Top 5 Penny Companies To Invest In 2014

Medical expenses are deductible for U.S. taxpayers. But unfortunately, the typical American won't qualify for a deduction even if they keep impeccable tax records.

"The current law states that anything over 10% of your adjusted gross income you can deduct, and only if you're itemizing your deductions," said Sandy Shecter, a certified public accountant and principal at the financial services firm Rehmann.

By way of example, that means if you make $50,000 and have less than $5,000 in medical expenses, you won't get a penny back from the IRS.

And even if you have more than that, you only get to claim the amount over that threshold. So if you make $50,000 a year and your total medical bills are $6,500, your deduction is $1,500 ��not the full amount.

If you're a senior, the ceiling is lower, but still may be difficult to top without serious out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Top 5 Construction Stocks To Watch For 2015: Ruth's Hospitality Group Inc.(RUTH)

Ruth?s Hospitality Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates restaurants in the United States and internationally. It operates the Ruth?s Chris Steak House, Mitchell?s Fish Market, Columbus Fish Market, Mitchell?s Steakhouse, and Cameron?s Steakhouse restaurant concepts in the full-service dining industry. The company?s restaurants cater to families, special occasion diners, and business clientele. As of December 27, 2009, it owned or operated 152 restaurants, including 64 company-owned Ruth?s Chris Steak House Company restaurants, 66 Ruth?s Chris Steak House franchise restaurants, 19 company-owned Mitchell?s Fish Markets, and 3 company-owned Mitchell?s Steakhouse restaurants. The company was formerly known as Ruth?s Chris Steak House, Inc. and changed its name to Ruth?s Hospitality Group, Inc. in February 2008. Ruth?s Hospitality Group, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Heathrow, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sally Jones]

  Averaging 228% on shares bought, a high gainer in this portfolio is Ruth�� Hospitality Group Inc. (RUTH), up 81% over 12 months:

  
  Robert Karr, Joho Capital

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  What: Shares of Ruth's Hospitality Group (NASDAQ: RUTH  ) were making investors feel at home today, gaining as much as 14% after topping estimates, and announcing a quarterly dividend in its report today.

Top 5 Penny Companies To Invest In 2014: Capital Product Partners L.P.(CPLP)

Capital Product Partners L.P., a shipping company, provides seaborne transportation of refined oil products and chemicals. It provides marine transportation services under medium- to long-term time charters or bareboat charters. As of July 13, 2011, the company?s fleet consisted of 22 double-hull tankers, including 18 medium range (MR) tankers, 2 small product tankers, 1 Suezmax crude oil tanker, and 1 Capesize bulk carrier. Its tankers are capable of carrying crude and refined oil products, such as gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and jet fuel, as well as edible oils and chemicals, including ethanol. Capital GP L.L.C. operates as a general partner of the company. Capital Product Partners L.P. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Piraeus, Greece.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  Oaktree specializes in distressed assets, high-yield bonds, real estate and equities. The company currently earns an F-score of 6 and yields 7.7%, so the stock is an excellent fit for our active income portfolio. The stock trades at a slight discount to its Graham number valuation of $54. Oaktree is a best-in-class investment manager and has the potential for solid appreciation in addition to the high yield.

  Capital Products Partners (CPLP)

  Capital Products Partners (CPLP) is a Greece-based shipping company that is involved in both petroleum products and the dry goods business. It currently has a fleet of 30 vessels comprised of 22 tankers and 8 dry bulk and container vessels.

Top 5 Penny Companies To Invest In 2014: Sparton Corporation(SPA)

Sparton Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, offers electronic manufacturing services primarily for medical device, defense and security systems, and electronic manufacturing services industries worldwide. The company?s Medical segment engages in the contract development, design, production, and distribution of medical related electromechanical devices for the medical OEM and ET customers primarily in the vitro diagnostic and therapeutic device areas. Its EMS segment involves in the contract manufacturing, assembly, design, preproduction, prototyping, and/or box building assemblies, such as flight control systems and fuel control systems for the aerospace, medical diagnostics systems, security systems, detection systems, lighting, and defense. The company?s DSS segment engages in the design, development, and production of electromechanical equipment, such as sonobuoys, an anti-submarine warfare device used by the United States Navy and foreign governments; and perf orms an engineering development function for the United States military and prime defense contractors on advanced technologies for defense products, and replacement of current systems. It also offers non-sonobuoy related manufacturing and services. Sparton Corporation was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Sparton (NYSE: SPA  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top 5 Penny Companies To Invest In 2014: Aerosonic Corporation(AIM)

Aerosonic Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of aircraft instruments worldwide. It offers mechanical and digital altimeters, airspeed indicators, rate of climb indicators, microprocessor controlled air data test sets, and other flight instruments. The company also produces mechanical and electro-mechanical cockpit instruments, angle of attack stall warning systems, digital cockpit instruments, integrated flight display systems, aircraft sensors and monitoring systems, and integrated multifunction probes, such as integrated air data sensors. It markets its products to manufacturers of corporate and private jets, contractors of military jets, the United States government, and private aircraft owners. The company sells its products directly through its sales personnel, as well as through distributors and commissioned sales representatives who resell to aircraft operators. Aerosonic Corporation was founded in 1953 and is b ased in Clearwater, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Katia Dmitrieva]

  Aimia (AIM) Inc.�� decision to move its Aeroplan reward-partnership to Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank is a blow to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which stands to lose customers and as much as C$3 billion ($2.9 billion) in credit-card balances.