This weekend, I’ll be speaking at the Mt. Vernon Research/Investor’s Daily Edge “Boom & Doom” conference in South Florida. During my presentations, I’ll offer the attendees my top five stocks that I believe will fare well, no matter whether we’re in a depression or expansion. Now, it wouldn’t be fair to the paying customers if I give you those top five stocks here. But what I can do is provide you with the stockpicking method to my (some say considerable) madness…

A Fat Pipeline… And An Even Fatter Dividend

Several of the stocks are in the healthcare sector - my specialized area of expertise.

Not only do I cover that sector for Mt. Vernon Research, I also believe that owning the right healthcare stocks is crucial for having a well-balanced portfolio.

While President Obama’s goal to make healthcare affordable for every American is noble, it’s difficult to execute

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Highlights include WellPoint, Inc. (WLP), Humana Inc. (HUM), Coventry Health Care, Inc. (CVH), Health Net Inc. (HNT), Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH), Amerigroup Corporation (AGP) and Aetna Inc (AET).The private sector is now partners in healthcare reform.Key healthcare stakeholders met yesterday with President Obama to pledge their support in slowing the rising cost of healthcare over the next decade.  In a letter addressed to the President and signed by the American Medical Association, the Service Employees International Union, and the main trade groups from the drug, hospital, medical-device and health-insurance industries, healthcare industry representatives vowed to stem the rate of increase in future health and insurance costs by 1.5% per year for the next 10 years, or approximately $2 trillion.Although lacking detail, the letter did propose a co-ordinated industry effort in developing strategies toward the following: administrative simplification ...

Healthcare Products and Supplies is a unique sub sector of healthcare that holds the potential for great growth opportunities in the coming years. The sub sector is extremely vast, with companies providing products and supplies to a variety of medical areas such as cosmetic surgery, eye care, cardiology, orthopedics, and diabetes to list just a few. Within these major areas, HCP&S ’s products are further divided into higher tech products such as drug eluting stents (DESs) and lower tech products such as hypodermic needles and scalpels.

In addition to the diversification of products, there are many other variables that affect the profitability and riskiness of companies in the industry. One example would be the geographic revenue breakdown, since revenue concentration in foreign markets typically increases risks associated with exchange rate fluctuations as well as changes in demand. However, geographic

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