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.

iShares Sweden ETF (NYSE: EWD) is the top speculative idea for 2007 from Nick Vardy, editor of The Global Bull Market Alert.

He explains, "Political revolutions can mean big stock market gains. The Reagan revolution unleashed an era of strong economic growth; ditto for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, where economic reforms were followed quickly by big bull markets and big profits for investors who got in on the game early.

"Such a political revolution just happened in Sweden, where the Social Democrats were voted out of office. After holding power for 65 of the past 74 years, Swedish voters opted for an economic model that looks a lot more like Maggie Thatcher than Scarlett Johansson.

"The agenda of the winning center-right alliance is to lower taxes, deregulate the economy, and sell state shareholdings in listed companies, which will clear the way for cross-border mergers or acquisitions of listed companies. Investment bankers already have descended on Stockholm.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) -- Like many of my picks, you will find I look for out-of-favor companies with depressed stock prices and compelling stories, while ignoring most analyst banter. Home Depot has been buying back shares all year, and on December 14, 2006 it announced it would buy back another $3 billion worth -- why? While sales and profits are growing, its same-store-sales have been depressed by the reduction in housing starts and declining home sales in many markets. Its shareholders have been restless and a buyback is a quick way to add shareholder value. It also shows confidence in the current value and supports it at the same time. HD closed yesterday at $39.56.

Starting again with the P/S ratio of 1.05 we find another eye-opener, and it has a below average P/E of 13.66 with an above average yield of 2.31%. Again, we find the ROE, ROA and ROIC all top the P/E: Return on Equity (TTM) 22.98 Return on Assets (TTM) 14.21 and Return on Investments (TTM) 20.7.