Joseph Gacinga

Costco plans to open online stores aimed at the Chinese market. By selling online, the warehouse retailer will, however, have a hard time duplicating the 'treasure hunt' shopping experience that has made the company so popular and successful in its home market.

HP investors were not happy that the company's latest results showed it's still relying heavily on traditional businesses. However, the company's foray into 3D printing could help levitate shares since 3D stocks have proven to be popular with investors.

Despite the wild popularity of mobile gaming, and the proliferation of smartphones around the world, gaming consoles will continue to serve a niche that cannot realistically be filled by smartphones, primarily due to physical constraints inherent in smartphones.

Intel has been slated as having the best prospects of grabbing LTE Baseband mobile chipset market share from Qualcomm, ahead of rivals NVIDIA, MediaTech and Broadcom.

Visa shares are likely to show further gains in 2014 because of favorable growth trends and a favorable valuation in comparison to MasterCard.

Will rising coffee prices have a big impact on the profitability of coffee brewers such as Starbucks and Dunkin' Brands? Whether you're a panicked shareholder or simply an aficionado of these brewers' delectable java, it's important to get your head around this critical issue. Either way your wallet may thank you for it.

Costco is looking into other ways of growing its revenue other than relying on its membership fees. This will give the giant retailer long-term and sustainable means to grow both its top and bottom-lines for many years to come.

Oracle is unlikely to sell off its floundering server division, despite the segment's steadily declining revenue. The company is still in the process of re-engineering Sun's legacy x86 and SPARC servers into higher-margin servers that can compete favorably with the Unix platforms of companies such as IBM and HP.

Altria has been a good dividend stock among the big tobacco companies. The company's expanding gross margin has helped it offset declining cigarette sales, and it remains a great investment in 2014.

Cisco has been unfairly criticized for its declining revenues, with investors likening it to Microsoft and its fall from grace. However, the company's business-model transitions and its foray into the Internet of Things will help Cisco turn around its fortunes.

It's not very likely that Microsoft will take Apple's lead and offer future upgrades for its Windows OS for free in a bid to lure more customers to upgrade. Cost is not the main hindrance for most customers stuck with older Windows versions, and Microsoft might not see any significant increase in adoption of newer Windows versions to justify foregoing the revenue it gets from these upgrades.

UPS' inability to handle the larger-than-expected delivery volumes over the holidays was to a large extent not the company's fault, as the situation was rather exacerbated by foul weather. The company remains a sound investment, and expects to make impressive top and bottom-line gains in fiscal 2014.

Comcast has finally made its own independent offer to Time Warner after Charter's bid was rejected as too low. The merger will see Comcast increase its U.S. pay-TV market share to close to 30%, and also acquire Time Warner's considerable assets.

Many observers are pointing out the recent sale of Motorola by Google as a sign that Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia is doomed to fail. But, Microsoft's deal is fundamentally different from Google's, and has a good chance of being successful.

Although Yum! Brands disappointed in 2013, the company's shares might recover in 2014 following its foray into the fast-growth fast-casual industry.

Although MasterCard recently delivered poor fourth-quarter 2013 results, the under-performance can be pinned on major international currency fluctuations and not on fundamental weaknesses in MasterCard's business.

Although Under Armour shares look very pricey compared to those of its counterparts in the space, the company still has great runways for growth that will offer considerable valuation support for its shares in the future.

Despite its highly impressive growth record, Chipotle shares still look a bit too pricey when compared to its peers in the space. This places the shares at an elevated risk of a huge downturn in case the company falters and fails to meet investors' heightened expectations for growth in the near-term.

Is eBay's Paypal likely to be materially affected by Apple's foray into mobile payments? Read on for more perspective and how you can profit.

Macy's industry-leading gross margin and superb execution of its sales strategy will help the retailer stay on top of the industry.