Investment Ideas

Here are a few gems that may rise above atough year for healthcare and outperform the S&P 500.

Covance - NYSE: CVD
CVS - NYSE: CVS
Teva - NYSE: TEVA

Let me know what you think.

RTM

Special simulcast for you from my Five Percent Stocks blog.

Natural Gas E&P Trend Here To Stay

"I have been very bullish on Natural Gas since the beginning of 2008. The commodity has rallied through the $10 mark. This morning, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) noted that it now sees summer nat gas to come in over $11 and may be as high as $13 in 2009..."

Check out my post on Stanley, Inc (NYSE: SXE) from my Five Percent Stocks blog and let me know what you think. This is a great small cap growth play.

Energy crisis is one of the inevitable problems that we'll face in the near future. However, we can somehow prolong its effect if we conserve energy. If we can spend time on lovemoney.com checking for tips to save personal money, surely we can spare a few hours learning more about energy saving programs too, like in this case Progress Energy.

A recent report by Deloitte argues strongly for the importance of service excellence in medical device companies. Of the medical device companies benchmarked by Deloitte, 21% was the average portion of revenue attributed toward services -- but can go as high as 50%. "Even those impressive numbers understate the importance of services in the industry. In many cases, companies compete on services—their overall sales are driven by service excellence," the study reads.

It may be wise to find an opportunity to short Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL), or sell some call options for March. This may be a good time to write some covered calls if you own RL stock.

The company just reported its 3Q operating earnings of $0.94, well above consensus EPS of $0.77. Its American Living division drove earnings higher. Management outlook seemed significantly tempered, noted a slow December. Most see 2007 to remain within consensus estimates, despite the significant upside surprise, because of the expected weak 4Q.

Dow component Johnson & Johnson Inc. (NYSE: JNJ) recently reported 4Q07 earnings of $0.88 and FY07 EPS of $4.15, a 10% increase from 2006 and $0.02 above analysts estimates. I will take this time to provide you with an overview of the company's pharmaceutical portfolio and its outlook for FY08.

In 2007, pharmaceutical sales increased 4% overall (6% ex-US).

EXISTING DRUGS
1) Topamax - Strong 07 performer, approval for epilepsy treatment in 07, boost from usage as migraine prevention, mostly US, generic competition in 09?

There are some divergent opinions on McDonald's this morning on Wall St. Joe Buckley of Bear Sterns (NYSE: BSC) has downgraded McDonald's to Peer Perform from Outperform. For his part, on the conference call, Mr. Buckley asked management about what "caught up" the company in the US and if there was a possibility that this could seep into Europe, especially the UK.

Goldman Sachs put out a note this week saying that steel prices are set to remain strong in 2008, despite recession. Market tightness has persisted which means that higher pricing may be sustainable through this economic downturn. The Market Vectors Steel ETF (AMEX: SLX) is up over 60% in the past year. GS advocated for Nucor (NYSE: NUE) as their favorite based on value.

Here is a list of the top 5 components of SLX:

Company                           % in SLX         1-yr return

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. operates as an airline company in South America and Brazil. The company has taken a significant, starting in mid December, losing nearly 20% of its value. On January 3rd, the P&F turned bearish with a triple-bottom breakdown.