Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now

It doesn't always look like it, but General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) is making progress in its long haul back from bankruptcy.

GM said on Tuesday that its U.S. sales were up 6% in June, with all four of its brands posting retail sales gains. That beat analysts' estimates, which called for an average 2.1% gain, according to Bloomberg.

The all-new 2014 Chevy Silverado has just started to arrive at dealers, and it's selling at a fast pace. Photo credit: General Motors.

Six percent may not sound like a big gain, and it's likely to have trailed the U.S. market's overall growth for the month. (We'll know for sure in a day or so.) But the numbers behind the headline tell a story that suggests that GM is finally on the right track in its home market.

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: China North East Petroleum Holdings Limited(NEP)

China North East Petroleum Holdings Limited engages in the exploration and production of crude oil in northern China. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 295 producing wells with proven reserves of 5,476,200 barrels of crude oil at Qian?an 112, Hetingbao 301, Daan 34, and Gudian 31 oilfields. The company, through its subsidiary, Song Yuan Tiancheng Drilling Engineering Co., Ltd., provides contract land drilling and other oilfield services for state-owned and non-state-owned oil companies. China North East Petroleum Holdings Limited is headquartered in Song Yuan City, the People?s Republic of China.

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: Canam Coal Corp (COE.V)

CanAm Coal Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of coal resources and resource related technologies in the United States. It primarily explores for metallurgical and thermal coal. The company holds interests in 4 coal mines located in Alabama; and coal, mineral, and surface rights on approximately 22,500 acres of land within the Buick Coal Project located in Colorado. It also owns rights to a proprietary coal to liquids technology, which converts coal into liquid fuels, such as oil and jet fuel. CanAm Coal Corp. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Top 5 Canadian Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Chindex International Inc.(CHDX)

Chindex International, Inc. engages in the provision of healthcare services; and sale of medical equipment, instrumentation, and products. The company operates in two segments, Healthcare Services and Medical Products. The Healthcare Services segment owns and operates the United Family Healthcare network of private hospitals and clinics in the Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou markets. This segment also operates a managed clinic in the city of Wuxi, south of Shanghai. It offers a range of family healthcare services, including 24/7 emergency rooms, intensive care units, and neonatal intensive care units, operating rooms, clinical laboratory, radiology, and blood banking services for men, women, and children. The Medical Products segment markets, distributes, and sells medical capital equipment, instrumentation, and other medical products for use in hospitals in China and Hong Kong. It offers diagnostic color ultrasound imaging devices, robotic surgical systems and instrument ation, mammography and breast biopsy devices, and lasers for cosmetic surgery. This segment sells its products through its direct sales force. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: PROS Holdings Inc.(PRO)

PROS Holdings, Inc. provides pricing and margin optimization software worldwide. It offers PROS Pricing Solution Suite, a set of integrated software products that enables enterprises to apply pricing and margin optimization science to determine, analyze, and execute optimal pricing strategies through the aggregation and analysis of enterprise application data, transactional data, and market information. The PROS Pricing Solution Suite consists of Scientific Analytics to gain insight into pricing performance; Price Optimizer to institute control of pricing policies; and Deal Optimizer to provide guidelines, additional context, and information to sales force. Its products also include PROS Revenue Management Solution Suite, a suite of industry specific revenue management software products for the enterprises in travel target markets. The PROS Revenue Management Solution Suite comprises PROS Analytics to identify hidden revenue leaks and opportunities, PROS Revenue Management product to manage passenger demand with leg- or segment-based revenue optimization, PROS O&D products to manage passenger demand with passenger name record or PNR based revenue optimization, PROS Real-Time Dynamic Pricing product to determine the optimal prices, PROS Group Revenue Management product to manage group request and booking revenues, PROS Network Revenue Planning product to deliver network-oriented fare class segmentation, PROS Cruise Pricing and Revenue Optimization for customers to understand consumers price sensitivities and track competitor behavior, PROS Hotel Revenue Optimization product that helps customers to enhance pricing decision. In addition, the company provides pricing and implementation professional, and ongoing support and maintenance services. It serves customers in the manufacturing, distribution, services, hotel and cruise, and airline industries primarily through its direct sales force. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Fernandez]

  PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PRO), is a leading provider of pricing and revenue optimization software worldwide, in five major markets: airline, hotel, cruise, manufacturing and services.

  PROS has proprietary pricing algorithms and systems that have been developed and refined over many years of implementation and experience, that provide the company with a distinct competitive advantage over the many rivals that troll the pricing optimization space.

  When I recommended the purchase of PROS shares, I did not fully appreciate the potential severity of the downturn in IT spending, and the markets in which PROS operates.

  Even with the stock trading around $7.00 per share, I thought that there was more downside risk than upside potential.

  With shares now trading at $5.50 as of this writing, recommending selling shares at $7.00 when I did was indeed a prudent thing to do, as the shares are now down over 20% from where I recommended they be sold not too long ago.

  I detailed my exact reasons for selling shares of PROS here.

  The question now becomes, with the shares significantly lower than before, is PROS actually a bargain at these prices? (See page 2)

  I definitely think we are getting there, but wouldn’t venture to guess until after their next earnings announcement on 11-6-08.

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: Active Power Inc.(ACPW)

Active Power, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets critical power quality solutions. It provides various products that deliver continuous clean power; and protects customers from voltage fluctuations, such as surges and sags, and frequency fluctuations, as well as offer temporary power to bridge the gap between a power outage and the restoration of utility power. The company offers the CleanSource UPS, a battery free uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system that integrates UPS electronics and flywheel energy storage system into one compact cabinet. Active Power, Inc. also provides the CleanSource DC, a battery-free replacement for lead-acid batteries used for bridging power; CoolAir products; and GenSTART, a battery-free starting modular system for customer?s diesel generator. In addition, it offers continuous power systems, which incorporates its UPS products with switchgear and a generator sold in a containerized package, and markete d under the PowerHouse brand name. Further, the company provides customer support services, including infrastructure needs assessment, vetting and validation, alignment with business objectives, system design, deployment, and start-up and commissioning, as well as service, support, and monitoring. It serves data centers, manufacturing, technology, broadcast and communications, financial, utilities, healthcare, government, and airport industries. The company sells its products through direct sales force, manufacturer?s representatives, distributors, strategic IT partners, and original equipment manufacturer partners in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and North America. Active Power, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.