Top 5 Internet Stocks To Invest In Right Now

The Heartbleed bug revealed limitations with the software protecting banks and other key websites.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Last week's Heartbleed Internet bug revealed a startling fact. The software protecting banks, email, social media and government is maintained by only a few people.

They're all volunteers. And only one does it as a full-time job.

Their labor of love is OpenSSL, a free program that secures a lot of online communication. And it was a tiny coding slip-up two years ago that caused the Heartbleed bug, a hole that allows attackers to peer into computers. The bug forced emergency changes last week at major websites like Facebook (FB, Fortune 500), Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500).

But security experts say OpenSSL is severely underfunded, understaffed and largely ignored.

Top 5 Machinery Stocks To Watch For 2015: Symantec Corporation(SYMC)

Symantec Corporation provides security, storage, and systems management solutions internationally. The company?s Consumer segment delivers Internet security, PC tune-up, and online backup solutions and services to individual users and home offices. Its Security and Compliance segment provides solutions for endpoint security and management, compliance, messaging management, data loss prevention, encryption, and authentication services to large, medium, and small-sized businesses, as well as offers solutions through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) security offerings. This segment?s products enable customers to secure, provision, and remotely manage their laptops, PCs, mobile devices, and servers. The company?s Storage and Server Management segment provides storage and server management, backup, archiving, and data protection solutions across heterogeneous storage and server platforms, as well as solutions delivered through its SaaS offerings to large, medium, and small-s ized businesses. Symantec?s Services segment offers implementation services and solutions, including consulting, business critical services, education, and managed security services. The company also provides various enterprise support offerings, such as annual maintenance support contracts, including content, upgrades, and technical support. It sells its products through its eCommerce platform, as well as through distributors, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, system builders, ISPs, and retail locations worldwide. Symantec markets and sells its products through distributors, retailers, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, original equipment manufacturers, system builders, and Internet service providers; and its e-commerce channels, as well as direct sales force, value-added and large account resellers, and system integrators. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuters]

  Peter Parks, AFP/Getty ImagesThe 12-story building in Shanghai's northern suburb of Gaoqiao where a Chinese military-led hacking group allegedly conducted a series of attacks on U.S. companies networks. BOSTON -- Cybersecurity company FireEye has acquired Mandiant, the computer forensics specialist best known for unveiling a secretive Chinese military unit believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks on U.S. companies. FirEye (FEYE) shares jumped more than 20 percent after Thursday's announcement of the $1.05 billion cash-and-stock deal, which FireEye said closed Monday. It unites two companies with relatively new technologies for thwarting cyber attacks, and brings together two of the most-respected executives in the security industry: FireEye CEO Dave DeWalt and Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia. While sales of older anti-virus products have been on the decline, security experts expect strong growth in both FireEye's cloud-based systems for detecting malicious software and Mandiant's software that analyzes cyber attacks. About a year ago the two companies entered into a technology development agreement that made it easier to deploy their products together. With the merger, FireEye will gain Mandiant's team of forensics investigators. "They have these very strong Navy 'cyber' Seals who respond to breaches and are very good at what they do," DeWalt said about Mandiant. He had previously served as chairman of Mandiant's board. "My aim is to create the strongest security company in the world," DeWalt said in an interview. FireEye, which has yet to post a profit, said the acquisition will be immediately accretive to earnings and expects the combined company's revenue to grow about 50 percent this year. In comparison, Symantec (SYMC), the biggest maker of anti-virus software, has said it expects fiscal 2014 revenue to drop 3 percent to 4 percent. Mandiant is best known for its forensics services. The company rose to prominence in February 2013 when it pu

• [By Amanda Alix]

  Of course, banks can't know when an attack is merely disruptive, and when it may be covering for criminal activity. Security company Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC  ) has commented that these assaults have become a way for hackers to distract banks while funds are illegally withdrawn. Though most of the thefts have occurred in Europe, where attacks have progressed from website outages to actual bank heists, at least one U.S. bank, Citigroup, disclosed some losses due to cyber thievery earlier this year.

• [By MONEYMORNING]

  A big player here is Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), a global provider of security, storage, and systems management solutions with an extensive focus on managing consumer data and information.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Symantec Inc. (NASDAQ: SYMC) reported second fiscal quarter 2014 results after markets closed on Wednesday. For the quarter, the network security software maker posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50 on revenues of $1.64 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.45 on revenues of $1.7 billion. Second-quarter results compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.44 and $1.69 billion in revenues.

Top 5 Internet Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)

Yahoo! Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media company that delivers personalized digital content and experiences through various devices worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of marketing services to businesses. The company?s communications and communities offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV, which provide a range of communication and social services to users and small businesses enabling users to organize into groups and share knowledge, common interests, and photos. Its search products comprise Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Local, available free to users to navigate the Internet and discover content. The company?s marketplaces offerings and services include Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Autos, and Yahoo! Small Business, which allow users to research specific topics, products, services, or areas of interest by review ing and exchanging information, obtaining contact details, or considering offers from providers of goods, services, or parties with similar interests. Its media offerings comprise Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Entertainment & Lifestyles, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Yahoo! Pulse, which are designed to engage users with online content and services on the Web. The company also offers marketing services, such as display and search advertising, listing-based services, and commerce-based transactions to advertisers. In addition, it provides software and platform offerings for third-party developers, advertisers, and publishers, such as Yahoo! Developer Network, Yahoo! Open Strategy, Yahoo! Application Platform, Yahoo! Updates, Yahoo! Query Language, and Yahoo! Search BOSS. The company has strategic alliances with Nokia and ABC News, Inc. Yahoo! Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Californi a.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Neiger]

  Others tech companies have worked out deals of their own. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) are currently in a 10-year deal for the popular content site to use Microsoft's Bing search results. Right now, Microsoft receives 12% of the revenue Yahoo! makes from ads on the search results page on its site. But the Wall Street Journal reported last month that since Marissa Mayer took over at Yahoo, the company is looking to end its deal with Microsoft and wants to transition to Google's search ��a move that isn't likely to take place until at least 2015.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  Other notable earnings fall toward the tech end of the spectrum with reports from Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) , Intel Corp. (INTC) , International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) , eBay Inc. (EBAY) and Google Inc. (GOOG) .

Top 5 Internet Stocks To Invest In Right Now: eBay Inc.(EBAY)

eBay Inc. provides online platforms, services, and tools to help individuals and merchants in online and mobile commerce and payments in the United States and internationally. Its Marketplaces segment operates ecommerce platform eBay.com; vertical shopping sites, such as StubHub, Fashion, Motors, and Half.com; and classifieds Websites, including Den Bl�Avis, BilBasen, Gumtree, Kijiji, LoQUo, Marktplaats.nl, mobile.de, Alamaula, Rent.com, eBay Anuncios, eBay Kleinanzeigen, and eBay Annunci, as well as provides advertising services. The company?s Payments segment offers payment and settlement services for consumers and merchants on and off eBay Websites and other merchant Websites. This segment operates PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online and through mobile devices; Bill Me Later that enables the United States merchants to offer, the United States consumers to obtain, credit at the point of sale for ecommerce and mobile tra nsactions; Zong, which allows users with mobile phones to purchase digital goods and have the transactions charged to their phone bill; and BillSAFE that enables customers pay for purchases upon receipt of an invoice. Its GSI segment offers an ecommerce services suite for enterprise clients that operate in general merchandise categories, including apparel, sporting goods, toys and baby, health and beauty, and home; and marketing services comprising full-service digital agency, enterprise email marketing, mobile advertising, affiliate marketing, advertisement retargeting, and in-depth analytics services. The company also offers X.commerce platform that provides software developers access to the company?s applications programming interfaces to develop functionality for various merchants; and Magento Connect, which allows developers to market and sell add-on functionality and solutions to merchants that use a Magento storefront. eBay Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquarter ed in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  What's coming
  Moreover, more tax increases look likely to hit ordinary Americans in the near future. Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) has been making agreements with an increasing number of states to collect sales tax on online purchases, and a federal law could subject Amazon, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY  ) , and other online sellers with the obligation to collect taxes. That has helped Best Buy (NYSE: BBY  ) and other competing brick-and-mortar retailers, but it means consumers pay more in overall tax. Technically, most taxpayers already owe uncollected sales taxes to their respective states, but few states enforce those provisions vigorously. With state and local sales taxes representing 12 days' worth of the average American's tax burden, increases would have a small but significant impact on many people.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  MercadoLibre closely resembles U.S. counterpart eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY  ) in many ways, not the least of which has been its evolution from an online auction site to a combination marketplace and payment-management business. eBay's PayPal has become a huge part of its overall corporate footprint and, arguably, has stronger growth potential than the namesake auction business. MercadoLibre, however, has even greater growth prospects given the slower pace of advancing e-commerce and payment solutions in Latin America thus far.

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  Online auction site eBay (EBAY) is no slouch in the cash category – the firm's net cash stands at more than $2.3 billion. Add investments into that number, and eBay's wherewithal jumps to $8.4 billion. That's a substantial cash cushion, even for a $65 billion firm like eBay. It's enough to cancel out 13% of the firm's outstanding shares, for example, or enough to bring the firm's lofty price-to-earnings ratio down to a more manageable 21.

  eBay is one of the largest marketplaces in the world. The trading platform moved more than $75 billion in merchandise last year, with eBay collecting a fee for every item along the way. eBay's popularity has helped to create a true payment processing standard in PayPal, which itself moved more than 20% of global online payments last year. That's a jaw-dropping stat for eBay investors. Right now, PayPal boasts more active users than some of the second-tier payment card names, giving it a huge pool of users to sell merchants on. As the network makes its way into brick-and-mortar stores, it's very conceivable that eBay's auction site could eventually become a side-business for the firm, not the other way around. That said, some of PayPal's policies are very unfriendly to customers, a stark contrast to conventional payment processors. The firm will need to work on its bedside manner if it wants to continue to grow its userbase.

  Meanwhile, auctions still make up the biggest part of the business. By being on both sides of auction transactions (eBay caters to both buyers and sellers), the firm has found a lucrative business catering to small business, with everything from shopping cart software to invoicing platforms. Investors should appreciate the fact that eBay tends to focus on entering new markets that are instantly monetized -- unlike some of its conspicuous tech sector peers.

Top 5 Internet Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Google Inc.(GOOG)

Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers And roid, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  People are excited about Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) Fiber. The search giant's foray into gigabit fiber optic broadband service represents an important catalyst for the industry, while also embodying a potentially disruptive threat to incumbent cable companies that are intent on holding America captive through high prices and slow speeds.

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  The Samsung Gear will be available on September 25, will cost $299 and will have a screen that is only 1.63 inches wide. The Gear will run on the outrageously popular Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android OS. It will have access to an app store with more than 70 apps. As Samsung quickly pointed out, it is more than a watch. The Gear can even take photos and record video.

• [By Brian Stoffel]

  When I look at Apple's competition, I see lots of sustainable competitive advantages. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) has such a wide moat through the ubiquity of its search engine, which is bolstered by the global dominance of the Android operating system, that Charlie Munger once said, "Google has a huge new moat. I've probably never seen such a moat."

• [By Chris Neiger]

  The first major move in this direction came when Microsoft introduced the Windows Phone OS and the Surface tablet. Bot of those initiatives were obviously a step in the right direction, but they were born out of necessity, rather than innovation. They came because Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) were already grabbing up large shares of the mobile OS space and Microsoft needed to do something to keep up.