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.

"Our favorite conservative pick for 2008 is natural gas transmission, storage, and distribution company Southern Union (NYSE: SUG)," says Bill Martin, editor of BullMarket.com.

"Over the last few years, Southern Union has transformed itself from a staid utility company to a faster-growing pipeline and LNG-centric company. The company recently announced plans to create its own master limited partnership (MLP) into which it will transfer a portion of its gathering and processing assets.

"Southern Union's stock has been under some pressure recently, as investors were disappointed that the company didn't sell its pipeline assets to another MLP after being offered a substantial premium to its purchasing price a few years ago. However, management believes these assets can create greater shareholder value over time as a standalone MLP, and we agree.

"We expect several catalysts to kick-in for Southern Union in 2008. Under the favorable tax structure of an MLP, the market should value Southern Union's pipeline assets at a much higher multiple than they are currently priced at.

Continue reading Best Stocks for 2008: Natural gas gains with Southern Union (SUG)

Best Stocks for 2008: Natural gas gains with Southern Union (SUG) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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.

"Our favorite speculative play for 2008 is auto supplier Tenneco (NYSE: TEN)," says Bill Martin, editor of BullMarket.com. "The stock has been hammered along with the rest of the auto parts sector of late due to weak US auto sales and a slew of analyst downgrades.

"However, the company is taking market share, and is a solid play on tightening global emissions standards. On a macro level, there is considerable momentum in favor of emissions regulations right now, and this is allowing Tenneco to expand into additional markets, rapidly expand its technology road map, and win customers with the most innovative products available. In fact, we view Tenneco more as a technology company in a high-growth market than simply an auto parts supplier.

"The company faces a number of headwinds, including production cuts by the Big Three US automakers and rising steel prices. So far, though, the company has been able to 'outgrow' its weaker markets and mitigate input costs through aftermarket price increases to OE customers.

"Tenneco should also benefit from reducing the leverage on its balance sheet. We anticipate that growing cash flows and the increased size and diversity of its business will lead to a lower cost of capital and allow shareholders to benefit from reduced interest expense. Taken all together, we think Tenneco will be a solid performer in 2008 amidst low expectations."

Best Stocks for 2008: Emissions standards boost Tenneco (TEN) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This article is part of a 20 article special report on "Metals, miners and money".

"We have added palladium and platinum miner, Stillwater Mining (NYSE: SWC), to the high-risk, high-return Aggressive Growth portfolio," notes Bill Martin. The editor of FindProfit notes that this portfolio is meant to provide "swing for the fences ideas with home-run return potential."

"Stillwater reported disappointing third quarter earnings, as production fell and costs rose due to labor and production challenges. While results should improve materially in Q4, the company is still behind its original plan for the year.

"Despite these near-term bumps, we believe that SWC is on the cusp of a breakout as prices for palladium and platinum continue to strengthen. Platinum, in particular, has been on fire this year, rising more than 25% to nearly $1,500 per ounce.

"This price rise should add $25 million to SWC's bottom line in 2008. Palladium has also been stronger, rising above $350 per ounce, however, that market still has plenty of runway to move higher.

Continue reading Top resource ideas: Stillwater (SWC) for platinum and palladium

Top resource ideas: Stillwater (SWC) for platinum and palladium originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) announced that CEO Dick Parsons will step down at the end of the year. Current president and chief operating officer (and former head of HBO) Jeff Bewkes will replace him.

Bill Martin, editor of FindProfit observes, "The move comes as little surprise as Parsons' contract was running out in May 2008, and Bewkes had been groomed to be his successor." Parsons, he notes, will remain chairman.

The advisor explains, "The bottom line is that by all accounts, Bewkes is a solid executive, and one who may be apt to break up the media conglomerate. TWX has taken some limited actions under Parsons to unlock value by listing Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) shares and selling several magazines.

"Bewkes, however, is likely to take the restructuring a step further, including possibly spinning off AOL and TWC completely and selling the entire publishing division. As witnessed by today's reaction to the announced split-up of IAC/InteractiveCorp. (NASDAQ:IACI), such actions would most likely be cheered by investors.

He concludes, "While we had previously viewed TWX shares as a source of funds, we now don't believe it is time to sell. The stock, trading near a 52-week low, looks cheap, and a new CEO with a penchant for restructuring and unlocking value could be just the catalyst that TWX needs."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com features the latest investment commentary and favorite stocks of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

Time for Time Warner? 'Unlocking value' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"More than two years after selling Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) for a 60% gain, we are once again buying the shares," says Bill Martin in his FindProfit advisory newsletter.

He explains, "A heavily diversified operator of pipeline and other energy-related assets and the largest master limited partnership (MLP) in the U.S., KMP currently has a 6.85% yield that we think will grow to 7.5% or greater in 2008 based on the current stock price.

"This growth will be powered by a deep portfolio of new growth projects, most notably the company's Rockies Express pipeline, Mid-Continent Express Pipeline, and Trans Mountain pipeline.

"KMP is extremely well positioned to benefit from the prime sources of North American energy supply growth over the next several years, including the Barnett Shale in Texas, the Rocky Mountains, the oil sands of Canada, and the new LNG import facilities in Texas and Louisiana.

"KMP also should benefit from higher oil prices over the next two years in its CO2 segment. Together, these projects should enable KMP to grow its distribution payout rate by 7-9% per year over the next several years.

Continue reading Best energy ideas: High yields from Kinder Morgan (KMP)

Best energy ideas: High yields from Kinder Morgan (KMP) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 20 Oct 2007 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) reported second-quarter earnings this morning. The numbers, according to Bill Martin, surpassed Wall Street earnings forecasts, with its cable television revenue easily outweighing a drop in sales at its AOL Internet unit.

However, notes the editor of FindProfit newsletter, "A pullback in management's guidance for AOL advertising revenue growth is hitting the shares today, sending the stock down -3.2% to close at $18.64.

For Q2, he observes, TWX reported net income of $1.07 billion, or 28 cents a share, up from $1 billion, or 24 cents a share, last year. Earnings before discontinued operations and accounting charges came in at 25 cents a share, he states.

The advisor explains, "After one-time gains, it appears that TWX beat Wall Street estimates of 21 cents a share by around two cents per share. On the top line, revenue grew 6% to $11.0 billion, slightly below analyst estimates of $11.1 billion."

Updating its stock buyback program, he adds, TWX said it just completed $20 billion in stock buybacks, which retired about 23% of its shares outstanding from the market. The board has also authorized a new $5 billion stock repurchase program, according to Martin.

Continue reading Time Warner: Pullback creates buying opportunity

Time Warner: Pullback creates buying opportunity originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In addition, all three advisors see their banking bets as value-oriented positions with solid, long-term fundamentals. All three are also buyback and/or takeover plays.

Bill Martin, editor of FindProfit newsletter recommends Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY), which he notes is based in the prime New York City metropolitan banking market.

He states, "VLY has seen its bottom line pressured, primarily due to the flat yield curve. However, there have been no credit issues at very conservatively run VLY, and we don't expect any to develop."

Looking forward, he says, we continue to believe that margins are 'as bad as they will get' for many banks, at least,he notes, for conservative banks without credit challenges such as Valley.

According to Martin, "This means that VLY's bottom-line results should bottom this year and start to improve in 2008."

Meanwhile, he speculatives, "We believe that VLY continues to be a takeout target, as the bank's footprint and under-leveraged balance sheet remains extremely attractive." Further, he states, "With outright ownership of more than 90 buildings in the NYC area, we believe its book value is materially understated."

Continue reading Three experts bank on regional banks

Three experts bank on regional banks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Seeking to put some of our capital back to work, today we're going to step up and purchase shares of DirecTV (NYSE: DTV)," says Bill Martin.

In his FindProfit newsletter, he explains, "We believe that investors are beginning to realize that the competitive worries for satellite are overdone. In fact, satellite has actually picked up market share over the past year.

Via technology upgrades and strategic partnerships, he notes that DTV is poised to accelerate its competitive edge in the high-definition TV marketplace, while increasing the penetration of a variety of product 'add-ons,' such as high-definition boxes, DVRs, etc., that should boost margins.

He suggests, "As John Malone has done at other entities where he has significant influence such as Liberty Capital (NASDAQ: LCAPA), Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA), Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE), and IAC\Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI), we expect DTV to move to buy-in significant amounts of stock over the coming year as it re-levers its balance sheet."

Continue reading Tune in to DirectTV

Tune in to DirectTV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In the "high-risk, high-return" Aggressive Growth portfolio of his FindProfit advisory, Bill Martin (the original founder of the Raging Bull online investor community) offers "swing for the fences" ideas. Now, he is adding to his position in Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBC).

He notes that with the shares off 25% from their recent highs, he is going to "step up and boost our position." He states that while the firm's first quarter results were disappointing --driven by delays in closing an acquisition and higher-than-expected costs -- he believes that Wall Street has been too quick to give up.

Martin explains, "In our view, GLBC remains exceptionally well positioned to benefit from the rising demand for bandwidth (see Ciena's conference call from this morning), as well as the consolidation opportunities in the industry."

Continue reading Global Crossing: Bandwidth bet

Global Crossing: Bandwidth bet originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bill Martin, editor of FindProfit, looks at IT automation software maker Opsware (NASDAQ: OPSW) - and a "high profile" insider buy in the stock from former Disney (NYSE: DIS) exec, Michael Ovitz.

Martin notes, "Michael Ovitz, a director at the company, a longtime Hollywood power broker, and the one-time president of Disney, picked up 58K shares at $6.40 on March 14th, increasing his holdings to 941,300 shares."

The advisor points out that the purchase occured after the stock hit a 52-week low following its recent earnings report.

And this wasn't the first time Ovitz went into the market to buy shares; Martin notes that it was the seventh time since April 2004 that Ovitz has purchased shares of OPSW. This latest buy, he observes, was Ovitz's first purchase since June 2006.

Overall, he notes, Ovitz has bought 605,000 shares since May 2005, at an average price of $5.86, investing approximately $3.6M.

Martin says, "Ovitz has a history of well-timed buys at OPSW. He has managed to get in at favorable prices, and the stock has traded higher in the months following each of his previous six buys."

Like Ovitz, Bill martin has bought shares of Opsware on several occasions, He has traded the stock three times in his model portfolio. Now, following Ovitz's latest buy, he has decied to add the stock back to his own portfolio.

He states, "I would now argue that OPSW is one of the best growth stories in software today. While still not cheap, we believe the stock will grow into its valuation. TWe consider it a high-growth company with strong upside potential. he latest purchase buy Ovitz only adds to our conviction that the stock is a buy at current levels."

For more stock picks from the leading financial newsletter advisors, visit Steven Halpern's free daily website, TheStockAdvisors.com.

Former Disney exec bets on Opsware originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 09:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bill Martin, editor of FindProfit recently added Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) to his long-term growth portfolio, and the stock has risen sharply following a strong fourth quarter report.

According to Martin, the company saw particular strength in its HIV franchise. He explains, "Gilead's HIV treatments (Viread, Truvada, Atripla, and Emtriva) were clear winners, with sales growing 67% to $642.4 million and surpassing Wall Street's expectation of $628.7 million in sales."

Although the company reported a net loss of $1.67 billion, or -$3.62 per share, for the quarter, the advisor explains that by backing out a charge of $2.04 billion for its acquisitions of Corus and Myogen, the company actually earned a profit of 78 cents per share versus 59 cents per share a year ago.

Also for the quarter, he notes that revenue jumped 48% year over year to $899.2 million. These results, he points out, "handily" beat analyst expectations of 68 cents EPS on revenue of $850.9 million.

Continue reading Strong quarter boosts Gilead

Strong quarter boosts Gilead originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Feb 2007 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Noting that it's always harder to swim upstream, trader Bill Martin looks into groups set to benefit from "rising tides" in the year ahead." Martin, the original found of the Raging Bull website, now features his stock advice in his FindProfit newsletter.

In his latest issue he looks at themes for "nimble investors in the year ahead," including a trio of tech trends - emissions control, print-on-demand, and web analytics.

New Emission Technology:

Martin explains, "Thanks to new government regulations that kicked-in in early 2007, and with additional rules on tap for 2010, the opportunities around automobile and truck emission technologies continue to grow."

His top picks include Tenneco (NYSE: TEN), which he says, "Should be a prime beneficiary, as it has already locked up a number of valuable design wins that are going to market this year and next."

His other top pick is Corning (NYSE: GLW), which is best known for its LCD glass and fiber businesses. Martin notes, "Corning is set to ramp its Environmental Technologies business, thanks to its innovations in diesel emission technologies. We believe that this upside is not priced into GLW stock, and thus we would be interested in accumulating the stock on weakness.

Print On-Demand Technology:

"Enabled by brisk advances in printing technologies, the world of large-scale printing is poised to rapidly change," observes Martin. He notes that it is now becoming more cost competitive for companies and consumers to print exactly what they need when they need it, rather than the inefficient and wasteful process of warehousing thousands of varying forms, brochures, stationery, etc.

He notes, "This is a tectonic shift for the printing industry that will drive consolidation among providers, while rewarding companies that jump out in front with the latest technologies." His picks to play this trend are Cenveo (NYSE: CVO) as well as VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT).

Web Analytics:

"With online advertising, e-commerce, and other Internet businesses becoming increasingly sophisticated," notes Martin, "and with ever-larger dollars at stake, businesses are spending big bucks to track the behaviors of their website visitors, the efficiency of their marketing dollars, and to see how the online channel relates to their other markets."

One early big winner, he notes is Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR), which he says, "has grabbed the lead in this nascent market." Another beneficiary of this trend is the number-two player in the industry, WebSideStory (NASDAQ: WSSI). He adds, "We believe that the rising tide of web analytics is going to benefit more than just Omniture, and have also added WebSideStory to our buy list."

Steven Halpern is the editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, a free daily website which features the latest stock picks from the nation's leading financial newsletters.

Rising tides: Trader targets a trio of technology trends originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After reviewing third quarter results from Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), Bill Martin - who founded Raging Bull - remains bullish on the shares, a holding in his portfolio at his FindProfit newsletter.

Martin notes that while the company missed expectations slightly, it was still "a strong quarter on a number of fronts." In particular, due to $13.5 billion in stock buybacks, the company has reduced its share count by 16% this year. He also notes that it sold $4 billion of non-core assets - assets, he points out, that contributed just $11 million in operating income last year.

For the quarter, the cable unit continued to drive the overall growth, and, according to Martin, the completion of the Adelphia acquisition during the quarter should provide "a further tailwind in 2007 and contribute to growth next year."

He notes that "AOL was a bright spot, beating income estimates thanks to a big jump in advertising revenues and a huge cut in marketing expenditures."

He was most impressed by AOL's Advertising.com network business, which grew by 96%, as its search revenue grew 27% and display advertising revenue grew 39%. Says Martin, "Add it all up and TWX shares are on a mission to move higher, and expect to continue riding this trend for the next quarter or two."

Steven Halpern is editor of TheStockAdvisors, a daily overview of investment ideas from the financial newsletter community.

TWX: 'On a Mission to Move Higher' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.