There is a big brouhaha in the rare earth metals sector. China, which produces 97% of these metals, has reportedly limited exports for 2011. Rare earth metals are necessary for everything from high powered wind turbines to iPhones.

As companies are scrambling to fill the gap, many have soared on the news. Here are some worldwide leaders, as reported by CNBC.com:

• U.S. Molycorp (MCP), which went public over the summer, is up 200%, and now trading at $49.90. Both Sumitomo (SMTOY) and Hitachi (HIT) have recently made deals with Molycorp. Molycorp plans to break ground on a new $500 million facility and expects to be extracting ore in late 2011.

Looking for a shopping list of new stock ideas for 2011?

Each year for 28 years, TheStockAdvisors.com has turned to the nation's most respected and well-known newsletter advisors and asked them for their favorite investment ideas for the coming 12 months.

With 65 advisors participating in this year's survey, there's something for every type of investor, from high-quality blue chips to speculative home runs.

The list of stocks under consideration has been reduced from eleven to ten, to seven and now in today's story four. Starting with five major defense contractors and six major oil companies (see Chasing Value: You Must Own Defense and Oil for Safety), I began a search to find one stock in each sector that might be suitable for inclusion in my list of 2011 stock picks posted last week Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks -- The Journey Begin.

Today we continue our analysis by examining return on equity (ROE), return on invested capital (ROIC), and price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG). Each stock is ranked by sector and metric from best to worst. Sometimes there are clear winners and others there is little to separate one stock from the next. However, in total, a picture can be drawn that does portray a superior opportunity.

This series started with five major defense contractors and six major oil companies that are worthy considerations to help your portfolio survive a global crisis (see Chasing Value: You Must Own Defense and Oil for Safety). After the first review, one stock was eliminated from consideration: Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR). The reason is in the first story.

Today we continue our analysis by examining price-to-book (P/B), price-to-cash-flow (P/CF), and dividend yield. Each stock is ranked by sector and metric from best to worst. In the end we hope to narrow down our choices for candidates that might be added to Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks -- The Journey Begins.

We at BloggingStocks and everywhere else make the full gambit of prognostications, suggestions, predictions, guesses, analogies, and so forth in an attempt to improve potential investment opportunities for all our readers and provoke discussion.

All of this has its limits, but, if you are a fan of Professor Nassim NicholasTaleb and his best seller The Black Swan then you already have been warned that the events that have the greatest impact on our lives and our investments are most often unpredictable. We cannot predict the future nor can we anticipate the tragedies that will tank our portfolio's.

While I do believe predicting the future is, how should I say, futile, there are general clues as to which way the wind blows.

In the middle of the summer with the stock market smoldering from the economic aftershocks of the BP (BP) oil spill, I decided to post a contrarian story emphasizing a very common refrain among value investors, "my pal Warren" being head of the class: buy on fear (sell on greed). This notion is continuing to work for what I called the toxic stock portfolio.

This is the third update to my ranting five months ago that six of the most reviled and most highly traded stocks featured by daily bad press as a group would outperform the overall market. It has, with the big winner rising from being one of the biggest losers.

Shares of Fluor Corp. (FLR), which had meandered all summer through September in a roughly $43 to $49 range, exploded to the upside this fall, taking out $50 and $60 resistance. I first discussed the Fluor, which closed at $62.24 Friday, on February 17, 2009, at a price of $39.21, and now may be a good time to consider taking some profits.

However, those investors who can tolerate the risk can maintain full position, and go for an even larger gain, as Fluor is likely to continue to head north, once its overbought short-term status normalizes.

Our recommendations for the Buyback Premium Portfolio center on a collection of five stocks that we believe, as a group, will outperform the market this month.

The Buyback Premium Portfolio has beat the S&P 500 by more than 72% since its inception (August 2, 2000)! It is up 54.87% since inception vs. a decline of 17.90% in the S&P 500. For the month of November, the portfolio gained 3.41% vs. a decline of 0.23% in the S&P 500.

Massey Energy (MEE), which is a major coal producer, continues to be the subject of lots of rumors. Of course, the catalyst was a mine explosion in early April, which killed 29 miners. It marked the worst such event in over 40 years.

Since then, Massey Energy has been exploring "strategic alternatives." This is corporate-speak for when a company is looking to sell out.

But will this really happen? Well, Massey's CEO, Don Blankenship, has resigned. As a result, investors are now betting that the company may actually buy a rival. Confusing, huh?

One of our three value portfolios in the Buyback Letter is the Buyback Income Index, a 10-stock portfolio for those interested in income and growth. It features companies actively repurchasing their own stock that also pay relatively high dividends.

While our main emphasis is on buyback stocks, those stocks that both buy back AND pay a substantial and regular dividend are comforting to some investors who want to know that no matter what, at least they will be getting something back.

I am maintaining a buy recommendation on Shaw Communications (SJR) despite an underwhelming year-end financial report.

I originally recommended Shaw in my Internet Wealth Builder newsletter on Feb. 4, 2008 at $20.64. Calgary, Alberta-based Shaw, is a telecommunications company, which dominates the rich Alberta market. It recently also purchased the bankrupt CanWest Global television empire. Shaw is a low-risk company that won't suddenly shoot up in price but that compensates with limited downside, steady cash flow, and long-term growth potential.

On Monday, Standpoint Research initiated a Buy rating on shares of retailer True Religion Apparel (TRLG). The stock soared more than 6% on the bullish outlook. It closed at $22.07 Tuesday. Given Standpoint's $33 price target -- a potential 58% return from last Friday's closing price -- the move may have been more than justified.

The tide appears to be turning in on TRLG. The stock is down a little less than 20% on the six-month chart, but it has risen more than 14% over the last five trading days, and seems poised to continue its ascent Wednesday. Money is clearly pouring into this name and the retail sector as a whole is heating up.

We have just updated our recommendation on Brookfield Infrastructure Limited Partnership (BIP) in my Income Investor newsletter. We had advised readers to buy units of Brookfield Infrastructure Limited Partnership in mid-September at $18.38. The stock now trades around $23 per share -- an increase of 25%. The LP, which is a spin-off from Canadian conglomerate Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), owns holding companies in Canada, the U.S., and other jurisdictions.

Based in Bermuda, Brookfield Infrastructure Limited Partnership (BIP) is not considered to be a master limited partnership under U.S. law and is not subject to the forthcoming income trust tax in Canada. The business consists of the ownership and operation of utilities and timber assets in North and South America, Australasia, and Europe, as well as access fees for the transportation, storage and handling of energy, freight and bulk commodities.

Our recommendations at The Buyback Letter currently focus on a collection of five stocks that we believe, as a group, will outperform the market this month. So far, we have done well. Our Buyback Premium Portfolio is beating the S&P 500 by more than 68% since its inception (August 2, 2000). The portfolio is up 47.53% since inception versus a decline of 20.64% in the S&P 500 over the same time frame. For the month of September 2010, The Buyback Premium Portfolio gained 12.38% vs. a gain of 8.76% in the S&P 500.

So what's our New Premium Portfolio Recommendation? On October 1, we issued a sell recommendation on two stocks Coach (COH) and Health Net (HNT) at market. Now, we recommended using the proceeds and available cash to buy equal dollar amounts of the following two stocks at market:Family Dollar (FDO) and American Financial Group (AFG).

Welcome to my new Canada Report blog. Here's where you'll find information about profitable investing in America's northern neighbor.

Why should you care? Start with this fact, which may surprise you. Over the five years to Oct. 28, Canada's benchmark stock index, the S&P/TSX Composite, has gained 21.8% -- and remember this period includes the worst market meltdown since the 1930s. What did the S&P 500 do in that time? It lost 1.2%.

There's more. Those figures are in local currencies. In fact, the Canadian dollar has been steadily appreciating against the U.S. greenback since 2002 and is now up more than 60% since that time. So Americans who put some of their money in Canada not only enjoyed stock market profits but they also benefited from exchange rate gains.