Top Stocks

By Eric Rosenbaum, TheStreet

 

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) shares have fallen 2% this week, closing below $80 on Wednesday for the first time since February. But that wasn't the bad news for Warren Buffett’s investment company.

 

This week, a former employee sued Berkshire Hathaway executives, claiming they fired him after he exposed alleged fraud at the company’s recreational vehicle subsidiary, Forest River. The ex-worker, Brad Mart, filed the complaint in US District Court in South Bend, Ind.

 

A recent Harris Interactive (HPOL) poll said Berkshire Hathaway had the best reputation among 60 major U.S. companies. Mart’s complaint alleges that Forest River Chief Executive Peter Liegl forced the company -- which makes RVs, restroom trailers and pontoon boats -- to buy parts at inflated prices from another company Liegl owned. Mart also accused Forest River executives of using shady accounting to hide payments made to former employees.

 

By Lauren Tara LaCapra, TheStreet

 

The performance of big banks in the first quarter will depend on whether they boosted profits in booming areas or stitched up wounds in still-troubled ones.

 

Capital markets continued to improve last quarter. Wealth management, stock and bond issuance, advisory services and proprietary trading businesses are likely to have grown during the first quarter. Net interest margins probably expanded as credit costs eased.

 

On the downside, lending is weak and new regulation has curtailed fee revenue from sources such as overdrafts, credit cards and deposits. It's unclear how mortgage modification programs are faring with charge-off and foreclosure rates still high. It's also difficult to tell whether fees from strong refinancing volume and new home purchases will be enough to counter those losses. Banks that took advantage of shifting interest rates early with smart hedging strategies may have offset housing losses entirely.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

I don't care if Apple (AAPL) sells out the iPad at its own stores. I don't care if Best Buy (BBY) sells out the iPad, as we learned today.

 

I care if Glen Tullman buys the iPad, because if he does, then I know Apple will have created its biggest product ever.

Who is Glen Tullman? He is the chief executive of Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions (MDRX), the leading maker of software to control costs for doctors and hospitals in the United States.

 

Dividend stocks have lots of appealing factors, and it’s easy to find reasons to buy. Some stocks have a great dividend yield. Others have a decades-long history of raising dividends once a year. Then there are picks with a modest dividend but great upside potential for shares.

 

If you’re looking for a reason to buy dividend stocks, there are plenty. But a trickier scenario is knowing when to get out. Here are some tips to help you pull the trigger:

 

Written by Douglas Estadt

Orient Paper sells fine writing paper, corrugated paper for boxes (playing into our “selling picks and axes” them again) and they recently started production of paper for digital photographs. We are long China and one of our friends Dr. Eric Jackson, just visited China a couple weeks ago and met with the management team of ONP and came away very impressed with them and their prospects for continued growth, especially in their new area in digital photography paper.

Today Dr. Eric Jackson, of Ironfire Capital LLC, is sharing with us why it’s one of his top China picks.

• Orient Paper has 2 plants, operating at three-shifts-a-day capacity, churning out its paper products.

• Only three to five China-based companies are producing digital photography paper and ONP gets 30%-plus margins, versus its 20%-plus margins on its other businesses.

• Zhenyong Liu, CEO, founded company in 1996 and still owns 35%. We like CEO /Founders and also high insider ownership.

For more with Dr. Eric Jackson, view the video below

 

I'm adding more gold to the Jubak's Picks portfolio Thursday.

After a rally off the Feb. 8 low on hopes that the global economic recovery was gaining steam, I think we're due for a swing back to fear on disappointing growth numbers from the European Union, on stubbornly high (and perhaps rising) unemployment figures from the U.S., as more discouraged workers rejoin the ranks of those actively looking for work, and on worrying growth and inflation data from China. (For more on these macro trends, see this post and this one).

The technical charts of many individual gold stocks and the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) now show that gold mining shares have cleared recent resistance and look like they're headed higher -- for a while, anyway. 

 

By Scott Moritz, TheStreet

 

Apple (AAPL) chief executive Steve Jobs kicked off Thursday's iPhone show with a few round numbers: 450,000 iPads sold, 600,000 iBooks downloaded and 4 billion applications downloaded to date.

 

On Monday, Apple it sold 300,000 iPads on the first day they hit the market. The company has sold 150,000 more iPads since. The iPad sales numbers, while solid, fall short of some of the most aggressive forecasts for the new device.

 

According to bloggers covering the event, Jobs emphasized the joy the device seems to bring people who buy it, flashing pictures of a girl gleefully opening an iPad box.

 

Nike (NKE) sat tight while the Tiger Woods spectacle unfolded, offering only vague statements of support as mistress after mistress came forward with sordid allegations of infidelity.

Now, after months of near silence, the company has unveiled a new commercial starring the golfer. And the reaction to the spot (included below) seems to be mostly negative.

Tiger doesn't say a word in the advertisement. He doesn't do much, either, except look soulfully at the camera. In the background is the voice of his late father, whose comments are supposed to have more weight, presumably, in light of all the scandals. 

The tech blog rumor mill is running at full speed today about a partnership between online retail powerhouse Amazon (AMZN) and brick-and-mortar discounter Target (TGT). Supposedly, Amazon's hit Kindle e-reader will be on sale in Target stores later this month.

 

Engadget kicked off the frenzy with what looks to be a covert screenshot of Target’s inventory computer. Target is being conspicuously closed-mouth on the subject, deflecting requests for comments with a simple vanilla statement: “Target has no specific plans to share at this time, and we don’t comment on speculation or rumors.”

 

But let’s play devil’s advocate and assume the partnership is in the works.

 

By Lauren Tara LaCapra, TheStreet

 

Wall Street wants Bank of America (BAC) to get back on a growth trajectory, but it's unclear whether the firm will deliver on sales expectations with its first-quarter results next week.

 

Bank of America's revenue shrank by 11%, on average, in each of the previous three quarters. The drop reflected an easing of the early-2009 mortgage-refinancing wave, seasonal patterns and declines in its U.S. consumer business -- the bread and butter of B of A.

 

When compared to other big competitors with similar business lines, the difference is startling.

 

By Scott Moritz, TheStreet

 

Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) have taken their escalating turf war to another front: mobile advertising.

 

When Apple unveils the next version of its iPhone software Thursday, it's also expected to outline its plans for a mobile advertising push. The move would give Apple yet another revenue line in its expanding iTunes/App Store empire and provide a strong position in the growing smartphone-driven advertising race.

 

But just as Apple is set to move forward, Google, the search ad giant, looks to be a violation by federal referees. Federal Trade Commission regulators reportedly have ended their review of Google's $750 million acquisition of mobile ad shop AdMob and are preparing to challenge the deal.

 

Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) is making another assault on the all important $1 share price this week. Should the stock fail to trade above that level, the company is at risk for being de-listed by the Nasdaq later this month.

 

The stakes are high. Being de-listed by the preeminent exchange for growth stocks could result in the stock trading lower due to the low levels of activity on lesser exchanges.

 

Well, at least that would be the perception of investors, and perception in the market is everything. It would not matter that this company is performing well and likely to grow significantly in the near future.

 

• Is Sirius a Top Stock to buy now?

 

Would the Nasdaq exchange risk losing one of its most popular and widely traded companies because its share price is below $1? I don't think so.

 

Some investors have already made up their mind the stock market rally is over. Others are convinced there’s nowhere to go but up. Both views are over-simplified market predictions considering the complicated economic environment.

• Complete coverage: Seven reasons the bull market will charge on

A closer look at the latest stock market news proves that while things aren’t all coming up roses on Wall Street, there are plenty of reasons to be cautiously optimistic the bull market will continue. Here’s a brief look at three of the latest reasons from the last few days that indicate the market should continue its run:

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

So I am answering some Twitter questions last night on the way home from work -- @JimJCramer if you want to play -- and some guy screams at me that he can't believe I didn't mention Greece in my whole opening monologue. And I am aghast. The whole segment was devoted to Greece, with two specific mentions, I tell him, except it wasn't devoted to Greece in the way that everyone else is doing it.

 

The devotion to Greece was an homage to the United States, which does not have Grecian bond problems. Again, as I have said several times now, I think the economy is so strong in this country that we will have much higher receipts and a lower deficit than people think.

 

 

Aerospace and defense stock Honeywell (HON) raised its guidance last week, driving shares up slightly in the last week even while the broader market has rolled back a bit. HON now expects first-quarter profit to range from 45 to 49 cents per share, up from prior guidance for 40 to 45 cents and for the full year expects profits to reach the top end of its prior $2.20 to $2.40 forecast.

 

Honeywell’s strength isn’t a surprise. Honeywell has met or exceeded earnings estimates for each of the last four quarters. Additionally, HON has grown its earnings per share in each of the last four consecutives quarters. As the economy has improved, HON has been able to bank more orders.

• Dividend increases in the works for these five stocks

But perhaps the biggest opportunity for investors lies in Honeywell’s dividend history and the prospect of a dividend boost in a matter of weeks.