Top Stocks

By Dan Freed, TheStreet

 

Citigroup (C) short interest rose in the second half of April, the same period in which Citigroup surprised analysts by turning in its first quarterly profit since the second quarter of 2007.

 

Citigroup short interest rose to 482 million shares from 416 million during the previous two-week period. Citigroup is perennially the most actively shorted ticker on the New York Stock Exchange. That's not surprising since the bank is nearly always the most actively traded name on the long side as well.

 

Citigroup short interest had risen for several successive reporting periods spanning at least four months until that string was broken in the second half of March. Citigroup short interest had continued to fall since that time.

 

Congress is killing us. Mark Twain was right: "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while Congress is in session." (Thanks to my colleague, Matt Horween, for remembering that quote.)

 

Every swoon I saw yesterday seemed to start in Congress, or revolved around rumors in Congress of action against drillers, against oil companies, against banks. These are big parts of the S&P 500 Index ($INX) and they reversed several times today off of Congressional musings.

 

One of the reasons I am so adamant that the financials are a buy is that they struggle mightily when Congress is in session, but once we get reform, even it if isn't perfect, I believe these stocks will roar off of what is a well-defined base.

 

 

Wal-Mart (WMT) is looking to jump back into the used PlayStation, Wii and Xbox business.

 

Specifically, Wal-Mart has entered into a lease agreement with a small retailer called Game Trade to test used-video-game sales, buybacks and trade-ins in five stores.

• Related: Activision Blizzard redefines video-game sales via the Web

This isn’t the retail king’s first foray into the used video-game business -- but there are a few reasons to think this venture may succeed where others failed.

 

Take a look at the three-month chart for Monsanto (MON). It's not pretty.

Shares have fallen from $78 in February to current levels of about $58. On Tuesday, the stock was down another 3%. Barron's suggests investors think about selling their shares.

Monsanto is getting hit from everywhere, it seems. After decades of unparalleled success with its Roundup weed-killer, nature is striking back with a vengeance. 

If you’re a value investor, the low P/E ratios on Wall Street are the stuff of fantasies right now. That means now is the time to go bargain hunting if you have some extra cash.

To be clear, we're not talking about Europe stocks to buy after the Greece debt debacle. The jury is still out on whether the euro zone has stopped the bleeding across the pond. And we're not talking about fuzzy math using trailing profits or revenues to juice the numbers. We all know that year-over-year comparisons for the first quarter earnings made everyone look good.

These bargain companies are the real deal. Let me give three examples in blue chips across three very different sectors:

 

We hear lots of talk about high taxes, but the truth is that Americans are paying their lowest level of taxes since 1950, USA Today reports.

About 9.2% of Americans' personal income went to federal, state and local taxes in 2009, the newspaper reports. Historically, we've paid about 12%.

• Video: Turn tax refund into tax credit

Why are taxes so low? Several reasons. First, there were the tax cuts that were part of the $862 billion stimulus package last year, USA Today reports. A third of that stimulus went straight to tax cuts.

 

I don't want to get greedy here and am going to sell Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) out of Jubak's Picks.

Gold is near its all-time high of $1,227.50 an ounce, set on Dec. 3, 2009, and you don't have to look far to find the reasons -- the European debt crisis and inflation fears in China come to mind. 

I do think gold could run higher from here, though. The debt crisis isn't over, considering that the credit-rating companies that haven't rated Greek government bonds as junk are threatening to do so. And I think we'll see at least one more spasm of fear from China.

 

By Heidi N. Moore, The Big Money

 

On Tuesday, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing to find out what exactly happened on Thursday, May 6, to send the Dow Jones Industrial Average diving 1,000 points in a matter of minutes.

 

This is perhaps the first time that a congressional hearing will actually be useful in financial fact-finding. The truth of what happened is buried among records of billions of Thursday trades. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, unable to publicly explain the cause, chose a “kill them all and let God sort them out” approach, cancelling thousands of trades.

 

By Alix Steel, TheStreet

 

Gold prices hit a five-month high, reaching $1,225.20, as investors questioned whether Europe's financial aid plan will be enough to save the euro.

 

Gold for June delivery was rising $21, or 1.6%, to $1,221.90 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The US dollar index was also rising 0.1 to $84.25, while the euro was little changed at $1.27 against the dollar. The spot gold price today was up $16.50, according to Kitco's gold index.

 

Gold prices could top their record of $1,227 an ounce as investors remain wary of the recently announced bailout initiative for eurozone countries.

 

By David MacDougall, TheStreet

 

The US stock market is ricocheting, jumping 4.4% yesterday after declining 6.4% last week. With a bailout of southern Europe's sovereign debt, a fragile American economy and an overheating China, expect more of the same.

 

The situation calls for dominant US companies with growth potential and stable finances. In other words, Cisco (CSCO).

 

Business spending is a smaller part of the American economy than consumer spending is, but it's highly variable, making it more influential. Because of that, stocks such as Cisco are a bellwether for their industry and the economy as a whole. What's good for Cisco is good for America. We'll see how good that is tomorrow, when the world's biggest maker of computer-networking equipment reports earnings for the three months through May 1, giving investors a glimpse of the beginning of most companies' second-quarter results.

 

The debate rages: Do we need the euro to advance, for Europe's economies to get strong and for Greece and Spain to come roaring back? Or do we just not need them to collapse?

 

I think the latter is the issue. We just need not to be so Europe-focused. Of course, no sooner do we become less Europe-focused than we become China-focused -- and we don't like what we see.

 

China's bad. It has been bad. It has not yet bent to the will of the government, so the tightening will continue. I think that the market deserves to sell off on China after the run we have just had. But I continue to believe that the European situation has stabilized and I would rather have to deal with Chinese braking than euro breaking.

 

 

I almost bought American Tower Corp. (AMT) for Jubak's Picks on Friday, but the stock was hovering just below its 200-day average and I was afraid that a continuation of the European debt crisis would push the stock below that support level. 

Instead of more crisis, however, Monday has brought a huge relief rally based on a $1 trillion rescue plan worked out by European Union leaders over the weekend. 

So I missed what I believe is the local bottom on Friday, but on Monday, with Friday's risk reduced, the stock is still a great buy, in my opinion.

 

Up to now, it's been nearly impossible to watch a movie at home that is still in its first run at theaters. Legally, at least.

But that could change in the future. Hollywood studios won a key regulatory ruling Friday allowing them to control the inputs of consumer home entertainment devices, and thus digitally pipe movies into the home while they're still in theaters.

• Video: Who controls the Web?

Approving a request by the Motion Picture Association of America, the Federal Communications Commission gave Hollywood studios a waiver on laws governing "selectable output technology."

 

Apple's iPhone has been kicked to third place in the smartphone wars. A new report says that phones powered by Google's (GOOG) Android system are now outselling iPhones.

Android phones rocketed to the No. 2 position for smartphones sold in the U.S. last quarter, the NPD Group reports. Android phones nabbed 28% of the market compared with 21% for the iPhone.

The leader, of course, is still the BlackBerry line by Research In Motion(RIMM), which had a 36% market share.

 

By Michael Brush

Investors cheered Europe's "shock and awe" proposal to fix the Greek debt problems this morning, and rightly so. Near term, at least, the risk that defaults on government debt will wound European banks has been reduced.

 

But Europe isn't really out of the Black Forest just yet -- as Europe's "shock and awe" plan still leaves plenty of ammo for the bears.

• Video: Details on the EU bailout deal

So despite today's rally, there's still a good chance that the European debt issues come back and nag the U.S. stock markets -- if bears manage to spread more fear by harping on any of the following three themes: