10 stocks to watch in the week and in 2011

10 stocks to watch in the week ahead


Google, the online search leader, appears on an MSN Money list of recommended stocks. Here are StockScouter's best investment ideas.


By MSN Money
Thanks in part to Android, which just passed Apple's iOS as the world's fastest-growing mobile platform, Google (GOOG, news, msgs) is again capturing media buzz while persuading investors that it's still a growth engine.



Some analysts have fretted that Google is undergoing an inevitable metamorphosis, becoming a mature, slower-growth tech bellwether. But the Mountain View, Calif., company allayed those concerns last month with blowout third-quarter financial results.



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Google appears on a daily list created using StockScouter, an MSN Money tool that identifies stocks with strong growth prospects in the near term. All stocks with Scouter ratings of 8, 9 or 10 are considered for the list, which is then shortened to exclude any stock with a trading volume below 50,000 shares a day. The remaining stocks are ranked on the basis of market capitalization, sector membership and whether they are growth or value stocks.





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Google's core business of online advertising -- which accounts for 97% of revenue -- continues to grow along with the digital economy. The number of times a consumer clicked on a Google ad increased 16% in the third quarter, and the average cost per click rose 3%, meaning companies paid more to place ads.



"We saw strength in every major product area in Q3 -- that is search, display, mobile -- as well as apps and enterprise," Patrick Pichette, Google's chief financial officer, said in a conference call with analysts Oct. 14. "And when I say our newer businesses are seeing great momentum, I really mean it."



Android vs. iPhone: Which will win?



Go to Wall Street Journal





Among those newer businesses, Android is leading the charge. New data from market research company NPD Group says Android was installed on 44% of the smart phones bought in the United States in the third quarter, up 11 percentage points from the second quarter. Apple's (AAPL, news, msgs) i0S operating system took 23% of the domestic market, up from 22% in the second quarter. Research In Motion (RIMM, news, msgs) saw its market share slip to 22% from 28%.



NPD said that two of the five top-selling smart phones in the quarter -- the Motorola Droid X, at No. 4, and the HTC EVO 4G, at No. 5 -- run on the Android open-source operating system. Apple's iPhone 4 was the top-selling smart phone in the period, followed by RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8500 and the LG Cosmos.



Google said Android software now comes loaded on more than 95 handsets, up from 60 in the second quarter. Android's growth helps lessen Google's reliance on Internet search, though the operating system is designed to mesh with Google search, thereby helping generate even more clicks on Google ads.



StockScouter top 10 Company Sector Friday's close YTD (%) Scouter score

Apple (AAPL, news, msgs)

Personal computing

$317.13

50.5

10



Broadcom (BRCM, news, msgs)

Semiconductors

$42.34

34.5

10



Google (GOOG, news, msgs)

Internet search

$625.08

0.8

10



Intel (INTC, news, msgs)

Computer chips

$21.24

4.1

10



Microsoft (MSFT, news, msgs)

Software

$26.85

-11.9

10



Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM, news, msgs)

Semiconductor manufacturing

$11.18

-2.3

10



Texas Instruments (TXN, news, msgs)

Digital signal processors

$31.47

20.8

10



Xilinx (XLNX, news, msgs)

Integrated circuits

$27.73

10.6

10



El Paso (EP, news, msgs)

Natural gas

$13.46

37.0

10



IBM (IBM, news, msgs)

Computer products and services

$146.92

12.2

9
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