"Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI), which is involved in the build-out of smart grids -- has been our radar screen for awhile," says growth stock expert Toby Smith.

In his ChangeWave Investing, he suggests, "As the top supplier of smart meters and meter infrastructure for the electricity industry, Itron is by far the best-positioned company for the smart grid build-out."

"The build-out of smart grids employs technologies that deployed across an energy grid which allow greater efficiency and flexibility during energy distribution and transmission.

"The cool thing about smart grids is that they are capable of isolating and better managing power outages and disruptions, integrating local power generating equipment, and avoiding electricity congestion or bottlenecks.

President Obama announced that he wants to impose compensation limits on executives that receive government financial rescue funds. These proposals are said to include the following provisions:

• A $500,000 cash cap on annual compensation for senior executives
• Requiring top executives at financial institutions to hold stock for several years before they cash out
• Requiring nonbinding "say on pay" resolutions giving shareholders more say on compensation

These provisions would only apply to firms receiving government funds and would be applicable until they are repaid to the government.

This is a dramatic intervention into corporate governance, but then again the government bailouts are also unprecedented as well. Several are claiming that this is another step into more socialist America.

During the past few months my colleagues and I have been pondering what, if any, stocks might do well during an Obama administration. I posted Obama Pick: StemCells Inc. about 10 weeks ago, and so far the stock is up today (with almost everything else down) StemCell (NASDAQ: STEM) and continues to look promising.

The closing price of this small cap stock on the day of the report was $1.58. It is a volatile stock for sure because I bought in at $1.20 and now it is trading up about 27% (as I type) from yesterday's close of $2.15 to $2.73.

Obviously ten weeks although a short time in general, may be a long time in a stormy market, but I will ride this one out even though I could reap 128% gain at this moment. Forgive me, all you day traders, who think I think I should sell and book over a 500% IRR. (Might be worth it just for bragging rights later in the year as I have seen others do)

I have no information that would lead me to understand why the stock is up so much. The clinical trials I reported before have not added anything new I can glean today. There was a report last week by a small research house I never heard of calling for the stock to reach $3.00 (Dawson James Securities Initiates Research Coverage of StemCells, Inc. With Buy Recommendation) but I think that is all wild speculation. It could be that in a day, and it could also collapse.

Ignoring today's bounce I still think STEM is one to watch if you can get in at a lower price. If it gets away -- let it, and pursue something else. There is nothing you have to do -- except taking care of your family and friends in these trying times. I will update after the market close.

Update: Stem closed the day at $2.53, up $0.38 of 17.67% as of 4:00 EST.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own shares of STEM.

1. When I Twittered that Obama's speech was just propaganda and that my readers would be better served by focusing on bettering themselves, it inspired a 40+ comment chain on my Facebook profile. The lesson here is that people become very attached to their beliefs, like their stocks, no matter what any naysayer thinks, and many still believe in "quality investments" like Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) and Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), each now down more than 50% in just a few months.

2. Propaganda works only for so long before it backfires -- Obama better come through on what he says or it'll be just another case of the "Steve Jobs is fine" rhetoric that has proven false and now taken down Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), which has just broken through the key $80 support I talked about recently. That may make it a great technical short for aggressive traders, but not for me; I'm a conservative short selling penny stock day trader.

3. Politics is eerily similar to the stock market, those who inspire and make people the most excited rise to the top.

President Obama is speaking as I type this post. He is making many promises, and I believe he will make every effort to see them through to the best of his ability.

Regardless of his successes and failures in the coming years, we now have the focus of Washington and Wall Street working on preventing us from slipping into a depression and guiding us out of a year-old recession. Main Street is also doing its share to correct past mistakes, and they are making the biggest sacrifices.

These sacrifices come in the form of lower wages, cutting back on spending, living on fewer resources than they may have had available to them only a short while ago. We go on this journey together and many conjecture that things will get worse before they get better. I think this is only partially true. Unemployment appears to be rising but most of our problems seems to be known to us even if not resolved.

It was only two weeks ago I posted about one of the stocks I own and follow closely Chasing Value: Intuitive Surgical Earnings -- what now?, a company that I consider an "Obama pick". My frequent readers know that the company is one of my older investments and one that has paid off handsomely. Although Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) may still be a profitable investment at it's current level, at this point, it is well covered.

Searching for something less known, and certainly more controversial, I have the ideal Obama stock pick to add to your watchlist, StemCell Inc. (NASDA: STEM) which closed yesterday at $1.90. per share. It is not profitable, spends heavily on Research and Development and is highly speculative. So was ISRG when I got in very early.

The company profile states that STEM "discovers cell-based therapies to treat diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), such as cerebral palsy and Alzheimer's disease, as well as spinal cord injury. It is researching stem cell and progenitor cell (cells that have developed from stem cells) therapies to repair neural tissue damaged by disease and injury, and has discovered markers for CNS stem cells and a way to reproduce them for transplant."

In this series, TheStockAdvisors.com asked financial experts to name their top stock pick if McCain or if Obama wins the election.

On election day, there's no better time for investors to ask themselves which stocks would benefit from a victory by either Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama. To help investors sort through the sectors and stocks best positioned to benefit in a post-election environment, I asked some of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors to name their choices for each candidate.

Even though Obama is expected to win, the stocks that would benefit from McCain presidency are still worth a look in case there is a surprise result.

Importantly, this is not a partisan report; each participating advisor has provided a favorite stock for both candidates, focused not on political preferences but on unbiased stock research. Below we feature those stocks and ETFs that the advisors believe will be the winners depending on which candidate prevails.

Click on the company name to learn more about each of the picks. These posts were prepared early in October, but the advisors' rationale for choosing these stocks hasn't changed.

McCain Stocks:

Roger Conrad - Comcast (NYSE: CCW)
Gregg Early - Elbit Systems (NASDAQ: ESLT)
Elliott Gue - Paladin Resources (Toronto: PDN)