10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Buy Right Now

The failure of a life insurance policy is bad enough. But the situation instantly goes from bad to worse if there are loans against the policy — a hefty tax bill could be waiting in the wings.

In-force life insurance policies of all varieties that were written during the 1980s and 1990s are facing pressure due to current low interest rates. The problem lies in the fact that the policies were written with optimistic interest rate assumptions. For universal life policies, clients expected to receive an attractive credited interest rate on their cash value — a rate high enough that would sufficiently cover the policy's costs. For whole life policies, dividends credited to the cash value were expected to foot expenses.

Today's low rates make it hard for insurers to continue being so generous, so clients now are expected to chip in even more money to foot the bill for keeping the policy in force — or else surrender the policy. Alternatively, clients can cut death benefits or try to sell the policy to a buyer on the secondary market.

Top 10 Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now: ProShares Short QQQ (PSQ)

ProShares Short QQQ is focused on daily investment results that correspond to the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 Index. The NASDAQ-100 Index represents non-financial domestic and international issues listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market. The Fund takes positions in financial instruments (including derivatives) that in combination should have similar daily return characteristics as the inverse of the NASDAQ-100 Index. ProShares Short QQQ will not directly sell short the equity securities of issuers contained in the NASDAQ-100 Index. The Fund will concentrates its investments in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent as the Index is so concentrated. ProShare Advisors LLC serves as the investment advisor to the Fund. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  It's the ProShares Short QQQ (NYSE: PSQ). The good thing about this type of inverse ETF is that it pays you when the Nasdaq drops roughly on a 1-to-1 basis. For every percentage point the index goes down, PSQ rises by that amount.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Buy Right Now: Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation(PGC)

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for Peapack-Gladstone Bank that provides financial, trust, and investment services to individuals and small businesses in New Jersey. The company?s deposit products include checking and savings accounts, money market and interest-bearing checking accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises residential and construction mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and other second mortgage loans, as well as commercial loans, including working capital lines of credit, term loans for fixed asset acquisitions, commercial mortgages, and other forms of asset-based financing. The company also provides foreign and domestic travelers? checks, cashier?s checks, wire transfers, Internet banking, and automated teller machine services. In addition, it offers personal investment management, personal trust administration, estate settlement, income tax, custodial, a nd other financial planning services. Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation provides its services through 23 full-service banking offices, including 10 branches in Somerset County, 6 in Morris County, 4 in Hunterdon County, 1 in Middlesex County, and 2 in Union County. The company was founded in 1921 and is based in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  Since that prediction, Honeywell's begun to branch out in unexpected ways, as it's now working with utilities such as PG&E (NASDAQ: PGC  ) to provide residential energy-management platforms. The "smart grid" is growing in fits and starts, but it's one of the more optimistic corners of tomorrow's economy, so it's good for Honeywell investors to see the company dipping a toe in these waters.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Buy Right Now: 3M Company(MMM)

3M Company, together with subsidiaries, operates as a diversified technology company worldwide. The company?s Industrial and Transportation segment offers tapes, coated and non-woven abrasives, adhesives, specialty materials, filtration products, energy control products, closure systems for personal hygiene products, acoustic systems products, and components and products that are used in the manufacture, repair, and maintenance of automotive, marine, aircraft, and specialty vehicles. Its Health Care segment provides medical and surgical supplies, skin health and infection prevention products, inhalation and transdermal drug delivery systems, dental and orthodontic products, health information systems, and food safety products. The company?s Display and Graphics offers optical film solutions for LCD electronic displays; computer screen filters; reflective sheeting for transportation safety; commercial graphics sheeting and systems; and mobile interactive solutions, includin g mobile display technology, visual systems products, and computer privacy filters. The company?s Consumer and Office segment provides office supply products, stationery products, construction and home improvement products, home care products, protective material products, certain consumer retail personal safety products, and consumer health care products. Its Safety, Security and Protection Services segment offers personal protection products, safety and security products, cleaning and protection products for commercial establishments, track and trace solutions, and roofing granules for asphalt shingles. The company?s Electro and Communications segment provides packaging and interconnection devices; fluids that are used in the manufacture of computer chips, and for cooling electronics and lubricating computer hard disk drives; high-temperature and display tapes; insulating materials, including tapes and resins; and related items. The company was founded in 1902 and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Barclays’ Scott Davis and team believe it might be, and for evidence they look at�3M (MMM), Emerson Electric (EMR), Rockwell Automation (ROK), and MSC Industrial Direct (MSM). They write:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  3M (NYSE: MMM  ) has gained 33% over the past year, when including dividends, and for the company to continue that strong performance investors will expect more growth than we've seen recently. Organic growth was just 2.9% in the first quarter, which isn't impressive, but the good news is that the company is investing more in R&D to fuel growth. Motley Fool contributor Travis Hoium covers what investors should be watching for regarding 3M's stock.�

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Buy Right Now: China TechFaith Wireless Communication Technology Limited(CNTF)

China Techfaith Wireless Communication Technology Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an original developed products provider that is focused on the original design and sale of mobile phones in the People's Republic of China and internationally. Its original developed products include multimedia phones, and dual mode dual card handsets of multiple wireless technology combinations; Windows-based smartphones and Pocket PC phones; and handsets with interactive online gaming and professional game terminals with phone functionality. The company also provides gaming content to the motion, mobile, and online PC gaming markets through its Web sites. In addition, it develops Middleware Application MMI/UI software packages on 2G/2.5G, 3G, and 3.5G communication technologies. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  When traders think of exciting story stocks, China Techfaith Wireless Comm. Tech. Ltd (NASDAQ:CNTF) probably doesn't show up on anybody's list. The maker of mobile handsets doesn't exactly have the same kind of market share that, say an Apple (AAPL) or a Samsung might enjoy, and probably won't anytime soon. Yet, there's something about CNTF that's compelling enough to merit taking a shot on heading into 2014.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Buy Right Now: EnerNOC Inc (ENOC)

EnerNOC, Inc. (EnerNOC), incorporated on June 5, 2003, is a provider of energy management applications, services and products for the smart grid, which include demand response, data-driven energy efficiency, and energy price and risk management applications, services and products. The Company�� energy management applications, services and products enable energy management strategies for commercial, institutional and industrial end-users of energy, which it refers to as its C&I customers, and its electric power grid operator and utility customers by reducing real-time demand for electricity, increasing energy efficiency and improving energy supply transparency. The Company�� energy management applications, services and products include its EnerNOC EfficiencySMART and SupplySMART applications and services, and certain wireless energy management products.

DemandSMART

The Company�� demand response capacity provides an alternative to building conventional supply-side resources, such as natural gas-fired peaking power plants, to meet periods of peak electricity demand. The Company is in the development, implementation and broader adoption of technology-enabled demand response services for the smart grid. The Company�� DemandSMART application enables us to send control signals to, and receive bi-directional communications from, an Internet-enabled network of dispersed C&I customer sites in order to initiate, monitor and complete demand response activity. The Company�� technology and operational processes have the ability to automate demand response and simplify C&I customer participation by remotely reducing electricity usage in a matter of minutes, or send curtailment instructions to its C&I customers to be manually implemented on site. The devices that it installs at its C&I customer sites transmit to us through the cellular network and Internet near real-time electrical consumption data on a 1-minute, 5-minute, 15-minute or hourly basis. The Company�� DemandSMART app! lication analyzes the data from individual sites and aggregates data for specific regions. When a demand response event occurs, its network operations center (NOC) automatically processes the notification coming from the electric power grid operator or utility. The Company�� NOC operators then begin activating procedures to curtail demand from the grid at its C&I customer sites.

The Company provides its demand response services to electric power grid operators and utilities under long-term contracts and pursuant to open market bidding programs. The Company�� long-term contracts generally have terms of 3-10 years and predetermined capacity commitment and payment levels. Within these contracts and open market programs, it offers the services to address the needs of electric power grid operators and utilities: reliability-based demand response, price-based demand response, and short-term reserve resources referred to in the electric power industry as ancillary services.

EfficiencySMART

EfficiencySMART is the Company�� data-driven energy efficiency suite that includes energy efficiency planning, audits, assessments, commissioning and retro-commissioning authority services, and a cloud-based energy analytics application used for managing energy across a C&I customer�� portfolio of sites. The cloud-based energy analytics application also includes the ability to integrate with a C&I customer�� existing energy management system, provide utility bill management and tools for measurement, tracking, analysis, reporting and management of greenhouse gas emissions. The Company offers the EfficiencySMART applications and services, which include EfficiencySMART Plan, EfficiencySMART Audit, EfficiencySMART Assessment, EfficiencySMART Commissioning and EfficiencySMART Insight.

EfficiencySMART Plan provides its C&I customers with a multi-year profile of projected energy demand, consumption and costs, including a lifecycle financial analysis of potential energy! strategi! es and a roadmap for implementation. EfficiencySMART Audit provides its C&I customers with energy efficiency recommendations in compliance with the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning (ASHRAE) standards for conditioned space, and tactical energy surveys for industrial facilities. EfficiencySMART Assessment provides detailed recommendations for energy savings, demand reductions, reductions in energy intensity through operation and maintenance activities, equipment retrofits, behavioral changes, or the use of new technologies. EfficiencySMART Commissioning includes traditional and/or new building commissioning services, such as investigation, testing and verification of energy efficiency strategies, and data analytics over a specified period of time. EfficiencySMART Insight provides its large, multi-site C&I customers with a Software-as-a-Service enterprise energy management solution that provides persistent commissioning with the ability to visualize near real-time energy usage, identify savings opportunities, and prioritize energy-related investments across a portfolio of meters and buildings across a C&I customer�� organization.

SupplySMART

SupplySMART is the Company�� energy price and risk management application that provides its C&I customers located in restructured or deregulated markets throughout the United States with the ability to more effectively manage the energy supplier selection process, including energy supply product procurement and implementation. SupplySMART provides a framework for developing and implementing risk management strategies and executing purchasing strategies that provides maximum price transparency and structural savings on an ongoing basis for its C&I customers.

Technology and Operations

The Company�� technology has been developed provides a platform on which to design, customize, and implement its energy management applications, services and products. The Company�� technology infrast! ructure i! s built on Linux, Java and Oracle, and supports open Web services architecture. The Company�� enterprise energy management application platform enables the Company to efficiently scale its DemandSMART, EfficiencySMART, and SupplySMART applications and services, as well as certain wireless energy management products, in new geographic regions and rapidly grow the number of C&I customers in its network. The Company�� energy management application platform leverages Web services and wireless technologies that connect applications directly with other applications through a form of loose coupling, which allows connections to be established across applications without customization.

Network Operations Center

The Company�� technology enables its NOC to automatically respond to signals sent by electric power grid operators and utilities to deliver demand reductions within targeted geographic regions. The Company can customize its technology to receive and interpret many types of dispatch signals sent directly from an electric power grid operator or utility customer to its NOC. Following the receipt of such a signal, its NOC automatically notifies specified C&I customer personnel of the demand response event. After relaying this notification to its C&I customers, it initiate processes that reduce their electricity consumption from the electric power grid. These processes may include dimming lights, shifting equipment to power save mode, adjusting heating and cooling set points and activating a back-up generator. Demand reduction is monitored remotely with near real-time data feeds, the results of which are displayed in its NOC through various data presentment screens.

Energy Management Platform

The Company�� energy management platform is consists of its cloud-based enterprise software platform used for DemandSMART, EfficiencySMART and SupplySMART, as well as wireless energy management products and technology, and is the underlying system that runs its ! NOC. It u! tilizes a modular Web services architecture that is designed to allow application modules to be easily integrated into the platform. The Company use its energy management platform to measure, manage, benchmark and optimize C&I customers��energy consumption and facility operations. The Company use this data to help C&I customers analyze consumption patterns, forecast demand, measure real-time performance during demand response events, continuously monitor building management equipment to optimize system operation, model rates and tariffs and create energy scorecards to benchmark similar facilities. In addition, its energy management application platform has the ability to track its C&I customers��greenhouse gas emissions by mapping their energy consumption with the fuel mix used for generation in their location, such as the proportion of coal, nuclear, natural gas, fuel oil and other sources used.

The EnerNOC Site Server

The Company designs and installs a small device, called an EnerNOC Site Server, or ESS, at each C&I customer site to collect and communicate to its platform near real-time electricity consumption data and, in certain cases, enable remote control of a C&I customer�� electricity consumption. The ESS communicates to its NOC through the C&I customer�� LAN or secure Internet connection. The ESS is an open, integrated system consisting of a central hardware device residing inside a standard electrical box. The ESS allows its C&I customers to, among other things, respond quickly and completely to instructions from us to reduce electricity consumption. The Company also supports OpenADR protocol on its most recent ESS devices, an emerging standard for automated demand response communications.

The Company competes with Comverge, Inc., Exelon Corporation, Energy Curtailment Specialists and Hess, Inc., as well as energy technology providers Lucid Design Group, Inc., Building IQ, SCIEnergy, Inc. and McKinstry Co., LLC.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alyce Lomax]

  Apparently EnerNOC's (NASDAQ: ENOC  ) first-quarter results didn't do much for investors. The stock sagged after it reported its financial results several days ago. Still, trader-centric investors are likely missing a lot about this disruptive company's story and long-term prognosis.�

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Next Monday, EnerNOC (NASDAQ: ENOC  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Buy Right Now: Amalgamated Gold and Silver Inc (BCHS)

Amalgamated Gold & Silver Inc., formerly Balmoral FX Systems Inc, incorporated on November 13, 1992, is a development-stage company. The Company is a holding Company researching various opportunities for investment in gold and silver mining operations.

The Company is focused on gold and silver mining interests in the United States and Mexico. The Company has conducted or has attempted to conduct operations in several other industries and is concentrating all operations on the development.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap mining stocks Discovery Minerals Ltd (OTCMKTS: DSCR), Zinco Do Brasil Inc (OTCMKTS: ZNBR) and Amalgamated Gold and Silver Inc (OTCMKTS: BCHS) have been getting some extra attention lately as one stock surged last Friday while the other two are or have been in the past, the subject of paid promotions. It goes without saying though that small cap mining stocks tend to be riskier than your average stock. But do these three small cap mining stocks have what it takes to produce a mother lode for investors? Here is a deeper dig into all three:

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Buy Right Now: Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX)

Express Scripts Holding Company, incorporated in 2011, provides healthcare management and administration services on behalf of its clients, which include health maintenance organizations (HMOs), health insurers, third-party administrators, employers, union-sponsored benefit plans, workers compensation plans, and government health programs. The Company operates in two segments: Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) and Emerging Markets (EM). PBM services include network claims processing, home delivery services, patient care and direct specialty and fertility home delivery to patients, benefit plan design consultation, drug utilization review, formulary management, drug data analysis services, distribution of injectable drugs to patients homes and physicians offices, bio-pharma services, and fulfillment of prescriptions to low-income patients through manufacturer-sponsored patient assistance programs. EM segment provides distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to providers and clinics, healthcare account administration and implementation of consumer-directed healthcare solutions. In September 2013, it announced the acquisition of the SmartD Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (PDP).

On July 20, 2011, Express Scripts, Inc. (ESI) entered into a merger agreement (the Merger Agreement) with Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (Medco). During the year ended December 31, 2011, it reorganized its FreedomFP line of business from its EM segment into its PBM segment. On April 2, 2012, the Company completed the Merger Agreement, and after which ESI and Medco became the wholly owned subsidiaries of the Company. The Company�� customers include HMOs, health insurers, third-party administrators, employers, union-sponsored benefit plans, government health programs, office-based oncologists, renal dialysis clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, primary care physicians, retina specialists and others.

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, pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.