PowerRatings Best of the Requests: KO, PG, WFC, BNS

Stocks that have captured investors' imaginations today include a pair of blue chips and a bank that sits near the bottom of an industry group with several better alternatives.

You never know what you are going to find when you consult our Most Requested Stocks. Many of the stocks that appear in this directory are stocks that are in the news, many others are stocks that we have written about at PowerRatings.net. But the stocks on this list do reflect the stocks that investors are looking at and, in some instances, considering for purchase.

So how do those stocks look? I've taken both the best and the worst stocks, the stocks with the highest and lowest Long Term PowerRatings, and found two stocks with excellent Long Term PowerRatings and a third stock that active investors would probably do best to avoid. Fortunately, in the case of this last stock, there are other opportunities in the same group that investors can choose from and likely do better.

First up is Coca Cola (KO@KO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), a stock with a Long Term PowerRating of 9 that we have been impressed with for some time. We were so impressed, as a matter of fact, that we added Coca Cola to our Live Blue Chip Portfolio of top, high Long Term PowerRating stocks. The Live Blue Chip Portfolio is a real-time, cash account that we operate as a way of tracking the performance of many of the highest-rated Long Term PowerRatings stocks.

As a stock with a Long Term PowerRating of 9, Coca Cola belong to that class of stocks which, according to our research, has been higher one year later more than 79% of the time. Not only that, but 9-rated stocks have tended to gain, on average, approximately 18.05% after one year.

Next is another 9-rated stock, Procter & Gamble (PG@PG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating).

Like Coca Cola, Procter & Gamble is also a holding in our Live Blue Chip Porfolio, a portfolio that continues to outperform both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials since the porfolio's inception in August of last year.

Procter & Gamble is a member of the top-rated industry group, Personal Products, which it shares with other top-rated stocks such as Kimberly Clark (KMB@KMB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL@CL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating). Kimberly Clark has a Long Term PowerRating of 9. Colgate-Palmolive has a Long Term PowerRating of 8.

Wells Fargo (WFC@WFC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) made our list of Most Requested stocks as of this morning. But Wells Fargo is no high, Long Term PowerRating stock. Rather, Wells Fargo is at the other end of the spectrum, sporting a lowly Long Term PowerRating of 3.

If 9-rated stocks are so good, what is it that makes 3-rated stocks so bad? Our research revealed that stocks with Long Term PowerRatings of 3 have been higher one year later less than 45% of the time. These same stocks have tended to gain, on average, approximately 8.01% after one year. Both of these figures compare poorly to those of the average stock, much less the performance and reliability figures for the 9-rated stocks.

So if you want to add a bank to your portfolio but can't add Wells Fargo, where can you turn? One place to look without leaving Wells Fargo's industry group is the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS@BNS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating).

The Bank of Nova Scotia has a Long Term PowerRating of 7. Stocks with Long Term PowerRatings of 7 have not performed as well as stocks with Long Term PowerRatings of 9. But they are at the upper end of the average range—gaining an average of more than 16% in a year's time and being higher one year later more than 67% of the time - and are certainly a superior opportunities compared to 3-rated stocks such as Wells Fargo.

Looking for more long-term solutions to your investing problems? Don't let the volatility of this market lead 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 of PowerRatings.net.