Top Stocks

I'm taking US Bancorp (USB) off Jim's Watch List and adding it to the Jubak's Picks portfolio today, March 26.

Unfortunately, the stock is up roughly 18% since I added it to the Watch List, climbing from $22.01 on Dec. 15 to around $26 on Friday.

But with this one, I haven't been waiting so much for a pull back in the stock's price as for convincing evidence that the turn in what has been a rising tide at banks of write-offs and reserves for delinquent and bad debt is only a quarter or two distant -- not way off in 2011. (Buying US Bancorp also increases my exposure to the U.S. stock market, which I think will outperform the rest of the world's markets over the next few months. See this post.)

 

Two years ago music mogul Irving Azoff told the world he and his management company, Front Line Management, were "honored” that Axl Rose had "placed his trust in us" to represent him and Guns N'Roses.

That was then. On Thursday, Front Line filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court, claiming that Rose and GNR owe the company more than $1.8 million under their management agreement.

The suit also asks for a full accounting of Rose to determine what other funds Front Line might be owed.

 

Don't call it a comeback -- but after years of free fall, NBC's prime-time lineup seems to have found at least a temporary measure of stability.

One month after its latest scheduling reboot, the Peacock finds itself looking a lot like a contestant during the early weeks of "The Biggest Loser."  

• Related: Jay vs. Conan Wars: Next It's Over the Emmy

Sure, it's still in bad shape, and it's got a host of well-documented problems it should have dealt with long ago.

But instead of drifting aimlessly from one fad programming diet to another -- Supersized shows! Managing for Margin! Leno at 10! -- NBC, like the sweaty souls on its hit weight-loss reality show, seems to have found a game plan. 

 

Is the rally about to fade? Or is there still plenty of room to run? The investment gurus I follow tended to be positive this past week -- with some notable exceptions.

 

On the bullish side was hedge fund guru Barton Biggs, who told Bloomberg that he thinks the market has good momentum behind it, and that stocks have another 10% climb left in them. Biggs also said that while some have envisioned a new investing and financial world after the recent crisis, “the world is never different”, and that still-frightened investors will come back to stocks eventually.

• Check out my Buffett-inspired Top Stocks tracking portfolio at Wall Street Survivor

Top fund manager John Hussman sees the current market differently. He's taking a defensive position, saying in his latest market commentary that two dangers -- an overbought, overvalued market and a second wave of credit losses -- mean investors should be cautious. He says that, aside from the "bubble years" from the late '90s through 2007, "the S&P 500 has never been priced to achieve a poorer long-term return than it is now.”

 

In these tough times, the savior for small organic farmers may be none other than Wal-Mart (WMT).

Yes, Wal-Mart, purveyor of all things made in China, is actually helping local U.S. farmers stay in business as the economy has squashed demand for organic products, according to The Atlantic.

• Video: Is Wal-Mart good or bad for America?

Writer Corby Kummer searched through a Massachusetts Wal-Mart and found apples that came from the same local orchard as ones at rival Whole Foods Market (WFMI). Organic bananas and peaches were tastier at Wal-Mart than other stores.

 

Casino stocks Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Las Vegas Sands (LVS) have exploded higher over the last year, but owning these stocks just got a whole lot riskier.

 

Sands is up a whopping 775% since bottoming at $2.70 per share last spring. Wynn is up 390% from about the same time.

• Pair trade update: Palm vs. Apple

One reason for the gains: Expansion in China, specifically Macau. What then to make of the news that China plans on limiting gambling expansion?

 

By Don Dion, TheStreet

 

This week Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) made headlines almost every day.

 

Here are some of the most important Buffett stories from the past week.

 

On Monday, Wall Street buzzed after Bloomberg reported that bond investors considered some Berkshire Hathaway notes safer than U.S. government bonds with similar maturities. According to the report, yields on Berkshire’s two-year notes were 3.5 basis points lower than comparative government bonds.

 

Systemax (SYX), owner of the online electronics clearinghouse Tiger Direct, is jumping into the brick-and-mortar retail game. That’s a bit of a surprise, since this may not exactly be the economic environment to make a big push into any segment of retail.

 

But the real shocker is that Systemax is making the move under two defunct big box brands: Circuit City and CompUSA.

 

Joseph Woelfel, TheStreet

 

RadioShack (RSH) is exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company for more than $3 billion, reported the New York Post, citing unidentified sources.

 

Investment bankers have begun pitching RadioShack to their private-equity clients, notifying them of the electronics retailer's willingness to sell, according to people close to the situation, the Post reported.

 

RadioShack could also merge with rival Best Buy (BBY), the newspaper said.

 

It's going to cost movie lovers more to go see their favorite films today.

 

Movie-theater chains Regal Entertainment Group (RGC), Cinemark Holdings (CNK) and AMC Entertainment are raising prices for 3-D films, thanks to big demand for hits like "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland." 

 

Beginning today, prices for adult admission to 3-D movies will jump an average 8.3% at movie theaters across the country, according to BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield, who surveyed 10 theaters in different major cities. Greenfield found that IMAX movie tickets will cost people about 10% more, while regular old 2-D movie prices are expected to increase about 4% on average.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

Natural gas is in purgatory. These stocks can't win for losing.

 

It looks like the Environmental Protection Agency is coming down on new ways to drill, the price of the commodity can't increase to save its life, and Congress isn't ready to debate use of the fuel.

 

Falling below $4, its lowest since September, may be the last straw for a group that has no place to put its inventory and no new contracts to burn it off. In other words, whatever the expectations are for natural-gas demand, they don't include using all that is obtainable from the Marcellus or Barnett shales.

 

 

Now I don't wish to sound ungrateful for Thursday's pop in Qualcomm's (QCOM) stock, but I do have to ask: Was this trip necessary?

Thursday, Qualcomm raised its outlook for fiscal second-quarter sales and earnings. The company said it was shipping more chipsets for CDMA cell phones than it had expected.

Expected when? Why, all the way back in January, when the company, after reporting its results for the fiscal first quarter (and badly missing Wall Street estimates), told analysts to expect lower sales and earnings for the fiscal second quarter. That guidance tanked the stock.

 

A new restaurant in Manhattan is using the stock market as a model for how it sets menu prices.

The restaurant, appropriately called the Exchange Bar & Grill, even has a ticker tape flashing the changing menu prices in red lettering, according to Reuters.

• Hungry for a better broker?

A particularly popular dish will start to move up in price by 25-cent increments as people order it. The hot wings, for example, start at $7 but could jump to $8 or $9 as the evening went along.

 

Dumping a big chunk of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) is a bold move, and one investment firm decided to write a lengthy explanation about it.

The firm, Reed Conner & Birdwell, says it manages about $1.7 billion for wealthy clients. Berkshire was one of its larger holdings going back to 2000, but last month it sold half its position.

Why? The investors there think Berkshire is at best worth around $83 per share (it was trading just under $82 Thursday). Here are some of RCB's concerns about the stock, and the company: 

Top bosses at companies made a grab for cash last year, taking home more than before even as executive pay packages were being closely scrutinized.

The cash earnings that chief executives received last year rose by 8.3%, according to an analysis by Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This is exactly the opposite of what the Obama administration would like to see.

But overall, average compensation fell by 8.6% to $9.8 million, at least for the 81 CEOs included in the analysis. That's because companies cut the stock awards and options that the CEOs received.