Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014

If you want to figure out how much money you're spending, using a budget spreadsheet can give you the most complete picture of where your hard-earned cash goes every month. But spreadsheets can be intimidating to many people. If you're one of them, we'll have some budgeting alternatives for you later in this article to help you stay smart with your cash.

The pros and cons of spreadsheets
As Fool contributor Selena Maranjian discussed late last month, a budget spreadsheet can be a useful tool in tracking your money. By helping you keep track of every last penny that you spend and giving you complete flexibility in dividing your expenses into as many relevant categories as you see fit to create, building your own spreadsheet lets you tailor your budgeting strategy to play to your own particular strengths and avoid your specific weaknesses.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: Jewett-Cameron Trading Company(JCTCF)

Jewett-Cameron Trading Company, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, engages in the warehouse distribution and direct sale of wood products and specialty metal products to home centers and other retailers primarily in the United States. It operates in four segments: Industrial Wood Products; Lawn, Garden, Pet, and Other; Seed Processing and Sales; and Industrial Tools and Clamps. The Industrial Wood Products segment processes and distributes industrial wood products; and provides treated plywood to boat manufacturers and the transportation industry. The Lawn, Garden, Pet, and Other segment wholesales wood products, including fencing and landscape timbers; and manufactures and distributes specialty metal products comprising dog kennels, proprietary gate support systems, perimeter fencing, and greenhouses. The Seed Processing and Sales segment processes, distributes, and sells agricultural seeds to distributors. The Industrial Tools segment imports and distributes products, inclu ding pneumatic air tools, industrial clamps, and saw blades. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in North Plains, Oregon.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd(XIN)

Xinyuan Real Estate Co. Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in residential real estate development in China. The company?s residential projects comprise various residential buildings that include multi-layer apartment buildings, sub-high-rise apartment buildings, or high-rise apartment buildings; auxiliary services and amenities, such as retail outlets, leisure and health facilities, kindergartens, and schools; and small scale residential properties. It also offers property management and other real estate related services, such as landscaping and installing intercom systems. In addition, the company leases properties, including an elementary school, a basement, three clubhouses, five kindergartens, and parking facilities. As of December 31, 2010, it had 21 completed projects with a total gross floor area (GFA) of approximately 2,049,460 square meters and comprising a total of 23,324 units, as well as 8 projects under construction with a total GFA of 1,804,946 sq uare meters. It primarily operates in seven tier II cities, comprising Hefei, Jinan, Kunshan, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Xuzhou, and Chengdu. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

10 Best Penny Stocks For 2014: Paragon Shipping Inc.(PRGN)

Paragon Shipping Inc. provides shipping transportation services worldwide. The company engages in the ocean transportation of various drybulk cargoes and containers. Its fleet consists of 11 drybulk vessels with a total carrying capacity of 747,994 dwt. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Voula, Greece.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: China Nepstar Chain Drugstore Ltd (NPD)

China Nepstar Chain Drugstore Ltd. operates retail drugstores in the People?s Republic of China. The company?s drugstores provide pharmacy services and other merchandise, including prescription drugs; over-the-counter drugs; nutritional supplements, such as healthcare supplements, vitamins, minerals, and dietary products; herbal products, including drinkable herbal remedies and packages of assorted herbs for making soup; and private label products. Its stores also offer personal care products, such as skin care, hair care, and beauty products; family care products, including portable medical devices for family use, birth control products, and early pregnancy test products; and convenience products, such as soft drinks, packaged snacks, other consumables, cleaning agents, and stationeries, as well as seasonal and promotional items. The company operates its stores under the China Nepstar brand name. As of December 31, 2009, its store network comprised 2,479 retail drugstores located in approximately 71 cities in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Shandong, Hunan, Fujian, Sichuan, and Hubei provinces, as well as in Shanghai, Tianjin, and Beijing municipalities of the People?s Republic of China. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People?s Republic of China.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: Crown Media Holdings Inc.(CRWN)

Crown Media Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, Crown Media United States, LLC, owns, operates, and distributes pay television networks for adults and families primarily in the United States. The company operates and distributes Hallmark Channel network to approximately 87 million subscribers through approximately 5,369 cable, satellite, and other pay television distribution systems; and Hallmark Movie Channel network to approximately 45 million subscribers through approximately 2,680 cable, satellite, and other pay television distribution systems. Its networks offers a range of entertainment programming, including television series, movies, miniseries, theatricals, romances, literary classics, and contemporary stories. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Studio City, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Brush]

  Anyone worried that Howard Stern is coarsening American culture should find comfort in the ratings of two television channels operated by Crown Media (CRWN).

  Don't know the name? Think the Hallmark Channel, which ranked 16th during the day and 18th for prime-time viewership last year, among 78 ad-supported cable channels. Or the Hallmark Movie Channel, with an impressive 40 million subscribers, twice as many as Stern's radio company.

  Hallmark channels feature squeaky-clean TV series like "Little House on the Prairie" and "Touched by an Angel," movies like "The Five People You Meet in Heaven"  and original movies like "A Family Thanksgiving." They also rerun "Hallmark Hall of Fame" programs developed for network broadcast, like "The Magic of Ordinary Days" and "Plainsong."

  Programs like these may not be everyone's cup of tea, but advertisers love the demographic they deliver: women ages 24 to 59.

  Ratings did slip slightly last year, one reason the stock has not been a great performer. But it was a year of transition for Crown, which introduced a new "lifestyle" block of programming during the daytime at the Hallmark Channel. The new lineup boasts "The Martha Stewart Show," among other programs.

  Viewers took a while to warm up, but a holiday-season ratings romp shows Crown has not lost its touch. The Hallmark Channel was the top destination for prime time on Saturday nights during the holiday season, and its programming posted ratings gains of 40% to 80% in its target demographic. December ratings at the Hallmark Movie Channel were up 70%, compared with the rest of the quarter. As a result, Crown saw revenue jump 17% in the quarter.

  One risk here is that Crown loses the "Hallmark" brand it licenses from Hallmark Cards -- but that's unlikely, because the card company owns most of the stock.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: Full House Resorts Inc.(FLL)

Full House Resorts, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manages, invests in, and owns gaming-related enterprises. The company holds interest in Gaming Entertainment (Delaware), LLC, a joint venture with Harrington Raceway, Inc., which has a management contract with Harrington Raceway and Casino that has approximately 1,800 slot machines and 40 table games, a 450-seat buffet, a dining restaurant, a 50-seat diner, and an entertainment lounge area located in Harrington, Delaware. It also owns and operates Stockman?s Casino, which has approximately 264 slot machines, 4 table games, and keno, as well as a bar, a dining restaurant, and a coffee shop situated in Fallon, Nevada. In addition, the company holds interests in Gaming Entertainment Michigan, LLC that has a joint venture with RAM Entertainment, LLC, which has a management agreement with the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians for the development and management of the FireKeepers Casino in Battle Cre ek, Michigan. Full House Resorts, Inc. was founded in 1987 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: Stewart Enterprises Inc.(STEI)

Stewart Enterprises, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides funeral and cemetery products and services in the death care industry in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company also offers a range of funeral merchandise and services, as well as cemetery property, cremation, merchandise, and services. Its funeral homes provide various services and products, including the family consultation, removal and preparation of remains, usage of funeral home facilities for visitation, worship and funeral services, transportation services, flowers, and caskets. The company also sells cemetery property and related merchandise, which includes lots, lawn crypts, family and community mausoleums, monuments, markers, and burial vaults; and provides burial site openings and closings and inscriptions. In addition, it maintains cemetery grounds under cemetery perpetual care contracts and local laws. As of January 31, 2011, the company owned and operated 218 funeral homes and 141 cemeterie s. Stewart Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1910 and is based in Jefferson, Louisiana.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: NET Servicos de Comunicacao S.A.(NETC)

Net Servicos de Comunicacao S.A., through its subsidiaries, provides cable television, Internet access, and voice services in Brazil. It offers cable television services under the ?NET? brand name through various cable networks located in the largest cities of Brazil. The company also offers broadband Internet access services under the ?NET VIRTUA? brand name by using Embratel's IP backbone infrastructure. In addition, it provides voice services under the ?NET FONE VIA EMBRATEL? brand name jointly with Embratel. Further, the company offers integrated video, broadband, and voice services. Net Servicos de Comunicacao S.A. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: Gentiva Health Services Inc.(GTIV)

Gentiva Health Services, Inc. provides home health services and hospice care in the United States. The company offers skilled nursing and therapy services, paraprofessional nursing services, and homemaker services primarily to adult and elderly patients through licensed and Medicare-certified agencies. It also provides its services through specialty programs comprising Gentiva Orthopedics, which offers individualized home orthopedic rehabilitation services to patients recovering from joint replacement or other major orthopedic surgery; Gentiva Safe Strides that provides therapies for patients with balance issues; and Gentiva Cardiopulmonary, which helps patients and their physicians manage heart and lung health in a home-based environment. In addition, the company offers services through Gentiva Neurorehabilitation, which helps patients who have experienced a neurological injury or condition by removing the obstacles to healing in the patient?s home; Gentiva Senior Health that addresses the needs of patients with age-related diseases and issues; and Rehab Without Walls unit, which provides neurorehabilitation therapies for patients with traumatic brain injury, cerebrovascular accident injury, and acquired brain injury. Further, it offers consulting services to home health agencies, which include operational support, billing and collection activities, and on-site agency support and consulting. Additionally, the company provides hospice services primarily in the patient?s home or other residence, such as an assisted living residence or nursing home, as well as in a hospital. Gentiva Health Services, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Top 10 Penny Companies To Own For 2014: Black Diamond Inc.(BDE)

Black Diamond, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and distributes outdoor recreation equipment and active lifestyle products in the United States and internationally. It provides climbing products, including belay/rappel devices, bouldering products, carabiners and quickdraws, chalk, chalk bags, climbing packs, crampons, crash pads, dogbones and runners, harnesses, ice axes and piolets, ice and rock protection devices, and various other climbing accessories; and skiing products comprising backpacks, winter packs for skiing and snowboarding, bindings, boots, poles, skis, skins, snow gloves, snow packs, and snow safety devices. The company also offers mountaineering line products, such as backpacks for alpine expeditions, backcountry excursions, overnight trips, and day hikes; and bivy sacks, rain sacks, gaiters, gloves, headlamps, lights, tents, trekking poles, and other hiking and mountaineering accessories. In addition, it provides hydration pac ks for trail running and cycling; travel and lifestyle products, which include duffle bags, messenger bags, and small bags and pouches carry electronics and other accessories; and various apparel and accessory products. The company sells its products to mountain climbers, winter outdoor enthusiasts, backpackers and campers, cyclists, top endurance trail runners, and outdoor-inspired consumers under the Black Diamond and Gregory brands through sporting goods and outdoor recreation stores, retail stores, and consumer catalogs, as well as through blackdiamondequipment.com. Black Diamond, Inc. is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.