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Top Picks for 2011 Winners

December 29, 2011
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As the new year approaches, we’re reviewing the past year’s worth of Investment of the Week and Dick Davis Digests. This week, I’m going to spotlight the year’s best-performing Top Picks. Every year, we ask all of our Digest contributors to send us a recommendation of their single favorite stock to own in the coming year. Their submissions range from unknown small-caps to the past year’s winners, a broad range that reflects the wide variety of investing styles practiced by our contributors. Once in July and again at the end of the year, we revisit the Top Picks to...

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A Great Healthcare Stock

December 20, 2011
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I’m tired of the word “choppy.”  I’m tired of reading about choppy markets, stocks that chopped up and down, and sectors that are chopping around. Don’t writers know any other words? More importantly, don’t you think that when there’s such unanimity of opinion about the market, it’s ripe for a change? I think so, and I think the market’s next major move will be up. My reasons are these: One, the market’s been down a pretty long time, and the selling pressures, which peaked in August, have been easing.  Institutions are clearly using the big dips to accumulate shares...

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A Blip on a Dismal Chart

December 15, 2011
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I want to say a quick word about stocks that experience big price increases in daily trading. I can usually predict that I’ll get a couple of questions about any emerging markets stock that throws a double-digit percentage rise in a day. That kind of jump is just catnip to investors who are tired of a market grinding downtrend and hunger for some upside. My example is SinoHub (SIHI), a Chinese supply chain manager and order fulfillment service for cell-phone components that has suffered through a precipitous drop since it came public in August 2009. The stock hit its...

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Four Market-Beating Dividend Aristocrats

December 14, 2011
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Several of the best-performing stocks featured in Investment of the Week over the past year came from the same issue on April 12 that featured several Dividend Aristocrats. Dividend Aristocrats are stocks that have increased their dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years. They’re primarily large-cap, relatively stable blue-chip stocks. Because of their reputation for steady returns, income investors often seek out Dividend Aristocrats to serve as the core of their income-generating portfolios. In the eight months since these stocks were recommended, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained no value–as I write this it is down...

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One Great Insurance Stock

December 13, 2011
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I’m happy to see that there are still great worries about the future of both the Euro and those southern European countries that don’t work as hard as the Germans, or pay taxes as dutifully, either. And why is this worry a good thing? Because, as all experienced investors know, bull markets climb a wall of worry! And that’s what this bull market is doing now! As a result, I’m more optimistic than at any time in the past few months, about both the short- and long-term prospects of the market. And I’ve got a great stock to recommend...

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