Top 5 Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bad news, Amazon fans: The site is making it a little harder to score free shipping. For the first time in over a decade, Amazon (AMZN) is raising the minimum purchase necessary to get your order shipped for free. The usual $25 threshold for free "Super Saver" shipping is going up to $35, effective immediately. "Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping has changed to $35," the company said in a brief announcement on its site. "This is the first time in more than a decade that Amazon has altered the minimum order for free shipping in the US. During that time, we have expanded free shipping selection by millions of items across all 40 product categories." Luke Knowles of FreeShipping.org told us he was surprised by the move, noting that it's difficult to raise a free-shipping threshold once customers have gotten used to it. "I guess it's probably just that they're not making enough money," he says. "They think they've already got the customer locked in to shopping with them."

10 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Buy Right Now: ALJ Regional Holdings Inc (ALJJ)

ALJ Regional Holdings, Inc. (ALJ), incorporated on June 22, 1999, operates through its majority-owned subsidiary, KES Acquisition Company (KES), which owns and operates a steel mini-mill near Ashland, Kentucky (the Mill). As a mini-mill producer of bar flats, the Company recycles steel from scrap, a process designed to result in lower production costs than those of integrated steel mills, which produce steel by processing iron ore and other raw materials in blast furnaces. Bar flats are produced to a variety of specifications and fall primarily into two general quality levels: merchant bar quality steel bar flats (MBQ Bar Flats) for generic types of applications, and special bar quality steel bar flats (SBQ Bar Flats), where more precise customer specifications require the use of various alloys, customized equipment and special production procedures. In October 2013, ALJ Regional Holdings, Inc. announced that it has acquired Faneuil, Inc. Effective April 16, 2014, ALJ Regional Holdings Inc acquired Floors-N-More LLC.

The Mill manufactures over 2,600 different bar flat items, which are sold to volume niche markets, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), cold drawn bar converters, steel service centers and the leaf-spring suspension market for light and heavy-duty trucks, mini-vans and utility vehicles. The Mill was specifically designed to manufacture wider and thicker bar flats, up to three inches in thickness and 12 inches in width, that are required by these markets. In addition, the Mill employs a variety of specially designed equipment, which is necessary to manufacture SBQ Bar Flats to the specifications of the Mill�� customers. Pursuant to a Management Services Agreement (the Management Agreement) with Pinnacle Steel, LLC (Pinnacle), the operations of the Mill are managed by Pinnacle.

The Mill recycles steel by melting steel scrap in a 50-ton electric arc furnace. The molten steel is then taken to the ladle metallurgy facility where a variety of alloys are! added to make different grades of steel in accordance with customer specifications. The refined molten steel is then poured into a continuous caster to produce continuous strands of steel with cross-sectional dimensions ranging from approximately 20 to 72 square inches. The Mill can utilize up to four continuous strands in producing certain sizes. The strands are cut to produce billets of specified length which are reheated to approximately 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit and fed through a series of roll stands to reduce their size and form them into steel bar sections. These sections emerge from the rolling mill, are uniformly cooled on a cooling bed, and are cut to lengths specified by the customer. The cut bar flats are stacked into bundles ready for shipment.

The production capacity of the Mill for finished products is approximately 200,000 short-tons per year. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009 (fiscal 2009), the Mill had production capacity of 200,000 tons and sold 125,866 tons of finished goods, or 63% of its rolling capacity. ALJ transports its products by common carrier, generally shipping by truck and by rail. The Mill has railroad sidings at its facilities.

The Company competes with Nucor Corporation, Gerdau Ameristeel, Gautier Steel, Steel Dynamics and Mittal Steel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By cody56]

  The performance for the third quarter was driven the the partnerships largest holdings ALJ Regional Holdings (ALJJ) and Bank of America (BAC). In the letter the partnership discusses its belief that its holdings have a high probability of outperformance.

Top 5 Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: The Advisory Board Company(ABCO)

The Advisory Board Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of best practices research and analysis, business intelligence and software tools, and management and advisory services primarily in the United States. The company offers various programs and services, including best practices research services that focus on identifying best-demonstrated management practices, critiquing widely-followed but ineffective practices, and analyzing emerging trends in the health care and education industries; business intelligence and software tools, which allow members to pair their own operational data with the best practices insights; and management and advisory services programs for assisting member institutions to adopt and implement best practices to enhance performance. As of June 30, 2011, it provided 51 distinct membership programs to hospitals, health systems, colleges, universities, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, health care insurers, medical de vice and supply companies, and other educational institutions. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Advisory Board (Nasdaq: ABCO  ) is expected to report Q4 earnings on May 9. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Advisory Board's revenues will grow 17.4% and EPS will grow 21.7%.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Krishna and Krauklis note that Buffalo Wild Wings, Nextera Energy (NEP), Rexnord Corp (RXN), and The Advisory Board (ABCO) should benefit from recent acquisitions that should boost revenue growth, while�Buffalo Wild Wings and Cavium (CAVM) should see improvements thanks to the adoption of new technology that will help boost margins. Terex, The Advisory Board, and�Rexnord should get a boost from cost cutting, Krishna and Krauklis say.

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  What: Shares of The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ: ABCO  ) were up as much as 12% today, after the consulting firm beat top and bottom-line estimates in its quarterly report.

Top 5 Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: Interactive Intelligence Inc.(ININ)

Interactive Intelligence, Inc. provides software application suites for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) business communications to enterprises in the United States and internationally. The company offers software products and services for contact center, enterprise IP telephony, multichannel contact management, and business process automation. Its solutions include Interactive Intelligence Customer Interaction Center that provides contact centers and enterprises a single platform and a pre-integrated all-in-one application solution for IP telephony, including phone calls, faxes, e-mails, and Web interactions; Interactive Intelligence Customer Interaction Center for the Enterprise, an IP PBX phone and communications system for SIP-supported VoIP for mid-sized and larger enterprises, as well as offers real-time presence management and remote access with unified messaging, IVR and interaction client integrations for Microsoft applications; Interaction Process Automation t hat allows an organization to capture, prioritize, route, escalate, and track each step in a work process; and Interaction Content Management solution. The company also provides professional, managed, education, and support services. Its solutions are used by businesses and organizations that employ remote and mobile workers in teleservices, financial services, insurance, higher education, utilities, healthcare, retail, technology, government, and business services industries. The company distributes its products through partners and direct arrangements with end-user customers. Interactive Intelligence, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Interactive Intelligence Group (NASDAQ: ININ) shares rose 11.64% to $53.25. The volume of Interactive Intelligence shares traded was 874% higher than normal. Interactive Intelligence posted a narrower-than expected net loss on a 15% rise in Q3 revenue.

Top 5 Shipping Stocks To Buy Right Now: TAL International Group Inc.(TAL)

TAL International Group, Inc. engages in the lease of intermodal containers and chassis. It operates in two segments, Equipment Leasing and Equipment Trading. The Equipment Leasing segment involves in the acquisition, lease, re-lease, and sale of various intermodal transportation equipment, such as dry freight containers, which are used for general cargo, including manufactured component parts, consumer staples, electronics, and apparel; refrigerated containers that are used for perishable items, such as fresh and frozen foods; and special containers, which are used for heavy and oversized cargo, such as marble slabs, building products, and machinery. It also leases chassis, which are used for the transportation of containers and tank containers that are used to transport bulk liquid products, such as chemicals, as well as finances port equipment, which includes container cranes, reach stackers, and other related equipment. The Equipment Trading segment purchases container s from shipping line customers and other sellers of containers, and resells these containers to container traders and users of containers for storage or one-way shipment. As of December 31, 2009, it had a fleet of 701,946 containers and chassis, including 31,137 containers under management for third parties, representing 1,139,523 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, freight container lessor TAL International (NYSE: TAL  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.