We all know that diversification is one of the key fundamentals in long-term financial planning. 3M Company (NYSE: MMM), a nearly century-old technology company that produces everything from surgical supplies and flat screen TVs to asphalt shingles and that old reliable Scotch Tape, shows how to put that principle into practice. Not only do the company's products cover a wide cross-section of the technology marketplace, but its increasing reach into foreign markets allows the company to offset slow sales in the U.S. with international activity, and also to take advantage of a weak dollar by encouraging foreign investment.

Recent expansions of 3M's holdings in Eastern Europe, South America and Asia allow the company to continue to spread the risk of local instability over a worldwide organization, as well as provide new markets for products that have long been profitable in the U.S.

The third quarter earnings last week did show a reduction in the company's annual revenue forecast, causing the stock price to fall from this year's highest price of $95.82 (only two weeks ago) to its current price in the mid $80s. However, those same 3rd quarter returns also showed a solid increase in net income for the quarter (7.4%), and the company raised its annual earnings forecast to levels above analysts' expectations. What this means for a smart investor is that you can pick up a stock Goldman Sachs is valuing at $97 for almost $10 less -- and you should see a return in fairly short time.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that the time may well be here to start investing in alternative energy sources. Solar energy, the cleanest and most renewable source of electrical power, has long been thought of as a bit of a pipe dream -- good in principle but not as easy to put into practice. But SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR), the Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of solar electrical systems for homes and businesses, shows us there might be something new under the sun.

SunPower's 15 years of research and development have put it at the forefront of its field in both form and function: Its innovative technologies generate up to 50% more power than conventional solar energy systems, and its sleek black panels look so good they now grace the roof of the new Shiseido factory in New Jersey. With an exceptional product and lower overhead than its competitors due to its outsourced production facilities in Southeast Asia, SunPower looks to be able to shine brightly among its bigger competitors like Sharp or Nanosolar.

Clearly, SunPower is doing something right. Its recently-announced third quarter earnings show that revenue for the company is up 34% this quarter -- and over 250% from last year. And, if the company's estimates are to be believed, next year looks to be even brighter, with new product lines and new facility contracts on the horizon.

The year 2007 has been challenging for Knight Capital Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NITE), a financial services company that dropped below $12 after trading near $22 in January. A recent earnings report for the third quarter probably won't do much for the stock price either, as it showed net income down 47% from the third quarter of 2006.

But, as a recent Goldman Sachs report argued, it's starting to look like the battering has gone too far, and the stock may well be due for a turnaround in 2008.

The Goldman report looked to a stock repurchasing program, as well as the sale of 50% of the DirectEdge division. Other analysts have pointed out that the losses in the third quarter were due to the company's expectation that it will have to repay fees at its Deepwater hedge-fund division, and that the fund has actually been meeting and even exceeding expectations so far this year, which suggests things should look better soon. Meanwhile commissions and fees have been rising nicely.

A stock like this is only good for investors who can stomach a bit of risk and have the time to be patient. If you're one of these investors, you may want to buy soon and be prepared to wait at least 12 months to see the results.

Type of Stock: A large trading company coming off a rough year.

Price Target: Goldman expects this to hit $18 within the next 12 months. That would be a 50% gain! I bet it could happen, but I suspect it may take a longer time horizon to reach $18.

Hilary Kramer is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing.

When I last wrote about Schlumberger LTD (NYSE: SLB) in January, the stock was trading at $60 and I predicted it to hit $80 in early 2007. SLB hit $80 around June, and then kept going even stronger than I'd expected. The stock was up over $110 until Friday, when its earnings announcement sent the stock down almost 10%. SLB's decline was part of a larger stock-market tumble, but the company was also punished for its declining results in North America.

Personally, I think this decline only creates a chance to buy. After all, SLB's net income was up 35% for the quarter, driven mostly by its international efforts. SLB has been assiduously building its international profile, and developing its ability to deliver custom services in each foreign location, and so I'm not surprised the company's bottom line is reaping the benefits of these efforts.

I also expect this growth to continue. SLB's equipment and services are aimed at the kind of unconventional drilling needed to find new sources -- the type of drilling that will only become more important as we keep using up reserves. As I wrote in January, SLB is one of the top two companies in the world for just about every type of product and service it offers, and it invests heavily in R&D to maintain its competitive edge.

Oil is a cyclical business and SLB has to deal with some unreliable governments, so this is a somewhat risky stock, but I think it has potential to keep growing and to make you some money if you get it at the right price.

Type of Stock: One of the leading oil services companies in the world.

Price Target: I'd be tempted to grab the stock around $100, where it's trading after Friday's tumble, but my advice would be to sit tight and see where it goes early in the week. You may be able to grab it in the mid $90s, which I think would leave you some room to enjoy some nice growth.

Hilary Kramer is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing.

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage

The other day, Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI), the largest stainless steel producer in the U.S., experienced a steep decline in share price. This company produces not just stainless steel but also titanium and other materials, as well as develops engineered products used in cutting tools and diecasting, usually to be used in the aerospace, automotive, and appliance sectors.

When the investor sees a fall in share price, there are two conclusions. Sometimes these types of price drops are warranted; sometimes they scream to the savvy investor: opportunity! This is a case of the latter. The reason for the drop the other day was a company report that stainless steel and nickel prices were volatile and falling, which then negatively impacted its stainless steel segment. This report prompted share prices to fall by $10 -- well beyond what I feel was warranted.

In addition to falling prices, ATI's prospects were dampened recently when Boeing announced that it would deliver its Dreamliner 787 planes six months later than expected. Each plane required 250 THOUSAND pounds of nickel, which ATI was going to supply, so this is a blow. Provided this delay doesn't get extended, I don't see it affecting ATI in the long turn. The management is solid, and demand for its specialty metal product isn't going away.

A wise investor never lets a perceived vice get between him and a nice profit. So no matter how you feel personally about booze and chewin' tobacco, read on.

Goldman Sachs just issued a report today upgrading UST Inc. (NYSE: UST) to a BUY. UST Inc is a holding company not just for U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, which makes smokeless tobacco products (that's chaw to you and me) under the Copenhagen and Skoal brand names, but also for the wine brand, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, that produces wine under the Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest (contributing 15% of total sales).

Sold mainly in the U.S., this is an example of a company that some people don't necessarily feel comfortable supporting -- booze and chewing tobacco. But if this doesn't offend your sensibilities, the company presents a strong buy opportunity. As Goldman's report states, the market is overestimating the level of competition -- particularly from Marlboro --in smokeless tobacco, where UST makes the majority of its profit.

While the airports are still dominated by the big players, a company like Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: RJET) offers essential services that make this company a real winner for investors.

Republic is the fastest-growing regional airline in America, with its lines (Chautauqua, Republic, and Shuttle America) providing regional service to bring passengers to the bigger airlines' hubs.

After a major downturn following 9/11, air travel is back up in a big way, and much of it is from the smaller regional airports that Republic serves. More and more people are looking to the skies for their business travel, and the growing number of telecommuters may also create increased demand for once-a-week flights from smaller cities to larger ones, rather than the traditional daily commute by car or public transportation.

I'm usually very careful about recommending companies in fickle commodity-oriented business such as gold, but Anglo American PLC (NASDAQ: AAUK) is an exception.

My caution in this area has everything to do with risk -- pricing and demand are extremely reliable, and many investors simply aren't equipped to invest knowledgeably in these markets. But AAUK is involved in a wide range of commodities, from platinum to coal to diamonds to paper to base and ferrous metals, and beyond. This diversification keeps AAUK from suffering too much damage if one commodity drops significantly.

I also like this stock's long term outlook. With growing economies in India, China, and other nations, there should be continuing demand for many commodities, and AAUK stands to benefit from these trends, especially given its dominating size as one of the largest commodity corporations in the world. The flip side of this growth is that stronger currencies may cut the margins of AAUK's global operations, but AAUK has been enjoying solid returns on its investments for the past few years, and any damage from currency fluctuations will also hurt AAUK's competition.

With an excellent position now and a very large pipeline to keep the company going for the next few years, I think this is one to buy and hold.

Type of Stock: One of the largest and most diversified commodity corporations in the world.

Price Target: AAUK is now trading at $33, just off its 52-week high of $34. There's usually some fluctuation here, and I'd try to buy here or lower, as I think you'll see steady growth through 2008.

Hilary Kramer,author of the newly released Ahead of the Curve, is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing.

This is the eighth in a series of trend-spotting tips from Hilary Kramer's newly-released book, Ahead of the Curve.

More than ever, we should turn our trend-spotting eyes to beyond our borders. In our increasingly globalized economy, there is money to be made everywhere. Trends that used start in the United States can be seen starting in China, India, Japan, Germany, Argentina... to name but a few countries. Right now, the dollar is weak, so investing in foreign companies may make more sense than ever.

Looking outside your borders, you will see that China is growing in leaps and bounds, which means it needs more and more water systems, but it has a serious pollution problem.

This is the seventh in a series of trend-spotting tips from Hilary Kramer's newly-released book, Ahead of the Curve.

Everyone knows imagination and creativity are essential for entrepreneurs -- after all, they're the visionaries who see things that don't already exist, and then figure out a way to make them exist. But it's also essential for investors to be imaginative in thinking of ways to make money, and then investing in companies that share their vision.

To take an example, a few years ago, only a science-fiction fan or a dreamer would have thought we could power cars off plants in the ground. Everyone knew about ethanol, of course, but who would ever have thought we could use almost any biological matter to get ourselves to work in the morning?

This is the sixth in a series of trend-spotting tips from Hilary Kramer's newly-released book, Ahead of the Curve.

As I say in my new book, Ahead of the Curve, a picture tells a thousand words... and a good statistical picture can also lead to thousands of dollars! By this, I mean that if you pay attention to statistical trends and graphs from polls and other data, you can easily uncover trends in business and finance.

For instance, demographic statistics right now tell you the Baby-Boomers are aging, our country's Hispanic population is growing in number and income level, more people are going to prisons than ever before: in turn, this can lead you to hot companies doing things like making hip replacements (for baby-boomers), selling certain specialty food products (like those catering to the Hispanic market), or supplying prisons with garments.

This is the fifth in a series of trend-spotting tips from Hilary Kramer's newly-released book, Ahead of the Curve.

In order to effectively spot trends, be a news junkie. This might be the most obvious tip in my book, but it is amazing how few people do it and how it can help get you ahead of the curve. Read the papers, listen to the radio, watch TV reports, and log onto bloggers that you respect. I'm not just talking about paying attention to the financial sections. The headlines from any section of the daily paper can uncover clues to trends in the making and companies that could turn hot and make you money.

For a simple example: it is unlikely you missed the news of the recent tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota. News reports on the collapse put a spotlight on the crumbling infrastructure problem in the U.S. If you follow the news on the radio, the TV, the papers and blogs, you've probably also noticed somewhere that the U.S. government in the next decade will dedicate more than $1.3 trillion of upgrades necessary to improve its infrastructure. Put two and two together, and you see how this infrastructure improvement will become a growing trend.

This is the fourth in a series of trend-spotting tips from Hilary Kramer's newly-released book, Ahead of the Curve.

Everyone was told at some point that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. As much as we're drawn to follow the crowd, we're also hardwired to be suspicious of what seems like a free lunch. This kind of healthy skepticism is essential to successful investing, but sometimes a spade really is a spade and you can join the crowd on the way to making serious money.

One key point in this tip is to know that even if you didn't get in at the very beginning, you can still make money off a stock. Or, as I put it in my book, "the payout might be greater for the first spotter of a trend, but a trend rider who rides the wave a bit later can still make out just fine."

Probably the best example of this trend tip from the past few years is Google Inc. (NYSE: GOOG). This company went public in August 2004 at $85. Now it's trading in the $560s. Obviously someone who got in at the IPO would have made quite a profit. But even if you'd bought two years after the IPO, you'd have bought at $468. Many people at the time would have thought $468 was simply crazy to pay for any stock, but a year later the people who invested then are looking at a 25% return a year later, which isn't bad at all.

And the fact is that if you buy now at $568, you still have a good chance of making a solid return on your investment. Google's revenues continue to grow and the company continues to reveal fascinating new plans for growth. They have tons of cash and little debt and are poised to keep acquiring companies here and abroad, and I fully expect Google to hit $600 in 2008 and to keep growing.

Type of stock: The wildly popular Internet stock that shows no sign of stopping.

Price target: I'm not sure there is one. Buy when you can before it goes up any further.

Hilary Kramer,author of the newly released Ahead of the Curve, is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing. Visit her at www.hilarykramer.com.

This is the third in a series of trend-spotting tips from Hilary Kramer's newly-released book, Ahead of the Curve.

Another tip I make use of in my book is this: It pays to think like a detective! The key is to collect clues wherever they are and use them to come to a conclusion about how to solve the crime -- or in this case, to solve the problem of how to make profitable investments.

This tip came into play the other day when I was walking down the street on a garbage day in New York. The bags from an apartment building were piled so high they'd spilled over to block the sidewalk. After navigating this minefield, I got to the subway, on my way out at my stop, I dropped my newspaper in a rubbish bin instead of recycling it -- and noticed that the bin was full of other newspapers that should have been recycled.

This is the first in a series of trend-spotting tips from Hilary Kramer's newly-released book, Ahead of the Curve.

We've all heard of the parlor game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. You can take the same principle of interconnections and apply it to trends. All trends have ripple effects, and sometimes the best opportunities are found not in the trend itself, but in industries several steps removed from, but related to, the trend.

Take the energy crunch that's affecting companies and economies around the world. This is an obvious trend, and you may fear oil and power companies are overvalued. So take it a step further. These industries need oil rigs and wind farms.

A step further? The need for hardware to build, run and maintain this complex equipment.