Charles Bobrinskoy

Good news is that they have taken the risk of bankruptcy almost away by doing a big conversion of preferred stocks into common stocks so the balance sheet is in much better shape. However a lot of the easy money has already been made.

A stock that everybody goes to when they’re panicked. Defensive stock as people believe there is more shopping here during a recession. In an upswing in the economy, this company tends to lag. Good value, but not a great value.

There is no longer any danger of it going to zero but it will be very volatile. Have a lot of commercial real estate, leveraged buyout loans and credit cards on the books. Would prefer JP Morgan (JPM-N), which is a better bank with better management.

A lot of the story is about the finance subsidiary. This is much more of a financial company than most people think. Huge financial arm that made a lot of investments. Loaned money for companies to buy their aircraft parts, utility equipment, railcars, etc. A lot of the easy money’s been made.

Likes med-tech space. Space has historically traded at 20 PE’s and up. Growth is very good. Demographics are very positive. Currently out of favour because of fears of what the government will do to the industry. Trading at one of the lowest multiples in its 20-year history.

Oil has rallied a lot from its lows so some of the money has already been made in this stock. However, oil stocks have not recovered in the way that oil has so at this point they are cheap. He prefers Exxon Mobil (XOM-N). (See Top Picks.)

This one has traded up a lot and is back up to a 20 plus multiple. Made a huge move basically on the idea that media advertising is coming back. Too expensive for him but has some nice momentum now.

Very risky and can still go bankrupt but could double, triple or quadruple from here. If you wanted to put a small portion of your investment in on the bet that the economy is going to be better than it is a reasonable thing to do.

Sector most out of favour right now is healthcare. This is one of the most respected companies in the world with a very strong balance sheet. A leader in all its businesses. Wonderful consumer business. Very cheap with a 14 multiple.

Oil has rallied from $30 to $70 but this stock has not and is actually down about 10%. Very strong balance sheet. A most favoured partner for people like Brazil and China who want an international oil company to help in explorations.

Relatively small company but the leading dominant provider of data to the pharmaceutical industry. When a drug company wants information about how its drugs are selling, what doctors are prescribing those drugs they go to this company. Great value at about 9X earnings.

(A Top Pick Aug 27/08. Down 14.22%.) Has had a very nice run lately.

(A Top Pick Aug 27/08. Down 13.9%.) An OK performer. Advertising market has been softer.

(A Top Pick Aug 27/08. Up .14%.) Has outperformed the market.

Has run up because people have got much more optimistic about the consumer and consumer discretionary spending. Very leveraged company with a lot of debt. Has run up too far for him.