Best stocks to buy for the week ending May 2, 2014: Last week, we highlighted some of the most fascinating plays so far this year.
Two stocks that take advantage of rising rents and inflation will let investors profit like a real estate mogul - without actually buying property. A Botox competitor, whose drug can be applied topically instead of injected, is completing advanced clinical trials and looks very promising. Three clean energy exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that are up more than 40% over the last 12 months stand to gain even more based on the latest numbers from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). And our list of 30 dividend stocks that just hiked payouts includes a healthcare giant that's boosted its quarterly dividend for 52 consecutive years.
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Money Morning's Best Stocks to Buy Now
- Storage has long been one of energy's biggest "Holy Grails." It holds the key to every significant move into smart grids. The reason is simple: If energy cannot be stored, it is lost. Even transferring it from one type of energy to another is of little consequence unless you can reverse the erosion in the entire system. So the basic question becomes how to "save" all of this energy from being lost. And that's what's at the center of a breakthrough project Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors came across last week from this Canadian-traded small-cap venture company...
- The Great Recession created millions of new renters, and they're feeling the pinch. In January, rent for a mid-sized apartment was up 3% nationwide on a year-over-year basis - almost double the 1.7% U.S. inflation rate. Whenever a problem like this arises, the most innovative companies seek to solve it - while making a hefty profit. Said Money Morning Defense & TechSpecialist Michael A. Robinson, "As an investor, if you can find those companies, you get de facto 'protection' from the problem itself, because you're profiting from the solution." Robinson and Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon found two - one offers an effective real-estate search engine, and the other an efficient tool for screening potential renters...
- Voice-recognition technology is a revolutionary new market. In 2011 Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) debuted the Siri "voice bot" on the iPhone 4S. Now Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has introduced "Cortana" as a part of the Windows Phone 8.1, a decision Robinson believes means this technology has now passed the "tipping point." No longer is voice recognition just a cool feature - it's becoming an integral part of personal computing. Robinson found a small-cap leader that plays a key role in just about every aspect of voice-recognition technology, landing it squarely on our "stocks to buy" list...
- This Botox competitor is heading toward huge profits. Its most well-known product, RT001, uses the same botulinum toxin as Botox and is currently in advanced clinical trials. Rather than being injected into the patient, however, the product is applied topically. The company's stock has already climbed 119% from its initial offer price of $16 per share on Feb. 6, and it still has plenty of room to grow...
- Robinson has been following the best biotech IPOs of 2014. Among them is a stock that still provides investors a great profit opportunity, even after posting a 95% return since its IPO date. It's a biopharmaceutical company that develops treatments for very rare diseases. And even though the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index ETF (Nasdaq: IBB), which tracks biotech stocks, has dropped 6%, this stock hasn't just avoided the sector's plunge - its share price has almost doubled in the same time.
- Currently, Mexico is the sixth-biggest shale gas producer and the seventh-biggest producer of tight/shale oil. But for 76 years, Mexico's energy industry has been nationalized. The state-owned company PEMEX has been the nation's only oil and gas producer and had locked out foreign companies - and investors - from its rich offerings. But that's about to change. The Mexican government is reworking the national constitution and creating a slew of new laws, which means new profit opportunities for us. These three energy stocks are positioned to ride Mexico's new energy landscape...
- When it comes to social media stocks to invest in, the potential for massive profits - like the 140% return Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) has seen over the last nine months - is tempered by wariness over mass hype and the real risk of failure. For instance, Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) has fallen 38.82% so far in 2014. That's why we asked Robinson if there are any social media stocks worth the risk. He named two social media stocks that are among his favorite investments right now. Both have proven track records and massive upside potential.
- Clean energy stocks are looking sweet for investors in the long term. That's because clean energy will account for 33% of all U.S. electricity generation by 2016 - up from 16% today, according to the EIA. Moreover, solar, wind, and geothermal production are expected to double over the next 25 years. We identified six stocks that promise to benefit the most from the alternative energy industry's inclusion in our daily lives, including three ETFs that have gained 50.06%, 97.22%, and 42% over the last 12 months.
- News about dividend stocks poured in last week, with some 85 companies increasing payouts. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) stole the spotlight when it sweetened its quarterly dividend 8%, or $0.24 per share, to $3.29, for a 2.3% yield. That's worth an additional $827 million in annual payouts to shareholders, and the company added $1.5 billion to payouts last year. It also makes AAPL the S&P 500 Index's biggest dividend payer. Here are 30 other dividend stocks that increased payouts in the week ending April 25...