I asked everyone to send your three best stocks. My birthday present. Here’s the comely collection. Great birthday presents for all of us. Enjoy:
From Sam:
+ MMM (3M) American company. Makes “real” stuff that works well sitting right about a 52 week high though. Yield 2.40%
+ VZ (Verizon). They’re a pain in the butt but FIOS is heads and shoulders over everything else (at least available here in the Big Apple). Yield is an excellent 4.30%
+ LVLT (Level 3). One of the big Internet backbone stocks. I did a lot of work for them years ago over in what’s now the Google Building (111 8th Ave). They wanted nothing but the best (No tyraps, everything laced with waxed twine [google “Cable lacing” if you’ve never seen it]; all their plant overbuilt to last 100 years or longer; generators, batteries, multiple fiber optic feeds coming in from all sides of the building piped all the way, redundant everything etc.) This is not a place that’s going to suffer an outage because of an equipment problem. No Yield but I think they’re due for a jump soon.
One more (for the heck of it)
+ ED (Con Edison). Every New Yorker hates them but…..the stock is Yielding 4.50% which, as I’ve heard you say, is better then a slap in the belly with a cold fish.
From Doug:
I like 3 stocks that can have a small, but reliable run-up in the near term.
+ GE – General Electric continues to be innovative and successful in the domestic and international marketplace. And the dividend is always helpful.
+ JNPR – Juniper Networks has been steady in the worldwide networking marketplace and has knowledgeable and experienced sales force.
+ TSLA – Tesla has its ups and downs, but in the long term scheme of things, it is the technology of the future and they continue to be innovative.
From Steve:
+ I mostly like LNG and STZ have quadrupled since I bought them about 2 years ago and the charts keep going from the lower left to the upper right. It is rare to get 4 baggers in 2 years.
+ LNG will continue to do well as LNG exporting gets going in this country. It is in its infancy.
+ STZ is booze. Need I explain that one?
+ SCIF. Highly recommend play on India by one of Porter Stansberry’s scribes. I bought at 34 – 6 wks ago and it is at 53 and they are still saying India is cheap. Now with a newly elected progressive new prime minister…..this one could just keep going. the PE of India’s blue chips have been fully compressed.
From Pete:
+ Three Stock Picks for your birthday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY
+ EMES Emerge Energy Services, 2013 estimated earnings $3.52, 2014 estimated earnings $5.65 should = $
+ X US Steel, 2013 estimated earnings $.96, 2014 estimated earnings $2.00 should =$
From Gerry:
Hello Harry, I’ve read your site since my subscription to your magazine back in the day. I feel almost like I know you and your family.
My first stock pick is Monitise that trades on the london exchange under the symbol moni. It can also be bought on the pink sheets under the symbol monif. They are involved in mobile payments, shopping, banking from your smart phone. Leon Cooperman owns 10% of the company; Visa and Mastercard just bought in, and Doug Kass of Seabreeze Capital is an owner who believes it could easily be up 5 x from here in the next 3 to 5 years. I have a large chunk I intend to hold at least 3 years (as long as the strategic position stays attractive) and will add to it if the price drops below $1 monif. Check it out, my file on it is too long to send.
My second pick is Nova Gold trading under the symbol ng. It basically is a call option on the price of gold that has no expiration date. We don’t know when gold will move up again, but with the cost of production around 1200 per ounce, it should not move much lower. The way to buy this is, as with monitise, to buy some here and scale in if it moves lower. Load up if it ever gets back near $2. Here is what Porter Stansberry had to say:
“We believe buying the Donlin mine is a fantastic way to amplify your returns as gold prices surge. Donlin will be an open-pit mine. The project will look like a giant hole in the ground. This is part of the reason that Donlin has forecast an all-in production cost of only $735 an ounce. By comparison, the average all-in production cost for the industry is $1,235 an ounce. Donlin’s permitting process commenced in 2012 and is expected to take between three and four years. The project is situated on private land in southwest Alaska. Native Alaskans own the land. So far, they welcome the economic benefits that will come with Donlin’s development. At this stage in the development process, Donlin requires between $30 million and $40 million of ongoing spending. This will continue until the permitting process concludes in 2016. Donlin’s two owners – Barrick Gold and NovaGold – will split these annual costs. NovaGold’s market cap is around $700 million. At the end of the third quarter, NovaGold had $225 million in current assets and only around $20 million in debt. It also has a promissory note with Barrick for approximately $75 million. So the company has more than enough cash on hand to complete the permitting process. We plan on selling NovaGold before the mine reaches production. But it’s always prudent to look at the mine forecasts, because financing will be based on these projections. After permits are issued, Donlin will require $6.7 billion in capital expenditures to reach production. Having Barrick Gold as a partner will be a huge advantage. Barrick is the world’s largest gold-mining firm. This should give the debt markets plenty of confidence. In the first five years of operation, the company will produce 1.5 million ounces of gold per year. Over the following 22 years, production will average 1.1 million ounces per year. At today’s gold price, the project would produce $675 million in positive cash flow. Considering the economics of the project, financing will be available. We dug deeply into the company’s mine plan and spending forecasts. It is likely that NovaGold will be able to reduce the amount of capital required at Donlin by $1 billion. A lower capital requirement and a higher gold price make our call option very attractive. Remember, NovaGold owns 50% of Donlin. Its partnership with Barrick is a great advantage and will likely play a key part in getting to production. Both companies will benefit from half of the project’s output. A handful of investing titans with Rockefeller mindsets see what we see in NovaGold. Among them are John Paulson, who made his name shorting the mortgage industry ahead of the great collapse, renowned value investor Seth Klarman, who heads the Baupost hedge fund, and Artal, the investment group we featured in September’s Weight Watchers analysis. Some of these powerful investors acquired their shares through private placement warrants at $1.50 a share. Many bought shares at more than double that price. We have the opportunity to buy NovaGold stock in the open market today for around $2 a share. Today, gold is 30% off its highs and trades for around $1,300. NovaGold trades for around $2.20 a share. In February 2002, NovaGold was also trading around $2.20. Over the next two years, gold steadily climbed 47%, reaching $396 in February 2004. Over this same time period, NG shares catapulted to $8.50 – a 286% gain. The pattern has repeated itself over and over with NovaGold and gold prices. Take 2006. Gold prices increased 23% in 2006… and NovaGold enjoyed an 89% ride over that same period. This is the amplification we’re talking about. Remember… we’re not waiting on NovaGold to build a mine… we’re simply waiting for the value of its gold to skyrocket with a rise in gold prices. If you feel strongly gold prices will advance – buying NovaGold is a great way to multiply your returns.”
Finally, although I know that the Indian market index has moved a lot in the short term, I believe that SCIF is a good play on the new Indian government over the next several years. As with the others, average in due to recent run up.
Happy birthday Harry. You’ve much to be grateful for; I envy you for your great family and the amazing city where you get to live.
From Roger:
+ Three best stocks: Celgene, Amgen and Nanosphere.
From Peter:
+ 1- GPT
+ 2- AMG Affiliated Managers Group 1.17
+ 3- SLB 1.18
+ 4- BX 1.38
+ 5- GOOG 1.44
+ For risk: MKND
From Mark:
+ My three stocks and why I like them. TSLA becuase I would love to have one, NFLX because I watch it all the time and SAM because I need a beer while watching Netflix.
From Brad:
+ AZN. Pfizer doesn’t like to be spurned, they’ll probably be back or there will be a merger of AZN with someone else. CEO is sharp. Some kind of French Aussie I think. 🙂
+ INVN. Play on wearables and fitness tracking trend.
+ NMBL. Storage management.
From Dan:
+ Borealis. Google “BOREF Andrew Tobias” and you’ll see just about everything important written about it over the years (by Andy). Pay particular attention to the facts that as an investment it’s a “lottery ticket”, will take time, and incredibly illiquid…and never place an order on it without a limit.
From Steven:
From Chris:
From Glenn:
+ 3. DE (Deere and Co.)
From Alan:
From Steven:
+ My four best stock picks the past year have been HA, GLOG, EMES and TRN. These are stocks I’ve bought and kept.
FB also has been good to me the past year. I’ve held it the whole time, but I’m wondering whether I should treat it like HE, GE, VZ and EBAY, i.e., companies that I repeatedly move in and out of.
From Leo:
+ NRF (Northstar Realty Finance)
+ RGEN (Repligen)
+ VLCCF (Knightsbridge Tankers Limited)
Harry Newton who is overwhelmed at his lovely birthday presents — these fine recommendations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
We can all spend the next few days chewing through which ones we want to own. It’s neat to see everyone’s personality reflected in the stocks they like and choose. That’s what makes stockpicking so much fun.
I hope you guys invest in individual stocks in just the gambling part of your portfolio – the Vegas part. Because, as you sophisticated investors know, you are taking a HUGE risk by buying individual stocks.