Top Shipping Companies To Buy For 2014

If prices of goods or services are rising or falling, it often means that someone is winning and someone is losing as a result. As a general service reminder, and hopefully a money-saving reminder, Saturday is the last day to buy postage stamps from the US Postal Service before the price hike takes effect on January 26, 2014. Despite some shipping sector concerns, this does act as a base rate hike for all shipping providers – 3 of which are public companies.

First Class Mail Forever Stamps will be $0.49, versus $0.46 ahead of the price hike. First Class Mail International Global Forever stamps will be $1.15, up from $1.10 ahead of the price hike. This means hopefully that the USPS will lose less money in 2014 than it did in prior years. Still, that is on a “hopefully” status.

Then there is that lucky or unlucky outcome of price hikes. The public will pay more for stamps, making you and me the losers in this. The question to ask is whether or not Stamps.com Inc. (NASDAQ: STMP) just get a built-in revenue booster per customer on a static basis?

5 Best Beverage Stocks To Own For 2015: Ressources Minieres Radisson Inc (RDS)

Ressources Minieres Radisson Inc., formerly Radisson Mining Resources Inc., is in the process of exploring mining properties. The Company has portfolio of four properties, covering a total area of 2,946 hectares. Three of these properties are located in Quebec and one in Ontario. The Company owns a 100% interest in O��rien 576-hectare property. The Company also owns 100% interest in Kewagama 111.7-hectare property. The Company�� O��rien/Kewagama project is located in the Cadillac-Malartic area, within the Abitibi gold belt. It consists of 36 claims covering an area of 729 hectares. The O��rien/Kewagama project lies approximately five kilometer west of Agnico-Eagle�� Lapa gold mine, also centred on the Cadillac Break, and approximately four kilometer southwest of Agnico-Eagle�� Laronde mine, over 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) in depth. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Jubak]

  The latest news to make me wonder if the stock has hit a bottom came out in an interview that the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) gave to the Financial Times yesterday, April 1. CEO Ben Van Beurden said that in an effort to make a profit in the company�� North American operations, the company had launched ��roject Mosaic��to cut costs in its North American shale operations, by sourcing more equipment from cheaper Asian suppliers.

Top Shipping Companies To Buy For 2014: Uralkaliy OAO (URALL.PK)

Uralkaliy OAO (Uralkali OJSC) is a Russia-based company, which is engaged in the chemical industry. The Company specializes in the production of potash fertilizers. Its product portfolio comprises pink muriate of potash (PMOP), white muriate of potash (WMOP) and granular (GMOP). The Company is active through representative offices, located in Moscow and Beijing, as well as numerous subsidiaries, located countrywide and in Panama, Belarus, Singapore, Brazil and others. Uralkaliy OAO operates on the potassium and magnesium deposits located in Berezniki, Perm and Saint Petersburg. Its production assets include seven plants and five mines. Uralkaliy OAO sells its products domestically, as well as abroad in over 40 countries, including the United States, China, Brazil, India and South-East Asia, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Gallagher]

  The potash spat continues to get uglier, as Belarus investigators reportedly intend to seize property and assets of Russia's Uralkali (URALL.PK) following the collapse of the joint Russian-Belarussian potash venture.

Top Shipping Companies To Buy For 2014: Western Refining Inc.(WNR)

Western Refining, Inc. operates as an independent crude oil refiner and marketer of refined products. The company operates in three segments Refining Group, Wholesale Group, and Retail Group. The Refining Group segment operates two refineries in Texas and Mexico; two stand-alone refined product distribution terminals in New Mexico; and four asphalt terminals in Texas, as well as operates crude oil transportation and gathering pipeline system in New Mexico. It refines various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and other products from crude oil, other feedstocks, and blending components; and acquires refined products through exchange agreements and from various third-party suppliers. This segment sells its products through its wholesale group and service stations, independent wholesalers and retailers, commercial accounts, and sales and exchanges with oil companies. The Wholesale Group segment distributes commercial wholesale petroleum products primarily in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah for retail fuel distributors, as well as for the mining, construction, utility, manufacturing, transportation, aviation, and agricultural industries. The Retail Group segment operates service stations, which include convenience stores or kiosks that sell various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, general merchandise, and beverage and food products to the general public. As of February 24, 2012, it operated 210 service stations with convenience stores or kiosks located in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in El Paso, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Remember when oil refiners like Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Valero (VLO),�Western Refining�(WNR) and Tesoro (TSO) were getting a boost from the widening differential between the prices of oil in U.S. and Europe? Well, those days may be over.

Top Shipping Companies To Buy For 2014: iSoftStone Holdings Limited(ISS)

iSoftStone Holdings Limited provides various information technology (IT) services and solutions in the Greater China and internationally. It offers an integrated suite of IT services and solutions, including consulting and solution services, IT services, and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. The company provides a range of consulting services for an overall engagement or discrete consulting services in conjunction with other services. It also develops industry-specific solutions, including treasury management, cash management, property and casualty insurance core, financial holding company business analysis, trust company core, and banking risk management solutions for banking, financial services, and insurance industries; supply chain management, enterprise information portals, business intelligence, business process integration, and management and e-commerce solutions for energy, transportation, and public sectors; mobile and embedded technology, next generati on platforms, business intelligence functionality, and network security products for the communications industry. In addition, the company offers various IT services consisting of application development and maintenance, research and development, and infrastructure and software services. Further, it provides a range of BPO services, such as securities trade processing services for the investment banking industry; digitization and archiving of policyholder information, as well as account processing and customer service for insurance industry; and cross-industry BPO services comprising finance and accounting, customer care, and human resources. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  iSoftStone Holdings (NYSE: ISS  ) reported earnings on May 17. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), iSoftStone Holdings beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.