Best Stocks to Buy Now: Get 16 of Our Experts' Top Picks - for Free

Each week our Money Morning experts dish out the latest profit plays - and asset-protection moves - for our Money Morning Members - all for free.

Last week, Money Morning's best stocks to buy centered around tech stocks, including a "backdoor" play on the AT&T/DirecTV merger, a swooping defense tech stock that taps into the entire U.S. defense sector, and a leading semiconductor stock that's ripe to buy right now.

We also scoured dividend stocks and penny stocks for some of the most promising investments they have to offer. And we showed readers how they can get ahead of the investment curve and avoid the pitfalls most investors make, with just a few easy steps.

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

Money Morning's List of Best Stocks to Buy Now

• AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) made big headlines with its agreement to buy DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) in a cash-and-stock deal worth $67.1 billion. Takeovers can provide huge windfalls if you own the stock beforehand. But this deal offers you the rare chance to profit after the fact - if you know where to look. On Wednesday, Money Morning Defense & Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson told readers about a highly profitable "backdoor" play on the AT&T/DirecTV merger...
  

• Many investors believe that with our presence in Iraq largely gone, defense firms will offer mediocre returns at best. But as recent events - including the escalating conflict in Ukraine - make clear, the United States needs a strong global military presence with an Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps second to none. So, while many investors shop in other sectors, defense stocks have greatly outperformed the overall market. On Thursday, Robinson revealed the best way to profit from the defense tech market - it's an exchange-traded fund that's gained 74% over the last two years...

• According to Barron's, a whopping 85% of all investor "sell" or "exchange" decisions are wrong. Such moves are often made out of panic or emotion, in reaction to, for example, a market sell-off. But making investment decisions without a clear plan can shut you out of tremendous profit opportunities. Last week Sid Riggs, founding editor of Money Morning's Small-Cap Rocket Alert investing service, showed readers how to avoid common investor mistakes - and profit from market volatility - with just two simple steps...

Money Morning Members - keep reading. If you aren't already a Money Morning Member, sign up to get the rest of our best stocks to buy list - and you'll get our free guide: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Trading and Investing

• In the 1960s, Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) cofounder Gordon E. Moore famously said that computing power doubles every two years or so ("Moore's Law"). The reason is simple: As technical know-how and production methods get better and better, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles during that same two-year time frame. Moore's Law puts one particular group of companies - semiconductor-equipment firms - in a very powerful position. And on Friday, Robinson recommended one market leader in the sector that's ripe for investment...

• The recent mega-billion gas deal between Russia and China stands to threaten the dominance of the U.S. dollar. On the first day of meetings, VTB Bank, one of Russia's largest, inked a deal with Bank of China whereby they will pay one another in domestic currencies, sidestepping the dollar for everything from trade finance to inter-bank lending, and even investment banking. But Money Morning Global Resource Specialist Peter Krauth has identified a way to benefit from this accelerating trend away from the petrodollar. It's an ETF play that could potentially double your gains...

• While most companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis, monthly dividend stocks distribute their dividend payouts 12 times a year. And investors pile into monthly dividend payers for a number of reasons - to gain a steady stream of income and to nab stocks that are historically better performers than non-dividend payers, among other reasons. All dividend payers, however, are not created equal. We narrowed down five monthly dividends stocks with stable businesses, reliable dividend payment track records, and attractive yields...

• As it becomes more evident that the Bitcoin economy is expanding rapidly, more rank-and-file people are looking for different ways to invest in the currency. Last week, we broke down investors' options for getting in on Bitcoin, including one opportunity that not only lets you invest in Bitcoin - it lets in invest with Bitcoin.

• According to The Wall Street Journal, throughout 2014, investors have been pumping funds into penny stocks for the chance to get large returns as the market continues a mostly bullish run. Last week, we scoured two of the hottest sectors in the market right now for the best penny stock opportunities. We found three hot penny stocks in the healthcare industry, as well as three in tech...

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