Famous consumer advocate Ralph Nader has renewed his efforts on behalf of common shareholders of bailed-out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, reports TheStreet.com.
» Read MoreMark Travis is going to Starbucks. The CEO of Intrepid Capital Funds says it's probably time to take advantage of the coffee titan's recent misfortunes.
Starbucks made headlines this summer by announcing it would close hundreds of its under-performing stores, and Travis notes that that's not the first time that's happened.
Investments to resist the slowdown: David Pearl of Epoch Investment Partners and David Moon of Moon Capital Management offered CNBC their insights -- and favorite stocks.
Moon agrees with Pearl about the need to re-categorize many household- and personal-product makers, currently considered consumer-oriented:
"Most high-end pharmacological purchases are not discretionary," Moon told CNBC.
Recommendations:
(See Part 1 for Pearl's view and stock picks )
Moon pointed to Johnson & Johnson as an example: "We like them, even [considering] the consumer portion of their business." He also named Pfizer, whose necessary medicines outweigh "discretionary" products like Viagra.
"We're actually buying both (J&J and Pfizer) right now," Moon said.
He also praised Walmart, eBay and MGIC Investment.
With oil prices tumbling, what's happening to coal? Shneur Gershuni of UBS acknowledges that coal, oil and natural gas prices are closely dependent on each other, and recent price declines in coal stocks make them attractive targets for investors.
"We do think it's a buying opportunity for investors," he told CNBC. "The physical market continues to remain strong, and, whether GDP slows or not, we still need power, and we still expect the coal thesis to remain strong."
Recommendations:
At the top of his list is Consol Energy.
"The reason we like Consol is because of their exposure to the international market," he said. "A second reason...is because of their low cost...production relative to other Appalachian producers, and then, finally, they also have exposure to natural gas."
Gershuni also likes Peabody Energy and James River Coal.
Energy prices surge and fall -- but America still needs to be powered.
So Greg Gordon of Citigroup says these utility stocks are good bets, thanks to their buildouts, expansions and investments in alternative energy.
Watch the video above for Gordon's insights -- and stock picks.
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Companies Gordon discusses:
Allegheny Energy
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
FirstEnergy
Wisconsin Energy
American Electric Power
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Disclosures:
The companies listed above have been and/or may be investment banking clients of Citigroup. Citigroup Global markets has or had them as clients, and the services provided were non-investment banking securities related.
Investments to resist the slowdown: David Pearl of Epoch Investment Partners and David Moon of Moon Capital Management offered CNBC their insights -- and favorite stocks.
"Nothing is totally guaranteed to be recession-proof," cautioned Pearl. "But these are high-profile" names most likely to stand strong when others are sagging, he said.
He praised medical-service providers as the antithesis of "discretionary":
"People with chronic illnesses have to get services every day -- or else," he noted.
Recommendations:
(See Part 2 for Moon's view and stock picks )
Pearl likes Laboratory Corporation of America, Service Corp. International, Waste Management and DaVita. The last name is the "largest public dialysis company in the U.S.," largely driven by medicare-oriented revenue.
He also says the above companies "are very profitable and use cash they generate to buy back stock -- so even in tough environments, they'll come out winners."
All markets are still in a down trend, if you look at a long-term perspective.
But Julius de Kempenaer from Talergroup says that the S&P 500 banks chart implies that the worst is over for the financial sector.
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Financial Stocks in the News:
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
MBIA
UBS
Citigroup
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Kevin Cronin thinks technology is the way to play the current feeble market environment.
"Our view is that the market has some upside potential to it, but we're not all that optimistic," Putnam's head of investments told CNBC. "We think that economic growth continues to deteriorate, both here in the U.S. and globally."
So how to maximize the upside potential, in the face of slowing growth?
Recommendations:
"The tech sector and the utility sector have been two of the more defensive sectors over the course of the last year," he said. "We do find some attractive names in there, like Microsoft, EMC, Adobe."
He has another pick -- but he's not sure it fits completely into technology:
"We debate whether Apple is a consumer company or a tech company, but we like Apple as well," he said.
Companies with good dividend payments are attractive during periods of market volatility, Wouter Weijand, chief investment officer of high income equity at Fortis Investments said Friday.
And Procter & Gamble, Acer and Bank of Cyprus all look attractive for solid returns Weijand said.
Despite the shares not performing too well this year, US consumer staples P&G is a good buy, as the company has 52 years of steady dividend increases and a very shareholder-friendly environment, according to Weijand.
"We think the company is very well positioned, very 'steady Eddie' and too cheap, an international attractive company," he said on "Worldwide Exchange."
Bob Pisani offers another installment of ETF 101: the Trader Talk blogger's periodic guide to exchange-traded funds.
This installment: Share Splitting
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ETFs in Pisani's Radar:
- Van Eck Market Vectors Gulf States Index(Read the story: New ETF = Play on Mid-East Growth )
- Market Vectors Solar Energy
- iShares Lehman Aggregate
(Read the story: Pimco ETF May Be Here Soon )
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Joseph Greff, analyst at JP Morgan told investors that performance of cruise stocks would depend on oil prices .
