Hot Stocks to watch & Top China Stocks to buy penny stock & mid cap stocks

Tuesday's session are Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD), Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) and Quicksilver Resources Inc. (KWK).

Sears Holdings said it expects to close roughly 100 stores in a bid to revitalize its business and reduce expenses, while also reporting continued sales struggles in the latest quarter. The company's shares tumbled 9.5% to $41.50 premarket.

Mead Johnson Nutrition said on Sunday that a new round of tests done on its Enfamil Premium Newborn infant formula found no trace of the bacteria tied to the death of a baby in Missouri. Last week national retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), Walgreen Co. (WAG), Kroger Co. (KR) and Safeway Inc. (SWY) pulled a batch of the powdered infant formula from their shelves. Shares of Mead Johnson traded up 6.5% to $69.55 premarket.

Seaspan Corp. (NYSE:SSW) is trading closest to theoretical highs but is far from being overbought. ChinaCast Education (NASDAQ:CAST), LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) and Fushi Copperweld (NASDAQ:FSIN) have solid momentum from last week but are volatile stocks by nature. China XD Plastics (NASDAQ:CXDC) is another interesting stock to follow lately from the overbought screen. Stocks of interest on the oversold screen include Jiayuan.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ:DATE), E-House Holdings (NYSE:EJ), Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Sina Corp. (NASDAQ:SINA).

Quicksilver Resources has formed a partnership with private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) to construct and operate natural gas midstream services in Canada. Quicksilver Resources's shares added 3.5% to $7.20 premarket.

MetLife Inc. (MET) said GE Capital Financial Inc. will acquire most of its U.S. retail deposit business as the insurance company looks to end its stint as a bank holding company. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, weren't disclosed. Shares of MetLife climbed 2.9% to $32 premarket.

Small cap ChinaCast Education (NASDAQ:CAST) and China Transinfo (NASDAQ:CTFO) are hard to read by technical indicators. These stocks had a wild ride in the past and thus investors have to exercise caution going forward.

LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) pulled back last Friday and is looking good going ahead. But this is a high risk / high return stock, something investors should not forget. Outlook for Chinese PV manufacturers depends on outlook in Europe, something that's been very volatile in the past. Nevertheless upside is possible for the stock according to the screen below.

China XD Plastics (NASDAQ:CXDC) and Fushi Copperweld (NASDAQ:FSIN) are stocks with sound momentum. Both are trading abiove their 50-DMA and 200-DMA, a good sign for chartists. 
NYSE:EJ) has been trading in a narrow range lately and is back to 52 week lows. While the stock is not considered oversold, investors should give it a second look.

Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Sina Corp. (NASDAQ:SINA) are not oversold per say but are still among the 25 most oversold stocks today. Needless to say, both value stocks offer upside potential!

Cal-Maine Foods Inc.'s (CALM) income jumped 53% in its fiscal second-quarter as strong retail demand during the holidays and higher selling prices helped offset higher feed costs. Cal-Maine's shares rose 5.1% to $35.99 in light premarket trading.

Perfumania Holdings Inc. (PERF) agreed to acquire Parlux Fragrances Inc. (PARL) for about $170 million in cash and stock. The deal values shares of Parlux, which jumped 95% to $6.75 in premarket trading, between $7.91 and $8.55 apiece, depending on stockholders' choice of compensation.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD) intends to offer up to 20 million shares of its common stock, a move that could boost the number of shares outstanding by nearly 38%. Shares of the biopharmaceutical company slipped 6.5% to $1.16 in recent premarket trading.

Watch List: 
 

Oil-and-gas exploration company Endeavour International Corp. (END) said it agreed to acquire ConocoPhillips's (COP) interest in three producing U.K. oil fields in the Central North Sea for $330 million, including about $94 million in tax attributes, building on Endeavour's North Sea holdings.

Fresh off a trademark dispute that forced Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM, RIM.T) to rename its next line of BlackBerry phones, the company is in the midst of another legal battle over the use of the name of its popular instant-messaging service, BBM, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Wendy's Co. (WEN) said it plans to open about 100 restaurants in Japan over the next five years, following the recent grand opening of its first Japanese joint venture location in Tokyo.
good sign for chartists.

A good size bump last week helped offset earlier losses of Jiayuan.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ:DATE). The stock is trading just below its trading envelope and is not oversold anymore.

E-House Holdings (NYSE:EJ) has been trading in a narrow range lately and is back to 52 week lows. While the stock is not considered oversold, investors should give it a second look.

Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Sina Corp. (NASDAQ:SINA) are not oversold per say but are still among the 25 most oversold stocks today. Needless to say, both value stocks offer upside potential!

Overbought A technical condition that occurs when prices are considered too high and susceptible to a decline. Overbought conditions can be classified by analyzing the chart pattern or with indicators such as the one above. A sharp advance from $15 to $30 in 2 weeks might lead a technician to believe that a security is overbought. Or, a security is sometimes considered overbought when the stock is trading out of its trading envelope and is approaching the theoretical high. It is important to keep in mind that overbought is not necessarily the same as being bearish. It merely infers that the stock has risen too far too fast and might be due for a pullback.

Oversold A technical condition that occurs when prices are considered too low and ripe for a rally. Oversold conditions can be classified by analyzing the chart pattern or with indicators such as the one above. A sharp decline from $30 to $15 in 2 weeks might lead a technician to believe that a security is oversold. Or, a security is sometimes considered oversold when the stock is trading below its trading envelope and is approaching theoretical lows. It is important to keep in mind that oversold is not necessarily the same as being bullish. It merely infers that the security has fallen too far too fast and may be due for a reaction rally.

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Westmoreland Coal Co. (WLB) said it plans to pay about $74 million in cash and assume roughly $118 million in liabilities to purchase a Wyoming coal mine from a Chevron Corp. (CVX) unit.

Wall street pros may see stocks up in 2012 , risky play ?

Pros see stocks up in 2012, but big risks, too

By B. CONDON,  

 The good news is that Wall Street experts think stock prices will rise more than 10 percent next year. The bad news is that they expected big gains in 2011 and got nearly zero instead.
It's forecasting time on Wall Street, and once again the pros are trying to predict the unpredictable. History suggests their target price for stocks by the end of 2012 will prove too high or too low. They might even get the direction wrong — predicting a gain when there's a loss.
As Yogi Berra said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
In typical times, guessing where stocks will end up in a year is difficult. There are many assumptions about economic growth, inflation and consumer spending that go into the calculation.
Now, forecasting has become nearly impossible. Big unknowns hang over the market as rarely before. Will the euro break up? Will China slow too sharply? Will squabbling in Washington scuttle the economic recovery?
"Normally, you wonder, How will sales do? How are managements doing?" says Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poor's, which puts out its own forecasts. "Now there are so many high-level issues that affect the market."
Silverblatt's firm says the S&P 500 index should rise to 1,400 by the end of 2012, up 12 percent from the Thursday's close of 1,254. That figure is an average of expectations from investment strategists, economists and other big thinkers. More bullish yet are stock analysts focused on individual companies. Add up their price targets for each stock in the index, and they see it rising to 1,457, up 16 percent.
There's plenty of reason to think stocks will rise fast in the coming year. U.S. companies are generating record profits. Americans are spending more than expected and factories are producing more. The job market finally appears to be healing, too.
The odds of the U.S. slipping into another recession have fallen since the summer, when the economy had slowed.
Stocks seem attractively priced, too. The S&P 500 is trading at 12 times its expected earnings per share for 2012. It typically trades at 15 times, meaning stocks appear cheaper now.
Binky Chadha, chief strategist at Deutsche Bank, says the S&P 500 could hit 1,500 by the end of 2012, a 20 percent gain.
Still, there is worry amid the bullishness.
Michael Hartnett, chief global equity strategist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, expects the S&P to close next year at 1,350, up 8 percent from Thursday's close. He thinks the U.S. will avoid recession and U.S. companies will generate decent profits.
What could wreck that prediction is a worse situation in Europe than he is expecting. If European leaders move too slowly to solve their government debt crisis, the region could fall into a deep recession and throw the U.S. into one, too. If Europe tanks, profits will drop sharply and push the S&P down to 1,000, he says. That would be a sharp drop of 20 percent from Thursday's close.
The frightening part is that Hartnett gives this "bear" case four-in-10 odds.
Similarly, Barry Knapp, strategist at Barclays Capital, predicts the S&P will rise to 1,330 next year. But he expects Europe's struggles with its debt and Washington gridlock could lead investors to sell before they buy. He says the S&P could fall to 1,150 by the middle of the year before rising to his target.
It could drop sooner. In the first three months next year, Italy needs to sell national bonds to raise money to pay holders of $172 billion worth of old ones coming due. The risk is that investors will demand high interest rates to buy the new bonds, and that will spread fears of a possible default. After Italy was forced to pay unexpectedly high rates in a bond auction earlier this month, stocks fell hard around the world.
"The crisis could become systemic," says Athanasios Vamvakidis, head European currency strategist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. "That would threaten not only Europe, but the whole global recovery."
One solution is to invest in companies selling goods that people need in both good times and bad, such as drugs and food. If the economy falls into recession, profits of these companies are less likely to collapse.
In 2011, these so-called defensive companies bucked the flat market. Stocks of utility companies have risen 14 percent through Thursday. Healthcare and consumer staples were each up 10. Standouts include insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc., which has risen 40 percent, and Kraft Foods, up 18 percent.
Then again, you might do better investing in the opposite kind of companies, like makers of toys and other consumer discretionary goods. Their profits tend to zoom up and down with the economy.
A report from S&P Capital IQ notes that stocks of cyclical companies such as these tend to gain the most after market drops like the one in October, when stocks fell nearly 20 percent.
In the five times that the S&P 500 has fallen between 15 percent and 25 percent since 1978, consumer discretionary stocks have risen an average 30 percent in the next six months, according to S&P. Those stocks are up 15 percent since October's fall.
One reason it's difficult to guess future stock prices is that figuring out where the economy is heading isn't so easy either.
In December 2007, economists expected the economic to grow an average 2.4 percent in 2008, according to a survey of three dozen of them by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. It shrank 0.3 percent instead. For 2009, they forecast the economy would shrink 0.8 percent. It shrank 3.5 percent.
Economists were more accurate the next two years, though not by much. Now they say the economy will grow 2.2 percent next year.
A few mutual fund managers say people aren't skeptical enough about forecasts. In a recent letter to their investors, the folks who run Castle Focus, a $43 million fund, say hopes of big profits may be dashed given all the economic uncertainty. The fund had 28 percent of its assets in cash in September, its latest report.
Most funds are doing the opposite and investing cash. The average stock mutual fund had just 3.5 percent of its assets in cash in October, according to a report from the Investment Company Institute. That is the nearly the lowest level since the firm started keeping records 25 years ago.
Maybe fund managers have been listening too much to bullish stock analysts. For the record, the same analysts surveyed by S&P who expect a 16 percent stock jump next year were optimistic about 2011, too. A year ago, they called for the S&P to rise 9 percent.
It still may, but the odds are long and time is running out. As of Thursday, the index was down 0.3 percent for the year.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Best 2012 hot stocks to buy ? NFLX,F,RIMM,AAPL,UAL,NFLX,DAL,GRPN,GCI,S,BAC

1. Ford

The No. 2 U.S. automaker's stock is down almost 50% this year, from $18.97 to $10.24. That's despite the fact that its revenue and American vehicle sales continue to rise. The U.S. car and light truck market recovered substantially this year and may be up as much as 15% from 2010. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that as the consumer sentiment recovery proceeds and interest rates remain low, buyers will re-enter the car market. Yet Ford (F) shares have been caught in the downdraft created by fears of a possible second recession. The chances of that, however, continue to recede.

In addition, Ford has particular strength in the SUV and light truck sector, which is where a great deal of the sales growth in the U.S. has come from. It has the best selling pickups in the U.S. -- the F-series -- and the Explorer SUV. Ford is also strong in the rapidly growing markets of Latin America and Asia.

The final factor in Ford's favor is that the average car owned by American households is now 5 years old. That's well above the historic average, and many analysts think this huge pool of aged cars will soon start being replaced.

2. Research In Motion

RIM (RIMM) is on most analysts' lists of takeover targets. Its recent problems, including slow subscription sales, the lackluster reception of its Playbook tablet, and late product launches, have pushed the stock to a seven-year low. It's troubles are so severe that some analysts think RIM is no longer a valuable acquisition. That's not true. RIM's remaining strengths are great, and in some ways, unique.

First, the company has 75 million subscribers, a large portion of them are overseas in places that Apple (AAPL) has been slow to build its iPhone distribution, particularly in China.

Next, RIM has an operating system that has not been drawn into the large number of patent lawsuits that Apple, Samsung, and the Google (GOOG) Android based smartphones are embroiled in. By avoiding IP disputes, RIM can watch from the sidelines court battles that could cost the losers billion of dollars.

RIM's share price is $13, compared to a 52-week high of $70. It trades at an extraordinarily low of 0.35 times total sales. That makes it a fine target for several companies that will want to hedge their bets in the smartphone market -- among them Microsoft (MSFT), HTC, and Samsung -- the No.2 handset company in the world. The media has recently reported that Microsoft and Nokia (NOK) have considered a joint bid for RIM. Apparently, Amazon (AMZN) has as well. Any consideration these companies make a definite offer is likely only in early stages, if an official offer is to be made at all. These rumors have pushed RIM share up 10%.

3. Netflix

Netflix (NFLX) is also on a number of takeover lists, as it should be. The stock has dropped from $305 to $69 in a year. Wall Street is worried about Netflix's profitability because of its slow subscriber growth and high programming costs. But Netflix is viewed by many analysts who follow the content and content delivery industry as a de facto cable company: It has over 20 million subscribers; it has content deals to syndicate TV shows and movies from most of the major media companies; and it has a current annual sales run rate of over $3 billion and net income last quarter of $62 million. Shareholders who have abandoned the company think it may have a net loss next year. But Netflix has a strong balance sheet with $350 million in cash.

The most likely buyer of Netflix is one of the two satellite TV companies -- Dish Network (DISH) or DirecTV (DTV). AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) may also make offers as a way to bolster their fiber-to-the home products. Both the two big telecoms and satellite companies lack weapons for their battles with the cable companies. Netflix's huge content delivery system and its content licenses could change that

4. United Continental Holdings

The parent of these recently merged companies now operates the largest airline in the U.S. Fears of high oil prices and a new recession drove shares from nearly $30 last November to under $16 recently. The airline has three critical factors in its favor. The first is that it's still in the early stages of slicing out the labor, reservation system, and route redundancies left from the merger. If Northwest's marriage with Delta (DAL) is any guide, United Continental (UAL) will save tens of millions of dollars in costs per year. This will substantially improve operating margins and thus EPS.

The second factor is that the oil prices rally is over. A jet fuel cost increase of 20% or 30% from current levels is no longer a strong possibility. Finally, the AMR Chapter 11 should be a windfall for United Continental. The bankruptcy of a major carrier allows it to unload planes and cut routes. This lowers passenger capacity for the entire industry. And lower capacity means all carriers have a chance to raise ticket prices

is $13, compared to a 52-week high of $70. It trades at an extraordinarily low of 0.35 times total sales. That makes it a fine target for several companies that will want to hedge their bets in the smartphone market -- among them Microsoft (MSFT), HTC, and Samsung -- the No.2 handset company in the world. The media has recently reported that Microsoft and Nokia (NOK) have considered a joint bid for RIM. Apparently, Amazon (AMZN) has as well. Any consideration these companies make a definite offer is likely only in early stages, if an official offer is to be made at all. These rumors have pushed RIM share up 10%.

3. Netflix

Netflix (NFLX) is also on a number of takeover lists, as it should be. The stock has dropped from $305 to $69 in a year. Wall Street is worried about Netflix's profitability because of its slow subscriber growth and high programming costs. But Netflix is viewed by many analysts who follow the content and content delivery industry as a de facto cable company: It has over 20 million subscribers; it has content deals to syndicate TV shows and movies from most of the major media companies; and it has a current annual sales run rate of over $3 billion and net income last quarter of $62 million. Shareholders who have abandoned the company think it may have a net loss next year. But Netflix has a strong balance sheet with $350 million in cash.

The most likely buyer of Netflix is one of the two satellite TV companies -- Dish Network (DISH) or DirecTV (DTV). AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) may also make offers as a way to bolster their fiber-to-the home products. Both the two big telecoms and satellite companies lack weapons for their battles with the cable companies. Netflix's huge content delivery system and its content licenses could change that.

4. United Continental Holdings

The parent of these recently merged companies now operates the largest airline in the U.S. Fears of high oil prices and a new recession drove shares from nearly $30 last November to under $16 recently. The airline has three critical factors in its favor. The first is that it's still in the early stages of slicing out the labor, reservation system, and route redundancies left from the merger. If Northwest's marriage with Delta (DAL) is any guide, United Continental (UAL) will save tens of millions of dollars in costs per year. This will substantially improve operating margins and thus EPS.

The second factor is that the oil prices rally is over. A jet fuel cost increase of 20% or 30% from current levels is no longer a strong possibility. Finally, the AMR Chapter 11 should be a windfall for United Continental. The bankruptcy of a major carrier allows it to unload planes and cut routes. This lowers passenger capacity for the entire industry. And lower capacity means all carriers have a chance to raise ticket prices.

5. Groupon

The argument that the Groupon (GRPN) phenomenon will turn out to have been a fad has driven its shares from an IPO price of $20 and a recent high of $31.14 back down to $22. But recent analysts calls on the company include three "buys" from Barrington Research, Hudson Square Research, and the Benchmark Company. Groupon's CEO recently wrote that "We sold over 650,000 Grouponicus deals between Black Friday and Cyber Monday -- an increase of over 500% from last year." The news caused the stock to rally more than 30% in two days.

The major concern about Groupon is that it will be flanked by direct competitor LivingSocial, or online coupon deals from large retailers such as Walmart (WMT). But that has not happened yet, and if there was ever a time for these companies to make a large push, it would have been during the holiday season. Groupon also has an important advantage in the e-commerce world. Like Amazon.com, it was the first significant company to enter its market and still holds a large lead over its rivals. In the stock market, first place usually means a premium price

6. Gannett

Gannett (GCI) trades for $13 now, but several newspaper analysts recently told Barron's they expect shares of the nation's largest newspaper chain to move to $16. These analysts also forecast Gannett will double its dividend. That prediction is probably too conservative. Consensus estimates are that EPS will increase next year to $2.18 from $2.12 this year. That is an impressive gain for a company in a dying industry.

One of the things about Gannett that is rarely mentioned is that its online properties had 43.6 million unique visitors in October. That is more than Twitter or LinkedIn. Yet Gannett has a market cap of $3 billion, while LinkedIn's is $6.4 billion, and Twitter was recently given a valuation of $7 billion. It is also lost on many investors that Gannett is a huge and profitable corporation that continues to cut costs and pick up revenue online. Last year, Gannett had total sales of $5.4 billion and net income of $622 million. Gannett has a proven track record. New Web 2.0 companies can't say the same, despite their high market valuations

7. Sprint-Nextel

The No. 3 cellular carrier will not be independent a year from now -- it has too much debt and too little traction as it tries to add subscribers in a saturated U.S. market that's dominated by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. However, Sprint (S) has several assets a larger company would find attractive. The first is its 50 million subscribers. The second is its 4G WiMax network. The company is also building a second 4G LTE network. To duplicate these assets would take billions of dollars. Korea-based SK Telecom approached Sprint about a buyout three years ago. Sprint's cash and debt position was better then, and the U.S. company was able to turn down the offer. And SK is only one of several large overseas telcos that would like to have a position in the world's second-largest cellular market.

Now that the T-Mobile buyout deal with AT&T has failed, parent Deutsche Telekom (DT) can use the AT&T $4 billion breakup fee to rebuild its presence in the U.S. But Deutsche Telekom knows that its No. 4 spot in the U.S. is not a viable position. But combine T-Mobile's 35 million subscribers with Sprint's 50 million, and it would have a number close to AT&T's total.

And it's a good time to buy: Sprint's shares have fallen from a 52-week high of $6.45 to $2.25, dropping its

8. Bank of America

The most troubled large bank in the U.S. has been on several lists of stocks that could double in 2012. That seems improbable ... until one carefully reviews the premises. B of A (BAC) has three severe problems. The first is that it is in too many low-margin businesses. Some of these are related to consumer banking and others to its large presence in the mortgage business. But the bank has announced 30,000 layoffs, and, as it looks for more inefficiencies, that number will grow.

The financial firm's second problem is that its large pool of mortgages has lost a great deal of its value. Still, much of that value has been written down already. Any recovery in the housing market will help the bank rebuild its balance sheet as these home loan assets appreciate. The third problem is that Bank of America is in litigation, or is about to be, with several states over how Countrywide Financial, which it purchased, packaged mortgage securities and sold them to other institutions. All of the other large U.S. banks are involved in similar suits. Once this litigation is settled, a large overhang that has pressed down on its stock will disappear.

Finally, lost in the conversation about Bank of America's share price is that the consensus estimates for EPS next year is $0.97 up from $0.02 this year. The smart money on Wall Street sees a huge recovery in earnings. B of A trades at $5.05, down from a 52-week high of $15.

5 Stocks Jim Cramer Says To Sell or Buy ? AA, AMZN, BIDU, DMND, GRPN, NFLX

Cramer has recently told people to "Sell" these stocks in his lightning round segments or during his show:Steve'>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451648537/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=madmoneyfund-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451648537">Steve Jobshttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=madmoneyfund-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1451648537" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

Demand Foods (DMND) -- was panned as a sell in one of this week's lightning rounds as Cramer called it "too crazy for this guy" and invited the CEO to appear on the show to give the counter argument to why the stock should be avoided after large losses in recent weeks. DMND trades at a respectable 13X earnings and 1.47X book value. The company is producing a 12% return on equity but drops only 5% of sales to the bottom line. We prefer businesses which earn a 10% profit margin or higher, but we also note that certain retail oriented business models can do well despite lower margins. DMND has actually experienced fairly robust YOY growth in sales (32%) and YOY growth in net income (26%) which makes this a stock to watch if the name becomes a bit cheaper in the months and weeks ahead in our view. For now, however, we will stick with Cramer and say that it's a bit too hard to call right here.



Alcoa (AA) -- Cramer clearly unmarried this trade which he liked earlier in the year, stating that Alcoa had a "weak quarter" and "may not make money" going forward. He thinks that the stock is "dead money" and that "estimates are way too high." Alcoa is clearly a cyclical enterprise who's fate is tied to the ups and downs of not only the aluminum and base metal market but also the demand side stemming from macro-economic trends and pressures out of China. While Alcoa does look quite cheap at first glance with a PE of just 9.4X and forward PE in the 9X range, the discount to book value does not leave investors with much of a margin of safety because much of Alcoa's book value is in the form of intangible assets like Goodwill (Spanish for brand value) which should be excluded from liquidation value by the astute equity analyst. While Alcoa does look cheap, remember that in recessions and contractions these cyclical names tend to get clobbered. Recently, Cramer has become a little more bullish on Alcoa, but still thinks the quarter will be ugly.

Baidu.com (BIDU) -- Baidu is a name that Hedgephone recommended shorting at the $150 level this summer because we felt the name was in a speculative mania. Cramer is a great teacher and investor, but sometimes his favorite names like Netflix (NFLX) and BIDU become crowded trades and can actually be shorted for short term profits when the charts become too vertical and the law of economic gravity takes hold. Cramer still notes that Bidu "is the only Chinese stock I like" but says that with the market in China down for "33 straight weeks" investors should sell the stock or at least avoid it in the short run. We completely agree as the name is trading at far too high a price to sales multiple for our taste. Bidu is still trading at a heady 21X sales and for 45X earnings, which makes the name expensive by most any traditional valuation metric.

Groupon (GRPN) -- While Groupon grew revenues at an astonishing 426% rate YOY, the company is trading for 11X sales and is not generating meaningful profits for shareholders. The stock is highly speculative in our view and Cramer affirmed this stance stating that this market is not the kind of market where you want to own social media stocks. Instead, Cramer has suggested utility and drug stocks would make better investments than social media stocks.

Amazon (AMZN) -- Amazon has long been a short recommendation of Hedgephone's due to the company's astronomical price to earnings and price to book value multiples. Although the stock has come down a bit in recent months, we still feel an opportunity exists to short the name based on valuation due to the company's more than robust 82X price to earnings multiple. Cramer recently said that AMZN stock is a "don't buy" and told a caller to "let it go lower." We agree, and feel that AMZN should trade at around $130 or so before investors could consider looking at the name as a potential buy, though we are less optimistic on this particular name than most

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Seaspan Corporation – (SSW) Top Stock to Buy 2012 ?

Nice Surprise From Seaspan
Shares of Seaspan soared last week on news of the shipping company's tender offer for 10 million of its shares (ticker: SSW) at $15. That price is almost 44% above the stock's closing quote on Monday, the day before the announcement was made, and 13% higher than the $13.28 it was trading at when Barron's wrote favorably about the company two months ago ("Navigating Rough Seas," Oct. 17).

CEO Gerry Wang said the offer "reflects our confidence in the company's future prospects and, we believe, is an efficient way of returning capital to shareholders."

Our article noted Seaspan's strong business plan, sound financials and good dividend, now yielding more than 6%. Despite global economic sluggishness, its 65-ship fleet is fully leased out, with a remaining average charter period of seven years.


Seaspan's fleet is fully leased out, with a remaining charter period of seven years.
Wells Fargo shipping analyst Michael Webber views the announcement as "a material positive for [the] shares, particularly given that management will not be participating in the offer…."

The transaction will be executed on a pro-rata basis, meaning that if investors tender, say, 20 million shares, the company will buy half the number each investor has tendered as of midnight, Jan. 11, 2012.

And because Seaspan's free float is 47.4 million shares, investors do run the risk of having only a portion of their shares accepted. That helps explain why the stock isn't trading closer to the tender price.

In any case, the announcement has set up an arbitrage. Even if only half of an investor's shares are purchased, the return would be substantial, particularly for anyone who bought the shares in the past two months. Friday, the stock closed at $13.14.

-- Eric Uhlfelder
Seaspan Corporation (Seaspan) is an independent charter owner of containerships, which the Company charters pursuant to long-term, fixed-rate time charters agreement. As of March 25, 2011, it operated a fleet of 58 containerships (including three leased vessels) and had entered into contracts to purchase an additional seven containerships and to lease an additional four containerships. As of March 25, 2011, the average age of the 58 vessels in its fleet was approximately five years. Customers for its operating fleet are China Shipping Container Lines (Asia) Co., Ltd. (CSCL Asia), Hapag-Lloyd USA, LLC (HL USA), A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S (APM), COSCO Container Lines Co., Ltd. (COSCON), CSAV, MOL, K-Line and UASC. Customers for the additional 11 vessels will include K-Line and COSCON. As of March 25, 2011, 22 of the 69 vessels in its current or contracted fleet were chartered to CSCL Asia, and 18 vessels were or will be chartered to COSCON.
Seaspan Corporation – (SSW)

Seaspan owns a fleet of container ships and enters into charter agreements to transport products around the world. They have almost 60 vessels which have an average age of 5 years.

SSW has a price to book ratio of .68 a forward P/E of 8.9 and a PEG ratio of 5.85. Their dividend yield is 5.9% and their 5 year dividend growth rate is 14.3%.



Out of the whole list on a recent news release from Seeking Alpha Seaspan has the highest dividend growth rate of the other stocks listed.

This alone is worth an entry point at this level.

I see a firm support line forming above 12.50 and might be a point to add more.

The Board and management are very pleased with how the business has performed and going forward we feel very comfortable that the business will continue to perform throughout the cycle. The Board certainly had identified a progressive dividend policy and we are looking to grow that dividend over time.

So in terms of guidance going forward, I think that we can’t give you clear guidance however we’ll move to more regular process in terms of a dividend and set up quarterly, more regular in terms of likely annual dividend reviews.

So I think that there is room to grow the dividend and for it to be sustainable. We don’t have guidance today but certainly we expect in the near that we’ll reaffirm where the event will be."

                    Sentiment : Strong Buy     

Top stocks to watch or buy this week

Marathon Oil (MRO 0.00%, news) is moving aggressively to ramp up oil and gas production in the United States. The company this month raised its 2012 capital-projects budget by $1 billion, to $4.8 billion, with more than half of the money dedicated to tapping shale deposits in Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Colorado.
The move reflects confidence in what one analyst this week characterized as the "Goldilocks" scenario, with $100-a-barrel oil making development in unconventional shale plays economically feasible but still $15 to $20 below the price where demand would be destroyed.
The industry also has reason to be optimistic that localized opposition to the shale-gas boom is being successfully countered with arguments that environmental restrictions jeopardize desperately needed jobs and deprive depleted government coffers of new revenues.
Marathon Oil 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 those 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.
The Houston company this year spun off refining operations to sharpen its focus on shale acreage in the United States, as well as on exploration and development projects in Canada's tar sands, as well as in Poland, Libya, northern Iraq, the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Angola.

Shale drilling to add 870,000 jobs

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The increased spending on domestic production should allow Marathon to boost its annual output by 5% to 7% a year, on average, to 2016, the company said. Marathon holds about 1 million acres across its U.S. plays, Investor's Business Daily reported. Daily production is projected to grow from 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent to 175,000 barrels by 2016.
But the technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, used to extract oil and gas from shale has sparked a backlash in communities from California to New York concerned about the effects on drinking water, noise levels and air quality. So far, at least, economic arguments in favor of drilling have trumped environmental concerns.
In economically distressed California, Gov. Jerry Brown recently dismissed the state's top two oil and gas regulators following industry complaints about the pace of permitting for natural-gas drilling projects. And suburban property owners in the Northeast who have invoked zoning laws and environmental rules to oppose gas drilling have largely been outmaneuvered.
The industry also is confronting air-pollution limits on energy production that were recently issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is working on rules governing water discharge from drilling operations, which are scheduled to take effect in 2014. Fracking injects chemicals and water into rock formations to release the hydrocarbons trapped inside.

Investing in growth stocks

Paul Sankey, the Deutsche Bank analyst who described the Goldilocks scenario, raised his rating on Marathon to "buy" from "hold" on Dec. 13 and upped his price target by $4 to $37.
Of the 17 analysts covering the company, eight have a "strong buy" recommendation, one gives the stock a "moderate buy" rating and eight rate it a "hold."
Marathon Oil has a StockScouter rating of 9, meaning the stock is expected to significantly outperform the market over the next six months with average risk.

StockScouter top 10 for Dec. 16
Company	Sector	Dividend yield	Forward P/E	Scouter score
Medtronic (MDT 0.00%, news)	Implantable medical devices	2.74%	9.5	10
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO +0.76%, news)	Apparel retailer	3.01%	13.4	10
American Express (AXP 0.00%, news)	Credit and travel services	1.55%	11.3	10
Chevron (CVX 0.00%, news)	Oil and natural gas	3.25%	13.5	10
Philip Morris International (PM 0.00%, news)	Cigarettes	4.06%	14.5	10
Western Union (WU 0.00%, news)	Money transfers	1.84%	10.4	10
Caterpillar (CAT 0.00%, news)	Earth-moving equipment	2.10%	9.7	9
CSX (CSX 0.00%, news)	Railroads	2.40%	10.6	9
Marathon Oil (MRO 0.00%, news)	Oil and natural gas	2.22%	7.7	9
Annaly Capital Management (NLY 0.00%, news)	Real estate investments	14.77%	7.1	9

Top Stocks to buy in 2012 Mostly Dividends & Value (BRK-A, CMCSA, FCX, MET, PG, STX, RDS.A, VOD, SNY, AAPL, GOOG, IBM)

Barron's listed Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX), Metlife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG). The list also includes some ADRs via Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX), Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE: VOD), Sanofi (NYSE: SNY), and Daimler (DDAIF).

The aim was companies with low P/E ratios, somewhat high dividends, and companies with an expected upside of potentially 15% to 20%. This won't excite many investors. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was not in the list nor was Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Neither pays a dividend, but both have relatively low P/E ratios considering the recent growth (14 for Apple and about 17 for Google). If you use the Thomson Reuters consensus analyst price target, Apple has 29% upside and Google has 16% upside.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) is interesting now that it has added International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) to its portfolio. IBM yields a low 1.5% today and is buying back stock despite trading at all-times highs. The company's goal is $20.00 in earnings per share by 2015. Intel just warned about a large revenue shortfall but its dividend yield is now about 3.5%. , Panera Bread [PNRA 135.44 0.26 (+0.19%) ] has been the best-performing pick of the year, up nearly 30 percent.

The investing environment has been tough, though, and next year's favorites would have been disappointments in 2011. The group has fallen 3.7 percent this year, with three names down more than 24 percent. The S&P 500, a broader measure of the largest stocks in the U.S., has slumped 3.3 percent.

Of Raymond James' group of favorite stocks, Nuance Communications is the best performer so far this year, up 30 percent, while BMC Software lags the most, with a 29 percent drop.

"Once again, our analysts have been challenged to find the best stocks to own in 2012 from among the approximately 900 companies we actively follow," Chief Investment Officer David Henwood wrote in an introduction to this year's list.

The encouraging elements during a year of great market turbulence, Henwood says, are that corporate earnings and cash flows have grown impressively for most companies.

Analysts at Raymond James offer their best picks, with returns expected to be between 15 percent and 104 percent, based on price forecasts.

The 13 stocks on Raymond James' list are arranged below in order of potential upside, based on the firm's 12-month price target and the stock's price as of Dec. 14.

13. Brinker International

Company Profile: Brinker International [EAT 24.35 -0.24 (-0.98%) ] owns or franchises more than 1,500 casual dining restaurants in 32 countries under the names Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy.

Share Price: $24.21 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 15.7 percent based on a price target of $28

Investment Thesis: Analyst Bryan Elliott says Brinker's is in phase II of its Chili's transformation, which should lead to a big margin and free cash flow opportunity.

"Brinker shares have been range-bound for most of 2011 despite management consistently meeting its goals from Phase I of the transformation (improved labor productivity)," Elliott writes. "We expect similar success with Phase II initiatives (a significant kitchen technology upgrade and a major store remodel program). If we are correct, investor sentiment should improve, which could materially increase EAT's valuation metrics."

12. Post Properties

Company Profile: Post Properties [PPS 42.16 0.32 (+0.76%) ] is a developer and operator of upscale multifamily communities. The company operates as a real estate investment trust, or REIT.

Share Price: $41.17 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 19 percent based on a price target of $49

Investment Thesis: Analyst Buck Horne says Post Properties should outperform in 2012 as the apartment REIT sector is poised for near-record earnings growth in 2012.

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"As part of that favorable backdrop, we believe Post Properties' accelerating rent growth, low rent/income ratios, and attractive development pipeline present a compelling multi-year earnings growth profile at a valuation that remains quite attractive," Horne writes.

11. Chevron

Company Profile: Chevron [CVX 100.86 1.19 (+1.19%) ] is one of the largest corporations in the U.S. and is engaged in oil and gas exploration, production and refining.

Share Price: $102.04 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 22.5 percent based on a price target of $125

Investment Thesis: Analyst Pavel Molchanov says Chevron is structurally the best-positioned of the super-major oil giants, like Exxon Mobil [XOM 80.16 0.13 (+0.16%) ] .

"Despite Chevron's currently high capital intensity as it spends heavily on the long-term [liquid natural gas] projects, the free cash flow yield remains robust," Molchanov writes.

10. Nuance Communications

Company Profile: Nuance [NUAN 24.63 0.56 (+2.33%) ] is a provider of voice- and language-software services. The company makes the Nuance Dragon voice-recognition software.

Share Price: $23.59 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 27.2 percent based on a price target of $30

Investment Thesis: Analyst Shyam Patil says Nuance should see "unprecedented business momentum" drive a strong 2012.

Patil says that with the success of the Apple [AAPL 381.02 2.08 (+0.55%) ] iPhone 4S and its voice recognition software, speech recognition is starting to become mainstream.

"Nuance is seeing the strongest momentum in mobile and expect this segment to grow the fastest in 2012," Patil says. "The strong business momentum combined with what we view as conservative FY12 guidance should allow for upward estimate revisions throughout the year."

9. BB&T Corp.

Company Profile: BB&T [BBT 24.05 0.39 (+1.65%) ] offers a range of financial services to consumers and businesses. The company has about 1,800 branches in 12 states with $168 billion in assets.

Share Price: $23.46 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 28 percent based on a price target of $30

Investment Thesis: Analyst Michael Rose calls BB&T "a bank stock for the times," noting that the U.S. banking sector remains "plagued by economic uncertainty, increasing regulatory burdens, and European debt/banking issues." Rose says market share gains and specialty business should fuel BB&T's loan growth.

"In sum, BBT is a bank stock for the times as continued progress in many fundamental areas will drive superior operating results and profitability relative to peers which in turn will benefit shares," Rose writes.

8. VeriFone Systems

Company Profile: VeriFone [PAY 35.18 -1.62 (-4.4%) ] is a provider of secure electronic-payment technologies.

Share Price: $40.66 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 30 percent based on a price target of $53

Investment Thesis: Analyst Wayne Johnson says VeriFone is Raymond James' top investment idea in the payments sector, "given the company's strong market position, exposure to secular tailwinds, and significant company-driven revenue and profitability expansion opportunities."

Johnson adds that VeriFone should benefit from favorable market dynamics such as improved competitive landscape, new payment products, adoption of electronic payments in traditionally cash-based industries like taxis, and the demand for value-added services such as multimedia, advertising, and mobile payments capabilities.

7. TW Telecom

Company Profile: TW Telecom [TWTC 19.12 -0.17 (-0.88%) ] is the third-largest business Ethernet provider in the U.S.

Share Price: $18.94 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 32 percent based on a price target of $25

Investment Thesis: Analyst Frank Louthan says the proliferation of data makes TW Telecom the name to own since it's best positioned in the highly competitive telecom industry.

"The company has valuable assets that we believe are positioned to benefit from the same data demand trends we see in that sub-sector, which can ultimately produce higher top-line growth than its peers," Louthan writes.

6. Stanley Black & Decker

Company Profile: Stanley Black & Decker [SWK 63.10 0.11 (+0.17%) ] makes tools. The company's brands include Black & Decker, Baldwin, DeWalt, Kwikset, and Stanley.

Share Price: $63.76 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 33.3 percent based on a price target of $85

Investment Thesis: Analyst Sam Darkatsh says Stanley Black & Decker is "significantly undervalued" headed into 2012 thanks to an attractive free cash flow yield.

"Valuation has reached a point where it may act as its own catalyst via a disproportionately heavy share repurchase and/or a business portfolio review," Darkatsh writes. "While macro trends in Europe and the U.S. housing market are certainly not favorable, modest low single-digit organic growth seems a reasonable expectation given potential revenue synergies from Black & Decker."

5. Lincoln National

Company Profile: Lincoln National [LNC 18.51 -0.19 (-1.02%) ] , with assets of $153 billion, offers annuities, life insurance, 401(k) plans, savings plans and financial planning.

Share Price: $18.61 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 45 percent based on a price target of $27

Investment Thesis: Analyst Steven Schwartz says Lincoln National remains undervalued as fundamentals improve.

Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analysts agree, picking Lincoln National as one of their top stock picks for 2012.

"Lincoln National has the potential for substantial share price appreciation," Schwartz writes. "Lincoln continues to perform as a top-ten player in various life insurance product arenas and remains well suited to continue to benefit from the demand for the investment and insurance guarantees provided by the life insurance industry."

4. BMC Software

Company Profile: BMC Software [BMC 33.17 -0.39 (-1.16%) ] is a provider of Cloud computing and IT service management.

Share Price: $33.36 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 47 percent based on a price target of $49

Investment Thesis: Analyst Michael Turits calls BMC Software "a good defensive pick in the event of a worsening economic environment," noting that the stock was a top relative performer during the downturn of 2008 and 2009.

"We believe BMC has taken aggressive steps to address sales force compensation and quotas that should begin to 'right the ship' in the next twelve months," Turits writes.

3. Whiting Petroleum

Company Profile: Whiting Petroleum [WLL 45.27 1.87 (+4.31%) ] is an oil and gas exploration and production company.

It owns and operates properties in the Permian Basin, Rocky Mountain, Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast and Michigan regions of the U.S.

Share Price: $44.21 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 58.3 percent based on a price target of $70

Investment Thesis: Analyst John Freeman offers an extensive list of catalysts for Whiting in 2012, including the company's so-called Lewis and Clark play, which he says will alleviate inventory concerns.

"In addition to Lewis and Clark, well results from several other areas across the Williston Basin (Hidden Bench, Starbuck, Tarpon, and Missouri Breaks) will help unlock the resource potential across the smaller plays in the Rocky Mountain region," Freeman writes.

"While Whiting boasts an attractive balance sheet (net debt/book cap of 29 percent), the company is also exploring monetization options including joint ventures and/or royalty trusts to fund operations before drawing further on its $1.5 billion borrowing base."

2. Superior Energy Services

Company Profile: Superior Energy Services [SPN 27.33 1.18 (+4.51%) ] is a provider of oilfield services and equipment. It provides oil and gas companies with brand name rental tools and integrated well intervention services and tools.

Share Price: $26.65 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 76.4 percent based on a price target of $47

Investment Thesis: Analyst J. Marshall Adkins is poised for outperformance in 2012 thanks to its growth strategy through a merger with Complete Production Services, an attractive valuation, and a recovery of activity in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Superior Energy Services continues to establish itself as one of the strongest performing companies in our coverage universe," Adkins writes.

"A top-tier management team paired with organic expansion as well as the recent acquisition of Complete Production Services should position Superior to reap the benefits of nearly every burgeoning fundamental theme we see unfolding in the oil service universe in 2012 and beyond."

1. Nvidia

Company Profile: Nvidia [NVDA 13.51 0.05 (+0.37%) ] is a visual computing technologies company and the inventor of the graphics processing unit.

Share Price: $13.71 (Dec. 14)

Potential Upside: 104 percent based on a price target of $28

Investment Thesis: Analyst Hans Mosesmann says that the bear case for Nvidia has been overstated and that headwinds won't materialize in the company's fiscal 2013.

"Investors have been increasingly concerned about Nvidia's applications processor, Tegra, and its ability to compete given new dynamics in the tablet and smartphone market," Mosesmann notes.

"In essence, we believe Qualcomm [QCOM 52.61 0.06 (+0.11%) ] will be successful in targeting the lower end of the market, but Nvidia's early lead at quad core will allow the company to have meaningful traction for Tegra in FY13."

Comcast Corporation (NYSE: CMCSA) is actually still interesting because of its growth and value and because it is changing its mix to include content. The 2% yield is one which has room for further dividend growth and the cable giant's share price actually offers almost 30% to the Thomson Reuters consensus price target.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) are both very opportunistic calls. Hard disk drive troubles around the globe, a prior discount to highs, and a dividend north of 4% helped Seagate. Freeport-McMorRan is an opportunistic call now that global growth has brought down shares of metals companies drastically. It has a 2.5% yield, which is not bad for a metals company, and at $39.00 the Thomson Reuters consensus price target is actually 30% higher than the current share price.

Perhaps the ADRs and European plays of Daimler (DDAIF), Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) and Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE: VOD) are opportunistic around the weakness of Europe today. After all, if the Euro Zone continues its downward trajectory and with the Euro currency at an 11-month low it would seem that the article could blame a worsening effect if these positions do not work out.

 predictions and expected upside. Our DJIA Stocks Soon To Raise Dividends has already seen some come to fruition even sooner than expected, and we have released to our free email subscribers the

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Barron's noted a 6.9% drop so far in 2011 for its Favorite Stocks for 2011 versus a 1.9% drop in the S&P 500 Index.