Best Long Term Stocks To Buy Right Now

Auto sales are down in Europe, but sales of Audi's A3 have been strong. The company rolled out this new sedan version to European buyers last month. Photo credit: Audi.

Last year,�Volkswagen� (NASDAQOTH: VLKAY  ) was the world's most profitable automaker, even though it was outsold by both�General Motors� (NYSE: GM  ) and�Toyota� (NYSE: TM  ) . How'd that happen? Simple: Volkswagen has turned its luxury-car brand, Audi, into a huge source of profits.

Audi has continued to rack up big gains this year. As Fool contributor John Rosevear explains, Audi's recent sales gains have been surprisingly strong -- and those gains could mean big profits for VW in the coming quarter.

Great stocks now to build your future
The best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool's free report "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich" names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of.�Click here now�to keep reading.

Top Diversified Bank Stocks To Own Right Now: Aviva PLC (AVV)

Aviva plc (Aviva) is an insurance group engaged in provision of products and services, such as long-term insurance and savings, fund management and general insurance. Aviva provides long-term insurance and savings, general and health insurance, and fund management products and services. Its business is managed on four geographic regions: United Kingdom, Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. The four regions, together with Aviva Investors, function as six operating segments. The UK region is split into the UK Life and UK General Insurance segments, which undertake long-term insurance and savings business and general insurance, respectively. In April 2013, it transferred its holding in Spanish joint venture Aseval to Bankia. In October 2013, Aviva sold Aviva USA Corporation to Athene Holding Ltd. Effective December 12, 2013, Redefine International Plc, a unit of Redefine Properties Ltd, acquired Weston Favell Shopping Centre from Aviva Commercial Finance Ltd, a unit of Aviva plc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Namitha Jagadeesh]

  Kabel Deutschland Holding AG rose to a record after getting an offer from Liberty Global Plc. Aveva Group Plc (AVV) jumped 5.4 percent as Citigroup Inc. upgraded the shares. Danske Bank A/S (DANSKE) dropped 6.1 percent after Denmark�� financial regulator ordered it to increase its risk-weighted assets. Royal Imtech NV fell to the lowest price since 2004 after posting a first-quarter loss on costs relating to a fraud investigation.

Best Long Term Stocks To Buy Right Now: Philippine Stock Exchange Inc (PSE&G)

The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) is the national stock exchange of the Philippines. The Company's revenues are primarily derived from listing-related fees. It charges listing fees for initial public offerings and additional listings, and for annual listing maintenance. Other sources of revenue are membership, transaction, data feed and miscellaneous fees, including service fees. Membership and transaction fees are charged to trading participants while data feed fees are collected from data vendors. The Securities Clearing Corporation of the Philippines (SCCP), a wholly owned subsidiary of PSE, is a clearance, settlement and depository agency for SCCP-eligible trades executed through the facilities of the PSE. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  Public Service Enterprise Group is an integrated generation and energy company. Its main subsidiaries are Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), PSEG Power and PSEG Energy Holdings.

Best Long Term Stocks To Buy Right Now: Verisk Analytics Inc (VRSK)

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (Verisk) is a provider of information about risk to professionals in insurance, healthcare, mortgage, government, supply chain, and risk management. Verisk enable risk-bearing businesses to understand and manage their risks. The Company provides its customers by supplying data that, combined with its analytic methods, creates embedded decision support solutions. Verisk organizes its business in two segments: Risk Assessment and Decision Analytics. Its Risk Assessment segment provides statistical, actuarial and underwriting data for the United States property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry. Its Decision Analytics segment provides solutions its customers use to analyze the processes of the Verisk Risk Analysis Framework: Prediction of Loss, Detection and Prevention of Fraud, and Quantification of Loss. On June 17, 2011, it acquired the net assets of Health Risk Partners, LLC (HRP). On April 27, 2011, it acquired 100% interest of Bloodhound Technologies, Inc. (Bloodhound).

Risk Assessment Segment

Verisk�� Risk Assessment segment serves P&C insurance customers and focuses on the first two decision making processes in its Risk Analysis Framework: loss prediction, and selection and pricing of risk. The Company also provides solutions to help its insurance customers comply with their reporting requirements in each United States in which they operate. The Company�� customer includes most of the P&C insurance providers in the United States. It aggregates the data and, as a licensed statistical agent in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, it reports these statistics to insurance regulators. The Company uses its technology to assemble, organize and update amounts of detailed information submitted by its customers. It supplements this data with publicly available information. Each year, P&C insurers send the Company approximately 2.9 billion detailed individual records of insurance transactions, such as insurance premiums collected ! or losses incurred. It maintains a database of over 15.8 billion statistical records, including approximately 6.1 billion commercial lines records and approximately 9.7 billion personal lines records. It collects unit-transaction detail of each premium and loss record, which enhances the validity, reliability and accuracy of the data sets and its actuarial analyses.

The Company provides actuarial services to help its customers price their risks as they underwrite. It projects future losses and loss expenses utilizing a range of data. It provides loss costs by coverage, class, territory, and many other categories. Its customers can use its estimates of future loss costs in making independent decisions about the prices charged for their policies. It makes a number of actuarial adjustments, including loss development and loss adjustment expenses before the data is used to estimate future loss costs. Its actuarial services are also used to create the analytics underlying its industry-standard insurance programs. In addition, its actuarial consultants provide customized services for its clients, which include assisting them with the development of independent insurance programs, analysis of their own underwriting experience, development of classification systems and rating plans, and a wide variety of other business decisions. It also supplies information to a range of customers in other markets, including reinsurance, government agencies and real estate.

The Company gathers information on individual properties and communities. Its property-specific rating and underwriting information allow the customers to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for residential and commercial properties. Its database contains loss costs and other vital information on over 3.3 million commercial buildings in the United States and also holds information on more than six million individual businesses occupying those buildings. It also provides analytic measures of the ab! ility of ! individual communities to mitigate losses from important perils. It provides field-verified and validated data on the fire protection services for more than 46,000 fire response jurisdictions. It also offers services to evaluate the effectiveness of community enforcement of building codes. It provides information on the insurance rating territories, premium taxes, crime risk, and hazards of windstorm, earthquake, wildfire, and other perils.

The Company competes with National Independent Statistical Service, the Independent Statistical Service, American Association of Insurance Services, Mutual Services Organization, Overland Solutions, Inc., Regional Reporting, Inc., CDS, Inc., Deloitte Consulting LLP, Pinnacle Consulting and EMB.

Decision Analytics Segment

In the Decision Analytics segment, the Company supports all four phases of its Risk Analysis Framework. It develops predictive models to forecast scenarios and produce both standard and customized analytics. It is a provider of fraud-detection tools for the P&C insurance industry. Its fraud solutions improve its customers��profitability by both predicting the likelihood that fraud is occurring and detecting suspicious activity after it has occurred. When a claim is submitted, its system searches its database and returns information about other claims filed by the same individuals or businesses (either as claimants or insurers), which help the customers determine if fraud has occurred. Its system also includes name and address searching to perform intelligent searches and improve the overall quality of the matches.

The Company provides data, analytic and networking products for professionals involved in estimating all phases of building repair and reconstruction. It provides solutions for every phase of a building�� life, including quantifying the ultimate cost of repair or reconstruction of damaged or destroyed buildings; aiding in the settlement of insurance claims, and tracking the process o! f repair ! or reconstruction and facilitating communication among insurers, adjusters, contractors and policyholders. It also offers customers access to wholesale and retail price lists, which include structural repair and restoration pricing for 467 separate economic areas in North America.

The Company�� database contains information on nearly 800 million claims. Insurers and other participants submit new claim reports, more than 239,000 a day on average, across all categories of the United States P&C insurance industry. It also provides a service allowing insurers to report thefts of automobiles and property; a service that helps owners and insurers recover stolen heavy construction and agricultural equipment; a scoring system that helps distinguish between suspicious and meritorious claims, and products that use link-analysis technology to help visualize and fight insurance fraud. The Company is a provider of automated fraud detection, compliance and decision-support tools for the mortgage industry. Utilizing its own loan level application database combined with actual mortgage loan performance data, it has established a risk scoring system which increases its customers��ability to detect fraud.

The Company provides solutions that detect fraud through each step of the mortgage lifecycle and provide regulatory compliance solutions that perform instant compliance reviews of each mortgage application. Its database contains more than 21 million current and historical loan applications collected over the past ten years. This database contains data from loan applications, as well as supplementary third-party data. It also provides forensic audit services for the mortgage origination and mortgage insurance industries. Its predictive screening tools predict, which defaulted loans are the candidates for full audits for the purpose of detecting fraud.

The Company offers solutions that help healthcare claims payors detect fraud, abuse and overpayment. It runs its customers��cla! ims throu! gh its analytic system to identify potential fraud, abuse and overpayment, and then a registered nurse, physician or other clinical specialist skilled in coding and reimbursement decisions reviews all suspect claims and billing patterns. It analyzes the patterns of claims produced by individual physicians, physicians��practices, hospitals, dentists, and pharmacies to locate the sources of fraud. It also offers Web-based reporting tools that let payors take definitive action to prevent overpayments or payment of fraudulent claims. The tools provide the documentation that helps to identify, investigate and prevent abusive and fraudulent activity by providers.

The Company is a provider of healthcare business intelligence and predictive modeling. It provides analytical and reporting systems to health insurers, provider organizations and self-insured employers. Those organizations use its solutions to review their healthcare data, including information on claims, membership, providers and utilization, and provide cost trends, forecasts and actuarial, financial and utilization analyses. It also provides its customers healthcare services using complex clinical analyses to uncover reasons behind cost and utilization increases. It provides financial and actuarial analyses, clinical, technical and implementation services and training services to help its customers manage costs and risks to their practices.

The Company competes with Risk Management Solutions, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, MSB, Solera, Computer Sciences Corporation, Fair Isaac Corporation, OptumInsight, McKesson, Medstat, MedAssurant, iHealth, CoreLogic and DataVerify Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Verisk Analytics Inc.(VRSK) agreed to acquire EagleView Technology Corp. for $637 million, a move the company expects will enhance its position in the imagery analytics market.

• [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]

  Shares of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK), a provider of data and analytics to insurance, health care and financial end markets, declined on tepid results for the fourth quarter 2013. Trends in its health care unit improved modestly, although this strength was offset by slightly slower growth in its core insurance units. Verisk is investing aggressively across its businesses to broaden and deepen its set of data and analytics, particularly in healthcare, where we believe the long-term opportunity is significant. While this investment weighs on near-term margins, we are confident that this strategy will lead to sustained organic growth.

Best Long Term Stocks To Buy Right Now: Northern Oil and Gas Inc.(NOG)

Northern Oil and Gas, Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas properties in the Williston Basin Bakken play, the United States. As of June 30, 2011, the company?s principal assets included approximately 158,046 net acres located in the northern region of the United States; and 439 gross wells. Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. is based in Wayzata, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bret Jensen]

  Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) is another slightly bigger (~$1B market capitalization) Bakken player that should benefit from the same well completion techniques that Whiting is currently pioneering. The company is growing revenues in the mid-teens and analysts expect this to continue in FY2014 and beyond.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Northern (under)exposure
  No one ever said being an oil and gas driller was easy. Costs to build out a company, drill, and hire a workforce are huge, and if spot oil, liquid natural gas, and natural gas prices don't cooperate relatively quickly, then the chances of success can be quite low. However, I think the market isn't giving nearly enough credit to small-time Bakken shale player Northern Oil & Gas (NYSEMKT: NOG  ) , which has all the tools essential for long-term profits.

Best Long Term Stocks To Buy Right Now: Kraft Foods Group Inc (KRFT)

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (Kraft Foods Group), incorporated on March 16, 2012, operates food and beverage businesses in North America. The Company manufactures and markets food and beverage products, including convenient meals, refreshment beverages and coffee, cheese and other grocery products, in the United States and Canada, under a stable of iconic brands. Its product categories span breakfast, lunch and dinner meal occasions, both at home and in foodservice locations. The Company sells its products to supermarket chains, wholesalers, supercenters, club stores, mass merchandisers, distributors, convenience stores, drug stores, gasoline stations, value stores and other retail food outlets in the United States and Canada. On September 14, 2012, the Company�� parent company, Kraft Foods Inc. (Kraft ParentCo), issued a press release relating to the anticipated trading markets for Kraft Foods Inc. and Kraft Foods Group, Inc. common stock through the completion of its spin-off from Kraft Foods Inc. In October 2012, Mondelez International, Inc. completed the spin-off of North American grocery business, Kraft Foods Group. In June 2013, Kraft Foods Group Inc announced plans to create two new, standalone business units: Meals and Desserts, and Enhancers and Snack Nuts.

The Company�� brand portfolio consists of food brands in North America, including three brands: Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; Oscar Mayer meats, and Maxwell House coffees- plus over 20 brands. It manufactures and sells food and beverage products in 50 categories. The Company operates in five segments: U.S. Beverages, which manufactures packaged juice drinks, powdered beverages and coffee; U.S. Cheese, which manufactures processed, natural and cream cheeses; U.S. Convenient Meals, which manufactures processed meats and lunch combinations; U.S. Grocery, which manufactures spoonable and pourable dressings, condiments, desserts, packaged dinners and snack nuts, and Canada & N.A. Foodservice, which sells products that span ! all of its segments and includes the Canadian and Puerto Rico grocery business, the North American foodservice operations and the North American Grocery Export Business.

U.S. Beverages

During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company�� U.S. Beverages segment contributed 16% of its combined net revenues. This segment manufactures refreshment beverages, including Capri Sun (under license) and Kool-Aid packaged juice drinks, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light and Country Timepowdered beverages and MiO liquid concentrate, and coffee products, including Maxwell House, Gevalia and Yuban coffees, Maxwell House Internationalbeverage mixers and Tassimo (under license) hot beverage system.

U.S. Cheese

During 2011, U.S. Cheese segment had contributed 20% of the Company�� combined net revenues. This segment manufactures processed cheese, including Velveeta and Cheez Whiz processed cheeses, Kraft and Deli Deluxe processed cheese slices, Kraft grated cheeses and Polly-O and Athenos hummus and cheeses; natural cheese, including Kraft and Cracker Barrel natural cheeses, and cream cheese, including Philadelphia cream cheese and cooking creme.

U.S. Convenient Meals

During 2011, the Company�� U.S. Convenient Meals segment contributed 18% of its combined net revenues. This segment�� principal brands and products include Oscar Mayer lunch meats, hot dogs and bacon, Lunchables lunch combinations, Boca soy-based meat alternatives, and Claussen pickles.

U.S. Grocery

During 2011, the Company�� U.S. Grocery segment contributed 25% of its combined net revenues. This segment�� principal brands and products include Kraft and Kraft Deluxe macaroni & cheese dinners, Planters nuts, trail mixes and peanut butter, Corn Nuts corn snacks, Jell-O dry packaged desserts and refrigerated gelatin and pudding snacks, Cool Whip whipped topping, Jet-Puffed marshmallows, Baker�� chocolate and baking ingredients, Kraft and Miracle Whip sp! oonable d! ressings, Kraft and Good Seasons salad dressings, A.1. steak sauce, Kraft and Bull��-Eye barbecue sauces, Grey Poupon mustards, Shake N��Bake coatings, Stove Top stuffing mix, Taco Bell Home Originals (under license) meal kits, Velveeta shells and cheese dinners, and Velveeta Skillets meal kits.

Canada & N.A. Foodservice

During 2011, the Company�� Canada & N.A. Foodservice segment contributed 21% of its combined net revenues. The principal products and brands in this segment span all of its segments. Canadian grocery offerings include Nabob coffee and Kraft peanut butter, as well as a range of products in the Grocery Business Lines. The North American foodservice business sells branded products, including Maxwell House coffee, A.1. steak sauce and a range of Kraft sauces, dressings and cheeses, and serves the needs of restaurants and other foodservice operations. Puerto Rico grocery offerings include all grocery business lines, except for powdered and liquid concentrate beverages, such as Crystal Light, Tang and MiO. The North American Grocery Export Business products and brands span all grocery business lines, except for powdered and liquid concentrate beverages and certain products sold under brands, such as Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraftmayonnaise, which marketed and sold locally by Kraft ParentCo in countries outside the United States and Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  It could be lousy timing or a case of misusing a caffeinated kick, but McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) is hoping that its coffee can woo retail shoppers next year. The world's largest burger chain is teaming up with Kraft Foods (NASDAQ: KRFT  ) to sell packaged bags of its McCafe ground and whole-bean coffee through supermarkets by early next year. It will also offer up its java blasts as pods for single-serve machines.�

Best Long Term Stocks To Buy Right Now: Opt-Sciences Corp (OPST)

Opt-Sciences Corporation, incorporated on November 1956, conducts its business through its wholly owned subsidiary, O and S Research, Inc. The Company deposits anti-glare and/or transparent conductive optical coatings on glass used primarily to cover instrument panels in aircraft cockpits. It also provides full glass cutting, grinding and painting operations, which augment its optical coating capabilities. Its products are designed to enable pilots to read aircraft instruments in direct sunlight or at night or in covert situations using appropriate night vision filters or to protect the instruments from electromagnetic interference. The Company�� business is dependent on a robust commercial, business, and regional aircraft market and to a lesser degree the military aircraft market. It generally has a four to twelve week delivery cycle depending on product complexity, available plant capacity and required lead time for specialty raw materials, such as polarizers or filter glass.

The Company�� offers incorporate an optical coating of some type. Its primary coatings are for aircraft cockpit display applications and consist of its anti-reflection coating used for glare reduction and its transparent conductive coating used for electromagnetic interference shielding. In addition, it also offers a full range of other specialty instrument glass, including night vision filter glass, circular polarizers, touchpads, glass sandwiches for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) as well as other custom designed specialty glass components and assemblies. It uses its technology to apply a micro thin optical non-glare and/or conductive coating to the glass. Both processes utilize the deposit of a thin film of metal or metal oxide on the surface of the glass. The process takes place in a heated vacuum chamber. It heats the deposited material to over 1800 degrees Centigrade causing it to evaporate.

The Company competes with JDSU, Mod A Can, Dontech, Schott Glass and Hoya Optics

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon] ng>Micropac

  Micropac is 76% owned by Heinz-Werner Hempel. He�� a German businessman. You can see the German company he founded here. He�� had control of Micropac for a long-time. I don�� have an exact number in front of me. But I would guess it�� been something like 25 years.

  ADDvantage

  ADDvantage Technologies is controlled by the Chymiak brothers. See the company�� April 4 press release explaining their decision to turn over the CEO position to an outsider. Regardless, the Chymiaks still control 47% of the company. Ken Chymiak is now chairman. And David Chymiak is still a director and now the company�� chief technology officer. Clearly, it�� still their company.

  By the way, the name ADDvantage Technologies has nothing to do with the Chymiaks. Today�� AEY really traces its roots to a private company called Tulsat. The Chymiak brothers acquired that company about 27 years ago. So, effectively, when you buy shares of AEY you are buying into a 27-year-old family-controlled company.

  That�� pretty typical in the world of net-nets.

  Solitron

  Solitron Devices is 29% owned by Shevach Saraf. He has been the CEO for 20 years. The post-bankruptcy Solitron has never known another CEO. Before the bankruptcy, Solitron was a much bigger, much different company. So even though we are not talking about the founder here ��and even though 70% of the company�� shares are not held by the CEO ��we��e still talking about a company where one person has a lot of control. Solitron only has three directors. Saraf is the chairman, CEO, president, CFO and treasurer. Neither of the other two directors joined the board within the last 15 years. So, we aren�� talking about a lot of tumult at the top.

  In fact, profitable net-nets seem to be especially common candidates for abandoning the responsibilities of a public company without actually getting taken private.

  OPT-Sciences

  This company is controlled by Arthu