New Oriental Education (edu) traded up 7.26% to close at $61.75/share.  New Oriental carries a rich PE of 49 but has a 48% E growth rate.  Also its worth mentioning that New has had a problem meeting earnings expectations in the past.  New oriental is a Chinese ADR and provides educational services to its customers.  In fiscal 07 the company reported revs of 136M.  The 2 year return on the stock is around 130% with the majority of that being achieved in the first year.

The currency of life Visa Inc. (V) shot up 4.42% on an overall down day for the markets.  V traded up on 3 times the average 3 month volume to close at $82.60/share.  Visa was mentioned in the 5/08 investment articles page http://theresourcefulinvestor.wordpress.com/investment-ideas/.  The San Fran based company e call is scheduled for July 30th and EPS is expected to come in at .48.  In the previous quarter Visa beat estimates by 18% and e growth is estimated to grow at a 25% clip in 2008.    

Companhia Vale Do Rio (RIO) finished the trading day up $.61/share or 1.74% to achieve a closing price of $35.67/share.  CVRD is a Brazilian steel company that trades as an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) which is a foreign company that trades on one of the U.S. exchanges.  Steel demand has been exploding as a result of high demand from emerging markets and should continue to remain strong.  This has been one of the main reasons behind the surge in CVRD’s stock price.  CVRD carries a PE of 15 and an ROE of 40. 

TBS International finished the trading day up 10.59% to close at $41.99/share after getting pounded for the last couple of weeks.  Usually when the drybulk sector starts to rally the overall market starts to head higher or has been the case so far this year.  TBS was mentioned in the 6/08 investment ideas page of The Resourceful Investor http://theresourcefulinvestor.wordpress.com/investment-ideas/.  TBS has a Beta of 1.92 and has an ROE of 43%.  The charts show TBS is 1.64% away from breaking through its 50DMA and has an RSI of 39. 

Apache Corporation (apa) rose 6.04% to close at $141.99/share which is 4.85% below its 52-week high.  The independent energy company carries a PE of 14 compared to an industry average of 23.64 and has a 65% 08′ earnings growth rate.  The stock is up a little over 30% year to date.   

Ticker symbol MTL which is the Mechel Open Joint Stock Company of Russia traded up $3.80/share to $55.04/share.  Mechel competes in the steel and iron industry and is the second largest producer of coking coal in Russia.  This Russian specialty steel producer carries a forward PE of 13.55 which of course is based on 08′ earnings estimates which are projected to come in 85% higher than 07.  The stock had a 3 for 1 split on the 20th of May which in turn makes the stock price more attractive to investors.  Probably the two most attractive countries to be invested in right now are Brazil and Russia.  Mechel is a great way to gain exposure to the steel industry and Russia at the same time.   

Arch Coal, Inc. (aci) hit a new 52-week high today closing at $68.06/share up 4.85%.  The St. Louis based company earnings are forecasted to increase 119% in 08′ and 83% in 09′.  The stock is trading roughly 10 points above its 50DMA.   Arch is up 50% year to date and continues to benefit from the rising demand for coal. 

This year it may be beneficial to be on Santa’s naughty list which would result in receiving lumps of a smoking hot commodity in your stocking.  Thats right you guessed it coal.  Coal was one of the top performing commodities in Q1 08 and doesn’t seem to be slowing down one bit.  Worldwide coal shortages and intense demand from China (which uses coal to power 70% of its country) has driven the price of coal upwards.  Another factor is the increased demand for steel (of which coal is a main ingredient) as the BRIC countries continue their ramp up in infrastructure.  Fording Canadian Coal Trust (FDG) finished the trading day up 4.68% to a closing price of $76/share.  Fording has a dividend yield of 2.59% and rocks a PE of 43 and believe it or not has a forward PE of 9 which is computed from its 320% estimated 2009 growth rate.  The stock is up roughly 90% year to date.  Fording is an open-ended mutual fund trust and holds a 60% interest in the worlds second largest exporter of metallurgical coal.  To give you an idea of the change in price in 2007 the average price for coal was $93/tonne vs. the 2008 forecast of $195-$205/tonne.  A $10,000 investment in Fording 5 years ago would be worth $130,000 today.

To find out more click www.fording.ca

On a side note:  For those looking for a good entry point for Visa (V) today may have been that day as it has pulled back to a very attractive price level.  There was a 20 point gap between the 50DMA and the market price and now its just a matter of a few points.  Also the shipping industry more commonly known as the dry bulk sector has had a huge selloff  the past week with some of the names like TBSI and DRYS down 20% and 15% in the past week.  Now may be an opportune time to establish a position or add to an existing position.

Look no further for your oil and gas play.  Arena Resources, Inc. (ard) rose $4.27/share to achieve a closing price of $55.17/share on double the average daily volume (3 month).  Arena Resources is an oil and gas drilling and exploration company and with a market cap of just under 2B it places the Tulsa, OK based company in the small cap category.  Arena is coming off of a strong first quarter beating estimates by 13.3%.  The company carries a PE of around 54 but has the earnings growth to back it up which is projected to come in close to 100% higher than what the company was able to report in 2007.

Titan Machinery, Inc. (titn) owns and operates 39 full-service agricultural and construction equipment stores in North America and 2 outlet stores.  Titan’s closing price was $24.88/share, 2.43% below its 52-week high.  The stock has a five year earnings growth rate of 25%.  The company went public on January 7th, 2008 and closed at $12.75/share on that day the stock price has nearly doubled since then and continues to trend upwards.