Barron’s February 28, 2007 Issue

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Feb 25, 5:28PM EST

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The merger of Sirius (SIRI) and XM (XMSR) could be good for shareholders in both companies by consolidating strong programming and allowing the firms to cut costs.

Nortel (NT) is doing much better. Since its new CEO joined the share price is up 45%. Concentration on wireless CDMA has helped drive new growth.

Barron’s writes that Univeral Electronics is the most dynamic name in remote controls. As the digital home gets more and more devices, the remotes from Universal (UEIC) become more useful to the consumer. The stock could rise another 50% over the next 12 to 18 months.

German conglomerate Siemens (SI) continues to show improvement in profits and revenue. The stock could rise another 10% this year. The company may still be undervalued based on financial comparisons with companies like 3M (MMM) and General Electric (GE). The only obstacle may be a scandal at the company which could catch some senior management in its net.

McDonald’s (MCD) continues to do remarkably well, and is hurting smaller competitors like Applebee’s (APPB).

Reuters (RTSY) may want to diversify to save itself from private equity firms. Some of the companies that might strenthen its product offerings are Fast Set (FDS) and Investment Technology Group (ITG).

As the population ages the companies the benefit from consumer spending are changing. Some companies should do better as more people are over 50. These include Allergan Pharma (AGN), AMN Health (ANS), Estee Lauder (EL), Hartford Financial (HIG), Pulte Homes (PHM), Starwood Hotels (HOT), Sterlcycle (SRCL), United Health (UNH), Walgreen (WAG) and Whole Foods Market (WFMI).

Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) tends to buy stocks and hold them long term. The company has been doing so well that its stock could move from $55 to $70.

Fifth Third Bank (FITB) has underperformed other banks in its sector, but its revenue growth drivers are strong and its should be a better value that other regional banks.

Qualcomm’s (QCOM) problems with its largest customer Nokia (NOK) are still an issue for earnings. If the issue is not resolved, the stock may go lower.

The drug pipeline at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is strong and that could help the stock to move up again.

Douglas A. McIntyre

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.