An interesting stock picking challenge

[Leonidas]

Nouriel Roubini was on CNBC this morning - his only stock recommendation is anybody that makes and sells anti-depressants - along with Jack Rivkin.

Rivkin was under my radar screen before today, but I loved it when he said, "Don't pick a stock that you heard on TV. Do your own work." The unspoken, but clearly sent message was: "Only an idiot watches CNBC and buys a stock because some bozo in a suit plugged it!" So un-CNBC!

Anyway, Rivkin probably knows a thing or two about stock picking, he was the CIO at Neuberger Berman until he retired this past Summer. NB was the only piece of Lehman's that wasn't included in the bankruptcy.

Quote:

The 69-year-old wealth management company, which became part of Lehman Brothers in 2003, remains a strong business within the asset management industry - a financial services sector that's insulated somewhat from Wall Street's present chaos, according to analysts..."Neuberger Berman would look to be a franchise that would survive independently," says William R. Katz, an analyst with Buckingham Research in New York. "The money managers have good reputations - they have the relationships with the clients,"

Rivkin has a solid resume of stock picking and asset management back to 1968.

Rivkin said several times he would not be a buyer at the moment, but apparently he must have said something about having a list of stocks he was interested in. The talking heads pressed him to puke the list out, and he did, but in an interesting way.

Quote:

Half of these trades I like, but not the other half. Do your own work and figure it out for yourself.

He presented them as pairs by industry, but he said that each pair did not necessarily represent an investment he was interested in and one he was not.

CNQ - TLM
PFE - PG
CAT - CBI
SHLD - TGT
STP - AMAT
MON - DOW
C - Your local bank
FPL - AEP

I own only one of these issues (DOW), but have been interested in all but a couple of them at one time or another. Since we're still working on figuring out where the bottom is in this market, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who wouldn't mind picking up some real bargains, I thought I would play with Rivkin's list as a mental exercise with an eye on maybe finding a real buy and invite others to play along. Hey, it beats watching the red numbers on the screen.

If you care to join in, pick eight long term picks from the list and give some thoughts about your choices.