By Robert J. Flaherty and Arnaldo Arroyo

After the surprise bull market in stocks  in 2013 all our guest stock pickers were in a great mood. But none more than Mario Gabelli who has picking stocks for us since our very first Favorites of the Famous feature   back in l981.

Why is this man smiling? After a super year for equities in 2013 total assets under management at his investment firm jumped to $47 billion on Dec. 31st, up from a mere $34 billion a year earlier.   "Say hello to all my old friends who are still coming up with great ideas for me to try and beat," Mario laughed. "I wish everyone good luck!"

The mass media is filled with daily worries about a correction. What lies ahead after such a spectacular stock market run up in 2013? Editor Bob Flaherty thinks 2014 will go down as another good year for equities. Where else can investors prudently go except to stocks? Bonds are hardly yielding enough to offset the inflationary loss of your purchasing power of your dollars. The threat of interest rate rises may even impair capital. So until fixed income again becomes an attractive alternative equities will remain the place to be. At least that's what Bob F thinks.

Warning: In this litigious politically correct era readers should be aware that all of our guest stock pickers will have conflicts of interest involving their stock choices. Back in 2011 stressing since he is often a director and investor in some stocks, Russell Cleveland warned that he should not be considered as a disinterested outsider. This general conflict of interest warning also applies to all our Favorites of the Famous guests interviewed in this feature and naturally to Bob F himself!

Fellow Harvard man Tom Putnam is descended from the Patriot at Bunker Hill who ordered, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" For each of the 33 years we have called upon him Tom has always given us a solid steady new pick.

His Fennimore Asset Management has three no loads FAM Value Fund, FAM Equity-Income Fund and FAM Small Cap Fund. (www.famfunds.com) For his fund portfolios Tom seeks not only survivors in a correction, but winners in an economic rally. His team finds quality companies that have good market share positions not only in their industries, but have strong characteristics of generating free cash flow accompanied by low debt balance sheets.

Proving good guys can be winners too, Tom's pick last year ranked first among our winning picks. His pick Fabrinet (NYSE: FN- 14, recently 20.08), soared 43.4%. Fabrinet is a Thailand-based provider of precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to Original Equipment Manufacturers.

This year, Tom has a new favorite pick in his sights. Jacksonville, FL -based Patriot Transportation Holding, Inc. (Nasdaq: PATR- 37.30) operates in three segments: transportation, mining royalty land and developed property rentals. The booming transportation segment hauls petroleum and other liquids and dry bulk commodities through tank trailers. The mining royalty land segment owns real estate properties, which include construction royalty sites and parcels held for investment. The developed property rentals segment acquires, constructs and leases office/warehouse buildings; and holds real estate for future development. Patriot's combined fleet of about 435 trucks and 530 trailers operates primarily in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic U.S.

"Patriot is kind of a three-headed monster and because of that reason not a lot of Wall Street analysts pay attention to it," says Tom, because on Wall Street one plus one plus one sometimes equals one. "It's kind of hard for Wall Street to analyze the company because they like companies that are a pure play in one area. But after our analysis, we think the sum of Patriot's three different parts is much greater than the current stock price. Patriot is currently evaluating whether to spin off its transportation segment. If the company does do this spin off we think that the pieces of the business will be able to be better valued by Wall Street.

"This is a management team that came out of a company that we used to own called Florida Rock," sums up Tom. "We  think this is a very high quality management team for such a small company. "

Last year's runner up 76-year-old Larry Rader was known as "The Go Go Kid!" in the Soaring Sixties After a rollercoaster ride from hero to goat, Larry showed he also possessed great courage and unusual staying power. Larry did the hard work to become one of the steadiest growth stock performers ever. His success as a student of identifying outstanding small-cap, non-technology growth stocks brought him to head small-cap research at Merrill Lynch in the days before long-term investing was replaced by momentum gambling. Larry is the only person Editor Bob Flaherty featured in three different magazine cover stories.

Last year, Larry went green picking eco-friendly Trex Company (NYSE: TREX - 50.83, recently 70.64), up 39.0%. This recycling leader is the largest manufacturer of wood-alternative decking and railing products, which are marketed under the brand name Trex.

For 2014, Larry is picking controversial food retailer Fairway Group Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq: FWM - 8.08), which operates a chain of 14 upscale food stores New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It specializes in natural and organic products, prepared foods and hard-to-find specialty and gourmet offerings.

Near term Fairways plans to increase its store base in the Greater New York City metropolitan area at a rate of two to four stores a year. In the long term, the company plans to expand beyond its backyard into new, high-density metropolitan markets throughout the U.S.

At the moment, three new stores are expected to come online: one store in Lake Grove in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY, in mid-calendar 2014; a second store in the classy Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in the fall of calendar 2014, and a third store in the Hudson Yards neighborhood in west midtown Manhattan in spring 2015.

After management failed to meet expectations law firms filed a flock of class action suits and the stock was recently down 71% from its 12 month high. But Larry is looking forward, not backward. Yum, yum. He sees a tasty stock bargain.

In 2013 Russell Cleveland, chairman and founder of RENN Global Entrepreneurs Fund, Inc. (NYSE AMEX RCG) stuck with the same company he chose a year earlier, Bovie Medical Inc. (NYSEAmex: BVX- 2.76, recently 3.40), up 38.8%. His venture capitalist's stubbornness in sticking with Bovie paid off, especially considering that BVX was down 11.2% when he picked Bovie in 2012.

For a 2014 pick, Russ is once again sticking with BVX. In December, Robert Gershon was appointed Bovie's  new CEO. Russ is very excited about Gershon taking over the reins. He believes Gershon has the know-how to take Bovie to next level and beyond.

"We have a superstar running the company, Russ continues. "This stock could be the biggest winner I've had or will have in the next year or two. He's run successfully billion dollar surgery companies. He's talking about a pipeline of a billion dollars. This stock will be cheap at $30. I mean that's a big statement. It could be up five to ten times."

Gershon has over 25 years of healthcare industry experience. On the operations side he ran the largest sales and marketing business at Covidien plc (NYSE:COV), which has a current market cap of $32.5 billion. With over $1 billion in P&L responsibility he consistently led an organization of over 600 people to double-digit revenue growth outpacing market category growth and capturing significant market share points during challenging healthcare economic conditions.

He also was vice president of sales and marketing at Henry Schein ($1.4 billion shared P&L for medical division and $115 million full P&L for dialysis division). Earlier in his career he spent over 13 years as a healthcare consultant for Booz, Allen, KPMG and two boutique consultancies where his practice focused on strategic planning, business development and mergers and acquisitions.

Bovie has two major sources of value that are poised for explosive growth: its existing business and a robust pipeline containing breakthrough medical device technologies that address huge markets. Most of these new medical device technologies, such as J-Plasma, are either ready for market entry right now or are very close to being ready, such as BVX's Seal-N-Cut vessel sealing technology.

Our old friend Mario Gabelli's GAMCO Investors (NYSE: GBL) with numerous Gabelli Funds (www.gabelli.com) now manages over $47 billion in assets. Not bad considering in our first interview way back in Bob F's days as a cub reporter at Forbes Mario had just passed $3 million.

For 2013, Mario' picked Churchill Downs, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHDN - 69.73, recently 92.29), which climbed 34%. Besides hosting America's horserace, the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs is a provider of pari-mutuel horseracing, casino gaming and entertainment. It is the country's source of online account wagering on horseracing events. It also offers gaming products through its casino in Mississippi, its slot and video poker operations in Louisiana and its slot operations in Florida.

Mario's new pick is Chemtura Corp. (NYSE: CHMT- 25.78). Coming out of bankruptcy protection in 2010, this maker of specialty chemicals is in the later stages of a management led turnaround led by its CEO Craig Rogerson. This CEO was formerly CEO of Hercules, which was sold to Ashland (ASH) in 2008. As Mario reminds us,  investors made a lot of money betting on Rogerson at Hercules. He knows how to do it.

Rogerson is adding to Chemtura's portfolio of assets in areas of core competency, while selling non-core and other assets where he can get high multiples. Net proceeds are used to reduce debt and, to a larger degree, to buy back shares. Should Chemtura's AgroSolutions be sold for around $1billion, Chemtura's share count could fall to 70 million from 96.6 million shares now  in the next three years.

At year-end 2013 net debt was $349 million (total debt $898 million minus cash of $549 million). Chemtura just sold its consumer business for $260 million after taxes. More importantly, in October the board approved examining whether to sell the AgroSolutions agricultural chemicals business, which generated revenues of $450 million and EBITDA of $100 million in 2013.

Assuming the sale of AgroSolutions, the leaner Chemtura will have two remaining businesses: industrial performance products (petroleum additives and urethanes) and industrial engineered products (bromine, flame retardants and organometallics). "It should grow with end-markets recovery, growing market demand due to regulations, product innovations, market share gain and geographic expansion," says Mario. "The bottom line will benefit from top line growth and internal actions to lower costs. Excluding AgroSolutions , Chemtura can generate close to $2.5 billion of revenue in 2016 through organic growth and minor tuck-ins. "Conservatively estimating an EBITDA margin of 18% (management's goal is close to 20%), Chemtura could earn about $450 million of EBITDA. With a going rate for specialty-chemicals companies of eight-to-nine times EBITDA, the stock could sell around $40 to $45 in two years."

Last year, Greenwich Village gadfly Ray Dirks' favorite pick was software developer Cover-All Technologies Inc. (NYSE: COVR- 1.28, recently 1.65), up 28.9%. Cover-All is a leading player in the development of sophisticated software solutions for the property and casualty insurance industry. COVR is the first to deliver PC-based commercial insurance rating and policy issuance software.

Ray's new favorite pick is Fusion Telecommunications International, Inc. (OTC BB: FSNN - 0.10), a leading provider of integrated cloud solutions to small, medium and large businesses. FSNN's advanced, proprietary service platform enables the integration of leading edge solutions in the cloud, including cloud voice, cloud connectivity, cloud storage and security.

"The main thing is their revenues are over $100 million," says Ray. "They'll be $125 million this year. They just raised $60 million, which is more than they expected, on a private placement. They have a lot of extra cash- about $20 million - so they can grow much faster if they want to. They can easily do that because they have a very complete platform in the cloud. I believe the stock will go up to $10 a share in a year or two."

Fusion plans to list on the Nasdaq around mid-year. "They'll do a reverse split when they go on the Nasdaq," Ray adds. "That will enable institutions to buy the stock more easily."

One of the most successful and youthful entrepreneurs on the globe, 35-year-old Arun Pudur created the fabulous Malaysian -based, $4 -billion- in revenues Celframe Technology Group of Companies. From an Orthodox Hindu Brahmin family which has linage to Jews of Indian descent, Arun at 13 began fixing bikes, breeding champion dogs before he started his own tech business. He made his first million at 21, his first billion at 26 and his net worth exceeds $4 billion and is rising.

In 2013, Arun debuted in our Favorites of the Famous with a technology stock, Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM- 64.52, recently 77.74), up 20.5%. Based in San Diego, CA, Qualcomm is a global semiconductor company that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.

Arun's new pick for 2014 is a recent IPO Trulia, Inc. (NYSE: TRLA- 35.32). "U.S. Home builders and their suppliers aren't the only ones getting a massive boost from the housing rebound," says Arun. "So is Trulia which helps home buyers research house listings and neighborhood stats on schools, shopping and crime. Further the company's easy to use app and friendly website makes it easier."

The website is free for home shoppers and Trulia makes money by selling subscriptions to real estate agents. That helps it get in front of buyers through advertising, preferential treatment in searches and one-click calling from their smart phones.

The San Francisco-based company gives home buyers, sellers, owners and renters the inside scoop on properties, places and real estate professionals. Trulia provides key information on the areas people want to live that can't be found anywhere else.

For instance, users can learn about agents, neighborhoods, schools, crime, commute times and even ask the local community questions. Real estate professionals use Trulia to connect with millions of transaction-ready buyers and sellers each month via its advertising services, social recommendations and top-rated mobile real estate apps.

Trulia has experienced tremendous growth over the past couple of years. Sales advanced 77% in 2012, when unique visitors to Trulia sites and mobile apps jumped 192% to 23.1 million. Subscribers were up 143% to 24,400. During its recent IPO it reaped a treasure trove of cash. Trulia now has around $90 million net, which gives it the money to keep growing. In 2014, Arun anticipates earnings growth of 298% and sales growth of 38%.

John W. Rogers Jr.'s Chicago-based Ariel Investments had a sizzling mutual fund performance year in 2013. Thinking back to when Bob F first wrote about John when he was a minority Princeton basketball player who wanted to start a mutual fund, it is amazing how far John has come, one basket at a time.

In 2013 John's pick was International Speedway Corporation (OTC BB: ISCB- 31.18, recently 33.72), up 8.2%. The sports entertainment company is the premier owner of NASCAR racetracks, including top tracks Daytona and Talladega. With a devoted fan base, NASCAR races attract huge crowds and generate the second-highest ratings in the U.S. among all sports. International Speedway benefits from high barriers to entry because of its established position in its markets.

For a new favorite this year John is picking a new game. International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT- 13.89) is the largest and most globally diverse gaming equipment and systems manufacturer in the world. The company's products include slot machines, video poker and video lottery terminals, as well as a strong lineup of online social gaming applications. Many of its games are sold under well-known brands that attract casino guests, such as "Wheel of Fortune" and "Sex and the City."

"The gaming equipment industry benefits from high barriers to entry due to significant regulatory hurdles and attractive returns on capital," says John. "With IGT's leading market position, the company has been able to invest in growth, both through R&D and acquisitions, while returning more than $1 billion to shareholders over the past four years."

In 2012, the company acquired DoubleDown Interactive, a social gaming company, for $500 million. "Although investors expressed concern at the time that the social gaming space was outside IGT's core business, the company has demonstrated that it can generate attractive returns from this segment," John adds. "As states across the country start to legalize online gambling, DoubleDown has helped position IGT to capitalize on this opportunity."

After IGT reported earnings last month, the stock traded down due to concerns about continued weakness in replacement sales and threats from new entrants. Where others see problems John sees opportunity. "Investors are overly focused on short-term issues, and are failing to account for IGT's attractive long-term opportunity for the company!"

As soon as she graduated from high school at 18 Lauren Templeton was encouraged by her granduncle Sir John Templeton to start a mutual fund. Alas she went to college instead. But Sir John did help her to set up at 24 her very own investment firm. So at Lauren Templeton Capital Management, LLC value investing the Templeton way still survives.

Now a veteran at 36 and a mother twice, Lauren and her husband Scott Phillips are our first husband and wife team of contributors. For the second consecutive year, the couple saw each of their favorite stock picks go up. This year both came up with comparative global bargains, one of Sir John's favorite themes.

Scott's pick last year was ArcelorMittal (NYSE ADR: MT- 13.55, recently 15.64), up 17.2%. Based in Luxembourg, ArcelorMittal is the world's leading steel and mining company, supplying supplies steel products to all the major markets including automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging.

His new favorite pick is BM&F Bovespa (BVMF: BVMF3-11.28 Brazilian Real). The operator of Brazil's equities exchange, Bovespa offers equities, securities, financial assets, indices, interest rates, agricultural commodities, foreign exchange futures and spot contracts. It has offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Ceara.

"Harmed by the lingering pessimism facing the emerging markets, and Brazil in particular, BM&F Bovespa represents a bargain as one of the lowest priced stock exchange operators across the global markets," says Scott. "Trading at 15.1x 2014 EPS compared with an average of 20.9x across the remaining exchange operators (and its own 10 year historical average of a  20 P/E), the firm's valuation amply reflects the current pessimism surrounding Brazilian shares which themselves trade at 10.2x EPS.

Given his favorite's dominant position in its industry with very little direct competition in the near-term plus its 4.6% dividend yield, Bovespa is an attractive way to capitalize on an eventual recovery of sentiment in broader Brazilian shares.

Long-term holders may find the room for future growth attractive. There are 364 listed companies in Brazil, compared with 4,916 in the U.S. Korea, whose GDP is 50% the size of Brazil's, possesses 4.9x more listed equities.  "Approximately 0.3% of Brazilians own shares while around 53% of Americans own shares," Scott sums up. "This lends perspective to Bovespa's growth opportunity in the years to come."

Lauren Templeton's 2013 choice of Canadian-based insurance and investment firm Fairfax Financial Holdings (OTC: FRFHF- 390.50, recently 422.57) rose 8.2%.

Searching the globe to find a bargain, Lauren's new pick is Kia Motors Corp. (Korea Stock Exchange: 000270 -60,800 South Korean Won). This Korea-based automobile manufacturer produces more than two million vehicles a year at 13 manufacturing and assembly plants in eight countries. Kia's compact Kia Picanto is the second-best selling car in South Korea. Other popular models include the Forte, the Sorento and the Soul. Kia also makes a number of commercial vehicles. It has high-capacity plants outside Korea in the U.S., Slovakia and China. After Korea, Kia's second-largest market is the U.S.

Why Kia? Trading at 6.03x 2014 EPS, Kia Motors represents the lowest priced global auto manufacturer on its forward P/E. Kia also trades at only a slight premium to its book value. "Interestingly, its low multiples come despite carrying a return on assets of 10.3% that is approximately twice the industry average and 3 times higher than the same measure at both GM and Ford," Lauren adds. "Also, Kia's P/E of 6.03 represents a 45% discount to its 10 year historical average of 11. Last but not least its 2014 EV/EBITDA multiple of 5.24 is in line with its 10 year low of 5.34 set in 2008. Any improvement in the U.S. economy should help investors take notice. Kia's shares are too low relative to the intrinsic value of this well-run auto-maker."

Douglas Makepeace of New York City-based Sperry Fund Management was a close friend and country sector advisor to our mutual friend the late Sir John Templeton. Doug's  2013 pick of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.(Korea Stock Exchange 005930 - 1,455,000 South Korean Won, recently 1,273,000 South Korean Won)   fell 12.5%. Hoping to get back in the win column this year, Doug is borrowing a page from Baron Rothschild who advised "Buy when there is blood in the streets." So Doug is returning to an old favorites which was  his astute  2011 pick as his 2014 new  favorite.  Russian oil transporter AK Transneft Pfd (TRNFP.ME - 77,189 Rubles), which even in all the blood in the streets is up 100% since he picked it in 2011 at 38,516 Rubles.

AK Transneft plays an  important role  in all of Russia's energy sectors. Threats from the West to hurt Russia's energy sector to prevent further territory incursions have made the stock a screaming bargain. "It's trading at less than 3 times earnings, and it owns an astonishing amount of assets," says Doug. (The late Sir John could never resist a P/E of two.) Together with its subsidiaries, Transneft (which means oil transporter in Russian) engages in the transportation of oil and oil products through the system of trunk pipelines in Russia and internationally. It operates approximately 70,000 kilometers of pipelines and 500 pumping stations that transport crude oil in Russia, the Republic of Belarus, the Kazakhstan Republic and Ukraine.

Larry Auriana, co-founder of three Federated Kaufmann Funds, chose Dynavax Technologies Corp. (Nasdaq: DVAX- 2.20, recently 1.73) for the fourth year in a row only to see it underperform the last two years. His pick dropped 21.4%. In the previous year, DVAX plunged 32.4%. When he first picked Dynavax back in 2010, shares soared 96%.

Still,  Editor Bob Flaherty and Larry had something to cheer about concerning Larry's 2013 results. Over the decades Bob, who is a former three times Forbes Mutual Fund Editor besides being the editor of Equities Magazine, has written the very first story on dozens of mutual funds when they were tiny and now have become huge.

One was Kaufmann Fund when it only had $16 million in assets, and another was Federated Kaufmann Small Cap Fund when it had under $200 million in assets. Before last year in the very first major piece on another neglected star, Bob spotlighted Federated Kaufmann Large Cap Fund as his favorite mutual fund for 2013.

Result? That fund gained almost 37% in 2013. Bob wishes all his picks worked out that well. Also Bob achieved a rare journalistic hat trick of writing the first or a very early piece on all three Federated Kaufmann Funds when they were tiny.

Now on to Larry Auriana's new favorite pick and unfamiliar medical terms which made us flee to the  dictionary. It's Ambit Biosciences Corp. (Nasdaq: AMBI- 9.47). This San Diego, CA-based biopharmaceutical company is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs to treat unmet medical needs in oncology, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases by inhibiting kinases  that are important drivers for those diseases. (Kinases are defined online as enzymes that catalyze the transfer from a donor.)

Ambit's lead drug candidate, quizartinib (AC220), is a once-daily, orally-administered potent and selective, inhibitor of FMS-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3) and is currently under clinical development in patients with relapsed/refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and in newly diagnosed AML patients in combination with chemotherapy as well as maintenance following a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. (Hematopoietic is defined online as a cell that can develop into any type of specialized blood cell.)

In addition to quizartinib, Ambit's clinical pipeline includes AC410, an oral JAK2 inhibitor and CEP-32496, a BRAF inhibitor licensed to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

"There are very few treatment options for AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia)and there's a high unmet need," says Larry. "Ambit owns this drug quizartnib and there's limited competition. It's been tested in over 400 patients. They're in Phase III. Approval is not likely until the second half of 2016. However, I'm optimistic that they will sign a high-value partnership sometime this year for the foreign markets."

Now that our guest panelists have had their swings  Editor Bob Flaherty finally gets to the plate. His last year's pick of Graphite One Resources (GPH: V and GPHOF: OTCQX- C$0.17, recently C$0.19) rose 11.8%. It has the largest graphite resource in America located in the Seward Peninsula in Alaska. It is also the largest in North America and could possibly become the largest flake graphite resource in the world.

If the U.S. is to create all those promised domestic green energy technologies jobs from ion lithium batteries, electric vehicles, fuel cells, pebble bed nuclear reactors or solar developing new graphite supplies are a must. That's because the U.S. imports 100% of its graphite and many of the new high tech green energy products cannot be made without graphite.

Because dominant supplier China has started restricting exports and needs most of its own graphite at home the rest of the world's end users are scrambling to find alternative sources outside of China, Graphite One's Graphite Creek property in Alaska should be in demand. When the global economy picks up graphite prices will recover and soar again. GPH.V stock, which was over $0.40 when graphite prices got hot, should get hot again.

This year Bob is swinging for the fences again. Either he will come in first or near the top as he has many years or he will strikeout.  For 2014 Bob is going with a very low priced highly speculative stock led by an Asian entrepreneur film producer.

Founding CEO Manu Kumaran's Medient Studios, Inc. (OTCBB: MDNT-0.0225) plans to turn the Hollywood film production model upside down by building the world's largest mega Studioplex in Effingham County, Georgia. Manu pledges to do to Hollywood what Henry Ford did to automotive manufacturing when he introduced the assembly line.

"Often in a typical shooting day we only shoot for an hour and a half to two hours in a 12 hour day," says Manu. "With our technology pipeline, as designed and implemented, we could be shooting six or seven hours a day. That is shrinking the time to produce to a third, maybe a quarter!"

To his critics Manu says, "You don't control our destiny-God and the believers do!"

To his believers (otherwise known as shareholders) Manu says, "Once the Studioplex is operational Medient will be one of the largest content creators in the world. This is the dream that I invite you to be part of. If it excites you, then I welcome you to the journey."

Will Medient's star actresses actually arrive on the set on time and in condition to perform? How much of the perpetual waste which is shrugged off  as unavoidable artistic temperament can be avoided? Manu's effort to revolutionize global  film making should make Medient a fun stock to own. You might be on the ground floor of a big winner. If not, at least you will have a lot to discuss during cocktail parties.

To each and every Favorites of the Famous participant and reader over these 33 years we send our regards. It has been a privilege to serve you and share a little of our own journey through life.-RJF