Stocks That I Like

Here we go kids, here's my list of stocks that I like. I will go ahead and fully disclose to my readers, just like the big fancy journalists do, as to whether or not I actually OWN any of these stocks. Some I just don't own because I haven't saved up enough to buy it yet. Some I don't own because I am waiting for the price to go down. But either way, I'll let you know where I stand.

[For those of you you weren't finance majors, if a term comes up that you don't understand, refer back to my previous finance blog entries, or check out investopedia.com for definitions of financial terms.]

1) AAPL- (yep, I have this one in the Roth IRA.)Why do I love this stock? Because I love the company. In my household, we have 6 Mac computers, an iPad, a few iPhones, countless iPods, and I think we haven't seen the last of Apple's innovations. Unfortunately, AAPL doesn't pay dividends, but I've seen a huge raise in the price of the stock in the last year or so, so I'm sticking with it.

2) PSEC- This is Prospect Capital Corporation, which is a mezzanine finance and private equity firm that specializes in late venture, middle market, mature, mezzanine, buyouts, recapitalizations, growth capital, development, and bridge transactions. This means they're risky... however, their Beta is low (0.7) and their dividends are high (10%). I have this stock in my portfolio to be a nice little cash-earner.

3) NATI- Someone once told me that the best investing advice you can give is to invest in a company that you believe in. National Instruments continues to be on top of Forbes' 100 Best Companies to Work For list, year after year. In my opinion, happy employees make happy companies which make happy investors. The price is currently at an all-time high ($47), and dividends are low (1.0%), but I suggest having this one for the long haul. Like, at least over 10 years long-haul.

4) EWZ- This is the Morgan Stanley iShares Brazil ETF. It invests in a broad spectrum across Brazil's economy, mixing a diverse array of sectors. I like the idea of investing in Brazil; I think it's the strongest emerging market and with the 2016 Olympic Bid secured, I think Brazil has got a lot of economic promise in the future. I've owned this stock personally for almost two years and it's doubled in price since then. In the past few weeks, emerging market based stocks across the board have taken a definite hit, but I am not giving up yet on Brazil.

5) WIN- Everyone knows who Windstream is. I like this stock because (especially for the beginner investor) it's cheap ($11/share) and it gets a decent return (7%). It's a great place to start if you have no idea what you're doing.

6) DUK- I think everyone needs a stable-as-anything stock in their portfolio. A good option for that is a power company. I choose Duke Energy as my powerhouse (get it?!) and a trusted friend chooses Southern Company (SO). Why do I like Duke better? It's a cheaper stock ($17 vs. $37), so I can buy more shares for my buck. Plus, Duke pays a slightly higher dividend (5.4% vs. 4.9%). Moreover, Duke has a higher Beta, (0.43 vs 0.33) which means that I have a better chance of getting a little capital gainage when the price goes up over time.

7) AGN- This company is Allergan, makers of pharmaceuticals such as the Lap-Band bariatric method and Latisse, the eyelash grown serum. I bought this stock when I first heard about Latisse because I felt like I needed to invest in America's vanity. Yep, that's right. I bought a stock because I felt like the future of America rested in people wanting to be thinner and look prettier. It has worked so far for me, I purchased the stock at $40/share and now we're up to $73/share.

8) WFMI- I looove this one: Whole Foods. The price for WFMI has doubled in the last six months, which definitely earned my attention. This one is another love-the-company, buy-the-stock kinda things for me. Dividends for Whole Foods are kinda low, but I am looking at this store chain to gain a lot of notoreity in the next couple of years as people look to try and eat healthier.

9) LUV- As corny as their stock ticker is, there's a lot to love about SouthWest Airlines. I decided to buy some shares of LUV after flying SouthWest for the first time. I think they've got the right idea: make flying fun. Let people sit wherever they want, give frequent flyers the royal treatment, let staff be laid-back... With the downfall of the airline industry in the last decade, I am looking to SouthWest to be the proverbial phoenix and rise out of the ashes.

10) BIDU- This is Baidu, which is the Chinese equivalent to Google. I felt like I should have invested in Google a long time ago... now the shares are so expensive I'd have to save up a few months just to buy one share. However, it's not too late for Baidu. Although they don't pay dividends, they have a volatile price, which means we could have big returns in the next few years. If you have faith in the internet and faith in emerging markets like China, then I think you should really consider this one.