Three Favorite Stocks of Wealthy Investors

"We're bullish on the technology sector. America's wealthiest people are, too. Question is, what are they buying?

"Whether it's Pods, Pads, Phones, or Macs, Apple continues to churn out great products that people absolutely love. That's a pretty simple recipe for a robust business.

"Take the release of the iPad 2, for example. As with most Apple product launches, it blew away expectations.

"At my local Apple store, several hundred people were lined up all the way out the door of the mall and the store didn't have enough iPads to meet the demand.

"From an investment standpoint, despite Apple's lofty $340 share price, the stock only trades at 13 times its forward earnings and is still expected to grow its earnings by 20% per year for the next five years.

"Not only that, the company is sitting on a massive $27 billion in cash and generated $14 billion in free cash flow over the past 12 months.

"Right off the bat, Bristol-Myers pays a juicy 5% dividend -- something that should appeal to millionaires who want their money to work hard for them.

"The bad news -- although not breaking news -- is that Bristol will lose its patent exclusivity on its bestselling drug, Plavix, next May. That's going to hurt a bit, but the pharmaceutical patent cliff story is well-known and its effects are baked into big pharma stock prices.

"However, Bristol-Myers is in the midst of transforming itself into a biopharma company, which should make it more nimble than some of its larger peers who are still stuck in the old ways of drug discovery.

"Additionally, Bristol-Myers has a key event coming up in two weeks. On March 26, the FDA will decide whether to approve its metastatic melanoma drug, ipilimumab.

"Metastatic melanoma is an extremely difficult disease to treat and there's nothing currently on the market that works effectively. Should ipilimumab get the green light from the FDA, it could be significant for Bristol-Myers.

"Varian Medical makes medical products greatly improve the lives of patients.

"For example, its radiosurgery technology enables doctors to remove cancerous tumors without invasive surgery.

The procedure is practically painless and patients often return to work, shopping, or even playing golf immediately afterward.

"Varian's price-to-earnings ratio is just over one times its growth rate, it boasts nearly $700 million in net cash and generated over $300 million in free cash flow over the past 12 months.

"It's a well-run company that should continue to grow earnings and its stock price for years to come."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a free daily review of the favorite stock ideas of the nation's top financial newsletter advisors.