This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.
As his top pick for 2009, Jim Lowell -- in his Fidelity Investor newsletter -- opts for a pair of funds that together offer broad market coverage: Fidelity Focused (FTQGX) and Fidelity Low-Priced (FLPSX).
The advisor explains, ""These two fund picks reflect a balanced mix of both offense and defense -- using two managers with decidedly different approaches and investment styles.
"At Fidelity Investor we always 'Buy the manager, not the fund!' Our proprietary manager rankings consistently list Stephen DuFour -- manager at Fidelity Focused Stock -- as a top ranked stock picker (based on his ability to persistently lose less in the downdrafts and consistently outperform on the upside).
"And while losing significantly less than the S&P 500 was 2008's benchmark for success, 2009 is shaping up to be a more balanced trade sheet where I think gains will likely win out.
"DuFour normally invests in 30 to 80 stocks at any one time. His stock picks hold no allegiance to either a simple style box or a singular capitalization range.
"But, don't look to DuFour for foreign investments; they make up less than 5% of the portfolio. He prefers to buy what he can both know and see. Technology, financials, health care, industrials, and consumer staples are his top 5 sectors.
"Top ten holdings: Bank of America, Union Pacific, Exxon Mobil, Norfolk Southern, Visa, Wells Fargo, Pulte Homes, Albemarle (household durables), J.P. Morgan and Phillip Morris. As the new administration seeks to rebuild the economy from the bottom up, you can look to this manager to swing a big outperformance hammer.
"In contrast to Stephen DuFour at Fidelity Focused Stock, Joel Tillinghast -- manager of Fidelity Low-Priced Stock -- has rarely owned less than 800 names and often more than 1,000.
"He recently told us he was influenced by Peter Lynch (former manager of Magellan), who had a very large number of holdings.
"His long-term track record (reaching back to 1989 when we were in the midst of the last real collapse and banking model meltdown) has consistently proven his investment value as markets and economies find a bottom and climb out of a trough.
"But that's just part of the good news: the other part is that the fund re-opened to new investors on December 16 -- the last time he closed the fund was at the tail end of 2003.
"What I know: in the past Tillinghast has closed and re-opened his fund strategically. When he closes this fund it has tended to be a fairly accurate harbinger of a turn for the worse. And, when he re-opens it (as he last did on 11/19/2002 before re-closing it on 12/30/03), it tends to signal a stealth bull market call."
Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.
Google's plan for netbook PCs moves higher into the clouds
Closing Bell: Stock bulls and dollar death (DDRX,GMCR, PEET, SBUX, EBAY, CI, TECD)
So long peak oil, here comes peak uranium
