What stocks do active investors and long term traders want to know about right now? A pair of familiar American blue chips, a top-rated utility company, and our highest-rated technology stock are all at the top of the list.
Every day at PowerRatings.net, we post a listing of the stocks that investors and traders who use our Long Term PowerRatings are most interested in. Sometimes this list is populated with stocks making headlines. Other times readers are looking up more information about our Featured Stock Spotlight, or a stock from another article we've talked about in our analysis.
Our Most Requested List, then, is not a "buy list." But it almost always provides visitors with interesting opportunities in stocks that are more likely than the average stock to be higher in a year's time. And these are the kind of stocks, the high Long Term PowerRatings stocks, that investors and long term traders should put at the core of their stock portfolios.
Why? We analyzed thousands and thousands of simulated stock trades between 1995 and 2007. After looking at a variety of factors, we were able to rate stocks on a scale of 1-10. The lowest rated stocks were those most likely to underperform the average stock. The highest rated stocks, according to our research, were both more reliable and better performers than the average stock.
By more reliable, I mean that high, Long Term PowerRatings stocks, stocks with PowerRatings of 8, 9, or 10, were higher one year later more than 74% of the time. The average stock, by contrast, was higher one year later less than 68% of the time.
When it came to average performance, high, Long Term PowerRatings stocks were also impressive. We found that 8-, 9-, and 10-rated stocks averaged gains of more than 17% after a year from 1995 to 2007. By comparison, the average stock averaged a one-year again of between 12-13% over the same time period.
The stocks in today's report have Long Term PowerRatings that vary from 8 to 10, and come from industries that have both average Industry PowerRatings as well as industries that have earned our highest rating. Taken as a group, they represent an eclectic collection of familiar and unfamiliar names that investors are learning more about today.
Coca Cola (KO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is the 9-rated stock in today's group. As a stock with a PowerRating of 9, Coca Cola belongs to that class of stocks that has been higher one year later more than 79% of the time.
Coca Cola is a stock that we own in our Live Blue Chip Porfolio, a real cash account invested in high Long Term PowerRating stocks that has outperformed the S&P 500 since August 2007 when the account was opened. The stock is far and away the most attractive stock in the 6-rated Beverages-Soft Drinks industry.
A stock most investors have not heard a great deal about is Centerpoint Energy (CNP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating). But for investors looking for stocks that have the odds in their favor, there are few higher rated stocks than CNP.
Centerpoint Energy has a Long Term PowerRating of 10, our highest rating. Stocks with Long Term PowerRatings of 10 have not only been higher one year later more than 80% of the time. 10-rated stocks have also tended to gain, on average, more than 20% in a year's time. Not only this, but Centerpoint Energy comes from an industry with a Industry PowerRating of 10, as well.
Back to the blue chips with Altria Group (MO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), another of the stocks that investors and active traders have been trying to learn more about.
Altria Group is the runt of today's litter with its Long Term PowerRating of 8 and belongs to an industry group, Cigarettes, that includes one more high PowerRating stock, the 8-rated Carolina Group (CG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating).
Another 10-rated stock also happens to be the highest rated technology stock in terms of its Long Term PowerRating. NAVTEQ Corporation (NVT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), with its Long Term PowerRating of 10, also belongs to an industry group, Business Software and Services, that has an Industry PowerRating of 10. Like Coca Cola, NAVTEQ is a holding in our Live Blue Chip Portfolio.
Looking for more long-term solutions to your investing problems? Don't let the volatility of this market cause you to miss out on stocks you'll be glad to have bought a year from now. Click here to get a copy of our special, Free Report on the "5 Secrets to Successful Stock Investing," and learn what you need to know as an active investor looking to invest in companies with a history of financial strength and a track record for growth. Call us at 888-484-8220 to get your copy of the "5 Secrets to Successful Stock Investing" today.
David Penn is Senior Editor at PowerRatings.net.
