Value Stock Picks

Value stocks can pay off if you pick carefully.  For the average investor hunting for low-priced value stocks can require exhaustive research and countless hours of investigative work. And buyer beware: You could wind up in some dimly lit trading room staring down at a stock that’s deader than last call at a southern baptist ministry convention. Just to define our terms, a low-priced stock is one that sells for $10 or less. We’re not talking about penny stocks, which sell for $1 or less and can be deadlier than the kool-aid at Jonestown.

One attraction of low-priced stocks, of course, is that they are inexpensive. You can pick up 100 shares of a $5 stock for just $500. If you wanted to buy 100 shares of Google, you’d need about $50,000.

But the main allure of low-priced stocks is that they usually aren’t followed by the average Wall Street mope, which means you can sometimes pick up overlooked bargains. Many big institutional investors, for example, won’t touch a stock that sells for less than $10, on the assumption that it’s on its way to zero. And stocks that sell below $5 aren’t marginable, which means you can’t borrow to buy them — and that rule eliminates some investors as well.

Your first job is to get some protection. A stock that sells for $3 can go to zero faster than a drummer can get to a pawnshop. One way to get some muscle: Look for stocks of companies with low or no debt and plenty of cash. High debt is one of the biggest killers of small companies: If rates go up or business goes down, the bank will own your company, and your stock will become toilet paper.

Value investors follow a different path. They believe that the broader stock market always overreacts to news about a company. The Stocknod neural network uses a proprietary software scan that seeks out value stock picks of formerly hot stocks that have stumbled and whose share prices are at bargain levels. Value stock picks with eye popping fundamentals and low price to book ratios.

Value investing has proven to be a successful investment strategy for faithful investors: Buying low PE ratio stocks, low price-to-cash-flow ratio stocks, or low price-to-book ratio stocks that insure positive gains regardless of what the rest of the market is doing. Stocknod’s value stock picks scan consistently uncovers the value stocks poised to outperform. Value stock’s have a conservative risk profile with low portfolio turnover and steady sure fire gains.

If you are looking for value stocks that pay dividends then try the StockNnod neural network scanned stock picks ned st that pinpoints value stocks poised to outperform.

Healthcare Stock Picks to Buy Now

Now that health care reform has become law, what will it mean for investors in health care-related companies? One company that is likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries is Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TEVA stock price).

With 32 million Americans gaining health insurance coverage , the reform package is certain to accelerate the growing use of generic drugs, a trend rooted both in demographics and in the push to cut costs.

Generic drugs already benefit from our aging population, who take more drugs by the year. The additional numbers of insured Americans will mean a surge in people able to afford medications (and to see the doctors that prescribe them).

Meanwhile, several widely prescribed medicines will be coming off patent in coming years, including Pfizer’s Lipitor and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Plavix, further expanding the range of available generic drugs.

Leading the generics field is Teva Pharmaceuticals, a long time holding in our Growth Portfolio. Capitalized at $59 billion and selling some 400 or so different medications, this Israeli company is the world’s largest manufacturer and seller of generic drugs, putting it squarely in the sweet spot of health care trends.

Teva’s revenues in 2009 were $13.9 billion, while profits topped $3 billion. Management was projecting revenues of $31 billion by 2015— representing compounded growth above 14 percent a year—and net income of $6.8 billion.

These prospects were exciting enough, but now Teva’s future has grown brighter still as a result of its March acquisition of Ratiopharm, Germany’s second-biggest generic drug maker.

The $5 billion purchase puts the company in prime position in Germany—which with $8.8 billion a year in generic drug sales is the world’s second-largest market—and in Europe as a whole.

Before the acquisition, Europe generated less than one-quarter of Teva’s total sales, but the continent will become increasingly important as a source of growth.

In addition, the acquisition doubles Teva’s sales in Canada. It also should lead to significant synergies, with management looking for it to boost earnings starting in the third quarter after the deal’s closing (expected by yearend).

Teva has been on a 6 week downtrend but look for bounce and upswing in coming months. Teva last traded at 56.80 and currently strong buy from Stocknod neural network. More TEVA stock news.

How to Swing Trade

Wikipedia defines swing trading as a stock, index, or commodities trading practice whereby the instrument is bought or sold at or near the end of an up or down price swing caused by daily or weekly price volatility. A swing trade position is typically open longer than a day, but shorter than trend following trades or buy and hold investment strategies. Swing traders engage in prospecting changes in an instrument’s price caused by oscillations between its price being bid up by optimism and alternatively being sold down by pessimism over a period of a few days, weeks, or months. Profits can be sought by engaging in either Long or Short trading.

The Stocknod momentum stock picks employs this style of buy and sell trading that attempts to capture gains in a stock within one to four days. Momentum swing traders use technical analysis to look for stocks with short-term price momentum. These traders aren’t interested in the fundamental or intrinsic value of stocks, but rather in their price trends and patterns.  More on stocknod stock alerts and Stocknod reviews.

Stocknod explains Swing trading as a trading style that finds situations in which a stock has the extraordinary potential to move in such a short time frame, the trader must act quickly. Therefore, swing trading is mainly used by at-home and day traders. Large institutions trade in sizes too big to move in and out of stocks quickly. The individual trader is able to exploit such short-term stock movements without having to compete with the major traders. Swing trading can be volatile but can also be very lucractive if done correctly. More on Stocknod’s momentum stock picks and how to swing trade.

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Economic Recovery Data

The economy is being boosted by higher retail sales, stronger factory output and a rise in companies’ stockpiles. That picture emerged from reports Friday pointing to an economy that’s improving modestly but steadily after the worst recession in decades. Yet the recovery needs stronger job creation, and it remains under pressure from fears that Europe’s debt crisis could slow the U.S. economy. See blog US Economy on Shaky Ground.

The decent gains in payroll employment in recent months have improved the outlook for spending, but economists expect a sub-par recovery because of high unemployment, tight credit and still-high debt loads.

Shoppers are closely watched because their spending accounts for 70% of economic activity. It rose in the first three months of this year at the fastest pace in three years, according to the Commerce Department report. Industrial production also climbed in April, posting an 0.8% gain. Factories, the biggest slice of industrial activity, ratcheted up output by a brisk 1% for a second straight month, the Federal Reserve report showed. Manufacturers have played a leading role in powering the recovery. They are boosting production because companies are starting to restore their depleted stockpiles of goods.

Still, consumers and businesses appear less confident than in previous recoveries. Complicating the outlook is the uncertainty in Europe.

Economists worry that spending could falter in the coming months without more growth in income. But there have been encouraging signs that job growth is picking up. In April, payroll jobs grew by 290,000, the most in four years.

Still, the unemployment rate rose to 9.9% as more people began or resumed job searches a sign that many are feeling more optimistic about the job market.

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US Stock Market on Shaky Ground

With no quick fix in sight to the sovereign debt issues plaguing Greece and other parts of Europe, the U.S. stock market’s roller coaster ride is unlikely to end in the weeks ahead. Watching Europe is important. They import a lot, and they export a lot, so they have a lot of influence over what’s going on around the world.

On Friday, the major U.S. stock indexes fell sharply for a second consecutive session, yet still managed to halt a weekly losing streak before it hit a third week, as investors tracked the euro’s decline on worries about Europe’s debt crisis, with Wall Street detouring around reports illustrating slow but steady improvement in the U.S. economy.

Making a triple-digit move for an 11th session out of the last 14, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 162.79 points, or 1.5%, to finish at 10,620.16, leaving it up 2.3% for the week after a two-week slide.

It’s the global growth story and concerns this is going to dampen the global recovery and increase credit risk. There’s a big question mark around how much damage is this going to do to an economy that is just starting to chug along.

And, while the current earnings season is mostly over, the coming days will bring results from a collection of big names, including results slated for Tuesday from three Dow components — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Home Depot Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Twenty-three S&P 500 companies are expected to report earnings in the days ahead, including home-improvement retailer Lowe’s Companies Inc. on Monday, and tax preparation software firm Intuit Inc. on Thursday.

The S&P 500 Index on Friday declined 21.76 points, or 1.9%, to 1,135.68, up 2.2% from the week-ago close.

Results are also on tap from the technology sector, including Agilent Technologies Inc. [A] on Monday and Analog Devices Inc. [ADI] the next day. Computer Sciences Corp. [CSC] reports on Thursday, as does tax preparation software firm Intuit Inc. [INTU] .

Thursday also brings results from video game publisher Gamestop Corp. [GME] , shares of which were hit at the end of the last week after data pointed to a sharp April drop in sales of video games. .

The coming week also features results from retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch [ANF] on Tuesday and office-supplies retailer Staples Inc. [SPLS] on Thursday.

Muted outlooks from retailers that reported in the past week left some questioning recent signs of strength in consumer spending, even as J.C. Penney Co. [JCP] reported robust gains in sales and profits, a theme echoed by the likes of Macy’s Inc. [M] and Kohl’s Corp. [KSS] .

Blended share-weighted earnings for the S&P 500 for the first quarter stood at $183.3 as of Friday, above the prior week’s $182.4 billion, according to research compiled by Thomson Reuters.

The Nasdaq Composite Index [COMP] on Friday shed 47.51 points, or 2%, to 2,346.85, leaving it 3.6% higher from last Friday’s finish.