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- US Debating What to Do With Billions of TARP Money Left
- For Video Game Makers, Stakes Are High for Holidays
- In Charity Tax Filing, a Real Glimpse of Goldman Sachs
- 30 Year Mortgage Rate Falls Again; Lowest In Five Weeks
- No Near-Term Inflation Threat: Fed's Plosser
- US Mortgage Refinancing Up; Buying Demand Sinks
- Intel Agrees to Pay AMD $1.25 Billion to Settle Disputes
- Ford, Hyundai, Audi Gaining Consumer Interest
- Wal-Mart Holiday Forecast Light, Profit Beats
- Fourteen Stocks that Could Gain from Dollar's Decline
- Busch: Another Obama Opportunity
- Light the Lights! Buffett and Gates Prepare to Answer Students' Questions at Columbia
- Farrell: Retailers?
- A Public Hearing That Isn't Public
- Boise State's Brilliant Stock Plan
- Apple's Global Retail Invasion
- Intel Settles; AMD Settles the Score
- For Video Game Makers, Stakes Are High for The Holidays
MOST SHARED
- Jobless Claims Post Another Drop as Picture Improves
- Wal-Mart Holiday Forecast Light, Profit Beats
- Obama Plans Jobs Summit But Not Second Stimulus
- A Public Hearing That Isn't Public
- Meet The Leaders of the New Retail Revolution
- "Friending" Big Pharma
- Obama Most Powerful Person in World: Forbes
- 30 Year Mortgage Rate Falls Again; Lowest In Five Weeks
- Activision Says 'Call of Duty' Sets Launch Record
With stocks sharply lower today, shareholders need to protect their portfolios.
So what are some of the best defensive stock picks? CNBC asked the experts.
Healthcare Bargains
“I think the significant underperformance in the group -– you might call it damaged care instead of managed care -– has presented great opportunity. The Humana [HUM
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] upgrade was a great call; that’s one of our favorite stocks. We think it could double in the next year.”
- Charles Boorady, Citigroup Healthcare Providers Analyst
Boorady also recommends: Health Net [HNT
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], WellPoint [WLP
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], Aetna [AET
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] and Healthspring [HS
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].
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Scary market? Turn to CNBC's experts:
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Stocks for the Long-Term
“What we’re focused on in our firm is long-term investing, so we’re looking for companies that have great cyclical growth characteristics, regardless of the short-term economy. Blue Nile [NILE
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] has that. They're taking massive share from their competition, and that’s because the online business model is just better than the offline model."
- Michael Lippert, Baron iOpportunity Portfolio Manager
Lippert also recommends: Equinix [EQIX
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].
(Contd.)
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Recession-Proof Healthcare Picks
“I think some of the more defensive areas … would be areas like clinical labs, so a company I really like is Lab Corp. [LH
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], as they’ll continue to benefit as lab tests are very stable, and I think the pricing outlook is stable there also.”
- Adam Feinstein, Lehman Brothers Analyst
- CNBC is liveblogging a talk given by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to students at Columbia University.
- US real estate prices have fallen dramatically, but some places are still doing well. See the best-performing zip codes this year.
- Vote and suggest your own, and remember--there's a fine line between a hero and a zero.
- A European dating site finds lovelorn singles from one specific country to be uglier than any other. Who is it?
- Contributor David Pogue looks at two of the latest efforts to perfect the digital pocket camera.
- Just in time for the holidays, the Triumph company of Japan offers the latest innovation in women’s undergarments.













