Gene Marcial, Inside Wall Street Guru at Business Week, picked the following stocks for the 11/3 issue; his picks can be tracked at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/404

Restaurants aren’t appealing buys in these times of economic stress, but Yum! Brands (YUM) looks appetizing, nonetheless. The world’s largest stable of restaurants owns and operates such fast-food chains as KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in over 100 countries. Yum is a standout because not only is it seeing higher sales and earnings but it’s also reinvigorating U.S. sales with healthier food, such as fish, veggies, and grilled chicken.

The key drivers of Yum’s growth and profitability, though, are China and other foreign markets, which account for 50% of sales, says Rick Carucci, Yum’s CFO. “Yum is a great way to gain exposure to China’s booming economy and the other fast-growing international markets, while investing in the only stable segment of the restaurant industry,”

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Track Gene Marcial’s picks at:

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A HOT TICKET IN LOTTERIES

In recessionary times, lotteries are catching the fancy not only of people wanting to become instant millionaires but also of state governments eager to close their budget gaps. Scientific Games (SGMS) is reaping a bonanza from the mushrooming of lotteries—from Florida, Georgia, and Texas to China, Finland, Germany, and Italy. No wonder mogul Ron Perelman has accumulated a 28% stake in Scientific Games.

The company, which provides instant ticket and online lottery products and services “continues to win substantial [multiyear] contracts from both U.S. and international lottery authorities,” says Steven Ralston of Zacks Investment Research, who rates the stock a buy. SG also provides computerized systems to the horse-racing industry and operates off-track betting facilities. Ralston forecasts SG will earn $1.14 a share in 2008 on revenues of $1.2 billion, and $1.58 in 2009 on $1.33 billion.

Like other stocks,

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

Track his stock picks at:

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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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Gene Marcial, Busienss Week’s stock-picking guru recommended the following stocks which are tracked at:

http://trackthepros.com/

1. DELL

a.  CEO Michael Dell snapped up $100 million worth of the stock, bringing his stake to 12.8%. Dell’s unit sales jumped 19% in the second quarter, but a margin squeeze drove the stock down.

b. Dell is now focused on fattening margins and boosting profits by cost-cutting and other means, rather than just concentrating on gaining market share.  It has fixed major problems it faced 18 months ago, he says, such as improving the quality of its products and services.

c. Balance sheet and cash flow remain strong, with $1.1 billion in cash flow from operations in the second quarter and $9.5 billion in cash at quarter’s end.

2. Why Goodyear Could Get Traction

a.  Goodyear Tire & Rubber shares have fallen to 17.32, down from a 52-week high of 31.36 last October.

b. Goodyear has been doing

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Gene Marcial, Business Week’s Stock Guru and Inside Wall Street columnist recommended the following stocks, which can be tracked at:

http://trackthepros.com/

1. Noble

a. global demand for offshore drilling services and day rates for equipment use are on the rise,”

b. Noble is operating at near-full capacity, having signed long-term contracts as demand for rigs continues to exceed supply.

c. Noble’s diversified fleet of 62 deepwater and shallow drilling rigs is mainly in the Middle East (25%), with less than 15% in any other single region. Its deepwater rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were not damaged by Hurricane Gustav.

d. solid play on growing demand for drilling equipment with a strong presence in Brazil, Mexico, West Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

CombiMatrix

a. What’s behind the stock’s climb to 16.03 on Sept. 3, up from 4.50 a year ago? The company is in a hot sector: DNA diagnostics. It develops DNA microarrays—chips that let

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Gene Marcial, Business Week’s Stock Guru and Inside Wall Street columnist recommended the following stocks, which can be tracked at:

http://trackthepros.com/

1. Noble

a. global demand for offshore drilling services and day rates for equipment use are on the rise,”

b. Noble is operating at near-full capacity, having signed long-term contracts as demand for rigs continues to exceed supply.

c. Noble’s diversified fleet of 62 deepwater and shallow drilling rigs is mainly in the Middle East (25%), with less than 15% in any other single region. Its deepwater rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were not damaged by Hurricane Gustav.

d. solid play on growing demand for drilling equipment with a strong presence in Brazil, Mexico, West Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

CombiMatrix

a. What’s behind the stock’s climb to 16.03 on Sept. 3, up from 4.50 a year ago? The company is in a hot sector: DNA diagnostics. It develops DNA microarrays—chips that let

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Gene Marcial, Business Week’s Inside Wall Street Stock Picker, Gives his latest Rrecommendations:

1.Track these picks at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/404

1. GameStop

a. Judging from its solid results in its fiscal second quarter ended Aug. 2, it’s doing very well indeed.

b. A big concern is whether the good times will keep rolling, with rising competition from Wal-Mart and Best Buy amid an economic downturn. The bulls, however, predict that GameStop’s strong winnings will go on. from the video game console cycle that includes next-generation platforms Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii.

c. Consumers will be looking for games to play on the forthcoming platforms, so strong demand should continue for the next few years.

2. Companhia Vale

a. Concern that the U.S. economic slump will soften the demand for the iron ore used in steelmaking has hammered the stock of Brazil’s Vale, the world’s largest producer of such ore.

b. In addition, Vale is

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Business Week’s Gene Marcial recommended General Dynamics today:

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http://trackthepros.com/categories.php?category_id=404

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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Gene Marcial, Business Weeks’ Stock-Picking Guru Recommended the following stocks in the 8/22 Issue of Business Week: 1. Walter Industries

a. Although coal’s price has cooled along with oil’s, shares of coal producers are still on fire.

b. Despite the pullback in energy prices, Walter continues to show strength, in part due to talk that it also may be takeover bait, and it is an outstanding play in the long-term viability of coal as an energy source.

c. The company exhibits attractive momentum, good five-year annualized returns, and healthy growth of expected earnings per share

2. Kohlberg Capital

a. Kohlberg Capital specializes in secured loans to midmarket private concerns.

b. As a business development company—a publicly traded outfit that invests in promising companies—Kohlberg Capital is regulated and must pay 90% of its net income to stockholders as dividends. Its stock, now at 9.45 vs. 16 a year ago, has fallen along

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