5 Best International Stocks To Invest In Right Now

The best companies in the world invest huge amounts of money and energy into building name awareness. The right name can be worth tens of billions of dollars to a company, making it all the more important for companies to make the best choice.

Often, though, companies pick what seem on the surface to be ill-considered new names. Inspired by Thursday's announcement from Coinstar (NASDAQ: OUTR  ) to seek shareholder approval to change its name to Outerwall, here's a list of five company name changes that earned criticism and even outright mockery when they were first proposed.

2001: Altria
In late 2001, the company then known as Philip Morris made a proposal to change its name to Altria. The origin of the name was founded in the Latin word "altus," meaning "high," and was meant to associate the company with peak performance. The "tri" embedded in the name also emphasized the fact that the company at the time had three distinct divisions: domestic tobacco, international tobacco, and its Kraft Foods (NASDAQ: KRFT  ) beverage and food division.

5 Best International Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Linktone Ltd.(LTON)

Linktone Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides entertainment-oriented telecom value-added services and content to mobile phone users over mobile telecommunications networks in China and Indonesia, as well as the 3G mobile telecommunications network in Indonesia. The company specializes in the development, aggregation, marketing, and distribution of user wireless content and applications for access by mobile phone users through three mobile network operators in China and nine mobile network operators in Indonesia. Its 2G short messaging service (SMS)-based services include ringtones, icons and screen savers, interactive SMS messaging in certain television programs, adventure, action, trivia and fortune-telling games, lunar and Western horoscopes, jokes, fan clubs, and event-driven or entertainment news updates. The company?s 2.5G services comprise multimedia messaging services, such as animated cartoons and screensavers, comic strips, magazine-style ?mobile articles? on various topics, and event-driven news updates; and WAP services, which consist of WAP-based ringtones, screensavers, games and dating services, and advanced Java games. It also offers audio-related services, including color ring-back tones; and interactive voice response services that allow users to listen to songs, jokes, stories, and coverage of various events. In addition, Linktone is launching 3G services in Indonesia, including e-paper/e-reading; video-on-demand on tablet devices and smart TVs; and radio streaming on mobile applications. Further, it distributes and sells home entertainment products, such as VCDs/DVDs/Blu-ray discs and video-on-demand in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia; and engages in the theatrical distribution of movies, karaoke video licensing, karaoke system rental, and providing a karaoke-on-demand channel on Pay TV platforms. The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Shanghai, China. Linktone Ltd. is a subsidiary of MNC International Li mited.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Linktone (NASDAQ: LTON) shares touched a new 52-week low of $1.30. Linktone's trailing-twelve-month operating margin is -20.15%.

  TOR Minerals International (NASDAQ: TORM) shares touched a new 52-week low of $9.76. TOR Minerals shares have dropped 9.95% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 27.45% in the same period.

5 Best International Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc.(CRZO)

Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company holds interest in crude oil and liquids plays in the Eagle Ford Shale in south Texas; the Niobrara Formation in Colorado; the Utica Shale in Ohio and Pennsylvania; and the Huntington Field in the U.K. North Sea. It also owns interest in natural gas plays in the Barnett Shale in North Texas; and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia; as well as in the onshore Gulf Coast area and the Camp Hill field in Texas. As of December 31, 2011, the company had a proved oil and gas reserves of 935.6 billion cubic feet equivalent comprising 728 billion cubic feet of natural gas; 30.5 million barrels of oil or other liquid hydrocarbons (MMbbls) of oil and condensate; and 4.1 MMbbls of natural gas liquids, as well as operated 349 gross producing oil and gas wells. Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Eagle Ford crude driller Carrizo Oil & Gas (Nasdaq: CRZO) is up nearly 14 percent since we added it to the Aggressive Portfolio on Dec. 11, and here too there was no company-specific news. Rather, Carrizo appears to have benefited from the end in mid-December of the sharp autumn correction in drillers’ share prices.

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  Production results have fueled record numbers for producers big and small, including EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG  ) and Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ: CRZO  ) . EOG is the largest producer in the play, and production has exceeded management's expectations, reaching 153,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of the first quarter of this year. Carrizo is a much smaller operation, but its production has also exceeded management's expectations, reaching 9,500 bpd in the second quarter.

Best Healthcare Technology Stocks To Own Right Now: Twitter (TWTR)

Instantly connect to what's most important to you. Follow your friends, experts, favorite celebrities, and breaking news. TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking ... Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Benjamin Pimentel]

  On the downside, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) �were down 1.4% to close at $560.02, while Twitter Inc. (TWTR) �shed 1.5% to close at $44.95.

• [By Jason Cunningham]

  Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) both argue that Google doesn't cover its platforms during live sessions and other valuable activity time that's trackable for advertising. That translates to ad dollars that they can't tap into, and many experts don't see them as a serious part of that social space, Sullivan added.

• [By Julianne Pepitone]

  A price near $49 a share values Twitter (TWTR) at $26.4 billion.

  A 'clean' debut: Twitter's early pop is similar to that of LinkedIn (LNKD), which more than doubled in its first day on the stock market. But it was Facebook's messy debut on the Nasdaq last year that had some individual investors worried ahead of Twitter's IPO. Luckily for Twitter, its offering went smoothly.

5 Best International Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Chalmers Ltd (CHR)

Chalmers Limited is an Australia-based company engaged in transport, logistic services, warehousing and container storage, repairs and sales. The Company operated in three segments: Transport, Containers and Property. Transport consists of road transport, predominantly import/export FCL containers and the interface with logistics/ warehousing/hubbing services. Containers represent the empty container park operations concerned with handling, storage, repairs, upgrades, pretrips and so on of empty containers on behalf of shipping and leasing company customers. Property represents the capital investment Chalmers has in freeholds located in Melbourne. The Company�� subsidiaries include Chalmers Industries Pty Ltd, Chalmers (Australia) Pty Ltd and Chalmers Industries (Brisbane) Pty Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Corinne Gretler]

  Chr. Hansen A/S (CHR) slid 1.7 percent to 186 kroner after Credit Suisse Group AG cut the stock to neutral, the equivalent of hold, from outperform. The brokerage said that profit from its natural-color business remains under pressure. The world�� biggest maker of dairy enzymes cut its full-year sales forecast on July 3 because of lower prices for the red pigment carmine.

5 Best International Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Demand Media Inc. (DMD)

Demand Media, Inc. operates as an Internet media and domain services company worldwide. The company focuses on an Internet-based model for the professional creation and distribution of content at scale. It offers content and media, and registrar services. The company�s content and media services include creating media content primarily consisting of text articles and videos, and delivering together with its social media and monetization tools to the company's owned and operated Websites and mobile applications, and network of customer Websites and their mobile applications to publishers, brands, and retailers. Its content and media services are delivered through the company's content and media platform, which includes its content creation studio, social media applications, and a system of monetization tools designed to match content with advertisements. The company deploys its content and media platform to it�s owned and operated Websites, such as eHow.com, LIVESTRONG.CO M, and Cracked.com, as well as to Websites operated by its customers. Its registrar service offering provides domain name registration and related value added services, such as third-party Website security services, identification protection services, Web hosting plans, customizable email accounts, and business listing services to resellers, including small businesses, e-commerce Websites, Internet service providers, Web-hosting companies, and retail consumers. Demand Media, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One under-$10 Internet services player that's starting to move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade is Demand Media (DMD), which focuses on an Internet-based model for the professional creation and distribution of content at scale. This stock has been hit hard by the bears so far in 2013, with shares off by 44%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Demand Media, you'll notice that this stock has recently formed a triple bottom over the last month, with shares finding buying interest at $4.80, $4.72 and $4.88 a share. Shares of DMD have now started to spike higher off those support levels, and the stock is quickly moving within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in DMD if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $5.39 to $5.46 and then once it takes out its 50-day moving average at $5.76 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 681,665 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then DMD will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $6.50 to $7 a share. Any high-volume move above $7.14 would then give DMD a chance to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone from June that started near $8.50 a share.

  Traders can look to buy DMD off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $4.88 or at $4.72 a share. One can also buy DMD off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Demand Media (NYSE: DMD) shares reached a new 52-week low of $4.23. Demand Media is expected to announce its Q1 results on May 8, 2014.

  Express (NYSE: EXPR) shares fell 2.49% to touch a new 52-week low of $14.28. Express shares have dropped 14.83% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 20.97% in the same period.