Fourteen Stocks to Buy Now to Start 2015 Strong

By Alex McGuire, Associate Editor, Money Morning • @AlexMcGuire92 • January 9, 2015

Best stocks to buy 2015: Each week our group of experts delivers the best profit plays for our Money Morning Members - all for free.

Last week, Money Morning Defense & Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson found an exchange-traded fund that provides investors the rare combination of income and appreciation.

Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald bet on two global companies set to shine through an Asian country's troubled economy.

And Executive Editor Bill Patalon showcased three promising companies that play off key trends that are front and center at one of the hottest trade shows on Earth.

You can find all of last week's recommendations here in our newest list of the best stocks to buy now.

Money Morning's Best Stocks to Buy Now

• When it comes to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon says it's "the single best place to gauge the state of Silicon Valley innovation." This year's event, from Jan. 6 to Jan. 9, emphasizes three tech stock topics we've been talking about over the past few years. One of them, the so-called "Internet of Everything" (IoE), will bring a household conglomerate $1.1 billion in sales growth. Patalon examines the two other CES tech topics and two more companies ready to explode from them...

• Unique approaches to investing can pay off. For Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald, that means passing on a trend and playing what he calls an "anti-trend." And there's one in Japan right now. The country has been slipping deeper into a recession since consumption tax was raised to 8% last April. To profit from it, he says "concentrate on where the money is moving - and that's right to the top of the heap." Japan's economic woes provide two interesting opportunities for investors. And both are global mega-cap companies with low price-to-sales ratios that make them a steal...

• Japan isn't alone on the list of struggling countries with potential returns. Political squabbles in Greece caused its 10-year yields to increase to 9.5% on Dec. 29. The euro dropped to 1.215 against the U.S. dollar, reminiscent of the 2012 European debt crisis. The best option for investors right now is to wait out the volatility. Money Morning Resource Specialist Peter Krauth reviews an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that provides returns on some of the largest European stocks while hedging currency exchange risks...

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  In a Nov. 2014 Gartner survey, CEOs listed "digital marketing" and "e-commerce" as their top two areas of tech spending over the next five years. That means CEOs forecast more online sales, which includes everything from travel to logistics to online retail. According to Money Morning Defense & Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson, "the CEOs' survey responses are just more evidence that the entire technology industry is in great shape - and should do very well in 2015." He discusses one ETF that's gained 15.6% in the past year and holds the world's largest tech company in its portfolio...

• The best companies to invest in make money the old-fashioned way. They sell a quality product, maintain management talent, and keep a clean balance sheet. We found a vehicle manufacturer with a debt-free balance sheet and more than $300 million in cash. This company's revenue has grown at a compound annual rate of 25.9%, powering it to a record $3.5 billion last fiscal year. And it rewards shareholders with a healthy 2% dividend, stock buybacks, and more...

• Syria is still in a civil war. Ukrainian-Russian relations are still tense. "War, Terrorism, and Ugliness," as Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald mentions, make up an unstoppable trend that makes defense stocks a buy. And in 2015, defense companies will stay busy trying to stop that trend. Here is a list of the three best defense companies to profit from this year.

• Bond yields have been struggling thanks to the Russian ruble and falling oil prices. Master limited partnerships (MLPs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs) are better alternatives that produce higher yields and dividend returns. The combined market cap of MLPs jumped from $25 billion to $350 billion over the past 10 years. And the market cap for REITs has more than doubled. We found one MLP and two REITs that are among the best high-yield investment opportunities this year...

Bonus Content: The tech sector will continue to boom in 2015. You'll be beefing up your tech portfolio if you follow Defense & Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson's one investment principle...