Think those discounted financial stocks are ripe for plucking? Bide your time, BloggingStocks contributor Peter Cohan says. In the latest edition of StockWatch: Between the Bells, the Babson College instructor and editor of The Cohan Letter explains why it's too soon to return to the financials and offers up some sweeter stock plays.

I was speaking with a client earlier in the day, and I told her that I expected that the market will change course and that we will have a strong rally into year's end. I suggested a few names to her to look into, and she said to me that if I really think that we are going to move up strongly, than we need to buy some high-beta stocks, to try and really bring home some nice profits. I thought she had a very good point and suggested the following two stocks:

Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU): The Chinese web search company has been hit hard over the last month, but interestingly enough, not nearly as bad as the Chinese market has. If my theory that we will have an end-of-year rally holds true, I would expect a strong bounce back for the Chinese market, and as Baidu.com is a large and recognizable Chinese play, I would expect it to move strongly ahead. Keep in mind that China is in the infant stages of e-commerce, and as that market matures, Baidu.com will be at the center of that change.

EMC (NYSE: EMC): The data storage giant has gotten pummeled as spin-off VMware (NYSE: VMW) dropped by more than 35% over the last month. I have recently posted about the fact that EMC is grossly undervalued based on its holding in VMware. What's interesting to note is that when VMware shot up, EMC didn't participate as much as one would have expected based on its ownership. But when VMware took a tumble, investors punished EMC as well. If the market continues its rebound, look for EMC's true value to be unlocked and the stock to really spike higher.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer holds a position in EMC. He has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 11/28/07.

One of my favorite Jim Cramer-isms is "Commandment No. 5" -- Tips are for waiters. Here's what he writes:

You know that the best moves are takeovers and you are convinced that if you can catch one, it will make up for all the bum steers and bad bets you have made. Tips are winning lottery tickets in most people's eyes.

That's the reason I've had to default to a simple analogy, tips are for waiters, to remind myself how stupid tips really are. Does it occur to you, on hearing the tip, that if the person telling you that Nokia is going to buy RIM really knows that's going to happen, the person is an insider and is breaking the law, and you could get in trouble, too? Does it occur to you that if the person isn't an insider, he doesn't know? There simply is no way a tip like that can work. Leave it for the waiter.

That's what investors should be keeping in mind as they watch shares of E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) surge on extraordinarily vague takeover rumors. Shares were up as much as 25% on rumors that Schwab and Ameritrade were interested in buying the beleaguered broker. Where did these rumors come from? Ah, yes. "A source." And who's to say that "the source" isn't some clown holding a ton of E*Trade shares that he needs to get rid of -- for 25% more than they were trading before the rumor?

Everyone knows E*Trade could be in play -- any time a stock tanks that much, there are always going to rumors. But no one really knows what's going on, and buying E*Trade on the rumor is just mindless speculation.

As Doug McIntyre wrote, "E*Trade may be worth over $5, but it could also be worth a lot less."

We're probably in a bear market now, Doug McIntyre says in the latest edition of StockWatch: Between the Bells. The editor of financial news site 24/7 Wall St. and prolific BloggingStocks contributor cites two factors that demand investors' attention: the rising, record price of oil -- underscoring the falling value of the dollar -- and an increase in homeowners defaulting on their mortgages in the coming year.

SmartMoney recently ran an article about seven money mistakes to avoid:

1. Misidentified priorities. Clipping coupons to save a nickel while paying 15-20% interest on your American Express (NYSE: AXP) card.
2. Overly-cautious investing. The government appreciates you hoarding those 20-year old U.S. savings bonds.
3. Misunderstanding risk; e,g., buying asteroid insurance instead of long-term care.
4. Procrastination. Putting off funding that 401K, for example.
5. Throwing good money after bad. Perhaps the U.S. government should consider this one!
6. Letting your ego guide your decisions, e.g., "Who are you to tell me I should sell my Enron!"
7. Following the crowd, e.g. "I gotta get me some WorldCom."

I thought of a few money mistakes that I might add to such a list:

Investors make mistakes every day. If they didn't we'd all be as rich as Warren Buffett and we're not.

Here's a list of six such mistakes:

• Follow hot tips. As a blogger on AOL's BloggingStocks, I know that some of the most popular posts are the ones that repeat what Jim Cramer said on his TV show five minutes before the post appears on the blog. The reason these posts are so popular is because lots of people are Cramer Ditto Heads (CDHs). He tells them what to do and they do it. While some use Cramer as a starting point for further research, many are too willing to be led and are not inclined to do their own research.
• Don't know how to research fundamentals. One of the reasons people don't do their own research is because they don't know how. Specifically, one kind of research many people don't know how to do is understanding how a company -- whose stock someone wants to buy -- fits within its industry. Many people would not know how to begin answering fundamental questions such as: Is the industry profitable? Why? How is that profitability likely to evolve? What is the company's market share? If it's a leader, can it sustain that leadership? If it's behind can it catch up? What kind of cash flow does the business generate? How much cash flow is it likely to sustain in the future? Does the market recognize these future cash flows in its price?
• Don't know how to analyze technicals. Many times fundamentals have nothing to do with how a stock performs. For example, in December 2003, Martha Stewart Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) stock started going up from $9 when its Home & Garden Television (HGTV) show was taken off the air to $36 in February 2005 when Martha Stewart got out of jail. During that time the company saw its revenues shrink 20% a year and its losses skyrocket. The reason the stock went up is a mystery. But I thought people who were loyal Martha Stewart Ditto Heads (MSDHs) bought MSO as a show of support. Many investors do not know how to analyze money flows that would provide clues to what is driving a stock up or down. This can cause them to buy when they should be selling, or sell when they should be buying.