Top Stocks For 2012

Posted on by Forest in Investing, Saving Money & Finances

Buying stocks isn’t something I am extremely well versed in so picking my “Top Stocks For 2012″ isn’t something I should even think about entertaining. However there are plenty of very well qualified websites out there making lists and I wanted to bring some of them together for you and then give my opinion on what little old me thinks you should be investing in.

Top Stocks For 2012

So lets take a look at some top stock picks from some of the big players in the web world.

Chris Katje – Seeking Alpha

• Activision Blizzard (ATVI)
• Dreamworks Animation (DWA)
• Exact Sciences (EXAS)
• Ford (F)
• Hexcel (HXL)
• Imax (IMAX)
• Local.com (LOCM)
• NCR Corporation (NCR)
• Seadrill (SDRL)

Chris goes into a lot of analysis and detail for each of his picks here.

Goldman Sachs’ Top Tech Stocks for 2012

The Street rounded up the top 9 tech stock pics for 2012 from Goldman Sachs.

1. Apple(AAPL_)
2. Aeroflex Holding(ARX_)
3. VMWare(VMW_)
4. EMC(EMC_)
5. Oracle(ORCL_)
6. Synchronos Technologies(SNCR_)
7. Qualcomm(QCOM_)
8. NCR Corp.(NCR_)
9. Visa(V_)

Read much more here.

The Motley Fool, Top 5 Energy Stocks for 2012

The Fool are a pretty trusted bunch and they rounded up their energy picks.

1. Peabody Energy
Coal stocks got crushed in 2011. Fool metals guru Christopher Barker surveys the wreckage and shows how you can buy the king of coal at a truly amazing price.

2. Kinder Morgan
The U.S. oil and gas business is booming, but prices for commodities are all over the place. Aimee Duffy explains how Kinder Morgan is a great way to earn dividends from the natural gas boom while not being beholden to volatile oil and gas prices.

3. SunPower
The solar industry has been in turmoil as countries drop subsidies and an oversupply of photovoltaics pushes down prices to the point where weak companies, like Solyndra, are priced out of business. Fool renewable energy expert Travis Hoium explains why he thinks SunPower will be the biggest winner long-term in the solar industry.

4. Schlumberger
While some would argue otherwise, fracking is here to stay, and David Lee Smith thinks the 800-pound gorilla of the oil-field services group is set to soar as production using the technique continues to expand.

5. Ultra Petroleum
While petroleum is in this company’s name, Ultra is actually one of the lowest-cost natural gas producers there is. Fool energy editor Dan Dzombak reveals his secret for commodities investing and why Ultra Petroleum is the best stock for your energy portfolio in 2012.

Read more and source here.

Forbes top 2012 stock picks from “Experts”

Top stocks for 2012

Forbes compiled experts consisting of “money managers, market experts and financial journalists” to come up with a 2012 stock list.

1. Caterpillar
2. FedEx
3. Hershey
4. Capital One
5. Mako Surgical
6. Microsoft
7. Arcos Dorados
8. Turkcell
9. Alcoa
10. Banco Santander

More details and source here.

Barrons 2012 stock picks

It seems their 2011 picks fell over 6%, hopefully their 2012 picks will fare better!

• Berkshire Hathaway
• MetLife
• Sanofi
• Seagate Technology
• Vodafone
• Royal Dutch Shell
• Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold
• Comcast
• Procter & Gamble
• Daimler

More details and source here.

Fortune Magazine’s top stocks for 2012

Fortune is another publication that gets high praise and their stock list is as follows.

1. Apple
2. Caterpillar.
3. Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP 0.00%)
4. Goodyear Tire (GT 0.00%).
5. Halliburton (HAL 0.00%)
6. Intel (INTC 0.00%)
7. Johnson Controls (JCI 0.00%)
8. Lockheed Martin (LMT 0.00%)
9. Microsoft (MSFT 0.00%)
10. Royal Bank of Canada (RY 0.00%)

More details and source here.

Investor Place Readers’ Choice: Best Stocks for 2012

Who better to decide than trusty readers? Well some may not like stocks being picked on a voting system but here they are.

1. Caterpillar (1,916 votes, 25.06%)
2. Microsoft (1,232 votes, 16.11%)
3. None of the Above (1,138 votes, 14.88%)
4. FedEx (748 votes, 9.78%)
5. Alcoa (744 votes, 9.73%)

More info, more picks and source here.

Top Stocks For 2012, My Thoughts….

I have to have my say now and if you are a seasoned investor you may disagree. A lot of these companies in these choices represent solely the monetary payback possibilities and I can’t see that any ‘ethical’ choices went into the decisions. A lot of these companies have done things I disagree with over the the last few years and like they tell consumers to ‘vote with their dollar’ when making ethical decisions I think there is a bigger place for this ideology in investing practises.

What if investors started concentrating less on huge returns and more on smaller return of cash but higher social value. Investment in companies that are pioneering great work place environments, ethical products and such things. I know the word ethical is subjective but you that is ok, it can be a personal choice.

I’d love to hear about your stock picks and what you think of investing for social return?

Also you may be interested in our recent article looking at stocks and helping you answer the question Is That Stock Overpriced.

Thanks for reading - Top Stocks For 2012

Tags: investing, stock picks