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?
Top Building Product Stocks To Watch Right Now: Getty Realty Corp (GTY)
Getty Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States specializing in the ownership, leasing and financing of retail motor fuel and convenience store properties and petroleum distribution terminals. The Company�� properties are located in 21 states across the United States with concentrations in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic regions. Its properties are operated under a variety of brands, including Getty, BP, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Chevron, Valero, Fina and Aloha. It owns the Getty trade name in connection with its real estate and the petroleum marketing business in the United States. As of December 31, 2011, Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc. was in possession of 797 properties representing approximately 69% of its 1,149 owned and leased properties. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 996 properties and leased 153 properties. Nine of the properties it owns is petroleum distribution terminals. In January 2011, it acquired fee or leasehold title to 59 Mobil-branded gasoline station and convenience store properties and also took a security interest in six other Mobil-branded gasoline stations and convenience store properties in a sale/leaseback and loan transaction with CPD NY Energy Corp. (CPD NY), a subsidiary of Chestnut Petroleum Dist. Inc. In may 2013, the Company acquired 36 properties located in the metro New York and Washington, D.C. Beltway. The acquisition includes 16 Mobil branded properties in metro New York, and 13 Exxon and 7 Shell branded properties within the Washington, D.C. Beltway.
The Company leases or sublets approximately 20 of its properties for such uses as fast food restaurants, automobile sales and other retail purposes. The Company leases or sublets its properties primarily to distributors and retailers engaged in the sale of gasoline and other motor fuel products, convenience store products and automotive repair services who are responsible for managing the operations conducted at these properties and for the payment of taxes, m! aintenance, repair, insurance and other operating expenses related to these properties. The operators of its properties are primarily distributors and retailers engaged in the sale of gasoline and other motor fuel products, convenience store products, and automotive repair services.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Real estate investment trust Getty Realty (NYSE: GTY ) will pay a second-quarter dividend of $0.20 per share, the same rate it paid last quarter after it increased it 60% from $0.125 per share, the company announced yesterday.
Top 5 Shipping Companies To Buy For 2014: Houston Wire & Cable Co (HWCC)
Houston Wire & Cable Company, incorporated in 1997, provides wire and cable and related services to the United States market. The Company offers its customers with a single-source solution for wire and cable, hardware and related services. The Company offers products in categories of wire and cable, including continuous and interlocked armor cable, control and power cable, electronic wire and cable, flexible and portable cords, instrumentation and thermocouple cable, lead and high temperature cable, medium voltage cable, premise and category wire and cable, wire rope and wire rope slings, as well as nylon slings, chain, shackles and other related hardware. It also offers private branded products, including its brand LifeGuard, a low-smoke, zero-halogen cable. On January 1, 2011, the acquired companies were merged into HWC Wire & Cable Company.
The Company�� products are used in repair and replacement, also known as maintenance, repair and operations (MRO), and related projects, larger-scale projects in the utility, industrial and infrastructure markets and a diverse range of industrial applications, including communications, energy, engineering and construction, general manufacturing, mining, construction, oilfield services, infrastructure, petrochemical, transportation, utility, wastewater treatment, marine construction and marine transportation. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company served approximately 6,000 customers.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Houston Wire & Cable (Nasdaq: HWCC ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 5 Shipping Companies To Buy For 2014: BlackRock Enhanced Capital And Income Fund Inc (CII)
BlackRock Enhanced Capital and Income Fund, Inc. (the Fund), formerly BlackRock Capital and Income Strategies Fund, Inc., is a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund seeks to provide current income and capital appreciation. It invests in a portfolio of equity and debt securities of United States and foreign issuers. The Fund�� portfolio includes common stocks, preferred stocks, foreign government obligations, corporate bonds, trust preferreds and municipal bonds. The Fund employs a strategy of writing (selling) call options on equity indexes in an attempt to generate gains from option premiums (the Index Option Strategy). Under the Index Option Strategy, the Fund will write call options primarily on the S&P 500 Index, but may, from time to time, write call options on other equity indexes as well. The Fund�� investment advisor is BlackRock Advisors, LLC, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc.
The Fund invests in various industries, including commercial banks, diversified financial services, electric utilities, food products, gas utilities, insurance, thrifts and mortgage finance, and real estate investment trusts. On September 29, 2006, BlackRock, Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (Merrill Lynch) combined Merrill Lynch�� investment management business, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, L.P. (MLIM), and its affiliates, including Fund Asset Management, L.P. (FAM), with BlackRock, Inc. to create an independent company. Merrill Lynch has a 49.8% economic interest and a 45% voting interest in the combined company, and The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (PNC) has approximately a 34% economic and voting interest. The new company operates under the BlackRock name.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dividends4Life]
According to a Gabelli Funds report, managed distribution policies offer several advantages, including:1. Lower difference between the fund�� market price and its NAV per share.2. Provides support during periods when the stock market is in a decline.3. Provides a measurable performance target for the investment adviser.Below are several high-yield funds from CEFA that have a managed distribution policy (yields as of December 16):Aberdeen Australia Eqty (IAF)- Distribution Yield: 10.4%- Income Yield: 3.46%Bexil Advisers LLC� (DNI)- Distribution Yield: 11.1%- Income Yield: 3.56%BlackRock En Capital&Inc (CII)- Distribution Yield: 8.78%- Income Yield: 2.34%Cornerstone Strat Value (CLM)- Distribution Yield: 18.77%- Income Yield: 1.83%Cornerstone Total Return (CRF)- Distribution Yield: 19.10%- Income Yield: 0.85%Delaware Inv Div & Inc (DDF)- Distribution Yield: 6.70%- Income Yield: 5.26%Gabelli Equity Trust (GAB)- Distribution Yield: 7.58%- Income Yield: 1.54%Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT)- Distribution Yield: 9.45%- Income Yield: 2.84%MFS Special Value Trust (MFV)- Distribution Yield: 9.60%- Income Yield: 5.73%Nuveen Tx-Adv TR Strat (JTA)- Distribution Yield: 6.70%- Income Yield: 3.12%TCW Strategic Income (TSI)- Distribution Yield: 10.54%- Income Yield: 7.88%Zweig Total Return (ZTR)- Distribution Yield: 7.27%- Income Yield: 1.95%As noted in the Gabelli report, a managed distribution policy may create confusion regarding the true current yield since the reported yield includes the return of capital portion. You can see the disparity above between the income yield and the distribution (reported) yield.If you are looking for a sustainable and growing dividend, you may want to consider some blue-chip dividend stocks such as these with a Free Cash Flow Payout less than 50%, 50+ years of consecutive dividend increases and a 2%+ yield:3M Co. (MMM) is a diversified global company provides enhanced product functionality in electronics, health care, industrial, consumer
Top 5 Shipping Companies To Buy For 2014: Macy’s Inc (M)
Macy�s, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates stores and Internet Websites in the United States. Its retail stores and Internet Web sites sell a range of merchandise, including apparel and accessories for men, women, and children; cosmetics; home furnishings; and other consumer goods. The company also operates Bloomingdale�s Outlet stores that offer a range of apparel and accessories, including ready-to-wear, shoes, fashion accessories, jewelry, handbags, and intimate apparel products. As of January 28, 2012, it operated approximately 840 stores under the names of Macy�s and Bloomingdale�s; and 7 Bloomingdale�s Outlet stores, as well as macys.com and bloomingdales.com. The company was formerly known as Federated Department Stores, Inc. and changed its name to Macy�s, Inc. in June 2007. Macy�s, Inc. was founded in 1820 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Howard Gold]
The CEO was Terry Lundgren of Macy's (M), the nation's second largest department store chain, with 850 outlets throughout the US and 90% of the company's revenues coming from those Macy's stores, which serve middle-class Americans. (High-end retailer Bloomingdale's accounts for 10% of sales.)
- [By Douglas A. McIntyre]
Clothing, shoes and jewelry are at the heart of what retailers Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M), Sears and J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) sell. Sears and J.C. Penney may be weak, but they still have more locations than almost any other retailers. Amazon management does not mind taking market share from companies that are already in trouble, if the share it is taking is in a big enough category. Clothing and accessories are among these.
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