Hot Internet Companies To Invest In 2014

Did you know that Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) has officially unveiled 14 pilot episodes for original series? There doesn't seem to be nearly as much interest as the e-tailer would like, which isn't good news for Amazon stock.

Founder Jeff Bezos has made big investments trying to turn Amazon Instant Video into a legitimate Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) alternative. While it may be the best option at this point, it's worth noting that, of the pilots, an offshoot of the movie Zombieland appears to be most watched, with some 4,700 reviews. Alpha House, starring John Goodman, ranks next at just under 2,100 reviews, and it declines sharply from there, says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova in the following interview with the Fool's Erin Miller.

By contrast, Netflix's most recent original program -- the horror series Hemlock Grove -- rates four out of five stars from more than 270,000 reviewers as of this writing. More than 890,000 have rated House of Cards. Amazon stock is a good buy because of its leadership positions in e-commerce and Internet infrastructure delivered as a service. Instant Video isn't a factor, nor is it a serious threat -- yet -- to Netflix's long-term profit plan, Tim says.

Top 5 Recreation Companies For 2015: Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)

Yahoo! Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media company that delivers personalized digital content and experiences through various devices worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of marketing services to businesses. The company?s communications and communities offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV, which provide a range of communication and social services to users and small businesses enabling users to organize into groups and share knowledge, common interests, and photos. Its search products comprise Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Local, available free to users to navigate the Internet and discover content. The company?s marketplaces offerings and services include Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Autos, and Yahoo! Small Business, which allow users to research specific topics, products, services, or areas of interest by review ing and exchanging information, obtaining contact details, or considering offers from providers of goods, services, or parties with similar interests. Its media offerings comprise Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Entertainment & Lifestyles, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Yahoo! Pulse, which are designed to engage users with online content and services on the Web. The company also offers marketing services, such as display and search advertising, listing-based services, and commerce-based transactions to advertisers. In addition, it provides software and platform offerings for third-party developers, advertisers, and publishers, such as Yahoo! Developer Network, Yahoo! Open Strategy, Yahoo! Application Platform, Yahoo! Updates, Yahoo! Query Language, and Yahoo! Search BOSS. The company has strategic alliances with Nokia and ABC News, Inc. Yahoo! Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Californi a.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  "Google spams your inbox with ads that look like real emails," Scroogled complained. It was a bad shot. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) -- Microsoft's growingly reluctant search partner -- went on to do the same thing. If Yahoo! didn't want out of its ill-advised search deal with Microsoft before, it probably did after that.�

• [By Rex Crum]

  Nearly every other notable tech stock lost ground Friday, with Facebook Inc. � (FB) falling more than 5%, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) �giving up 2% and Netflix Inc. (NFLX) �shedding more than 6% by the time the market closed.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) investors got a mixed bag from their company in terms of its latest quarterly results. For the company's Q2, GAAP revenue came in at $1.14 billion, a 7% slide from the $1.22 billion of the same period the previous year. The attributable bottom line, however, advanced to $331 million ($0.30 per diluted share) from Q2 2012's $227 million ($0.18).

• [By David Trainer]

  
  MOVE has had strong cyclical winds at its back in recent years, and the stock is up 95% year-to-date. The stock is richly valued, and several red flags hidden in the footnotes raise questions about the company’s ability to justify its stock price. MOVE operates in a niche field with significant competition from companies like Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) and Trulia (NASDAQ: TRLA), not to mention Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), which has its own real estate listing site. Clever earnings management and the recovery in the housing market has helped propel MOVE upward this year, but don’t expect the ride to continue. The company is already lagging its competitors and continuing to lose market share.

Hot Internet Companies To Invest In 2014: Google Inc.(GOOG)

Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers And roid, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Neiger]

  Both Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) Safari and Mozilla's Firefox browsers earn search royalties from Google� (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) . Google pays the companies to use its service as the primary search engine in their browsers -- and in some cases pays them quite well. It's estimated that Google made $1.3 billion from iOS searches last year, and paid $1 billion to Apple to remain the company's default mobile search engine for iOS. Though its not clear whether this is through a revenue-sharing model or direct payouts, a Morgan Stanley analyst believes Google pays Apple about $3.20 per iOS device.

• [By DAILYFINANCE]

  Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images NEW YORK -- Facebook (FB) is placing a $19 billion bet on reaching its next billion mobile users with the acquisition of WhatsApp, a popular messaging service that lets people send texts, photos and videos on their smartphones. The $19 billion deal is by far Facebook's largest and bigger than any that Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) or Apple (AAPL) have ever done. But it is likely to raise worries that Facebook and other technology companies are starting to become overzealous in their pursuit of promising new products and services, said Anthony Michael Sabino, a St. John's University business professor. "This could be seen as a microcosm of a bubble," Sabino said. "I expect there to be a lot of skepticism about this deal. People are going to look at this and say, 'Uh-oh, did they pay way too much for this?" Facebook, for its part, is taking the long view. WhatsApp has 450 million monthly users, 70 percent of whom use it every day. The service is adding a million new users a day. There are 19 billion messages sent and 34 billion received via WhatsApp each day, in addition to 600 million photos and 100 million video messages. At this rate, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is confident the app will reach a billion users. Services that reach that milestone, Zuckerberg said in a statement, "are all incredibly valuable." It's an elite group to be sure -- one that includes Google (which owns YouTube), Facebook itself and little else. Facebook said Wednesday that it's paying $12 billion in stock and $4 billion in cash for WhatsApp. In addition, the app's founders and employees -- 55 in all -- will be granted restricted stock worth $3 billion that will vest over four years after the deal closes. The transaction translates to roughly 11 percent of Facebook's market value. In comparison, Google's biggest deal was its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility, while Microsoft's largest was Skype at $8.5 billion. Apple, meanwhil

Hot Internet Companies To Invest In 2014: eBay Inc.(EBAY)

eBay Inc. provides online platforms, services, and tools to help individuals and merchants in online and mobile commerce and payments in the United States and internationally. Its Marketplaces segment operates ecommerce platform eBay.com; vertical shopping sites, such as StubHub, Fashion, Motors, and Half.com; and classifieds Websites, including Den Bl�Avis, BilBasen, Gumtree, Kijiji, LoQUo, Marktplaats.nl, mobile.de, Alamaula, Rent.com, eBay Anuncios, eBay Kleinanzeigen, and eBay Annunci, as well as provides advertising services. The company?s Payments segment offers payment and settlement services for consumers and merchants on and off eBay Websites and other merchant Websites. This segment operates PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online and through mobile devices; Bill Me Later that enables the United States merchants to offer, the United States consumers to obtain, credit at the point of sale for ecommerce and mobile tra nsactions; Zong, which allows users with mobile phones to purchase digital goods and have the transactions charged to their phone bill; and BillSAFE that enables customers pay for purchases upon receipt of an invoice. Its GSI segment offers an ecommerce services suite for enterprise clients that operate in general merchandise categories, including apparel, sporting goods, toys and baby, health and beauty, and home; and marketing services comprising full-service digital agency, enterprise email marketing, mobile advertising, affiliate marketing, advertisement retargeting, and in-depth analytics services. The company also offers X.commerce platform that provides software developers access to the company?s applications programming interfaces to develop functionality for various merchants; and Magento Connect, which allows developers to market and sell add-on functionality and solutions to merchants that use a Magento storefront. eBay Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquarter ed in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, online marketplace giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

Hot Internet Companies To Invest In 2014: Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. It operates retail Web sites, including amazon.com and amazon.ca. The company serves consumers through its retail Web sites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. It also offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its Web sites, and their own branded Web sites. In addition, the company serves developer customers through Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually various type of business. Further, it manufactures and sells the Kindle e-reader. Additionally, the company provides fulfillment; miscellaneous marketing and promotional agreements, such as online advertising; and co-branded credit cards. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Yesterday, small cap online discount retailer Overstock.com, Inc (NASDAQ: OSTK) went on�sale by 22.28% after announcing a disappointing earnings report which seemed to lack much management commentary, meaning it might be time to see whether its worth buying the stock given the new discount plus take a look at its performance verses that of other discount retailers like small cap Big Lots, Inc (NYSE: BIG), large cap Ross Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: ROST) and the big kahuna of online retail, Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN).

• [By Jason Moser]

  Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  )
  This is a polarizing stock thanks to its lofty valuation and a leader who seems to really like spending money. I understand the concern some have that Jeff Bezos has too many things going on and is taking his eye off the proverbial ball. However, I choose to see it differently. In fact, I think that Amazon and Bezos really only have one iron in the fire, and that's the company's stated mission: "We seek to be Earth's most customer-centric company for four primary customer sets: consumers, sellers, enterprises, and content creators."

• [By Steve Heller]

  Reuters is reporting that Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) may be expanding its AmazonFresh service, which delivers fresh groceries in the Seattle area with its own fleet of trucks. Allegedly, after five years of perfecting the service, Amazon is planning to enter Los Angeles and San Francisco by year-end and will eventually make its way into 20 markets. With Amazon's scale and logistical expertise, it's the type of company that could potentially disrupt the $568 billion U.S. grocery industry. In this video, Fool contributor Steve Heller weighs in on what it could mean for Amazon investors and what it could mean for Costco (NASDAQ: COST  ) .

Hot Internet Companies To Invest In 2014: Symantec Corporation(SYMC)

Symantec Corporation provides security, storage, and systems management solutions internationally. The company?s Consumer segment delivers Internet security, PC tune-up, and online backup solutions and services to individual users and home offices. Its Security and Compliance segment provides solutions for endpoint security and management, compliance, messaging management, data loss prevention, encryption, and authentication services to large, medium, and small-sized businesses, as well as offers solutions through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) security offerings. This segment?s products enable customers to secure, provision, and remotely manage their laptops, PCs, mobile devices, and servers. The company?s Storage and Server Management segment provides storage and server management, backup, archiving, and data protection solutions across heterogeneous storage and server platforms, as well as solutions delivered through its SaaS offerings to large, medium, and small-s ized businesses. Symantec?s Services segment offers implementation services and solutions, including consulting, business critical services, education, and managed security services. The company also provides various enterprise support offerings, such as annual maintenance support contracts, including content, upgrades, and technical support. It sells its products through its eCommerce platform, as well as through distributors, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, system builders, ISPs, and retail locations worldwide. Symantec markets and sells its products through distributors, retailers, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, original equipment manufacturers, system builders, and Internet service providers; and its e-commerce channels, as well as direct sales force, value-added and large account resellers, and system integrators. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Amanda Alix]

  Of course, banks can't know when an attack is merely disruptive, and when it may be covering for criminal activity. Security company Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC  ) has commented that these assaults have become a way for hackers to distract banks while funds are illegally withdrawn. Though most of the thefts have occurred in Europe, where attacks have progressed from website outages to actual bank heists, at least one U.S. bank, Citigroup, disclosed some losses due to cyber thievery earlier this year.

• [By Reuters]

  Peter Parks, AFP/Getty ImagesThe 12-story building in Shanghai's northern suburb of Gaoqiao where a Chinese military-led hacking group allegedly conducted a series of attacks on U.S. companies networks. BOSTON -- Cybersecurity company FireEye has acquired Mandiant, the computer forensics specialist best known for unveiling a secretive Chinese military unit believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks on U.S. companies. FirEye (FEYE) shares jumped more than 20 percent after Thursday's announcement of the $1.05 billion cash-and-stock deal, which FireEye said closed Monday. It unites two companies with relatively new technologies for thwarting cyber attacks, and brings together two of the most-respected executives in the security industry: FireEye CEO Dave DeWalt and Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia. While sales of older anti-virus products have been on the decline, security experts expect strong growth in both FireEye's cloud-based systems for detecting malicious software and Mandiant's software that analyzes cyber attacks. About a year ago the two companies entered into a technology development agreement that made it easier to deploy their products together. With the merger, FireEye will gain Mandiant's team of forensics investigators. "They have these very strong Navy 'cyber' Seals who respond to breaches and are very good at what they do," DeWalt said about Mandiant. He had previously served as chairman of Mandiant's board. "My aim is to create the strongest security company in the world," DeWalt said in an interview. FireEye, which has yet to post a profit, said the acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings and expects the combined company's revenue to grow about 50 percent this year. In comparison, Symantec (SYMC), the biggest maker of anti-virus software, has said it expects fiscal 2014 revenue to drop 3 percent to 4 percent. Mandiant is best known for its forensics services. The company rose to prominence in February 2013 when it pu

• [By Anora Mahmudova]

  Symantec Corp. (SYMC) slid 13% after the security-software maker fired Chief Executive Steve Bennett late Thursday and replaced him with board member Michael Brown.

Hot Internet Companies To Invest In 2014: IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI)

IAC/InterActiveCorp engages in the Internet business in the United States and internationally. The company�s Search segment develops, markets, and distributes various downloadable toolbars; provides search, reference, and content services through its destination search and other Websites, including Ask.com and Dictionary.com; and aggregates and integrates local advertising and content for distribution to publishers on Web and mobile platforms, as well as markets and distributes mobile applications through which it provides search and additional services. Its Match segment offers subscription-based and advertiser-supported online personals services through its Websites comprising Match.com, Chemistry.com, OurTime.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com, and OkCupid.com, as well as through mobile applications and Meetic-branded Websites. The company�s ServiceMagic segment offers Market Match service that matches consumers with service professionals; Exact Match service, which enables con sumers to review service professional profiles and select the service professional that meets their specific needs; and 1800Contractor.com, an online directory of service professionals. This segment also offers Website design and hosting services. Its Media and Other segment operates CollegeHumor.com, an online entertainment Website that targets young males; Vimeo, a Website on which users can upload, share, and view video; and Pronto.com, a comparison search engine. This segment also engages in the creation of video content for various distribution platforms; and operates as an Internet retailer of footwear and related apparel and accessories, as well as focuses on multimedia business. The company was formerly known as InterActiveCorp and changed its name to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004. IAC/InterActiveCorp was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Rhyu joins the company from IAC's (NASDAQ: IACI  ) Match.com, where he has filled the roles of both CFO and chief administrative officer since 2011. Previous to that, he was a senior vice president at News Corp's (NASDAQ: FOXA  ) Dow Jones & Company. He also served as corporate controller for both Sirius XM Radio and GrafTech International (NYSE: GTI  ) .

• [By Chris Isidore]

  Newsweek, the news magazine whose print version was abandoned late last year, was sold in August by IAC (IACI) to another all-digital news company, IBT Media.

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) announced that its CEO is stepping down from his current position to become chairman of a new operating unit. Investors cheered the management shakeup which is potentially hinting at a spinoff. Shares hit new 52 week highs of $70.44 before closing at $68.49, up 13.98 percent.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) shares fell 14.51% to $49.50 in the pre-market trading after the company reported downbeat Q3 revenue.

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