based on its network processors. It provides a library f eaturing data plane code for a range of applications, which include Metro Ethernet protocols, Multi-Protocol Label Switching, IPv4 and IPv6 routing, Access Control Lists, GPON/EPON OLT functionality, Network Address Translation, and Server Load Balancing. The company sells its products directly, and through contract manufacturers and distributors to network equipment vendors. It markets its products in Israel, China, Hong Kong, the Far East, Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company was formerly known as LanOptics Ltd. and changed its name to EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. in July 2008. EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. was founded in 1989 and is based in Yokneam, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  EZchip Semiconductor (NASDAQ: EZCH) shares climbed 5.80% to $23.53. The volume of EZchip Semiconductor shares traded was 635% higher than normal. EZchip Semiconductor's PEG ratio is 1.57.

• [By Paul McWilliams]

  Paul McWilliams: Oh, absolutely. Another company that most investors probably have never heard of is a tiny little Israeli semiconductor company named EZChip (EZCH).

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  EZchip Semiconductor (NASDAQ: EZCH) was also up, gaining 7.16 percent to $24.11 after a Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced a new product that would not threaten the company as previously thought. Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Cypress Semiconductor (NASDAQ: CY) were down 16.05 percent to $9.91 after the company lowered its Q3 forecast.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of EZchip (NASDAQ: EZCH  ) have jumped today by as much as 13% after the company reported first-quarter earnings.

  So what: Revenue in the first quarter totaled $15.3 million, topping the Street's forecast of $15.1 million. Non-GAAP net income per share came in at $0.23, which was right on target with expectations.