Hot Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2014

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) has never been higher; in fact, if you had invested in March 2009 -- the Great Recession's market bottom -- you'd be looking at a 150% return in just over four years. That might make you think stocks are too expensive, but if you look at a few individual companies in the S&P 500, that's not necessarily the case.

One way to measure whether a stock is "cheap" is by its price tag. That's not the best measure, though; it's highly influenced by how many shares a company has outstanding. A different metric to use is a company's price-to-earnings ratio. This tells you how much a stock is worth, relative to how much money its company made over the past year. Right now, the average S&P 500 stock trades for a P/E of 19.3.�

But even when we find companies with low P/E ratios, it doesn't necessarily mean they're a good investment -- these stocks could be trading cheaply for a reason. To dig deeper, let's investigate the five cheapest stocks in the S&P 500.

Best Paper Companies To Invest In Right Now: Biodel Inc (BIOD)

Biodel Inc. (Biodel), incorporated on December 3, 2003, is a development-stage speciality biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of treatments for diabetes. The Company develops its product candidates by applying its formulation technologies to existing drugs. Its advanced program involves developing formulations of injectable recombinant human insulin (RHI). In addition to its ultra-rapid-acting insulin formulations, the Company has developed prototype formulations of a liquid glucagon, a basal insulin and a glucose responsive insulin, in each case for use by patients with diabetes. RHI-based formulation known as Linjeta was the subject of a New Drug Application (NDA).

The Company has two pivotal Phase III clinical trials with its preferred commercial formulation of Linjeta prior to re-submitting the NDA. In August 2011, it completed patient visits and analyzed top-line data from the first Phase 1 clinical trial of two RHI-based formulations. The trial was a single-center, randomized, double-blind, three-period crossover trial in 18 subjects with Type 1 diabetes. The purpose of the trial was to evaluate the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics and injection site toleration of BIOD-105 and BIOD-107, as compared to the insulin analog marketed as Humalog. The Company conducted Phase I, Phase II and Phase III clinical trials comparing the performance of its Linjeta formulation of RHI to either Humulin, which is a branded formulation of RHI or Humalog. Its pivotal Phase III clinical trials were open-label, parallel group, randomized trials conducted at centers in the United States, Germany and India.

The Company competes with Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi-Aventis, Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. and MannKind Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Biodel (NASDAQ: BIOD) is expected to post a Q1 loss at $0.24 per share.

  First Majestic Silver (NYSE: AG) is estimated to post its Q1 earnings at $0.10 per share on revenue of $63.35 million.

Hot Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2014: Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA)

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is a Germany-based aviation company with global operations and a total of more than 400 subsidiaries and associated companies. The Company is engaged in passenger transport, airfreight and airline services. The Lufthansa Group operates in five major business segments: scheduled passenger air traffic (Passenger Airline Group) consists of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Lufthansa CityLine GmbH, Swiss International Air Lines AG, Austrian Airlines AG, Air Dolomiti S.p.A., Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG and Germanwings GmbH; scheduled airfreight services (Logistics) consists of the Lufthansa Cargo group; maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) consists of the Lufthansa Technik group; information technology (IT Services) consists of the Lufthansa Systems group, and catering (Catering) consists of the LSG Lufthansa Sky Chefs group. On April 20, 2012, the Company announced the divestiture of British Midland Ltd. (bmi) to International Consolidated Airlines Group SA. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Stoukas]

  Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) and Allianz SE (ALV) led airlines and insurers lower, retreating at least 1.5 percent. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) slid 1.6 percent. Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) rose after JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its recommendation on the shares. Gildemeister AG (GIL) added 3.4 percent after Deutsche Bank upgraded the maker of cutting tools.

• [By Jonathan Morgan]

  German stocks were little changed, as declines in utilities and banks offset gains in Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) and Deutsche Boerse AG.

  RWE AG (RWE), Germany�� second-largest utility, slipped 2.4 percent after RBC Capital Markets cut its recommendation on the stock. Lufthansa followed its European peers higher, recovering some of its Aug. 2 selloff. Xing AG (O1BC), the business social network, jumped the most since October as Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) upgraded its rating on the shares.

• [By Jonathan Morgan]

  Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA), Europe�� largest airline by sales, advanced 3.1 percent to 15.52 euros as a gauge of travel and leisure companies posted the biggest gain of the 19 industry groups in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. EasyJet Plc rallied after saying its fiscal third-quarter revenue climbed.

Hot Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2014: First Republic Bank (FRC)

First Republic Bank is a full-service bank and wealth management firm. First Republic Bank and its subsidiaries provide private banking, private business banking and private wealth management, including investment, trust and brokerage services. The Company specializes in delivering service through offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach, San Diego, Portland, Boston, Greenwich and New York City. The Company's products and services include residential lending, commercial real estate lending, personal lending, private business banking, deposit services, trust services, brokerage services and investment management services. Investment advisory services are provided by First Republic Investment Management, Inc. Trust services are provided by First Republic Trust Company. Brokerage services are offered through First Republic Securities Company, LLC. In March 2012, the Company announced the opening of a new trust company.

The Company offers full-service banking on both coasts, including free online banking, free bill pay and free access to over 800, 000 automated teller machines (ATMs) worldwide. Its private business banking provides specialized services for accounting firms, architecture and design, art and antique dealers, business management firms, business partnership, entertainment/media, entrepreneurs, family offices, financial services, independent school, investment firms, law firms, medical firms, non-profit organizations, private equity funds, property management firms, real estate investors, venture capital funds, wineries, and yacht, golf, city and country clubs. The Company�� private wealth management offers customized investment management, trust, and brokerage services for individuals, trust endowments, and pension plans. Wealth management services include asset allocation, trust administration and custody, portfolio management, financial and estate planning, manager selection and comprehensive brokerage services.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.76 per share on revenue of $320.72 million.

  Renasant (NASDAQ: RNST) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.31 per share on revenue of $60.87 million.

Hot Cheapest Companies To Buy For 2014: Hauppauge Digital Inc.(HAUP)

Hauppauge Digital Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of analog and digital TV tuner products for the personal computer (PC) market in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. It offers video recorder products, such as USB-Live2, a standard definition video recorder used to record video tapes and other types of video into a PC; HD PVR, a high-definition video recorder for making real-time H.264 compressed video recordings at resolutions up to 1080i, and to record old home video tapes into an AVCHD format; and Colossus to record high definition video from a cable TV or satellite set top box, or an Xbox 360 or Sony playstation 3 game console. The company also provides TV receivers, including Broadway that connects to a TV signal and then transmits that TV signal through a Wi-Fi network or the Internet; analog TV tuners to enable a PC user to watch analog cable TV in a resizable window; digital TV receivers and hybrid analog/digital TV receivers, which allow a PC user to watch digital television in a resizable window on a PC or laptop screen; and PCTV TV tuner products that allow users to view television programming on their computers. In addition, it offers non-TV tuner products comprising WinTV application, a PC-based TV watching, pause, and recoding application; WinTV Extend software product, a PC-based Internet video server that streams live TV or other video content to remote devices; Impact video capture board for PC-based video conferencing and video capture in industrial applications; MediaMVP-HD, a Linux-based digital media device that links TV sets and PCs; and MediaMVP to watch and listen to PC-based videos, music, and pictures on a TV set through a home network, as well as provides an on-TV-screen display of media directory listings. The company sells its products through retailers, PC manufacturers, and distributors. Hauppauge Digital Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Hauppauge Digital (NASDAQ: HAUP) shares fell 8.70% to touch a new 52-week low of $0.42. Hauppauge Digital shares have dropped 61.02% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 18.17% in the same period.