Best Chemical Companies To Invest In 2014

Topping silver price news today is how the flight-to-safety trade is back on, as evidenced by recent moves in commodities.

Despite some profit taking Friday, silver prices rose roughly 5% this week and 1% last week. That helped the white metal log a sterling 21.3% gain for August and nearly 30% over the last nine weeks. �

Interest in silver, a safe-haven alternative asset, has been freshly stoked amid fears the United States and its allies will launch a military strike against Syria in retaliation for use of chemical weapons in its civil war.

Also giving silver prices a boost this week were bullish comments from industry experts on precious metals.

Here's the silver price news you can't miss:

Legendary commodities authority Jim Rogers told Reuters Tuesday "stocks are [going to] go down...commodities are [going to] go up." And it's not just Middle East tensions that have Rogers bothered...

Best Chemical Companies To Invest In 2014: BioAmber Inc (BIOA)

BioAmber Inc. (BioAmber), incorporated on October 15, 2008, is a chemical company. The Company manufactures its bio-succinic acid in a facility using a commercial scale 350,000 liter fermenter in Pomacle, France. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company produced 487,000 pounds, or 221 metric tons, of bio-succinic acid at this facility. Succinic acid is used to manufacture a range of products used every day, including plastics, food additives and personal care products, and can also be used as a building block for a range of derivative chemicals. The Company produces and sells bio-succinic acid using its process for petroleum-derived succinic acid. It also has additional bio-based products under development with partners including bio-succinic acid derivatives, such as BDO, and applications of bio-succinic acid, such as plasticizers, polyurethanes and de-icing solutions. During 2011, the Company created a wholly owned subsidiary, BioAmber International, S.a.r.l.

The Company develops bio-succinic acid for a range of markets, such as personal care products and food additives, plasticizers, polyurethanes, resins and coatings. The applications for bio-succinic acid include plasticizers, polyurethanes, personal care products, de-icing solutions, resins and coatings, food additives, lubricants and other products. Plasticizers are organic esters that are primarily used to make flexible polyvinyl chloride. Adipic acid is used in polyester polyols, which are used to make polyurethanes. Polyurethanes are used in, among other things, soles for footwear, molded foams for automotive applications, such as car seats and arm rests, and non-foam applications such as coatings, adhesives and sealants. Other applications of bio-succinic acid that are developed and tested by potential customers, which include anti-freeze solutions, solvents, water treatment chemicals and effervescence agents such laundry tablets and bath salts.

The Company competes with Gadiv Petrochemical Industries ! Ltd., Mitsubishi Chemical, DSM, Anqing Hexing Chemical Co Ltd, Anhui Sunsing Chemicals Co., Ltd., Genomatica, Inc., Myriant Corporation and Roquette Freres S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  He believes several companies have set the bar precipitously low to start the year despite targeted developments expected to occur before the start of 2014. Watch the following video for his thoughts on potential positive surprises awaiting investors in�Amyris� (NASDAQ: AMRS  ) ,�BioAmber� (NYSE: BIOA  ) ,�Codexis� (NASDAQ: CDXS  ) , and�Solazyme� (NASDAQ: SZYM  ) .

• [By Markus Aarnio]

  BioAmber (BIOA) is a sustainable chemicals company. Its proprietary technology platform combines industrial biotechnology and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstock into chemicals for use in a wide variety of everyday products including plastics, resins, food additives and personal care products.

• [By Matt Jarzemsky]

  Out of the 2013 vintage, some of the best performers so far this year have been early-stage healthcare firms like BioAmber Inc.(BIOA), up 86% year-to-date through Thursday, and Kindred Biosciences Inc.(KIN), up 82%. A number of high-flying tech startups have also continued to soar. Cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc.(FEYE) has gained 67% since the start of the year. Online coupon company RetailMeNot Inc.(SALE) is up 48%.

Best Chemical Companies To Invest In 2014: Rentech Inc (RTK)

Rentech, Inc. (Rentech), incorporated in 1981, is a provider of clean energy solutions. The Company owns and operates a nitrogen fertilizer plant in East Dubuque, Illinois, that manufactures and sells natural gas-based nitrogen fertilizer products within the corn-belt region in the United States. It is developing energy projects to produce certified synthetic fuels and electric power from carbon-containing materials, such as biomass, waste and fossil resources. Its technologies can produce synthesis gas (syngas) from biomass and waste materials, and convert syngas from its own or other gasification technologies into complex hydrocarbons (the Rentech Process) that are then upgraded into fuels using refining technology that it licenses. In addition to developing projects using these technologies, it is pursuing the licensing of its technologies to developers of projects that are expected to produce fuels and/or power. In May 2011, it acquired majority interest in ClearFuels Technology Inc. In May 2013, Rentech Inc acquired the entire share capital of Fulghum Fibres Inc. In August 2013, Rentech Inc announced that a subsidiary of the Company closed the sale of approximately 450 acres in Natchez, Mississippi to Adams County, Mississippi.

The Rentech Process is a technology based on Fischer-Tropsch (FT) chemistry, which converts syngas that can be produced from a range of biomass, waste and fossil resources into hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons can be processed and upgraded into synthetic fuels, such as military and commercial jet fuels and low sulfur diesel fuel, as well as waxes and chemicals. Unlike some other alternative transportation fuels, such as ethanol, fuels produced from the Rentech Process can be transported and used in existing infrastructure, including pipelines and engines without blending restrictions. Its technology portfolio also includes the Rentech-SilvaGas biomass gasification technology (the Rentech-SilvaGas Technology), which enables it to offer integrated technologies t! hat can convert biomass and wastes to syngas and into clean fuels and electric power.

The Rentech Process can produce synthetic diesel fuels (RenDiesel1 fuels), which are clean burning having lower emissions of regulated pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter, than traditional petroleum-based diesel fuels. The Rentech Process also can produce synthetic jet fuel (RenJet fuel), which when blended with conventional jet fuel meet jet fuel specifications for military jet fuel and commercial Jet A and Jet A-1 fuels. It is developing a proposed project near Natchez, Mississippi (the Natchez Project) designed to produce approximately 30,000 barrels per day of synthetic fuels and chemicals and approximately 120 megawatts of power. It is evaluating alternative configurations for the Natchez site, which would initially be smaller in scale. The alternate configurations may use various feed-stocks alone or in various combinations, and include proportions of waxes and chemicals as products.

The Company owns, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Rentech Energy Midwest Corporation (REMC), a nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing plant that uses natural gas as its feedstock to produce syngas and then nitrogen fertilizer products. The products, the Company can produce include renewable synthetic diesel and jet fuels, naphtha and power from biomass resources; synthetic diesel and jet fuels, naphtha and power from fossil or fossil and biomass resources, and paraffinic waxes, solvents and specialty chemicals.

The Company competes with ExxonMobil, the Royal Dutch/Shell group, Statoil, BP and Sasol.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Alternative energy specialist�Rentech� (NASDAQ: RTK  ) �will be�buying back�up to $25 million worth of company stock through the rest of the year, the board of directors announced Monday.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of fertilizer and renewable energy company Rentech (NASDAQ: RTK  ) jumped 17% today after the company announced an acquisition.

• [By Robert Rapier] While the MLP space is dominated by the oil and gas sector, in last week’s article we began to explore some of the more exotic master limited partnership offerings. This week we continue our exploration of nontraditional MLPs by looking at the partnerships supplying fertilizer.
  
  Rentech (Nasdaq: RTK) has been around for more than a decade, and it has shifted strategies several times. Full disclosure: Rentech’s Chief Technology Officer Harold Wright is a former manager of mine when we were both at ConocoPhillips, and I have visited Rentech’s facility in Commerce City, Colorado.
  
  For most of Rentech’s existence, the company has sought to commercialize alternative fuels. At one time it had ambitions to build a large coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant, but federal legislation ultimately nudged it instead into the biomass-to-liquids (BTL) space. The company did build a BTL demonstration plant, but ultimately shut it down and has now refocused its efforts on becoming “one of the largest wood processing companies in the world.”
  
  During its interesting journey as a company, Rentech acquired two ammonia nitrogen fertilizer facilities, which turned out to be a profit center that funded the alternative energy research. In November 2011, Rentech spun off this fertilizer business into an MLP called Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE: RNF).
  
  In the months leading to the spin-off, RTK’s market capitalization was about $200 million. Rentech maintained 60 percent ownership of RNF, and three months after the spin-off RTK’s market cap had risen to $400 million, while investors had bid RNF up to $1 billion. Interestingly, RTK’s share of RNF was worth more than RTK’s entire market cap, a situation that persists. The market currently values Rentech at $482 million, while the valuation of Rentech Nitrogen Partners makes RTK’s 60 percent stake in RNF worth slightly more than $600 million — another illu

Best Consumer Companies To Invest In 2014: Celanese Corporation (CE)

Celanese Corporation, a technology and specialty materials company, engages in manufacture and sale of value-added chemicals, thermoplastic polymers, and other chemical-based products. It operates through four business segments: Advanced Engineered Materials, Consumer Specialties, Industrial Specialties, and Acetyl Intermediates. The Advanced Engineered Materials segment offers specialty polymers for application in automotive, medical, and electronics products, as well as other consumer and industrial applications. The Consumer Specialties segment provides cellulose acetate flake, film, and tow that are primarily used in filter products applications; Sunett, a sweetener; and food protection ingredients, such as sorbates and sorbic acid for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. The Industrial Specialties segment produces emulsions and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) performance polymers. Its emulsions products are used in applications, such as paints and coatings, adhesives, construction, glass fiber, textiles, and paper; and EVA performance polymers are used in flexible packaging films, lamination film products, hot melt adhesives, medical products, automotive, carpeting and photovoltaic cells. The Acetyl Intermediates segment offers acetyl products, including acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer, acetic anhydride, and acetate esters for use as starting materials for colorants, paints, adhesives, coatings, and medicines. It also provides organic solvents and intermediates for pharmaceutical, agricultural, and chemical products. The company offers its products directly, as well as through distributors and electronic marketplaces in North America, Europe, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and South America. Celanese Corporation was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Magic Diligence]

  Given this fact, and the fact that consumer electronics (CE) is a cyclical industry, flash supply and demand balance is very tenuous. Frantic production to catch up to demand often leads to dramatic over-supply when the CE market cools off. One needs only to look at SanDisk's financials to see this. The company swung from a $917 dollar operations loss in 2008 to a $1.5 billion dollar profit in 2011, and which was then cut in half to just a $700 million profit the following year!

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Celanese (NYSE: CE) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $1.04 per share on revenue of $1.59 billion.

  Posted-In: Earnings scheduleEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of chemical maker Celanese (NYSE: CE  ) jumped as much as 16% today after the company released earnings.

  So what: Revenue fell slightly in the first quarter, to $1.61 billion, but adjusted earnings per share jumped 44%, to $1.14. Revenue was in line with expectations, and earnings crushed the $0.79 that analysts expected.�

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Celanese (NYSE: CE  ) will have to pony up a significantly higher amount of money for its shareholder payouts. The company has declared a common stock dividend of $0.18 per share, to be paid on August 15 to shareholders of record as of August 5. That amount is exactly double the company's previous distribution of $0.09.

Best Chemical Companies To Invest In 2014: Cytec Industries Inc (CYT)

Cytec Industries Inc/De/, formerly Cytec Industries Inc., incorporated on December 17, 1993, is a specialty chemicals and materials company focused on developing, manufacturing and selling value-added products. Its products serve a diverse range of end markets, including aerospace and industrial materials, mining and plastics. The Company has four business segments: Engineered Materials, Umeco, In-Process Separation and Additive Technologies. Engineered Materials segment principally includes advanced composites, carbon fiber, and structural film adhesives. The Umeco segment includes composite and process materials, primarily for the aerospace and defense, wind energy, automotive, recreation and other industrial segments. The In Process Separation segment includes mining chemicals and phosphines. The Additive Technologies segment includes polymer additives, specialty additives and formulated resins. On July 20, 2012, the Company acquired Umeco plc.

Engineered Materials

The Engineered Materials segment is a global provider of technologically advanced materials for aerospace, high-performance industrial and other extreme-demand markets. Its primary product lines are advanced aerospace composites and structural adhesives, High performance industrial materials and Carbon fibers. Its major products in the advanced aerospace composites include aerospace- qualified prepregs, resin infusion systems and structural/surfacing adhesives. Its principal applications include commercial airliners, regional and business jets, military aircraft, including rotorcraft, satellites and launch vehicles. The products in the high performance industrial materials include Industrial-grade prepregs, resin infusion systems and structural/surfacing adhesives. Its applications include high performance automotive, defense, tooling and alternative energy. The products in carbon fibers include high performance fiber carbon fibers. Its applications include reinforcements for advanced aerospace and industrial c! omposites.

The Company is a supplier to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F-18 fighter jet programs. It is also a supplier for the business and regional jet market, supporting programs, such as Bombardier�� CSeries and LearJet85. It also manufactures specialty adhesive forms for complex composites assemblies, such as honeycomb and sandwich structures and special surfacing films to provide aircraft lightning strike protection. It manufactures and sells various high-performance grades of both polyacrylonitrile (PAN) type and pitch type carbon fibers used as a reinforcement material for aerospace and other extreme-demand and high-performance composites.

The Company�� High Performance Industrial Materials (HPIM) product line strategy is to leverage its composites, adhesives and resin technologies across multiple industrial markets. The Company supplies composites and adhesives to a spectrum of markets, such as high performance and luxury low-rate serial automotive, defense, and alternative energy.

Umeco

Umeco�� primary product lines are High performance composites structural materials/solutions and Composite process materials/solutions. Its major products in the High performance composites structural materials/solutions include Aerospace-qualified prepregs, Industrial-grade prepreg. Its principal applications include large commercial airliners, military aircraft, high performance automotive, defense, tooling, recreation, industrial and alternative energy. The products in Composite process materials/solutions include Process materials/solutions including vacuum bagging, release films and sealant tapes. Its principal applications include large commercial airliners, military aircraft, high performance automotive, defense, tooling, recreation, industrial and alternative energy and Process materials for the forming, infusion, curing of composite structures.

The Company�� structural materials product line includes the development, manufa! cturing a! nd supply of advanced composite materials. It specializes in the manufacture of composite materials for a range of industries such as aerospace and defense, marine, motor sport and automotive, construction, wind energy, and recreation.

In-Process Separation

The In-Process Separation segment includes mining chemicals and phosphines. The Company�� mining chemicals product line include flotation promoters, collectors, frothers, dispersants and depressants, solvent extractants, flocculants, filter and dewatering aids, antiscalants, and defoamers . Its principal applications include mineral separation and processing for copper, alumina, cobalt, nickel, and other minerals. Its Phosphines include flame retardants, catalyst ligands, high purity phosphine gas and biocides.

Its phospine based specialty products are used primarily in the pharmaceutical, chemical and electronic manufacturing, and fumigation. Its patented MaxHT antiscalant is sold for suppressing sodalite scale formation. Its phosphine specialties are utilized for a variety of applications. It is a supplier of ultra- high purity phosphine gas, used in semiconductor manufacturing and light emitting diode applications, various phosphine derivative products, including phosphonium salts used in pharmaceutical catalysts and biocides. Included in the phosphine line are organo phosphorus compounds. The compounds are used primarily as intermediates and catalyst ligands for organic and chemical synthesis in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

Additive Technologies

The Additive Technologies segment includes polymer additives specialty additives and Formulated resins. Polymer additives include ultraviolet light stabilizers and absorbers, high performance antioxidants and antistatic agents. Its applications include plastics, coatings, and fibers for: agricultural films, automotive parts, architectural lighting, housewares, packaging, outdoor furniture, sporting goods, toys and apparel.! Specialt! y additives include surfactants, specialty monomers, resin amines, and PTZ Phenothiazine. Its Formulated resins are used in for bonding or sealing of electrical and electronic components.

The Company markets its Additive Technologies chemicals through specialized sales and technical service staffs for each of its product lines. Sales are usually made directly to customers and through distributors to smaller customers. The Company is a global supplier to the plastics industry of specialty additives, which protect plastics from the ultraviolet radiation of sunlight and from oxidation. It is a global supplier of sulfosuccinate surfactants, Docusate sodium, and PTZ phenothiazine. Sulfosuccinate surfactants and acrylamide-based specialty monomers products are used in emulsion polymers, paints, paper coatings, printing inks, and other diverse customer applications. Docusate is a pharmaceutical grade product used as both an active ingredient and excipient/formulating aid. PTZ phenothiazine is primarily used as an acrylic acid, acrylic ester and methacrylate monomer stabilizer.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stoyan Bojinov]

  The New Jersey-based specialty chemicals maker, Cytec Industries (CYT), announced third quarter operating results after the closing bell on Thursday that topped analysts’ estimates.

  Cytec Industries managed to rake in revenues of $464 million last quarter, falling short of the projected $482.61 million figure. The company did manage to beat the mark, however, in terms of earnings per share; in the third quarter Cytec generated EPS of $1.32, beating the expected EPS of $1.34 by two pennies.

  Looking back, the most recent quarterly results are well above the 91 cents EPS seen in Q3 exactly one year ago. Looking ahead, the company expects FY2013 EPS of $4.70-$4.80 compared to the consensus of $4.82.

  Cytec Industries shares rallied higher on Thursday, gaining 0.58% on the day. The stock is up 25% YTD.

Best Chemical Companies To Invest In 2014: Akzo Nobel NV (AKZA)

Akzo Nobel NV is a manufacturer of paints, coatings and specialty chemicals based in the Netherlands. The Company operates within four segments. Within Buildings and Infrastructure segment, it manufactures decorative paints, protective, powder and coil coatings, and wood finishes for construction industry. Transportation segment offers specialty and powder coatings for automotive parts, peroxides, metal alkyls, and automotive, marine, yacht and aerospace coatings. Consumer Goods segment supplies finishes, adhesives and powder coatings for wood, specialty finishes for electronics, packaging coatings, surfactants, polymers and amines used in manufacture of soap, personal products and detergents. Within Industrial segment, it produces bulk chemicals, specialty chemicals, pulp and paper. In October 2013, it divested its Building Adhesives business; and acquired 50% stake and management control of Sadolin Paints Oman SAOC through joint venture agreement with Omar Zawawi Establishment LLC. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Morgan]

  Akzo Nobel NV (AKZA) tumbled 8 percent to 43.52 euros, the biggest slide since 2008. Europe�� largest paintmaker reported a 14 percent decline in second-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to 474 million euros. Sales fell 4 percent to 3.87 billion euros. Analysts had predicted 3.9 billion euros in revenue on average, based on estimates collated by Bloomberg.