The Postal Service’s proposed budget cuts are bad news for many businesses. It will make sending packages and documents an even bigger hassle.

But it’s not bad news for Stamps.com. The online seller of postage to businesses could see increased sales as more people and companies seek alternatives to making a trip to the post office.

After the Postal Service’s Sept. 15 announcement that it could shutter as many as 250 locations, lay off up to 35,000 employees and extend some delivery times, Stamps’ stock soared to its highest price since 2006. A recent strong earnings report also helped.

Kevin Liu, an analyst with West L.A. investment bank B. Riley & Co., said small businesses in areas where the Postal Service shutters offices or decreases hours are likely to switch to an alternative postage service such as Stamps.

“From a convenience perspective, it could provide a boost for Stamps’ business,” Liu said.

But it’s not necessarily all good news for Stamps.

That’s because the company, which operates out of a low-rise office building in Playa Vista a short walk from Ballona Creek, doesn’t compete with the Postal Service; it’s one of a handful of partners authorized to sell mail services. That means Stamps’ customers, typically small businesses or people with home offices, still depend on the Postal Service to deliver packages and documents on time. If the budget cuts result in slower delivery or increased postage rates, Stamps’ customers could defect to companies that do compete with the Postal Service, such as FedEx or UPS.

Ken McBride, Stamps chief executive, said his business does best when the Postal Service is running smoothly.

“It’s a double-edged sword for us,” McBride said. “If they shut down post offices, our service would become more valuable. But they’re certainly our most important partner. Their financial challenges are our financial challenges in terms of wanting to grow.”

Investor interest

Stamps sells subscription services to companies and individuals for online postage service. Customers can use Stamps software to purchase postage and print it out. The company also sells shipping supplies and customized postage stamps.

Stamps was founded in 1996 and flourished during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. At one point in 1999, its stock traded at nearly $90 per share. Shares have languished since, first a victim of the dot-com crash and then the recession.

The stock hit a 52-week high Sept. 19, closing at $23.78 before sliding back to $21.61 on Sept. 21.

Stamps completed a share repurchase program during the second quarter, buying back 232,000 shares at $12.50 a share. The buyback may have contributed to the spike.

But Liu said the company’s stock performance was related to the news of the Postal Service’s budget cuts in addition to the most recent earnings report.

In July, Stamps reported second quarter net income of $5.68 million compared with $941,000 in the same quarter last year. Revenue was up 26 percent to $26.6 million.

McBride said the recent quarter was the company’s best ever thanks to growth in the company’s newer businesses: an enterprise division, which sells subscriptions of its postage and mailing services aimed at corporations with several small branch offices, and a high-volume shippers division, which works with warehouses and online retailers.

Stamps’ enterprise business has been slow to pick up, but he said revenue for that division was up 37 percent compared with the second quarter last year.

“Those two newer areas started to show some strong growth coupled with nice strength in our traditional area in small-business PC postage,” he said. “It’s started to show up on investors’ radar screens.”

But one division that is struggling is PhotoStamps, which lets customers customize stamps with their own photos or images.

Stamps began offering PhotoStamps in 2004, but took it off the market after images of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and other notorious figures were printed on stamps. The company hired screeners to block inappropriate stamps and re-released the product in 2005.

McBride said PhotoStamps sales began to lag during the recession because they were seen as an unnecessary expense. As a result, the company has spent little money promoting the product in recent years.

“In a better economy, there could be a place for that product,” he said. “So we don’t want to get rid of it, but we don’t want to spend a lot of effort on it today.”

Instead, Stamps has increased spending to promote its small-business, enterprise and high-volume shipper divisions through direct mail, and traditional media such as TV and radio.

B. Riley’s Liu, who has a “buy” rating on the company’s stock, points to the stability of Stamps’ subscription business as a sign that the company’s recent stock gains aren’t a fluke.

“Investors might be more comfortable with a model like that than a transaction-based one,” he said. “Stamps is getting respect from them.”