Gene Marcial Likes Johnson & Johnson:

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When things get tough in the stock market, it’s time to play defense—and offense. That’s the strategy of savvy professional investors as the major U.S. equity indexes spiral downward. Since Oct. 1, when the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 10,831.07, massive selling had driven shares down nearly 13%, to 9,447.11, by the end of trading on Oct. 7. The widening financial crises, exacerbated by fears of a looming recession plus Europe’s own bout with credit problems, pummeled markets worldwide. And relentless selling by hedge funds that had to meet rising margin calls on their heavily leveraged portfolios was a big part of what caused the turmoil.

“We can’t take it anymore” is a common cry among many investors. But in the worst of times, the markets create value for those willing to pluck out the “angels” that

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a. Although PNC and BB&T have moved up considerably, they are still better positioned to power ahead and outpace their peers;  PNC’s low exposure to collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and structured investment vehicles. That, on top of PNC’s relatively good capital levels and low debt ratio of 6.8, helped PNC’s strong results.

b BB&T, which has a large presence in the District of Columbia, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, is one of the well-managed regional banks;  Deposits are growing at a healthy pace, he notes, and BB&T doesn’t have a large exposure in subprime mortgage loans.

c. SunTrust Banks, one of the largest bank holding companies in the Southeast, mainly in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia, provides a wide range of services such as credit cards, mortgage banking,

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Business Week’s Gene Marcial Recommends COKE in these difficult times.

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a. Not many stocks were left standing when the Dow Jones industrial average crashed by 504 points on Sept. 15—the worst drop since the September 11 terrorist attacks. One stock that did stand firmly was Coca-Cola (KO), the world’s largest soft drink company. When the tsunami-like wave of selling was done on that frenzied day, Coca-Cola’s stock stood at 54.75, up from the previous session’s closing price of 54.50.

b  Buffett’s Beverage - Wall Street appears to have rediscovered Coca-Cola. Of the 17 analysts who follow Coke, not one recommends selling the stock, and all but two tag the stock a buy.

c. What has caught the eye of analysts of late is the company’s fruit juice and noncarbonated drinks, including energy drinks that come in the form of “vitamin water.”

d. Sales this year are expected

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Gene Marcial, Business Week’s stock-picking guru recommended EBAY today:

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a. Ebay is a stock that now deserves new attention

b. Since October 2007, when it traded at 40, the stock’s value has tumbled nearly 50%.

c.  The big discount in the stock’s price relative to eBay’s vast assets and worldwide superiority in online auctions “make eBay a very enticing value play

d.  total listings are forecast to jump 30%, to 720 million users. So far, listings in Asia/Pacific are up 25% in the second quarter, in Europe up 48%, and in North America 16%.

e. eBay is also making sure that it provides a faster, easier, and safer trading experience for buyers and sellers. Through its numerous Web sites, the company pulls together millions of buyers and sellers worldwide, providing an online marketplace for the sale of almost all types of goods and services along with online payment

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Business Week’s Gene Marcial recommended General Dynamics today:

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a. Big companies that don’t make splashy products sometimes fly under the radar—like General Dynamics , a giant corporation that the public tends to ignore. But Wall Street pros are paying attention.

b. The secret behind the success of the world’s sixth-largest defense contractor is that General Dynamics is a military-technology-industrial company for all seasons. Also one of the biggest makers of corporate jets, the company has developed an aggressive strategy for fast growth that’s working wonders for its bottom line.

c. increase sales and earnings through acquisitions, growth in deliveries of business jets, strength in land vehicles and munitions needed for operations in Iraq, and overall replacement of damaged equipment

d. Boosting the company’s business through acquisitions, General Dynamics’ latest deal is the $2.3 billion purchase of Switzerland’s Jet Aviation. The company says the operations will boost its capabilities

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Business Week’s Inside Wall Street columnist Gene Marcial recommended Sequenom:

a. shares of Sequenom, maker of genetic testing and molecular diagnostic products, have jumped off the charts recently—with the stock price zooming from 5 in April to 21 by Aug. 15.

b. Sequenom is developing a noninvasive prenatal test to detect Down Syndrome in pregnant women; the “revolutionary” technology that’s involved is part of Sequenom’s MassARRAY system that seeks to establish its test as “the next-generation standard for prenatal and oncology molecular diagnostics.”

c. There are tests for Down Syndrome already on the market, but,  Sequenom’s product removes prevailing concern about their accuracy; to validate its technology, Sequenom has announced results from 200 clinical studies that showed its test identified all Down Syndrome samples with “no false positives.”

d. The potential market for Sequenom’s test runs to about $1.5 billion to $3 billion. Worldwide, the potential could be up to $6 billion

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