Top Stocks

By Jeff Reeves, InvestorPlace.com

Burger King has been full of changes lately. First came a move toward premium coffee, when BK partnered with Starbucks. Then came an overhaul of the Burger King breakfast menu.

 

Now, fresh off a buyout by private-equity firm 3G capital, Burger King is ready to go beyond baby steps and look at the big picture: a wholesale overhaul of its image via a redesign of the restaurants themselves.

 

Exchange traded funds involving solar energy have been stellar over the past two months. A rising stock market and higher oil both tend to help. Many companies are raising guidance or are calming fears that margin compression is escalating and that orders are dropping.

We have taken a look at some of the solar ETFs on the market which offer the best alternatives on investing, although there are also some broader ETFs via alternative energy and clean energy ETFs that of course include heavy weightings in solar stocks.

Guggenheim Solar (TAN) and the Market Vectors Solar Energy (KWT) are key solar ETFs in the mix. We have also loosely covered solar via broader alternative energy ETFs of PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (PBW), Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (GEX), and the iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index (ICLN).

 

Seagate Technologies (STX) is a leader in the hard-drive space, and worth watching as demand for information storage continues to grow.

Recent competition from flash memory devices has caused some pricing erosion, but with new products in the pipeline Seagate should be all right in the long run.

Recent price momentum saw a 16.84% increase last month, with the stock hitting nine new highs in the past 20 sessions. 

By Kevin Grewal, TheStreet

 

As the residential real-estate market remains volatile and highly dependent on the strength of the labor force, some signs of prosperity have emerged in real estate investment trusts, enabling the iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate (IYR), the iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Major (ICF) and the Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ) to perform relatively well this year.

 

One reason these exchange-traded funds have been trending upward is that they offer an opportunity to lend that traditional financing institutions like banks and insurance companies are unwilling to take on.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

Will L'Oreal (LRLCY) bid for Avon (AVP)? Wrong question. Why doesn't it?

 

This is a fantastic franchise that has been run into the ground by its current management -- management that has been allowed to screw up endlessly, with both accounting woes and simple execution problems. The notion that Avon could get a bid from some other company -- Loreal or Estee Lauder (EL) for that matter -- makes so much sense that I can't believe it hasn't happened yet.

 

Plus, when you compare Avon with the incredible business that Herbalife (HLF) has right now -- one of the greatest stocks out there -- or with Tupperware (TUP) -- another company that has done well -- Avon is a joke.

 

Starbucks (SBUX)baristas know how to make drinks quickly -- a little too quickly, the coffee chain has decided.

The company has begun telling its baristas to slow down, The Wall Street Journal reports. No more frenzied multitasking; baristas are now allowed to make only two drinks at a time.

The new policy might make for longer lines, but Starbucks isn't worried. The take-it-slow approach stems from customer complaints, the Journal reports. Some people weren't happy with the assembly-line feel that hangs over a Starbucks counter. 

Now that worked out just swell, didn't it?

Remember way back on Sept. 15, when Japan intervened in the currency markets to drive down the soaring yen? The yen had just stormed through the 83-yen-to-the-dollar level that a number of large Japanese exporters had pegged as the exchange rate where they stopped making money.

By buying U.S. dollars and selling yen, the intervention succeeded in driving the yen down to an exchange rate of 86 to the dollar.

 

Blockbuster (BBI) has discovered this thing called the Internet, and thinks it's time to give it a shot. The company is looking for a new chief executive that can "steer the company into digital businesses," The Wall Street Journal reports.

Better late than never, I suppose. Too late? Perhaps. But Blockbuster is going to try.

Blockbuster is looking for a new boss and could boot Jim Keyes by the end of the year, the Journal reports. Keyes has been in charge since 2007 -- right about the time Blockbuster should have been about to annihilate upstart rival Netflix (NFLX). 

Smartphone news seems to break every day, and yesterday was no different.

Microsoft held a press conference to debut its much-anticipated Windows Phone 7 operating system and the initial lineup of smartphone handsets that use it. Speaking at the event in New York, chief executive Steve Ballmer showed off nine Windows Phone 7 smartphones that will be supported by every major mobile carrier in the United States, with the sole exception of Verizon (VZ) (Note: Microsoft publishes MSN Money).

Deutsche Telekom's  T-Mobile USA will offer two phones from HTC, the 3.7-inch HTC 7 Mozart and the almost tablet-sized 4.3-inch HD7, as well as the vertical slider phone the Dell (DELL) Venue Pro. Sprint (S) will also offer a phone from HTC, the HTC 7 Pro, that's a bit smaller and with more memory than those available through T-Mobile. Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T (T) Mobility, showed off his company's trio of phones. AT&T will support Samsung's ultra-thin Focus, the LG  Quantum and the sleek HTC 7 Surround. Other models, the LG Optimus 7 and the HTC Trophy, respectively don't have carrier support or are only available in Europe.

 

Amazon (AMZN) has announced it will soon launch "Kindle Singles." And it's not some sort of dating service. These singles are short, cheap books for Kindle e-readers.

The way Amazon envisions it, Kindle Singles will be about twice as long as a New Yorker feature article. Equivalent to a few book chapters. They'll get their own section in the Kindle store.

But here's where it gets interesting: Amazon called on writers Tuesday to start producing their own singles for the store. No middleman. No publishing house. Amazon will control the singles from top to bottom. 

By Miriam Marcus Reimer, TheStreet

 

Starbucks (SBUX) shares jumped Tuesday after an analyst from Credit Suisse raised his earnings on the coffee chain.

 

Credit Suisse analyst Keith Siegner expects Starbucks to earn $1.45 per share in 2011 and $1.69 per share in 2012. The consensus call among Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for earning of $1.43 and $1.63 next year and the year after, respectively.

 

Siegner raised his estimates based on improved margins and expected earnings-per-share growth in the coming quarters. He maintained his "outperform" rating and $34 price target on Starbucks shares.

 

The coffee purveyor's stock was rising 4.1% Tuesday afternoon, to $27.05, on heavier-than-average volume.

 

By Scott Moritz, TheStreet

 

Verizon (VZ) was slapped with a "sell" rating from Bernstein Research on Tuesday on concerns about continued dividend growth.

 

As one of the darlings of the dividend crowd, Verizon shares are up 27% since its one-year low in July. Last month, Verizon raised its dividend to 48.75 cents a share, extending its streak of dividend increases to four years in a row.

 

But with a big payment to joint-venture partner Vodafone (VOD) looming and an ongoing debate about paying down the $57.4 billion in debt on the books, Verizon has some pressing decisions to make about how it spends its cash.

 

By Don Dion, TheStreet

 

With Alcoa's (AA) analyst-beating quarterly report behind us, we are now in the full swing of what is shaping up to be an optimistic earnings season.

Investors looking for a way to play this fast-paced market should look to a strong, stable and diversified fund designed to track U.S. equities.

 

It's been a beautiful morning for shareholders of U.S. perfume and cosmetics company Avon Products (AVP). A British newspaper reported today that French cosmetics company L'Oreal might be preparing a cash bid for Avon.

 

The Daily Mail reported that L'Oreal plans to buy the company for $44 a share, or $18.8 billion. Avon closed Monday at $33.16, meaning L'Oreal is willing to pay a 32.7% premium on Avon stock.

 

AVP stock jumped 10% in premarket trading after the news was released. But is the buyout rumor real, and what does it mean for consumers?

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

You want a group that simply has no quit in it? Look at these apparel stocks: Phillips Van Heusen (PVH), Ralph Lauren (RL), VF Corp. (VFC) and Jones Apparel (JNY). They just seem to have game despite the media's quest to make us believe that nothing is selling at the retail level and inventories have to be lean as can be. They are considered pariahs in the media, the whipping boys that have to get hurt as the retailers pull in their horns.

 

It won't stop, either. I believe we will soon be reading about how we will have a bad holiday season and how this group will be under severe pressure.

 

It won't matter that the companies themselves will tell you over and over again that business is strong. Nor will it matter that the valuations are pretty cheap: Jones is trading at 11 times earnings, VF Corp. at 13x, Phillips Van Heusen at 16x and Ralph Lauren at 18x. Given the consistency of the group, it is a wonder they aren’t all trading over where RL is.