"We're continuing to emphasize conventional energy, solar, shipping, agriculture, and commodities," says Harry Domash, who adds, "But one industry we've overlooked so far is coal."

In his Winning Investing, he explains, "This month, we're adding two coal industry picks. One, a short-term play to capture the action in hot coal mining stocks, and the other, a long-term dividend-paying investment."

"We've avoided coal primarily because environmentally speaking, coal is bad news. Coal is mostly used to generate electricity and to power steel plants. Crude oil prices are so high because supply can barely meet demand.

"Think about what would happen to oil prices if coal wasn't available. Due to increasing global demand, coal prices are moving up dramatically and it doesn't make sense for us to ignore that.

"For longer-term investors, we recommend Natural Resource Partners (NYSE: NRP), a master limited parternship. The MLP owns coal properties in the Appalachia, Illinois Basin, and the Western U.S. NRP leases its properties to mine operators.

Continue reading Double play on coal: For investors and speculators

Double play on coal: For investors and speculators originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"We think we've seen the worst and will likely see some improvement in the economy going forward," says growth stock specialist Harry Domash, editor of Winning Investing.

Among his buy recommendations, the advisor looks at two agriculture plays: Agrium (NYSE: AGU), a producer of fertilizers, and the diversified exchange-traded fund, PowerShares DB Commodity (ASE: DBC).

"Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Agrium is a major North American producer and marketer of fertilizers. Agrium operates plants in Canada, the U.S., and in Argentina. Its major product is nitrogen fertilizer but it also makes potash and phosphate products.

"Agrium sells to wholesalers and through more than 800 company-owned retail stores in the U.S., Canada, and South America. Its stores also sell seed and other farm supplies.

"Agrium just recently completed its acquisition of UAP Holding, which had operated 370 distribution and storage facilities North America. Everything related to agriculture is booming, and Agrium, not counting its UAP acquisition, is growing sales around 30% annually.

Continue reading 'Growth' expert focuses on agriculture and commodities

'Growth' expert focuses on agriculture and commodities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 22 May 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Although a slow-growing company, World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) offers a steady dividend close to 8%," says Harry Domash, editor of Winning Investing. Here's his "take down" on the stock.

"World Wrestling is the company behind the professional wrestling that you see on TV. It also produces live wrestling exhibitions worldwide, licenses its characters for merchandise and sells videos and DVDs showcasing its stars.

"WWE is a slow grower. Its yearly sales, currently running around $500 million, are only expected grow in the 5% to 10% range. However, WWE is very profitable, has plenty of cash in the bank, little
debt, and is generating more than $1 per share in excess cash annually.

"Even better, WWE seems eager to let its shareholders in on the action. In February, it hiked its quarterly dividend by 50% to $0.36 per share. We expect only modest share price appreciation. However, with a steady 8% or so dividend yield, WWE is a perfect holding for this turbulent market.

"WWE reported December quarter earnings of $0.30 per share, $0.13 above analysts' forecasts and 36% above year-ago. Sales rose 22% to $133 million. Buy to hold 6 to 12 months. Its next dividend payment -- $1.44 per share -- is expected in June for a yield of 7.9%."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

In the ring: World Wrestling (WWE) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Irish corporate tax rates are among the lowest in the world because the government tends to tax consumption rather than production," explains Dave Dyer, who poins ouot, "Irish corporations enjoy tax rates as low as 10%, and that has to be a competitive advantage in the global market."

In his The Dave Dyer Newsletter, he looks to one favorite Irish firm, Icon (NASDAQ: ICLR), a contract research organization (CROs) which conducts research required for clinical trials for pharmaceutical products.

Dyers notes, "The market for CROs is very strong right now because many extremely profitable drugs will be losing patent protection in the next few years and there is lots of pressure to find some replacements.

"ICON is one of the few CROs capable of providing services on a global basis. This gives them the advantage is of running clinical trials in multiple countries at once. Also, regulators actually prefer worldwide trials because they normally provide more ethnic diversity in the subject population."

Continue reading Luck of the Irish: An Icon (ICLR) in clinical testing

Luck of the Irish: An Icon (ICLR) in clinical testing originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The advisor explains, "j2 Global Communications provides telephone messaging and fax communications services in 40 countries via the Internet. Its brands include eFax, eVoice, jConnect and others. Subscribers are assigned a private telephone number that can receive unlimited incoming messages."

Via its services, he notes, subscribers receive faxes sent to their phone number via email. Voicemail customers, he adds, are notified by email when they receive a message, click on a link in the email to listen to the message through their computer speakers.

Domash explains, "j2 has added recently new services targeted to small businesses. j2 is growing sales in the mid-20% range, and we expect that growth rate to continue for the next two years. j2 is profitable, has no long-term debt, and is cash flow positive."

While its operations may seem mundane, he observes, you won't think its profitability and growth rate are boring. Indeed, he points out that j2 will report its June quarter results on August 6 and that analysts expect earnings of $0.35 per share, up 35% over year ago. He rates the stock a buy for a holding period of 12 to 24 months.

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com features the latest investment ideas and market commentary from the financial newsletter community.

J2 Global: Voicemail value originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.