"You may not have your eye on Alcon Inc. (NYSE: ACL), but if you wear contact lenses, suffer from dry eyes, worry about glaucoma, or even if you have hay-fever, you may have bought ACL products," notes global expert Frida Ghitis.
Here, the contributing advisor to Vivian Lewis' Global Investing, explains, "This Swiss eye drug giant has with its eyes on both the bottom line and the pipeline.
"As the world's largest eye care company, ALC has excellent management, stellar performance, promising demographics, and an intriguing ownership structure.
"Demographics bode well. Aging eyes need attention. Demand will rise for glaucoma medication, dry eye treatments, and other Alcon top sellers. As emerging markets grow their middle class, eye-care will be affordable by millions more people.
Two leading global experts have both turned bullish on France's Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE). Vivian Lewis, in her Global Investing, notes, "Veolia is the way to play the 'water works square' on the monopoly board."
Nicholas Vardy, editor of Global Stock Investor suggests, "The smart money is betting that water may be the 'oil of the 21st century.' And Veolia is my number one way to profit from this global megatrend."
Vivan Lewis says, "We recommend buying French water and sewage conglomerate Veolia at current prices; the stock has been brought down by niggling Euro-concern about its levels of debt. The company is also being penalized for acquisitions.
"Veolia is the former Générale des Eaux, a municipal service firm. This history creates an image problem for VE which is seen as a utility.
"Our main reason for the buy, apart from price, is that this is a fast growing company with good earnings in a hot sector. In 2007, VE had revneues of euros 32.6 bn, up 14% on which its recurring net profit fost 22.5% to euros 933.2 mn. Earnings per share were euros 2.16, up 13.7%.
"Another reason for liking VE is that it is moving into China big-time, with waterworks in Tianshin and Shibai and environmental service in Juijiang. All in all, France still represents 44% of sales and the rest of Europe 36%. VE does about 10% of its business in the U.S. and the Chinese are part of the remainder.
Vivian Lewis, who holds GSK in her Global Investing portfolio, explains, "GlaxoSmithKline is off 22% since our purchase late in 2006, so how nice that the Oracle of Omaha sprung for it now. Why did he?
1) The stock has a a 4.5% yield, always nice. Buffett is a value player, not a growth man, especially in the current economy. Drugs are refuges in a downturn;
2) A recently defused scandal over its lead drug, diabetes treatment Avandia, whose nasty side-effects (heart trouble) surprised doctors and researchers. The heart trouble also affects competing diabetes drugs, result of too-rigorous attempts to 'normalize' blood sugar levels. There will be lawsuits but they ignore the fact that the side-effect was unanticipated;
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.
"Fear or war or nuclear conflagration is not the main reason for owning gold; rather, investors should buy gold to protect against inflation," explains Vivian Lewis, editor of Global Investing Pro, and the top stock picker in last year's Best Stocks report, with her selection of DryShips.
"This is not advice only for US investors. All central banks face a dilemma: On one hand, they can cut interest rates and print money to deflect subprime and credit crunch dangers while letting inflation rip. On the other, they can insist on discipline and inflation fighting, letting the economy's chips fall where they may.
"My top conservative investment idea for 2008 is StreetTracks Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD), which is an exchange-traded fund. In fact, the amount of gold held by StreetTracks now exceeds the gold reserves of China. It holds 602.37 tonnes of the yellow metal, whereas China only holds 600 tonnes. (A tonne is a metric measure equal to about 3,520 ounces.)
"US investors can also consider iShares Comex Gold (ASE: IAU). Both are ETFs that own physical gold bullion. However, they track different gold market prices.
"GLD tracks the London fixing and Comex ETF tracks the Chicago commodity price. You can buy whichever one is cheaper at the moment you decide on going for the gold."
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.
"The most boring part of the stock market is foreign bank non-cumulative preferred stocks," explains Vivian Lewis, in her Global Investing Pro. (Incidentally, Vivian was the #1 performer in last year's Best Stocks report.)
"But there is money to be made if you can keep your eyes open and your wits about you. For nearly 20 years, since the vehicle was invented by Barclays plc, British (and Irish) banks have issued preferred stock in denominations attractive to yield-hungry US investors, $25 at issue.
"These preferred shares have an expiration date. They normally run for ten years, after which they may be called. (They are not always called at maturity, if the issuing bank doesn't want to repay the $25 and interest rates are close to the level at which the preferred was issued.)
"They sometimes can be called at a discount from the issue price before the ten years are up, although in a period when banks are capital-hungry this is unlikely.
Speaking seven languages, Vivian Lewis travels the world to uncover ideas for her Global Investing newsletter. She also monitors research from leading investment firms around the globe to add to her analysis.
To support her own bullish outlook on Israel-based Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR), she cites analyst Ehud Eisenstein of Oscar Gruss, who speculates that the firm could be a takeover target for Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO).
Lewis explains, "Oscar Gruss did an update on WiMAX solutions company Alvarion, in which it reiterated its 'Buy' rating and raised its target price to $17 per share from $13. The analyst also seems to think it really can be a target for a Cisco Systems takeover bid.
"Eisenstein writes, 'Alvarion continues to lead emerging WiMAX. Our recent visit to the WiMAX World Conference in Chicago, and a comprehensive session with Alvarion management, lead us to believe that the WiMAX industry continues to make important strides, and Alvarion is well-positioned to maintain its leadership position in that space.'
"He continues, 'Management addressed their key technology differentiators, namely: greater cost-to-performance ratio, higher radio combinations, vendor agnostic approach, and the broad installation base.
"The Oscar Gruss analyst notes, 'We view Alvarion as a clear growth name. First, of the 200 WiMAX vendors who participated in WiMAX World last week, Alvarion is the only pure-play public company positioned to play the expected growth in WiMAX subscribers.'
Macquarie/First Trust invests only in infrastructure and utilities stocks. The advisor explains, "By prospectus, it is a a non-diversified portfolio of equity, debt, preferred or convertible securities, and other instruments (which may include Canadian income trusts and Australian stapled securities)."
She continues, "These holdings produce income or assets from managing, owning or operating infrastructure and utilities assets in a group of 'safe' countries. MFD also invests in infrastructure senior secured floating-rate loans."
Lewis points out the the parent company, Macquarie, has been an Australian victim of U.S. sub-prime housing loans gone sour. She notes, "The parent company may have to cover losses from two funds for Australians invested in the U.S. sub-prime market."
However, she emphasizes, "The U.S. fund that we are recommending is protected from these problems. This fund is not investing in real estate but rather in infrastructure. The sub-prime issues are bad for the management company, the Australian financial sector, and even the Austrailian dollar. But not for MFD, which is a screaming bargain."
Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com features the latest investment ideas and market commentary from the financial newsletter community.
Although global expert Vivian Lewis believe we are not yet "at the end of the correction" she continues to find selected opportunities in individual stocks, such as Israeli-based Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR), a leader in WiMax technology.
In her Global Investing newsletter, the advisor says, "The market's recent rise was fed by a 'shortage' of stocks; without buybacks and private equity, there will be glut."
She forecasts that as borrowing gets costlier, it will dry up investment by the corporate sector, homebuilders and consumers. And, she cautions, fixed-income vehicles will then lure investors away from the stock market.
Nevertheless, she continues to recommend select special situations, and has added Alvarion to her buy list. She explains, "WiMax started out as the commnications standard of the Israeli Army in desert campaigns, but is now widely used in countries where telephony is in its infancy, in the developing world."
Now, she says, "Alvarion's all-IP OPEN WiMAX ecosystem opens the door to complete, best-of-breed networks." She explains, "Through a new technology arrangement with ArrayComm's Advanced Multi-Antenna software, the company will be able to offer fast personal broadband network services and take this around with them."
She explains, " This will be a kind of 'always-on' IP-based service for high speed broadband. This will do email, computing, telephoning and texting, games, other consumer electronics, media, office, whatever. Another way to name it is 'DSL on the move'. We rate the stock a buy."
Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com features the latest investment ideas and market commentary from the financial newsletter community.
Last December, over 100 stocks were featured in our Top Picks for 2007 report. Now, at mid-year, we turn to the 20 advisors whose picks showed the strongest gains to get an update on their previous picks, as well as a new favorite stock for the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, the advisor now says, "DryShips is trading at a P/E of only 15, even now that the stock has gone up 300%. There is a lot of negativity about George Economou, who heads the company and now is the CFO.
"He headed a prior shipping company, which filed for bankruptcy after it could not pay back loans to British banks a decade ago. This was in the DryShips prospectus of course, and was also the subject of a report written by Kate Welling (former Barron's reporter) for a group shorting DRYS, including the Weeden brokerage firm.
"As a result, all this maybe makes DRYS cheaper than in would be otherwise. When I recommended DRYS in Global Investing in December 2005, I wanted it for its yield of 7.8%. That went up to 8.4% a year ago when the shorts were out in force, and the stock fell from $12.75 (our buy level) to $9.50.
"So the recovery is nice, but there is still an 'odor' around, which is why the resignation of the second CFO in a year causes some upset. I'm not giving up on this stock and indeed, perhaps would want to buy on weakness -- although as a holder, I am not sure I want to see weakness."
Last December, over 100 stocks were featured in our Top Picks for 2007 report. Now, at mid-year, we turn to the 20 advisors whose picks showed the strongest gains to get an update on their previous picks, as well as a new favorite stock for the second half of the year.
Now, she explains, "For a new pick for the second half of 2007, how about a copper company from Canada reviving an old mine in Baja California, Mexico?" Baja Mining (TSE: BAJ) is her current strong favorite.
"Baja Mining got a definitive feasibility study of its Boleo Project in Mexico, and it is lovely. Based on a presumed copper price of US$1.50/(metric) tonne, and cobalt at $15/pound and zinc sulphate at $1,200/tonne, the average cost of produced copper, net of byproducts, would be minus 7 cents/lb.
"Proven and probable reserves are sufficient for a 25-year mine life, with 275 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources grading 1.77% copper equivalent, and a further 250 million of inferred resourced grading 1.29% copper equivalent.
"These huge reserves mean that the project will have an after-tax indicated rate of return of 24.7%, or 46% at current market prices for the metals. The net project value at an 8% discount rate is $700 million, or $2.3 billion at current market prices.
Having just completed the Top Picks report for 2007 – the 24th consecutive year I have surveyed the newsletter advisors for their favorite stocks -- I thought I would share some observations to help readers best use the information in this feature.
And over the next few days, I will post articles to share observations on the stocks and sectors chosen, discuss the participating advisors, and highlight some of last year's top performers to help guide you in assessing this year's report.
I'll begin today by noting some caveats that should be kept in mind by those who are considering buying stocks from among the list of Top Picks. The advisors who have participated in this year's project were asked to submit a favorite speculative and/or conservative stock for the year ahead.
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.
DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is the top speculative idea for 2007 from Vivian Lewis, editor of Global Investing. She notes, "The company is an operator of a drybulk cargo fleet, and produced no more negative surprises with its unaudited financial and operating results for the third quarter.
"True, there was a net loss of $9.4 million (a loss of 28 cents per share) from Forward Freight Agreement losses previously announced. They were made by the now-fired CFO early in 2006. He disastrously misjudged the drybulk charter rates trend.
"His replacement, Gregory Zikos, a lawyer, MBA, and investment banker, has just been named CFO and to the DRYS board. Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a 'buy' on DRYS, forecasting 2006 earnings at $2.24 and 2007 at $2.15, below earlier estimates but with more confidence. Cantor's target is $16.
"Apart from these losses, the rest of the quarter was within the norms of highly leveraged Greek shipping companies, and net income in the quarter would have been 50 cents per share.
"Meanwhile, Dryships' major shareholders (led by George Economou) reinvested the 20 cent per share dividend payment they were scheduled to receive in October, in the amount of about $3.1 million, in DryShips shares. For speculative investors, we consider the stock a strong buy."
To see Vivian's favorite conservative global idea for 2007, click here.
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.
Osaka, Japan-based Chris Loew -- who covers Japanese stocks for Global Investing -- picks both his speculative and conservative favorites for 2007 from the same consumer trend. He explains, "In the apparel sector, fur is huge this year. The must-have item in Japan this winter is a down coat with real raccoon or tanuki (raccoon-dog, fox family) fur trim on the hood (priced about $250).
"Sanei International Co., Ltd. (JP:3605) (Other OTC SNEIF) -- my conservative pick for 2007 -- owns a multitude of apparel brands, mainly for women, and operates 1,088 stores and is well positioned to profit from this frenzy.
"The stock is reasonably priced at a P/E around 15 to17, barely reflecting improved consumer demand this year. In '07, the real-fur trend and looser consumer spending should give Sanei shareholders a warm feeling.
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.
Canadian Oil Sands Trust (TSX: COS.UN) is the top conservative buy for 2007 from international investing expert Vivian Lewis. The editor of Global Investing notes, "Canada recently slapped surprise taxes on income trusts. Nevertheless, we think oil sands will also be a good idea even if not exempt from taxes on dividends.
"The main reason is that the dividends are pretty meager. COS pays 2.7%. This is not going to cause a sell-off in the share, even if the dividend is cut in 2011. The trust, however, dropped 10% in what I consider a mistaken reaction to the tax news.
"Meanwhile, Canadian Oil Sands Trust saw third quarter volumes and sales prices rise, which partly offset higher royalties paid, while net fell 27%. The dividend is 30 cents per unit. The stock is up 41%, including dividends, over the past year.
"Fear or war or nuclear conflagration is not the main reason for owning gold; rather, investors should buy gold to protect against inflation," explains Vivian Lewis, editor of 
For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of 
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