The benefits are obvious, but some risks are not widely appreciated. The Utilities Sector shows a disturbing trend for the 12 months ended May 2008. The Gas Utilities Industry has fared a little better than its peers during this period. The crude oil outlook is unclear. That is why opinion is divided on how gas prices may fare in future.

This small-capital stock from Fort Worth, TX has a clear location advantage. The home base is front and center of one of the most exciting natural gas fields in all of North America. The management has been sanguine in leveraging a spatial advantage fully. It has been pro-active in securing gathering and processing rights to top natural gas resources in its neighborhood.

Stock investors wary of how the markets have behaved during June 2008 will be relieved to know that this stock

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SourceForge Inc. (LNUX) has touched a 52-week low during the second week of trading in June 2008, and the CEO has just resigned. Earnings per Share are just 2 cents, and the Beta is 2.97. Is this the darkest spot in a market that is dull in the first place?

More than 30 million technologists will disagree. They visit web sites of this company from Mountain View, CA, and are nearly addicted to free systems and programs it offers. The Internet depends on networking, and this means that the company could be at a nadir only to start a rapid and sustained climb.

Corporate interests have prevented global participation in software development. Major information technology companies make money by keeping such networks under wraps. However, the nature of complex projects requires independent development. This company is a clear leader for such futuristic systems development.

Leading search engines have found ways to make windfall

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CorVel Corp (CRVL) is an independent provider of medical cost containment and managed care services. The company’s services are designed to manage the medical costs of workers’ compensation and other health care benefits primarily for coverage under group health and auto insurance policies. CorVel provides networks of preferred providers, claims administration, case management, utilization management, and medical bill review to more than 2,000 clients nationwide.

CorVel announced on June 10, 2008 record earnings per share of $0.44 for the 1st quarter of 2008 versus $0.37 in the 1st quarter last year. Revenues in the 1st quarter were $77 million, up from last year’s $70 million. The company’s introduction of full-service workers compensation solution, named Enterprise Comp, contributed greatly to the improvement in the company’s figures. Management expects the positive trends in the health care management industry to continue for the foreseeable future, which should bode well for the company.

CorVel’s specialty is

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The six months before June 2008 have shown business diversification in very favorable light for stocks. Innumerable portfolios have come to grief because of their over-dependencies on one or the other segment of the world economy. Almost all stock investors, whether by hindsight or foresight, must look at stocks of diversified companies to weather the current market conditions until the next upswing.

Capital, human, physical and intangible resources limit diversification. A management team may wish to enter a new field of activity, but lack the capabilities to compete profitably and in sustainable ways. A wide client base gives a corporation most of the benefits of diversification, without requiring such diverse resources.

This is the case of a small-capital member of the Electronic Instrumentation & Controls Industry from Quincy, MA. Horticulture, foods, mining, aerospace, and logistics are examples of the breadth of industries which this company serves. It makes power transmission and motion

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I am really gritting my teeth at this missed opportunity for Trina Solar (TSL) management to finally reward its shareholders... some of which have been sticking with (or around) them since last summer, only to be disappointed time after time. My long term thesis on this name has not changed, and I believe the 2nd half of the year will be explosive. It still trades at a huge discount to the group, which most likely is (a) management discount - a leadership team that loves to surprise us with new adventures that no one else in the group embarks upon - Wall Street however hates surprises and (b) potential dilutive equity offering to fund 2009 operations coming later in the year. While most people would be more concerned with (b), I am more concerned with (a). Last year they surprised the Street with a big annual ...

This small-capital company from Malibu, CA deals in toys. It has a penchant for classic brands, and this has taken the company away from pure fun to products such as writing instruments. It is a demonstrative member of the Recreational Products Industry. That is why you do not have to be invested in the stock to derive great pleasure from the endeavors of this corporation.

Recent financial performance has disappointed financial analysts with hearts of steel. Net income during the Most Recent Quarter has crashed from over $3 million a year ago to just $900,000. Litigation and other expenses have made deep inroads into bottom-line business performance.

Children, collectors, and the distribution chain still have many reasons to cheer. The company has launched a new line of dolls. New and exciting video games have reached advanced stages of development. Loyal customers eagerly await a gathering stream of good news on the new

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My latest column is up at RealMoney. It marks the last of a several part “wallflower” series on stocks with limited analyst coverage on Wall Street.

Standard Parking (STAN) is a leading national provider of parking facility management services. It provides on-site management services at multilevel and surface parking facilities for all major markets of the parking industry. Its properties span 2,100 locations, containing over one million parking spaces, in over 330 cities across the U.S. and Canada.

The company grows both by acquisitions and by winning new contracts. In the first quarter, Standard Parking completed the acquisition of Chicago’s GO Parking. Recent business wins include valet and self-parking services at the Trump International Hotel and Towers in Chicago and the parking operations at five facilities in Queens, New York, by the Greater Jamaica Development Corp.

Furthermore, because the company offers a wide range of services, it can often expand the business

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My latest column is up at RealMoney.

I think Rent-A-Center (RCII) can benefit from the slowdown in consumer spending and the tightening of credit standards.

If Rent-A-Center were to receive the same price-to-book multiple as Aaron Rents, it could trade above $28 per share today. While I don’t believe that will happen overnight, over the next five years Rent-A-Center could see high-single-digit earnings per share growth and also expand its price-to-book multiple to the 1.9 level. The combination of earnings growth and valuation expansion could generate annual returns averaging 15% or more.

Here’s how the company scores on the Stock Market Beat models:

Earnings momentum: Positive Earnings quality: Positive Price momentum: Neutral Free cash flow: Positive Return potential: Positive

Disclosure: At time of publication, William Trent has no financial position in the companies mentioned in this article.

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First, AIG - the huge insurer just blew a massive tire, announcing a $8 billion writeoff - and another capital raise, which again dilutes current shareholders and means earnings PER share is going to be punished for years to come. But really it's all good - whats $8 billion among friends - and it's all priced in (oops, not so much, down 8% after hours, but maybe by tomorrow morning after CNBC announces it's a good thing it will be up). What I want you to do now is close your eyes and imagine Uncle Ben B as a short order cook. He is now ringing that bell over his head and shouting over to the other minion cooks - "got a fresh order, let's get up some more billions of US pesos pronto, print 'er up!" More paper currency ...

If you overlay the natural gas stocks over the coal stocks, it's the identical pattern since last Thursday, only with about half the gains... still some very nice moves for 3 days of work. Since my natural gas stake (3 positions, about 6%) is smaller than coal I am not taking any profits here, but once again just remember this the next time the 'early cycle', 'it will all be fine' folks start clucking. Let's compare Fannie Mae (FNM) to Cimarex Energy (XEC) Now, in the most recent period people were so fearful of financials that any news saying they won't be bankrupt was CHEERED - huge writeoffs? Better than expected! Take the stock up!... equity dilution? At least it's not out of business! Take the stock up! - but at some point the longer this goes (and it won't reverse in a quarter or two like many would have you ...