Top 10 Promising Companies To Watch In Right Now

It's entirely possible to pay less than $20 for smartphone service, but trade-offs are required.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Over the past few years, a large crop of cell phone companies have popped up promising far cheaper rates than the likes of AT&T and Verizon. There are pros and cons to their plans, but they do stay true to their word: They really are much cheaper.

There are no shortage of these companies. Ting, RingPlus, Zact, Republic Wireless, FreedomPop, Boost Mobile, H20, Net10 ... the list goes on.

While each has its own nuances in pricing and phones, they all function in the same fundamental way. Prices can go as low as $0 a month - which FreedomPop promises - and can jump as high as $60 a month if you're in search of a completely unlimited plan that offers 4G (see: H20 Wireless).

5 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Own For 2015: Select Sector Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF)

Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Financial Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index (the Index). The Index includes financial service firms with diversified business lines ranging from investment management to commercial and investment banking.

The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing investment approach to invest in a portfolio of stocks that seek to replicate the Index. The Fund�� investment advisor is SSgA Funds Management, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Financial stocks are taking the brunt of the damage this morning. The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) has dropped 1.1% to $129.83 at 9:38 a.m., making it the biggest loser among sector ETFs. Visa (V) and American Express (AXP) have dropped 1.8% and 1.7%, to lead the Dow lower.

• [By Christina Rexrode]

  More broadly, the Financial Select Sector SPDR fund (XLF) �fell 0.3%.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Watch In Right Now: Sands China Ltd (SCHYF)

Sands China Ltd. (Sands China) is an investment holding company. The Company, along with its subsidiaries, is engaged in the development and operation of integrated resorts in Macao, which contain not only gaming areas, but also meeting space, convention and exhibition halls, retail and dining areas and entertainment venues. The Company operates in five segments: The Venetian Macao, Sands Macao, The Plaza Macao, Sands Cotai Central and ferry and other operations. The Venetian Macao, the Plaza Macao and Other developments derive their revenue primarily from casino, hotel, food and beverage, mall, convention, retail and others sources. Ferry and other operations derive their revenue from the sale of ferry tickets for transportation between Hong Kong and Macau. As of December 31, 2011, its properties included 3,554 hotel rooms and suites, 74 restaurants, 1.2 million square feet of retail, 1.2 million square feet of meeting space, two permanent theaters, a 15,000-seat arena and the casino. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MARKETWATCH]

  HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong stocks sold off early Thursday after the Federal Reserve decided to further taper stimulus, and after a final reading of China's manufacturing PMI contracted. The Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI) sank 1.5% to 21,815.04 in holiday-shortened trading. Tech stocks retreated, as Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd. (HK:992) (LNVGF) dropped 5.3%, failing to get a lift from news that it plans to acquire the Motorola handset business from Google Inc. (GOOG) for $2.91 billion as Lenovo aims for a bigger presence in the U.S. market. Software developer Kingsoft Corp. (HK:3888) (KSFTF) fell 1.9% and Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. (HK:700) (TCTZF) dropped 1.5%. Casino stocks also declined. Sands China Ltds. (HK:1928) (SCHYF) , the Hong Kong-listed unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) , slipped 0.2%, despite financial results that showed Sands China's net income increased 40% year-on-year to $467 million in the fourth quarter. Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (HK:6883) (MPEL) slumped 3.2%, and both Wynn Macau Ltd. (HK:1128) (WYNMF) and MGM China Holdings Ltd. (HK:2282)

Top 10 Promising Companies To Watch In Right Now: Endeavour Silver Corporation(EXK)

Endeavour Silver Corp., a mid-cap silver mining company, focuses on the growth of its silver production, reserves, and resources in Mexico and Chile. It principally holds interests in two producing silver mines in Mexico, including the Guanacevi mine, located in Durango State; and the Guanajuato mine located in Guanajuato State. Endeavour Silver Corp. was formerly known as Endeavour Gold Corp. and changed its name on September 14, 2004. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.27 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in energy sector included Endeavour Silver (NYSE: EXK), with shares up 4.3 percent, and McEwen Mining (NYSE: MUX), with shares up 4.4 percent.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Yet silver miners are producing record amounts of the metal. Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE  ) said that silver production jumped 21% in the second quarter�to 4.6 million ounces, with full-year production still anticipated to hit 18 million-19.5 million ounces, while Endeavor Silver (NYSE: EXK  ) hit new records as production surged 48% to 1.5 million ounces.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Watch In Right Now: Safety Insurance Group Inc.(SAFT)

Safety Insurance Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides private passenger automobile insurance products primarily in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The company?s private passenger automobile policies offer coverage for bodily injury and property damage to others, no-fault personal injury coverage for the insured/insured?s car occupants, and physical damage coverage for an insured?s own vehicle for collision or other perils. It also provides commercial automobile policies that offer insurance for commercial vehicles used for business purposes, including private passenger-type vehicles, trucks, tractors and trailers, insure individual vehicles, and commercial fleets; and homeowners policies, which provide coverage for losses to a dwelling and its contents from various perils, and coverage for liability to others arising from ownership or occupancy. It writes policies on homes, condominiums, and apartments. In addition, the company offers business owners policie s that cover apartments and residential condominiums, limited cooking restaurants, office condominiums, processing and services businesses, special trade contractors, and wholesaling businesses. Further, it provides commercial package policies, which offer property, general liability, crime, and inland marine insurance for business enterprises; personal umbrella policies that provide personal excess liability coverage over and above the limits of individual automobile, watercraft, and homeowner?s insurance policies; and commercial umbrella policies to clients for whom the company underwrites commercial automobile and business owner policies. Additionally, the company underwrites dwelling fire insurance, inland marine coverage, and watercraft coverage. Safety Insurance Group, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Auto sales are booming and that�� good news for large cap auto insurer�the Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) along with small cap auto insurers Safety Insurance Group, Inc (NASDAQ: SAFT) and�Mercury General Corporation (NYSE: MCY) as they offer income to yield hungry investors as well as income in the form of dividends. Specifically, a Yahoo! Autos blog recently noted that last month, automakers sold 1.5 million new vehicles for the highest rate in years with�most industry forecasters expecting sales to�return to the level they hit before the 2008 recession of 16 million vehicles a year. The blog post then went on to note the three forces driving auto sales:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Safety Insurance (NASDAQ: SAFT  ) , also impressive among high dividend stocks, is a rather boring company that's good at what it does�-- offering auto insurance, primarily in New England. Recently yielding 4.7%, its dividend has grown by 8.5% annually over the past five years and 24% annually over the past decade. (Its last hike, last year, was 20%.) Its payout ratio is 67%, which is not too worrisome. Its forward P/E ratio of 11 compares favorably with the five-year average near 18, and its PEG ratio is an appealing 0.70, as well.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Watch In Right Now: First Industrial Realty Trust Inc (FR)

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company is a self-administered and fully integrated real estate company, which owns, manages, acquires, sells, develops and redevelops industrial real estate. It is engaged in the acquisition of individual properties, as well as multi-property portfolios. As of December 31, 2011, its in-service portfolio consisted of 354 light industrial properties, 113 R&D/flex properties, 159 bulk warehouse properties, 105 regional warehouse properties, and eight manufacturing properties containing approximately 68.6 million square feet of gross leasable area (GLA) located in 26 states in the United States and one province in Canada. The Company�� in-service portfolio includes all properties other than developed, redeveloped and acquired properties that have not reached stabilized occupancy (generally defined as properties that are 90% leased).

As of December 31, 2011, it also owned noncontrolling equity interests in, and provided various services to, two joint ventures. The Company�� interests in its properties and land parcels are held through partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Company, including the Operating Partnership, of which it is the sole general partner with an approximate 94.3% interests as of December 31, 2011. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company acquired one industrial property consisting of approximately 0.7 million square feet of GLA in connection with the purchase of the 85% interest in one property. The Company generates revenue primarily from rental income and tenant recoveries from long-term (generally three to six years) operating leases of its industrial properties. It also generates income from the sale of its properties.

As of December 31, 2011, the Non-Strategic Assets consisted of 133 industrial properties, including approximately 11.3 million square feet of GLA, and land parcels of approximatel! y 359 gross acres. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 739 in-service industrial properties containing approximately 66.3 million square feet of GLA. During 2011, the Company owned 739 in-service industrial properties containing an aggregate of approximately 66.3 million square feet of GLA in 26 states of the United States, and one province in Canada, with a diverse base of approximately 1,900 tenants engaged in a variety of businesses, including manufacturing, retail, wholesale. During 2011, the Company sold 36 industrial properties totaling approximately 2.9 million square feet of GLA and one land parcel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Industrial real estate owner�First Industrial� (NYSE: FR  ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.085 per share/unit, the same rate it paid last quarter when it reinstated its dividend after a four-year hiatus.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Watch In Right Now: Memorial Production Partners LP (MEMP)

Memorial Production Partners LP incorporated on April 4, 2011, is a limited partnership formed by Memorial Resource to own, acquire and exploit oil natural gas properties in North America. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� total estimated proved reserves were approximately 609 Billions of Cubic Feet Equivalent (Bcfe), of which approximately 62% were natural gas and 59% were classified as proved developed reserves. As of December 31, 2012, the Company produced from 1,671 gross (731 net) producing wells across its properties, with an average working interest of 44%. On April 1, 2012, it acquired oil and natural gas producing properties in East Texas from Memorial Resource Development LLC. In May 2012, it acquired oil and natural gas properties in East Texas and North Louisiana. Effective April 1, 2012, the Company acquired certain oil and natural gas properties in East Texas from Memorial Resource Development LLC. In October 2012, the Company acquired oil and natural gas properties in East Texas from Goodrich Petroleum Corporation. On December 12, 2012, the Company acquired oil and gas producing properties offshore Southern California from Rise Energy Partners, LP. In March 2013, the Company announced that it has closed its acquisition of certain oil and natural gas producing properties in East Texas and North Louisiana from its sponsor, Memorial Resource Development LLC. In September 2013, Memorial Production Partners LP closed two separate transactions to acquire certain oil and natural gas properties from third parties in East Texas and in the Rockies. In October 2013, the Company acquired oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin, East Texas, and the Rockies.

The Company�� properties are located in South and East Texas and consist of mature, legacy onshore oil and natural gas reservoirs. The Partnership Properties consist of operated working interests in producing and undeveloped leasehold acreage and in identified producing wells in South and East Texas, and non-ope! rated working interests in producing and undeveloped leasehold acreage. As of December 31, 2012, approximately 58% of its estimated proved reserves and approximately 53% of its average daily net production were located in the East Texas/North Louisiana region. Its East Texas/Louisiana properties include wells and properties located in Navarro, Anderson, Wood, Upshur, Gregg, Harrison, Rusk, Panola, Leon, Polk, Smith, Tyler and Shelby Counties, Texas and De Soto and Lincoln Parishes, Louisiana. Its East Texas/North Louisiana properties include properties in the Joaquin and Carthage fields in Panola and Shelby Counties, the Willow Springs field located in Gregg County, the East Henderson field located in Rusk County, and the Terryville field located in Lincoln Parish.

As of December 31, 2012, approximately 27% of its estimated proved reserves and approximately 35% of average daily net production were located in the South Texas region. Its South Texas properties include wells and properties in numerous natural gas weighted fields located in McMullen, Live Oak, Duval, Jim Hogg, Webb and Zapata Counties, Texas, including the NE Thompsonville, Laredo and East Seven Sisters fields. The Company�� South Texas properties contained 167 Bcfe of estimated net proved reserves as of December 31, 2012. The Company�� Beta properties, consist of a 51.75% working interest and a 35.03% average net revenue interest in three Pacific Outer Continental Shelf blocks (P-0300, P-0301 and P-0306); a 4.575% overriding royalty interest in the Beta unit; a 51.75% undivided interest in two wellbore production platforms with permanent drilling equipment systems and one production handling and processing platform, and a 51.75% controlling equity interest in a 17.5-mile pipeline and an onshore tankage and metering facility. The Company�� Beta properties include a 51.75% undivided interest in Ellen and Eureka platforms. The Beta properties include a controlling interest in the San Pedro Bay Pipeline Company, which owns a! nd operat! es a 16-inch diameter oil pipeline.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  The second, and riskier, option is to buy MLPs engaged in natural gas production. While these tend to have some portion of their output hedged against sharp price fluctuations, they retain much more exposure to the ups and downs of natural gas prices than the midstream partnerships, which function as toll collectors.�EV Energy Partners�(NASDAQ: EVEP),�Atlas Resource Partners�(NYSE: ARP),�BreitBurn Energy Partners�(NASDAQ: BBEP) and�Memorial Production Partners�(NASDAQ: MEMP) are some of the upstream (oil and gas production) partnerships in the US shale plays.

Top 10 Promising Companies To Watch In Right Now: Katy Industries Inc (KATY)

Katy Industries, Inc. (Katy) is a manufacturer, importer and distributor of commercial cleaning and storage products. The Company�� commercial cleaning products are sold primarily to janitorial/sanitary and foodservice distributors that supply end users, such as restaurants, hotels, healthcare facilities and schools. The Company�� storage products are primarily sold through home improvement and mass market retail outlets. Continental Commercial Products, LLC (CCP) is its wholly owned subsidiary and includes as divisions all of its business units. The Company�� business units are Continental, Contico, Container, Gemtex, Glit and Wilen. On October 4, 2011, the Company sold all assets and certain liabilities related to the DISCO division of CCP to DISCO Acquisition Corp. In February 2014, Katy Industries Inc completed the acquisition of Fort Wayne Plastics, Inc.

The Continental business unit is a plastics manufacturer and an importer and distributor of products for the commercial janitorial/sanitary maintenance, industrial and food service markets. Continental products include commercial waste receptacles, buckets, mop wringers, janitorial carts, and other products designed for commercial cleaning and food service. Continental products are sold under the brand names, such as Continental, Kleen Aire, Huskee, SuperKan, King Kan, Unibody, Tilt-N-Wheel, Wall Hugger, Collossus, Corner��Round, Rountop, Swingline, Kleen Tech and Structo Tuff.

The Contico business unit is a plastics manufacturer and distributor of home and tool storage products, sold primarily through home improvement and mass market retail outlets. Contico products include plastic home storage units, such as domestic storage containers, tool boxes, shelving and hard plastic gun cases and are sold under the brand names Contico and Tuffbin. Contico is a registered trademark used under license from Contico Manufacturing Limited.

The Container business unit is a plastics manufacturer and distributor ! of industrial storage drums and pails for commercial and industrial use. Products are sold under the Contico and Contico Container brand names.

The Gemtex business unit is a manufacturer and distributor of resin fiber disks and other coated abrasives for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), automotive, industrial and home improvement markets. Gemtex products are sold under the brand names Trim-Kut and Grind R.

The Glit business unit is a manufacturer and distributor of non-woven abrasive products for commercial and industrial use and also supplies materials to various OEMs. Glit non-woven products include floor maintenance pads, hand pads, scouring pads, specialty abrasives for cleaning and finishing, growth medium and roof ventilation products. These products are sold primarily in the commercial sanitary maintenance, food service, industrial and construction markets under the brand names, such as Glit, Kleenfast, Glit/Microtron, Fiber Naturals, Blue Ice, Brillo, Cyclone, Cyclone D, Sponge Pro, Wipe Clean Pro, Joey, Jackeroo, Buckaroo, Cocopad, Safire and WalnutPad. Brillo is a registered trademark used under license from Armaly Brands, Inc. and BAB-O is a registered trademark used under license from Fitzpatrick Bros., Inc.

The Wilen business unit is a manufacturer, importer and distributor of professional cleaning products that include mops, brooms, brushes and plastic cleaning accessories. Wilen products are sold primarily through commercial sanitary maintenance, industrial and food service markets, with some products sold through consumer retail outlets. Products are sold under the brand names, such as Wilen, Wax-o-matic, Rototech, ErgoWorx and Derma-Tek.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Mydlo]

  The guru, Mario Gabelli, purchased 724,729 shares of Katy Industries (KATY). According to the 13D filed with the SEC on March 21, 2014, Gabelli is deemed to have beneficial ownership of the securities owned by Gabelli Funds, GAMCO, Teton Advisors and MJG Associates. The total amount of shares owned is 1,711,045, representing 21.52% of the shares outstanding. Katy engages in the manufacture, import and distribution of commercial cleaning and storage products for commercial janitorial/sanitary maintenance, industrial, foodservice, mass merchant retail and home improvement markets in the U.S., Canada and Europe.