For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"International Royalty Co. (ASE: ROY) is my top speculative idea for 2008," says Adrian Day, editor of The Global Analyst.

"Mining is a tough business, with high capital costs and one in which, as the old saw has it, 'Murphy works overtime.' One way to mitigate the risk while remaining exposed to upside in resource prices is through royalties. Royalties come in all shares and sizes; they can be net or gross, fixed or sliding scale, and so on.

"International Royalty Co. has put together an extensive portfolio of over 60 mining royalties, most of which are on properties not currently in production.

"Its crown jewel, accounting for half the company's net asset value, is from a royalty on the world-class Voisey's Bay nickel mine in Labrador, Canada. Many of its other royalties are on gold projects, including its second most important asset, the royalty on Barrick's Pasuca mine in Chile.

"The stock sold off recently after the company raised money for a potential purchase of the royalty division of Newmont Mining; instead, the division was effectively IPO'd. But this decline makes ROY very inexpensive for a low-risk royalty company, selling at just over 10 times next year's estimated cash flow, much less expensive than other royalty companies.

"As metals prices continue to advance and more of the properties on which ROY holds royalties come into production, ROY will benefit tremendously, making it a solid long-term growth story as well as ripe for a rebound from oversold levels."

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite conservative idea for 2008 is Apollo Investment Co. (NASDAQ: AINV)," says Adrian Day, editor of The Global Analyst.

"The company makes investments of debt and equity to medium-sized businesses, and a Regulated Investment Co. pays out most of its net income in dividends. Like other RICs, the dividends tend to be high and growing, but also like other RICs, it was caught up in the market turbulence of the past few months affecting all finance companies.

"Apollo Investment, the public arm of the eponymous New York private equity firm, came out just over three years ago. It is large ($2.2 billion market cap), financially conservative, and tends to do larger deals than most similar outfits.

"Its average investment is now just over $47 million, and as the fund grows, this should get larger still. It has investments in 67 companies, just over half of which is in sub debt.

Last December, over 100 stocks were featured in our Top Picks for 2007 report. Now, at mid-year, we turn to the 20 advisors whose picks showed the strongest gains to get an update on their previous picks, as well as a new favorite stock for the second half of the year.

Adrian Day, editor of the Global Analyst, chose Virginia Mines Inc. (TSE: VGQ) as his favorite stock for 2007, which rose 31% as of 6/1/07. Here's Adrian's original recommendation on Virginia Mines and his current opinion on the stock.

His new favorite for the rest of 2007 is -- like Virginia -- a "gold company with a difference." His new pick is Vista Gold Corp. (ASE: VGZ). He explains, "During the early 2000s, when the price of gold was weak, Vista acquired known gold resources, but ones that were uneconomic at the time.

"This enabled it to build reserves inexpensively, and rather than mining them when the price was low, it held on to the gold in the ground, building value as the price of bullion appreciated.

"Now Vista has 12 properties around the world in various stages of development, some economic at today's higher price. Together, it has over 13 million ounces of resource (proven, probable, and indicated), valued at just over $20 per ounce in the ground -- very cheap.

"In addition to the considerable exploration potential at many of its properties, it also has $20 million in cash. With strong leverage to rising gold prices, we would buy Vista as an option on gold, but one without an expiration date."

I've just returned from the World Money Show, where some 10,000+ investors gathered to learn about global investing. I had a chance to meet with many of the advisors who were featured at the show, and I have been highlighting some of their favorite investment ideas. To view all of the stocks featured in this special global report, click here.

Elsewhere in this global report, we feature the top South African stock from Adrian Day, editor of The Global Analyst. Here, he looks north of the border to a top pick among more speculative Canadian-based, global exploration play.

He explains, "Altius (TSX:ALS) has its roots as a prospect generator, focusing on mineral-rich but under-explored Newfoundland and Labrador. It has grown beyond that, but still looks at opportunities to grow, using other people's money to advance projects and minimize its risk.

"And it still generates properties; recently it staked three new uranium properties in central Newfoundland and a nickel property in the east with a plan to advance to a joint venture or strategic equity stake.

Altius has seven main assets now, four of which are joint-ventures or minority interests developed through staking, including 10% of Aurora Energy, 30% of London-listed Rambler Metals, and a uranium property in western Newfoundland, joint-ventured with JNR Resources.

"Altius also owns a royalty on Inco's Voisey's Bay nickel project, which started operations just a year ago. This will generate about $1 million a quarter to Altius, with no cost, at today's nickel prices. This multi-decade project has plenty of exploration upside and great leverage to nickel prices.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

Canada-based Virginia Mines Inc. (TSX: VGQ) is the favorite speculative play for 2007 from resource expert Adrian Day. The editor of The Global Analyst, he says, "Gold and other precious metals have resumed their bull market. The best returns often come from junior companies, particularly companies that make a discovery. But in exploration, the odds are heavily against you. We have found a company, however, that combines the potential of the typical exploration company without the usual risk.

"Virginia Mines, the largest landowner in the Canadian province of Quebec, typically stakes prospective ground and undertakes initial exploration before bringing in partners, who typically spend all of the exploration dollars in return for a stake in any discovery.

"Though Virginia reduces its share of any one success, it increases greatly its odds of being successful. It is like have parts of multiple, non-expiring lottery tickets instead of simply one ticket in one drawing. Virginia has about a dozen active projects, including drill programs on at least four different properties over the next few months. It has top-quality management and a super strong balance sheet of C$45 million.

"Virginia may or may not succeed this coming year, but in the worst-case scenario, with no new success, the company will still be around, in a strong position, to fight another day. That's why Virginia is our favorite exploration company, and one we are comfortable owning for the long term."

To see Adrian's favorite conservative investment idea for 2007, click here.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

Gladstone Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: GAIN) is the top conservative investment idea from Adrian Day, editor of The Global Analyst. He explains, "An attractive vehicle for investors seeking above-average yield is the so-called Business Development Company.

"These are companies that lend money to small and middle-market companies, often receiving equity participation in addition to the interest on the loans. Because they do not pay tax at the corporate level, but pay out essentially all their net income to investors, yields tend to be high, and we've been successful with several previous recommendations, including Allied Capital and American Capital.

"One of the newest and most conservative is Gladstone Investment. Run by David Gladstone, who has had a multi-decade career in this industry, GAIN has been relatively cautious in investing its funds since going public in the middle of 2005. This is because of a sense that the market is overheated with either low returns or risky loans.