Best Stocks to Buy Now: Sidestep Market Volatility with These Plays

Best stocks to buy for the week ending May 16, 2014: Last week, Money Morning focused on how to make money in a volatile market.

Three of our highlighted investments are companies that can actually benefit from rising interest rates. One pick is a stock in the Russian tech industry that's a great buy now thanks to bad news flowing out of the country. We gave readers a gold investing "cheat sheet" that will help to make a big difference in your overall portfolio performance in 2014. And we focused on an energy exchange-traded fund (ETF) that provides instant diversification within the booming sector - it will play like a call option on energy with no expiration date.

Get these plus more of our latest, best stocks to buy.

Money Morning's List of Best Stocks to Buy Now

• It's gospel in the world of investing to study and understand the moves that Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) are making - and then to follow them for profit. One of Buffett's newest forays has taken his Berkshire investment vehicle into the energy sector. "For once, however, Buffett is not a pioneer. We were there first," Money Morning Executive Editor William Patalon III wrote last week. He discussed two foundational plays for the energy-focused portion of your portfolio - one is already up 88% since we recommended it last July...

• When retail investors flee a bad-news market, most of the stocks tend to fall with the tide. That allows investors to purchase strong, profitable stocks at discounted prices. Today, one of the most prevalent bad-news markets is Russia. "All the news concerning Ukraine, the Crimea, and Vladimir Putin has investors just about trampling one another to get out of Russian stocks," Patalon said. "And that's a big mistake." Especially when it comes to Russian tech stocks. Roughly half of the 140 million citizens in "Russia proper" are now online - one of the highest percentages in the world. We found a Russian tech stock to buy now that's offering massive upside potential - it's commonly referred to as the "Google of Russia"...

• It's commonly held wisdom that stock markets go to heck in a hand basket when interest rates rise. So, the thinking goes, you'd be better off selling ahead of time before that happens. "No doubt it's tempting to head for the hills with rates at historical lows, but it pays to do your research before you hit the 'sell' button," Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald told readers on Friday. He recommended three companies that can actually benefit from rising rates - they tap into global money flows that continue unabated.

• Fitz-Gerald also formulated a "Gold Investing Cheat Sheet" for 2014. Therein, he details the two most important steps for successful gold investing today...