Top Stocks

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

Since when did we become the United States of Housing? Housing has become pretty much the be all and end all of the market outside of employment claims. We literally dread these numbers because the estimates are way too high -- based on what? -- and when the figures come in, they are either horrible or really horrible.

Housing used to be supremely important in this country for Black & Decker (SWK) and Masco (MAS) and for Louisiana-Pacific (LPX), Georgia Pacific, Morgan Products, US Gypsum, U.S. Home and Republic Gypsum. We used to fret about what it would mean to Phelps Dodge and to some of the independent glass companies.

Most of those companies are now gone or have merged. We had some regional homebuilders, and they would have periodic cycles of good and bad. But they were regional, for heaven's sake, and often their regions would be strong when others would be weak.

Long story short -- we think oil is too cheap. 

Recent misguided market fear is overshadowing the current opportunity to profit by making strategic oil plays.  While reading "Of Permanent Value" on Warren Buffett, I noted the section in which he explains  how many of his best investments were made during the down days of the 1970s when people were behaving as if the world was going to end. 

This mindset to seek opportunity in times of fear resonates with us.  Oil is only ever going to be more in demand while supply shrinks and investors may wish to consider these facts:

A new reality is setting in for homeowners: A house will not make you money.

We're in a vastly different world from what we saw over the last three decades, when real home prices increased every year -- sometimes by as much as 4%, The New York Times reports.

That kind of appreciation made housing seem like a smart investment. A nest egg that would make money. Now, and for the foreseeable future, you'll be lucky just to get back the money you put into your house.

• Find the best mortgage rates

"People shouldn’t look at a home as a way to make money because it won’t,"

That comes on the heels of other Bewkes initiatives, from installing former NBC star Conan O’Brien in late night at TNT to a new “Marketing Initiative,” a cross-company task force charged with maximizing content, products and talent across Time Warner’s vast breadth.

By Burke Speaker, InvestorPlace.com

Coffee prices surged to a 12-year high Monday, pushed by last year's poor Central and South American harvests and upcoming heavy storms in other coffee-producing regions that are adding to an already tight period for availability.

Now consumers could be taking a hit, with Dunkin' Donuts, Folgers and Maxwell House brands all feeling the heat.

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

Is Salesforce.com (CRM) the Apple (AAPL) to Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL)?

The more I think about it, the more I am realizing that Salesforce.com has become the de facto standard for all software, the way for corporations to free themselves of how they communicate and to free themselves from desktop communications.

I have been an unabashed proselytizer for Salesforce.com for about 80 points on its share price, thinking that its cloud computing model would change forever the way sales forces work. We all know that sales force accountability is one of the great weaknesses of business, and CRM enables managers to see what's really going on through sales software that's delivered in a cheaper, easier way, through the Web.

It's been another rough week for the market, with disappointing unemployment data overshadowing some positive economic signs, like the Federal Reserve's report of a strong gain in industrial production in July.

But while fear continues to win out in the stock market, several of the investing world's top strategists are continuing to find opportunity.

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Take newsletter guru and Forbes columnist Jim Oberweis. In his latest Forbes piece, Oberweis focuses on one area of the market that has him particularly optimistic: semiconductor capital equipment stocks. “After a tough decade for technology, I believe the time is ripe for chip-equipment companies,” he writes. Chip fabricators stopped buying equipment in 2008 when the economy tanked, crushing these stocks, Oberweis says. But while spending began to rebound in 2009 and many capital equipment stocks have more than doubled off their lows, “price/earnings ratios for many smaller equipment makers remain low by historical measures,” he says. “Bearish sentiment in this arena is as bad as I can remember, but the facts don’t seem to back it." 

Written by Douglas Estadt

Asia’s gaming market is providing attractive investment opportunities. Business at casinos in Macau and Singapore is absolutely booming. Here are just a couple of the reasons we believe Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is the most attractive casino stock:

• It recently announced a play to pay down $1 billion in debt, which will strengthen their cash position

• The new casino in Singapore is breaking all expectations and forecasts.

By Eric Rosenbaum, TheStreet

What’s preventing a breakout in oil stocks: the overhang from the BP (BP) oil spill or economic uncertainty?

BP had its best rally since the oil spill when the Macondo well was capped on July 15. Then, when the markets hit a three-month peak on Aug. 5, BP reached its highest price since the oil spill crisis began. Shortly after, BP shares ran out of gas.

The pattern is exactly the same for Transocean (RIG) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC), whose shares spiked when BP capped the well and climbed higher on August 5. They have since pulled back as concerns about global economic growth caused crude oil prices to drop below $80.

By Jeff Reeves, InvestorPlace.com

Google Inc. (GOOG) joined the stock market six years ago yesterday, on Aug. 19, 2004. Google stock has seen relentless growth since then, with its first trades at about $100 a share eclipsed by a quick race skyward. GOOG shares are up an amazing 330% since that IPO.

Of course, few people have been sitting on Google for that whole run. And so far in 2010, investors don’t have all that much to be happy about. Shares are down 24% year to date as of this writing and about 47% off all-time highs near $740 in late 2007. Google opened the day after its sixth birthday trading below $470 and has failed to touch the $600 mark since early January.

So what’s the score with Google? Are the best days behind the company, or is the future still bright for this Internet and technology giant?