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.
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...
When it comes to innovative industries about to hit a growth spurt, Big Data is among the biggest. "Analysts note that 90% of the data we work with was created in just the last two years alone," Money Morning Defense & Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson said. "Forecasts call for this sector to grow tenfold over a five-year period, growing to roughly $50 billion by 2016." That means now is a good time to buy stocks in this sector, before they benefit from this increased spending. These two Big Data companies are on our "stocks to buy" list - one uses data analysis technology to help landlords screen prospective tenants...
There's a massive shift happening in the solar power industry. You see, solar power's high price has prevented customers and utility companies from going green with solar - and has also kept solar companies from being good stocks to buy. But that's about to change. According to Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors, the prospect of affordable solar power may not be as far off as it once was - and he gave readers three stocks setting up to be big long-term solar winners...
Dividend-paying stocks are particularly appealing amid today's market volatility and low interest rate environment. Indeed, companies that paid dividends outperformed nonpayers this past March and April - both rocky months for stocks. Returns in March and April averaged 1.3% and 0.89% respectively for dividend payers, compared with negative 2.3% and negative 2.6% respectively for nonpayers, FactSet reports. Last week, 72 companies hiked their payouts. We compiled a list of the 25 most notable here - including a healthcare giant that has more than doubled its dividend since 2008...
Stocks that trade "Over-the-Counter" (OTC) can be risky propositions for investors because they aren't subject to the same financial standards as stocks on the larger exchanges. But the OTC markets also see some of the top penny stock winners every week. This week, the hottest penny stocks had returns of 3,125%, 674%, and 325%, and every stock on our list more than doubled shareholders' initial investment...