10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own For 2014

RadioShack Corp (RSH). just tumbled below the stock market’s version of the Mendoza Line.

Shares dropped under $1 Friday morning for the first time ever, as the beleaguered electronics retailer continues to struggle and bankruptcy rumors swirl. Early this month the company reported ugly quarterly numbers that sparked some dire outlooks from Wall Street analysts, including one who slashed his price target to $0 and said the shares were worthless.

More In RadioShack RadioShack's NYSE Listing: The Watch Is On Analyst Slashes RadioShack Price Target to $0 Analysts on RadioShack: Time Is Running Out RadioShack Store Closings: A Complicated Undertaking Super Bowl Advertising Apparently Works: RadioShack Shares Jump

Investors appear to be most concerned about RadioShack’s cash position.��As of May 3, the company had $61 million in the bank, down from $180 million at the end of 2013. The company said earlier this month that it had enough cash to last at least 12 months, but that’s contingent on an immediate improvement in sales and margins, no easy feat.

10 Best Defense Stocks To Own For 2015: Montpelier RE Holdings Ltd (MRH)

Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance solutions worldwide. It provides reinsurance products, including property catastrophe reinsurance, which provides coverage for losses from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornados, fires, and storms; and property specialty reinsurance products. The company also offers other specialty reinsurance products, such as aviation liability, aviation war, engineering, space, marine, personal accident, workers� compensation, political violence, casualty, credit, surety, crop, and other specialty reinsurance products, as well as physicians� treaty and professional liability reinsurance products. In addition, it provides direct insurance and facultative reinsurance coverage on industrial, commercial, and residential property; liability; marine; and space risks, as well as political violence, pandemic and event contingency, and terrorism coverages. The company offers its products through indepe ndent brokers, general agents, and intermediaries. Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  Next Page

  Preferred Stocks: Montpelier RE Holdings (MRH)

  Dividend Yield: 8.2%

  Montpelier RE Holdings (MRH) has an 8.875% Series A Preferred, currently trading at $27 — about 8.5% above par and callable in two years. Its dividend yield is thus 8.2%.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Property and casualty reinsurer�Montpelier Re (NYSE: MRH  ) announced this morning its second-quarter dividend of $0.115 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past two quarters after raising the payout 10% from $0.105 per share.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own For 2014: Permian Basin Royalty Trust (PBT)

Permian Basin Royalty Trust (the Trust), incorporated in 1980, is an express trust. The Trust's principal assets are net overriding royalties conveyed to the Trust, including a 75% net overriding royalty carved out of Southland Royalty�� fee mineral interests in the Waddell Ranch in Crane County, Texas (the Waddell Ranch properties), and a 95% net overriding royalty carved out of Southland Royalty�� major producing royalty interests in Texas (the Texas Royalty properties). Bank of America, N.A. is the Trustee for the Trust.

Waddell Ranch Properties

The mineral interests in the Waddell Ranch, from which such net royalty interests are carved, vary from 37.5% (Trust net interest) to 50% (Trust net interest) in 78,715 gross (34,205 net) producing acres. A majority of the proved reserves are attributable to six fields: Dune, Sand Hills (Judkins), Sand Hills (McKnight), Sand Hills (Tubb), University-Waddell (Devonian) and Waddell. At December 31, 2012, the Waddell Ranch properties contained 889 gross (400 net) productive oil wells, 64 gross (30 net) productive gas wells and 177 gross (506 net) injection wells.

Burlington Oil & Gas Company LP (BROG) is the operator of the Waddell Ranch properties. As of December 31, 2012, six major fields on the Waddell Ranch properties account for more than 80% of the total production. In the six fields, there are 12 producing zones ranging in depth from 2,800 to 10,600 feet. Most prolific of these zones are the Grayburg and San Andres, which produce from depths between 2,800 and 3,400 feet. Also productive from the San Andres are the Sand Hills (Judkins) gas field and the Sand Hills (McKnight) oil field, the Dune (Grayburg/San Andres) oil field, and the Waddell (Grayburg/San Andres) oil field.

The Dune and Waddell oil fields are productive from both the Grayburg and San Andres formations. The Sand Hills (Tubb) oil fields produce from the Tubb formation at depths averaging 4,300 feet, and the University Waddell (Devo! nian) oil field is productive from the Devonian formation between 8,400 and 9,200 feet. The Waddell Ranch properties are producing properties, and all of the major oil fields are being waterflooded for the purpose of facilitating enhanced recovery. As of December 31, 2012, there were no drill wells and 13 workovers in progress on the Waddell Ranch properties.

Texas Royalty Properties

The Texas Royalty properties consist of royalty interests in mature producing oil fields, such as Yates, Wasson, Sand Hills, East Texas, Kelly-Snyder, Panhandle Regular, N. Cowden, Todd, Keystone, Kermit, McElroy, Howard-Glasscock, Seminole and others located in 33 counties across Texas. The Texas Royalty properties consist of approximately 125 separate royalty interests containing approximately 303,000 gross (approximately 51,000 net) producing acres.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Permian Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE: PBT  ) is also flowing more freely with its distributions. The trust's new rate of $0.088488 per unit may seem to be a numerical stretch, but it's a healthy 45% pop from its prior monthly payout. Increased oil production and higher oil prices helped the company generate more money that it passes on to its investors.

• [By alicet236]

  According to GuruFocus list of 5-year lows, these Guru stocks have reached their 5-year lows: Hecla Mining Co, Comstock Resources Inc, Permian Basin Royalty Trust, and Volcano Corp.Hecla Mining Co (HL) Reached $2.18The prices of Hecla Mining Co (HL) shares have declined to $2.18, which is only 3.2% above the 5-year low of $2.11. It is now 81.7% off the 5-year high of $11.56. Hecla Mining Co is owned by 4 Gurus we are tracking. Among them, 3 have added to their positions during the past quarter. 3 reduced their positions. Hecla Mining Company, a Delaware corporation was establsihed in 1891. Hecla Mining Co has a market cap of $761.916 million; its shares were traded at around $2.18 with and P/S ratio of 1.63. The dividend yield of Hecla Mining Co stocks is 0.46%.Hecla Mining Co. reported revenues of $117.5 million and net loss of $14.4 million for its 2014 second quarter financial results. GuruFocus Guru Arnold Van Den Berg (Trades, Portfolio) kept his position in Hecla Mining Co unchanged. He owns 3,909,257 shares. Arnold Scheider sold out his holdings of HL.Sr. Vice President & CFO James A Sabala sold 200,000 shares of HL stock in August. VP - Corporate Development Don Poirier and Director Anthony P Taylor sold 64,099 shares of HL stock in July and August.Comstock Resources Inc (CRK) Reached $11.84The prices of Comstock Resources Inc (CRK) shares have declined to $11.84, which is only 9.6% above the 5-year low of $10.70. It is now 76.0% off the 5-year high of $44.52. Comstock Resources Inc is owned by 4 Gurus we are tracking. Among them, 1 have added to their positions during the past quarter. 3 reduced their positions. Comstock Resources, Inc. is a Nevada corporation. It is an energy company which acquires, explores, develops and produces oil and natural gas in the United States. Comstock Resources Inc has a market cap of $566.669 million; its shares were traded at around $11.84 with and P/S ratio of 1.07. The dividend yield of Comstock Resources Inc stock

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  Permian Basin Royalty Trust (PBT) is a royalty trust, meaning it pools together royalty rights for various energy-producing properties. �I prefer trusts that are widely diversified.� In this case, Permian holds a 75% net overriding royalty interest in six properties in Crane County, Texas; and a 95% net overriding royalty interest in fields spread across 33 other counties in Texas.� In total, we��e talking 400 oil wells, 30 gas wells, and 500 injection wells. �That�� plenty diversified.� Yeehaw for its 8.3% yield!

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own For 2014: Powershares Aerospace & Defense Portfolio (PPA)

The PowerShares Aerospace & Defense Portfolio (Fund) seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the SPADE Defense Index. The SPADE Defense Index is designed to identify a group of companies involved in the development, manufacturing, operations and support of United States defense, homeland security and aerospace operations.

With a portfolio defined by the underlying SPADE Defense Index, constituents represent a diversified offering of large, mid and small cap companies. The constituents also enables the Fund to capture current and future spending in areas, such as armor for vehicles and soldiers, night vision systems, border security and secure communications.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  That's why I think investors would do well to take a good look at PowerShares Aerospace & Defense (NYSE: PPA). This is a cost-effective ETF made up of 80% defense and aerospace stocks from companies who are proven leaders.

• [By Mark Salzinger]

  This industry's two largest ETFs��Shares Aerospace and Defense (ITA) and PowerShares Aerospace and Defense (PPA)��ained more than 50% last year.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own For 2014: ProShares Trust II (YCS)

ProShares Trust II (the Trust) is a statutory trust organized into separate series. The Trust offers seven Funds. The Trust offers beneficial interest in each of its 24 series. The 24 separate series include ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Commodity, ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Commodity, ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Crude Oil, ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil, ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas, ProShares Short DJ-UBS Natural Gas, ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas, ProShares Short Gold, ProShares Ultra Gold, ProShares UltraShort Gold, ProShares Ultra Silver, ProShares UltraShort Silver, ProShares Ultra Euro, ProShares UltraShort Euro, ProShares Ultra Yen ProShares UltraShort Yen, ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, ProShares UltraShort VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, ProShares Ultra VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF, ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF, ProShares Short VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF and ProShares UltraShort VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF.

The Funds offer investors the opportunity to obtain leveraged, inverse or inverse leveraged exposure to a particular benchmark. The Funds include funds linked to futures-based commodity indexes (the Commodity Index Funds), particular commodities (the Commodity Funds) or particular currencies (the Currency Funds). ProShare Capital Management LLC serves as the Trust�� Sponsor, commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor. Wilmington Trust Company is the sole Trustee of the Trust.

Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index

ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Commodity and ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Commodity are designed to track a multiple or an inverse multiple of the daily performance of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity IndexSM. The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity IndexSM (the Dow Jones-UBS) is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. It focuses to reflect the overall commodity sector by measuring the performance of commodity fu! tures contracts. The Dow Jones-UBS is a rolling index, which means that the Dow Jones-UBS does not take actual physical possession of any commodities; rather, it tracks a rolling futures position. An investor with a rolling futures position is able to avoid delivering (or taking delivery of) underlying physical commodities while maintaining exposure to those commodities. The roll for each Index component occurs over a period of five Dow Jones-UBS business days in certain months according to a pre-determined schedule. The exact roll methodology differs between certain commodities. The Index will reflect the performance of its underlying commodities, including roll costs, without regard to income earned on cash positions. The Dow Jones-UBS is consisted of eight different commodity sectors, such as petroleum, natural gas, livestock, grains, industrial metals, precious metals, softs and vegetable oils. These eight sectors track futures contracts prices of 19 specific commodities, such as natural gas, crude oil, unleaded gasoline, heating oil, live cattle, lean hogs, wheat, corn, soybeans, soybean oil, aluminum, copper, zinc, nickel, gold, silver, sugar, cotton and coffee. The Dow Jones-UBS is consisted of commodities traded on the United States exchanges, with the exception of aluminum, nickel and zinc, which trade on the London Metal Exchange.

Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Subindex

ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas and ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas are designed to track twice (2x) or twice the inverse (-2x) of the daily performance of the Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas SubindexSM, respectively The Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas SubindexSM is intended to reflect the performance of a rolling position in natural gas futures contracts traded on the NYMEX without regard to income earned on cash positions. An investment in natural gas futures contracts may often perform very differently than the price of physical natural gas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The euro has dropped about 0.8% against the dollar, while the CurrencyShares Euro Trust ETF (FXE) has dropped 0.7% to $136.71 and the Currency Shares Japanese Yen Trust ETF (FXY) has fallen 1%. The ProShares UltrasShort Euro ETF (EUO) has gained 1.3% to $16.77, while the ProShares UltraShort Yen (YCS) has gained 1.9% to $66.58.

• [By Anthony Mirhaydari]

  Today, the yen carry trade, as represented by the ProShares UltraShort Yen (YCS) , is collapsing below both its lower Bollinger Band and its 50-day moving average ��the most significant downtrend initiation since June. The scramble to cover positions funded by yen carry trades is why the selling is so frantic.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  As always, use common sense when trading. You can be ��ight��about a short and still lose a lot of money if you get caught on the wrong side of a short squeeze. An ETF option to consider in lieu of shorting the yen directly would be the ProShares Ultrashort Yen (YCS).

• [By Matthew McCall]

  An ETF that takes advantage of a weak yen is the ProShares UltraShort Yen ETF (NYSE: YCS). The ETF returns two times the daily inverse of the value of the yen. For example, if the yen declines by 0.5 percent, theoretically YCS should be up 1.0 percent and vice versa. The leveraged aspect of the ETF makes it too risky for most investors and it should only be considered a short-term trading vehicle.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own For 2014: Matthews International Corporation(MATW)

Matthews International Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets memorialization products and brand solutions for the cemetery and funeral home industries in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company's Bronze segment offers cast bronze memorials and other memorialization products; and cast and etched architectural products, as well as builds mausoleums. Its Casket segment provides wood and metal caskets; and casket components, such as stamped metal parts, metal locking mechanisms for gasketed metal caskets, adjustable beds, interior panels, and plastic ornamental hardware, as well as provides assortment planning and merchandising, and display products to funeral service businesses. The company's Cremation segment offers cremation equipment; cremation caskets; equipment service and supplies; and cremation urns and memorial products, as well as offers environmental systems; crematory operations and management services; and cremation col umbarium and niche units. Its Graphics Imaging segment provides brand management, pre-press services, printing plates, gravure cylinders, steel bases, embossing tools, special purpose machinery, engineering and print process assistance, print production management, digital asset management, content management, and package design services. The company's Marking Products segment offers a range of marking and coding products and related consumables, and industrial automation products for identifying, tracking, and conveying consumer and industrial products, components, and packaging containers. Its Merchandising Solutions segment provides merchandising displays and systems, such as permanent and temporary displays, custom store fixtures, brand concept shops, interactive kiosks, custom packaging, and screen and digitally printed promotional signage; and offers design and engineering services. The company was founded in 1850 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  The first thing to realize about StoneMor is that arcane and flexible accounting rules make it important to dig beneath its GAAP earnings. Growth throughout the industry has been substantial, as up-and-coming Carriage Services (NYSE: CSV  ) continued to stay on pace for double-digit sales growth as it rapidly expands its reach. Even well-established player Matthews International (NASDAQ: MATW  ) managed to grow revenue by nearly 14% in the quarter that ended in March, although its earnings fell slightly from the year-ago quarter. Still, StoneMor's sales haven't been able to rise as quickly as its peers, with its previous report including just a 6% gain in revenue.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own For 2014: Applied Micro Circuits Corporation(AMCC)

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, a semiconductor company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, sells, and supports integrated circuits for processing, transporting, and storing information. It offers physical layer products, which transmit and receive signals in a high-speed serial format, and convert high-speed serial formats to low-speed parallel formats and vice versa; framer and mapper products that transmit and receive signals to and from the physical layer in a parallel format are used in high-speed optical network infrastructure equipment; and embedded processor products for wireless infrastructure, wireless LAN, residential, datacenters, and enterprises. The company also offers packet processor ICs, which receive and transmit signals to and from the framing layer and perform the processing of packet and cell headers; and cell switching products that include packet routing switch fabric devices and queuing managers; and printed circuit boar d assemblies to OEMs. Its products are used in wireline and wireless communications equipment, such as wireless access points, wireless base stations, multi-function printers, enterprise and edge switches, blade servers, storage systems, gateways, core switches, routers, network attached storage, and transport platforms. The company offers its solutions for the enterprise, telecom, and consumer/small medium business markets primarily in the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Europe, and other Asian countries. Applied Micro Circuits Corporation was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Applied Micro Circuits (NASDAQ: AMCC) named Douglas T. Ahrens as its Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Applied Micro shares declined 2.40% to close at $12.63 yesterday.

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (NASDAQ: AMCC) also has a high single digit exposure to Cisco Systems. Applied Micro�� product portfolio and continued efforts to provide maximum consumer satisfaction have augmented its market position. The integrated offload engines and advanced PacketPro architecture offer quality service and security and performance to its customers. The consensus price target for the stock stands at $13.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own For 2014: EMC Insurance Group Inc. (EMCI)

EMC Insurance Group Inc., an insurance holding company, engages in property and casualty insurance, and reinsurance activities. It operates in two segments, Property and Casualty Insurance, and Reinsurance. The Property and Casualty Insurance segment writes commercial and personal lines of insurance with a focus on medium-sized commercial accounts. Its commercial lines of insurance products comprise automobile, property, workers� compensation, and liability, as well as other products that provide protection against burglary and theft loss, aircraft, marine, and other types of losses; and personal lines of insurance products include automobile, property, and liability. The Reinsurance segment provides reinsurance for other insurers and reinsurers. The company serves small to medium-sized businesses, institutions, and individual consumers. EMC Insurance Group Inc. sells its products through independent insurance agents. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered i n Des Moines, Iowa. EMC Insurance Group Inc. is a subsidiary of Employers Mutual Casualty Company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Caroline Bennett]

  EMC Insurance (NASDAQ: EMCI  ) this week declared plans to keep its quarterly dividend payout steady at $0.21 per share of common stock.