Best stocks to buy now?
This headline fascinates me every time I read it. Often, even the article following is an interesting read. (Check out this article for instance. OK, maybe I’m biased–I recently wrote up 2 of the 4 stocks mentioned.) In truth though, I don’t believe anyone can really give us such a list–at least not one worth using.
For starters, how long should the list be? I would say at least long enough to cover various sectors, market caps, and countries. Otherwise an investor who follows it exclusively will have failed to allow for proper asset allocation, and that scares the hell out of me. So, should the list include 20 stocks? 50? 80? More?
I am also very reluctant to engage in market timing, but I think Alexander Green builds a very good case for stocks at the moment based on dividend yields vs. the yield on treasuries.
Two thoughts I urge you to keep in mind though, are that:
a) no amount of historical modeling can guarantee the future (Black Swan, anyone?)
and
b) maybe current yields are really telling us that treasury yields should be much higher.