Top Stocks

Well, look at that. Deere (DE) shares are up 3.2% Tuesday. Could it be because "super mowers" are the next big thing?

Deere is seeing an unexpected jump in mower sales this year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Even though the economy is still recovering, some people are apparently crazy about premium riding mowers with more bells and whistles than some cars.

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"Sun shades, iPod compartments, cruise control, chrome hub caps and even alternative fuels are all part of the mower mania," writes Gwendolyn Bounds.

 

Tesla Motors is very optimistic about its upcoming initial public offering.

When the electric-car maker first set its sights on going to market, it was hoping to raise $100 million. But on Tuesday, the company uppedthe shares it will offer to 11.1 million at between $14 and $16 a share -- bringing the total raised to a cool $178 million.

Is Tesla a little too excited here? Or is the market that enthusiastic about a company that makes a $109,000 luxury car?

 

By Scott Moritz, TheStreet

 

Apple's (AAPL) winning streak has been good for its investors and good for Apple, but seldom has a tech success shared so little wealth with the rest of the sector.

 

Call it hardball or capitalism in its purest form, but Apple's autocratic approach to business and the current sway its products have in the market have been nothing but punishment for other players.

 

Sure, to the winner go the spoils and all that -- Apple shares are up ten-fold in the past 10 years. But unlike past stock rockets riding surging tech trends, Apple's rise has not been particularly uplifting for investors outside Apple.

 

By Jake Lynch, TheStreet

 

The selloff has put certain stocks on sale.

 

The S&P 500 Index ($INX) has slumped 10% from a 19-month high in April. And Greece's debt woes helped sink U.S. stocks again yesterday after they rebounded earlier in the session. Moody's downgraded Greece's credit rating by four levels to junk status.

 

Investors should consider the following companies, each of which ranks as analysts' favorite pick within its respective sector. Euro-region pessimism presents an opportunity to bargain-hunt in U.S. markets.

 

 

By Robert Hsu, editor of Asia Insider

On Thursday, the Hong Kong stock exchange approved Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.’s application for a $20 billion to $30 billion initial public offering. Hong Kong’s approval now makes the Chinese bank’s IPO a virtual certainty, and the stock could begin trading on both the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges by mid-July. The deal would represent the world’s largest-ever IPO.

I understand how hungry investors are for picks in China right now, as 2010 has been less than fruitful for the country’s equity markets after a red-hot 2009. The Shanghai Composite Index is down nearly 22% year to date. So investors should rejoice over the opportunity created by the Agricultural Bank of China IPO, right? Wrong.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

Just go buy Deutsche Bank (DB). Just go buy Barclays (BCS). If you really and truly believe that our investment banks will not be able to offer hedging and foreign exchange protection on bonds, if you really think that we are going to wipe out investment banking competitiveness at the altar of some Arkansas senator's desire to raise less corn and more hell, William Jennings Bryan-style, then just go buy the winners.

 

Deutsche is a well-run bank. It is in the strongest country in Europe with a healthy stock market that's barely down. Barclays got the good part of Lehman and is making real strides in the investment banking business without financial regulation.

 

These two banks stand to emerge as gigantic winners off of financial regulatory reform, if you are to believe the stories -- which I don't. If the stories were true, these two stocks would be much higher. But you know what? As the late great Sam Cooke crooned, "Don't fight the feeling."

 

In the business world, there’s rarely a thing as growing too big. But unfortunately for Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer (SAM), the price of success could be higher costs -- and the loss of its label as an "artisan" craft beer.

That’s not to say a cold bottle of Sam Adams Summer Ale will taste any different to consumers. But according to the Brewers Association," artisan" brewers include small outfits that put out less than 2 million barrels of suds a year. That means the brewer that almost single-handedly sparked interest in smaller batch brews with more flavor could be pushed into the same category as the big beer vendors like Anheuser Buch Inbev (BUD) and Molson Coors (TAP).

 

A federal agency has given the go-ahead to Chicago-based Media Derivatives to begin trading futures based on the box-office performance of movies.

• Related: Why Hollywood should embrace movie futures trading

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Monday that the terms and conditions of Media Derivatives' proposed exchange didn't violate any regulations.

The trading was approved with a 3-2 vote.

 

Stocks refuse to give in but they have been unable to move out of the danger zone either. The U.S. stock market could still swing either way.

Take a look at the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index, for example. At the beginning of last week, the index fell through its February low, threatening to break through that level of support and turn a correction into something worse. 

But by the end of the week, the index had moved back above the February low and looked like it was trying to make a bottom.

 

Starbucks (SBUX) is finally loosening up its Wi-Fi rules, and will soon allow anyone to connect to its network for free.

It's about time. The company had a ridiculous approach to Wi-Fi in the past, requiring customers to buy a Starbucks loyalty card, put money on it, register it and periodically use it. After all that, you get two hours of Wi-Fi a day (any more than that would cost you).

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People didn't like it. And Starbucks is feeling the pressure from the free Wi-Fi offered at McDonald's (MCD) and other coffee shops. So, starting July 1, Starbucks will stop splitting hairs and open its Wi-Fi at 6,700 locations.

 

There's a lot of talk about whether the recovery will stall or continue building momentum. Well we could get a very clear picture this week since the big economic news will likely be the May price reports. I'm expecting to see signs of deflation across the board -- which could take some of the wind out of consumers' sails.

Here's the news to look for:

• Tuesday, June 15: May Import Prices. Expected decline of -1.5%.
• Wednesday, June 16: May Producer Prices. Expected decline of -0.5%.
• Thursday, June 17: May Consumer Prices. Expected decline of -0.2%.

 

Coffee bean prices have soared in recent days, jumping 8% Friday and reaching their highest level since last January. Blame it on Rio.

An early cold snap in Brazil has traders worried that some of the coffee bean crop there could be damaged, according to the AssociatedPress. Those concerns pushed up coffee prices for July delivery to as high as $1.49 a pound.

The continued rise in coffee prices could be worrisome in the long term for Starbucks (SBUX) and Green Mountain CoffeeRoasters (GMCR), analysts say. Could we eventually see Starbucks prices get even higher? 

Apple (AAPL) has become one of the most valuable companies in the world, and boy, is it ever throwing its weight around.

The company has gone from beloved underdog to ruthless competitor, squeezing out rivals like Adobe (ADBE) and Google(GOOG) in surprisingly bold ways.

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And that's got the attention of antitrust regulators, who are set to begin investigating the company's actions. But has Apple really been that bad? Do shareholders have anything to worry about here?

 

In early May an equal investment in each of my Top 10 Stocks for 2010 were up more than 15%. Since that time the market has been in a tailspin resulting in that performance dropping to a more modest 9% gain.

 

Not bad considering the market as measured by the S&P 500 index is down more than 1% year to date, but the returns could be better if one deployed an absolute return strategy that included incremental moves in managing the portfolio.

 

I made just that suggestion to followers of my Top Stocks strategy in April.

 

As stocks moved lower out of the April high, you started to hear a lot more talk about the rising potential for "double-dip" recession -- a la the experience of the early 1980s where the economy, instead of embarking on a multi-year expansion, started contracting again.

 

With all the concerns over the sovereign debt troubles in Europe, ho-hum job growth here in the United States, and falling stock prices, I'll admit there is plenty of raw material to base these fears on.

 

But a closer look at what's driving the economic cycle gives us reason for hope and optimism.