6 Stocks Benefiting From Lower Gas Prices

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Prices at the gas pump have tumbled 14% since April thanks to lower crude oil prices, which bodes well for a handful of companies' stocks, a couple of the domestic oil industry's biggest players, and four niche retailers that typically benefit from low- and middle-income consumers efforts to trim spending in uncertain economic times.

Many may find it hard to believe, but the average price for regular gasoline at U.S. filling stations is down about 20% from last summer, at a current average price of $3.41 per gallon nationally, according to The Lundberg Survey, and well off the high this year of $3.97 per gallon reached on April 6.

S&P Capital IQ analysts recently took a look at what companies are likely to prosper in this environment and came up with six picks.

Given the price sensitivities of the industry, earnings of integrated oil and gas companies -- that is those involved in everything from exploration and production to refining and marketing -- are expected to jump. As a result, their shares are up an average 27.3% this year, three times that of the S&P 500's 9.1% gain, making it one of the best-performing industry sub-sectors S&P tracks.