The Dow Jones Industrial Average is fast approaching the 13,000 milestone and investors will temporarily celebrate, taking a victory lap shouting "I told you so". That's great and the fun will last for awhile. But let's look at two strong, gotta own names in preparation for the Dow Jones at 14,000!!! It'll happen -- when I don't know, but it will. These two names exhibit the mantra that every investor should always be uttering to themselves "earnings growth, earnings growth, earnings growth."

The first one is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Not a surprise as I have been recommending this company for the past two years and now, as enthusiastically as ever. The stock is trading at $90 and my price target is $140. Apple is a phenomena, plain and simple. With 100 million iPods already sold, that market is still underpenetrated.

The iPhone will be the next leg of massive growth, dominance and earnings upside. The initial projections for the iPhone are conservative and that's the way Apple wants it. Apple is managing expectations very intelligently. So what if the iPhone is delayed by say a quarter? So what, the numbers will be revised and pushed out a quarter or two. This stock is a buy and put away for a few more years.

This company "gets" the consumer like no other. The momentum in this story has legs and sustainability for the next 3 years easily. Consensus estimates are for revenues of $24 billion and earnings per share of $3.25 for 2007. Couple iPod and iPhone with other accelerants within Apple like the new and improved Mac computer, the software upgrades, CPU enterprise share gains and then top it all off with a super retail store system and 2008 estimates are for revenues of $30.7 billion and earnings per share of $3.92--very conservative and will likely be revised upwards.