Best Stocks to Buy Roundup: Play Cloud Computing, Big Data, and Cannabis

Best stocks to buy for the week ending April 11, 2014: The newest investment picks from Money Morning experts come from the hottest sectors on the market today.

One taps into the $160 billion cloud computing industry and Big Data at the same time. Another is from the booming cannabis market, which is now estimated to have "grown" to $2.57 billion in the United States. Yet another is a discounted buy in the social media industry - an exciting sector where multi-billion dollar IPOs (like Facebook's $16 billion and Twitter's $24.4 billion) have become commonplace. And three of these stocks are recommendations from Warren Buffett's sweetheart sector.

Check out these latest, best ways to capture profits.

Money Morning's Best Stocks to Buy Now

  • Money Morning Defense & Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson told readers about the benefits of corporate spin-offs. By owning stock in the parent company, investors generally get shares in the spin-off automatically as special dividends, often tax-free. Robinson's favorite spin-off play is still ripe for the picking: The parent company is a global leader in data storage products integral to cloud computing technology; the rumored spin-off would have one of the most sought-after Big Data analytics engines on the market, designed to run on any server, in any environment. And investors can still get in now, before the boom. An IPO is rumored to happen in the next few years - once it does, shares will be "bid to the sky."
  • best stocks to buyWarren Buffett sees dollar signs right now in the energy sector, and for good reason. The S&P Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Select Index, which represents the oil and gas exploration and production portion of the S&P Total Markets Index, has risen roughly 150% since 2009, outperforming the total S&P by nearly 40%. And future growth remains promising, with a projected 56% increase in the global consumption of oil and gas by 2040. Investors who wish to follow the "Oracle of Omaha's" plays might consider these three stocks - they offer low price/earnings (P/E) multiples and a steady dividend and are poised for growth after geopolitical tensions or infrastructure problems are resolved over the long term...

  • The marijuana legalization movement is opening new doors for investors to cash in. San Francisco-based market research firm ArcView Group predicts the national legal marijuana market will reach $2.57 billion in 2014, up from $1.53 billion last year. The industry could come to rival the thriving alcohol and tobacco sectors, which had combined sales of $263 billion in 2008. On Wednesday, Money Morning Resource Specialist Peter Krauth highlighted three cannabis stocks - his top play in the sector has an $840 million market cap...