Filed under: Business of sports

Michael Jordan, aka MJ, spent his illustrious NBA career proving to the basketball world that he could fly higher and score better than any player in history. In 2007 he showed that even in the contest of divorce he was heads and shoulders above his competitors.

The terms of MJ’s 2007 divorce from Jaunita Jordan, his wife of 17 years, called for a settlement of $168 million, giving her a huge leg up on the $60 million that Heather Mills received in her breakup with Paul McCartney. In fact, according to Forbes magazine, the Jordan’s breakup was the most expensive entertainment industry divorce in history.

Jordan, whose net worth was thought to heretofore exceed $400 million, has been embroiled in an ugly paternity suit with a former lover, and an even uglier effort to bring competent basketball to the NBA team of which he is part ownership, the Charlotte Wizards Bobcats.

The huge hit to his wallet may convince Jordan to give up double-dribbling.

Be sure to check out other Money Losers of 2007.

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Filed under: Newsletters, Stocks to Buy, Best Stocks for 2008

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

“Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOLX), my top more conservative idea for 2008, is fast becoming the ‘Amazon’ of women’s health care,” says Benson George, editor of Top Stocks Insights.

“The company, which specializes in diagnostic and medical imaging systems, bought complementary Cytyc Corp. in October, making Hologic the warrior of reckoning in the growing women’s health market.

Hologic develops products for mammography and breast care, osteoporosis assessment and general use radiology. Cytyc’s products cover a range of cancers and women’s health concerns, including cervical cancer screening, prenatal diagnostics and partial breast radiation therapy.

“The combined company offers a broad and diversified mix of products and services focused only on women’s health — a multi-billion-dollar market growing 16% compounded annually.

Continue reading Best Stocks for 2008: Hologic (HOLX) targets women’s health care

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Filed under: Newsletters, Stocks to Buy, Best Stocks for 2008

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

“My favorite speculative stock for 2008 is Elan (NYSE: ELN),” says Ken Kam, editor of Marketscope, who also featured the same stock as his favorite in last year’s report.

“The stock started this year at $14 and now trades at over $24 — up over 70% for the year, and more than triple from our original recommendation. It is hard to believe it, but I think Elan still has more room to run.

“I originally recommended it in June 2005 at $7 after the company withdrew Tysabri, a multiple sclerosis drug, from the US market. After being reapproved by the FDA nearly 17 months ago, Tysabri is used by less than 20,000 out of more than 1 million potential patients in North America and Europe.

“For all the gains we’ve seen so far (up 70%), these Tysabri sales have ramped up more slowly than I expected. However, next year there is a good chance that Tysabri sales will hit an inflection point where sales can more than double in a short time.

Continue reading Best Stocks for 2008: Elan (ELN) has ‘more room to run’

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Filed under: Bad news, Rumors, Consumer experience, Scandals

Lou Pearlman once seemed to possess the secret formula for making millions by putting together popular boy bands that could churn out hits. Most famously, he created the Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync, which sold $100 million and $56 million records respectively. By some accounts, the boys didn’t get too rich off the deal, but Pearlman did.

But Pearlman’s fortunes have long since turned and now he is being held on charges of running a fraudulent savings program. Claims against him run to $500 million. He was arrested in June in Indonesia and indicted by a Federal Grand Jury and the trial is slated to begin next March. Pearlman insists on his innocence. Meantime, allegations that he liked the young male performers for a lot more than their singing and dancing abilities are swirling.

Although Pearlman is no doubt one of 2007’s great losers, it is unclear how much money he actually lost this past year. He may have squandered most of it long ago, perhaps keeping his Ponzi savings scheme afloat. If he is found guilty, he could be on the hook for those $500 millions investors lost in his savings plan.

I was too old to appreciate the boy bands Pearlman created and promoted when they were in their heyday. But I can confess that I gained a new found appreciation for the Backstreet Boys — and even bought a CD for my daughter –not long ago after watching the famous and wonderful Chinese Boys lip-sync to their tune, “I Want It That Way.”

Pearlman’s success may have been short-lived and no doubt his fortunes are falling fast. But through the wonders of YouTube, the music he helped create will live on.

Be sure to check out other Money Losers of 2007.

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Filed under: India, China, Russia, Eastern Europe, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT)

While investors still hunger to capitalize on the double-digit growth in China, as well as strong growth in emerging markets like India, Russia, and other Eastern European countries, many have turned somewhat gun-shy when it comes to investing directly in those countries firms. With many speculating that we will see the market bubble pop in China, and the boomerang effect that will have for all emerging markets, the question becomes, how to still profit form the growth without getting caught up in the stock market bubble. The answer is look at fertilizers, notably Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT). The Canadian company is the world’s largest that specializes in potash, a form of potassium carbonate, as well as nitrogen and phosphate.

With emerging economies booming, citizens have exited the cycle of poverty and joined the middle class. As such, with much more disposable income, they have changed their standard of living and are consuming much more meat than anytime previously. This means that as more and more cattle are raised, more and more feed is needed to feed the animals, which means more fertilizer is needed to help grow the feed.

Potash stock has grown faster than a weed this year. Even so, with fertilizer prices continuing to move higher, plus the boost in the U.S. as farmers have changed over their crops to grow ethanol, Potash is poised to keep growing well into 2008.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer has no position in any stock mentioned as of 12/20/07.

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Filed under: International markets, Newsletters, Commodities, Agriculture, Stocks to Buy, Best Stocks for 2008

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

“My favorite aggressive idea for 2008 is NutraCea (NASDAQ: NTRZ), a low-priced, speculative issue,” says Tom Bishop, editor of BI Research.

“Rice is the most consumed food on the planet and NutraCea has found a way to process rice bran — 60 million tons of which comes off the rice kernel during the milling process worldwide — into an extraordinarily nutritious food ingredient/nutraceutical that is also loaded with more than 100 antioxidants.

“The milling process normally triggers an enzyme that makes rice bran quickly (within hours) go rancid and thus it is for the most part discarded the world over. So rice mills will gladly allow NutraCea to build one of its stabilization facilities on site.

Continue reading Best Stocks for 2008: Nutritional value at NutraCea (NTRZ)

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Filed under: Management, Scandals

Following a series of 2006 reports in The Wall Street Journal on options backdating, the SEC, IRS and, and U.S. Attorney’s office began investigating UnitedHealth and more than 100 other companies.

Dr. William McGuire, CEO and chairman, ran UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) for 15 years, turning what was then a regional insurer into the nation’s second-largest managed health care company. Like many companies in the 1990s, UnitedHealth rewarded its chairman and CEO with options to buy company shares at a fixed price. McGuire was allowed to choose the dates for his option awards, and the crux of the backdating accusation is that, to boost the options’ value, he picked a date in the past when the share price was lower and signed papers as if he were granted the options on that earlier date.

Due to his involvement in the stock options scandal, McGuire stepped down in late 2006. He was the highest-profile corporate chief caught in the probe.

Continue reading Money Losers of 2007: William McGuire surrenders $600 million

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Filed under: Technical Analysis, Stocks to Buy

On Friday, I bought shares of solar cell maker Solarfun (NASDAQ: SOLF) not because I think solar is a great business these days — I do — but because the company’s stock showed exceptional strength on Friday, closing at a new high. And it did this smack in the face of short sellers who are betting on lower stock prices and, perhaps more importantly, after consolidating nicely over the past few weeks.

At Friday’s closing price of $28.76, the stock is still $3 off its all-time intraday high of $31.80, but this strong close tells me there’s the potential for further upside, no matter how many people refuse to believe it. Strong earnings/guidance, a new big time investor, and this sector’s new-found popularity (as I noted in this article) and a whole lot of hype have helped this stock double from the low teens in November (along with other surging solar plays like Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ), First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) and JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO).

The majority of market commentators advise investors to stay away because the price surges are mania-esque, valuations can be argued as stretched, the solar industry has capacity issues, and most importantly, they don’t want to risk losing their jobs or getting sued after some beginner investor loses his or her life savings by thinking these stocks could triple again within a month. I agree; while this sector is certainly not for everyone, I’ve made millions playing these volatile stocks. So take it from someone who’s seen this thousands of times before; while there’s upside, stocks that move this quickly on speculative news can also come crashing down even quicker — as investors in LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) learned the hard way — if and when the pendulum reverses.

Continue reading Solarfun (SOLF): Fun, but not for everyone

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Filed under: International markets, Indices, Newsletters, Mutual funds, Stocks to Buy, Best Stocks for 2008

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

“My favorite more speculative fund for 2008 is the iShares MSCI EAFE Growth Index (ASE: EFG),” says Ron Rowland, editor of All Star Fund Trader.

“Despite challenges to the dollar and US equities, next year continues to hold promise in the global markets. Also, consider that the strong relative strength of ‘value’ over ‘growth’ for most of the past seven years is now swinging back toward growth. That combination provides a sound basis to tilt your portfolio toward international growth next year.

“For years, US markets have been segmented (ie., Small Cap Value, Large Cap Growth). International equities have started to specialize in the same way. Such is the case with iShares MSCI EAFE Growth Index.

“Attempting to capitalize on the growth aspects of developed international markets, EFG tries to mirror the MSCI EAFE Growth Index. Right now, that’s a good benchmark to emulate. The international growth market appears poised to continue its climb next year. For your aggressive portfolio, look to EFG in 2008.”

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Filed under: Time Warner (TWX)

Britney Spears had a bad 2007 — but mostly it was due to self-medicating the pain over her divorce. And there’s no doubt that her low earning ex-husband is getting a big share of her money.

Britney is not saving money for her children’s future. But I guess she has not reached the point in her emotional development where she sees the value in prudent financial management.

The details are grim. According to CNN — which shares a parent company, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), with BloggingStocks — Britney does not save or invest any of her $737,000 monthly income. Her monthly expenses include $49,267 in mortgage for two houses, $16,000 for clothes, $102,000 on entertainment, gifts and vacation, $15,000 for child support, $20,000 a month to support her ex-Kevin Federline, and $4,758 per month dining out.

Fortunately for Britney, the cash will keep rolling in as long as people — including me — can’t get the sound of her “Gimme More” out of their heads.

Be sure to check out other Money Losers of 2007.

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