AIM higher

My pick is AIMCO - (NYSE-AIV)

AIMCO stands for Apartment Investment and Management Co.  The company is involved primarily in the ownership and management of rental properties nationwide.  The US rental market is red hot, and I anticipate it staying red hot for another couple years through 2014 at least.  I believe an investment in AIMCO will allow us an opportunity to capitalize.

This is an extremely competitive space.. so why choose AIMCO?  My choice is based on valuation.  I believe that AIMCO is undervalued with respect to its peers.  This year saw one of the largest apartment REIT buyouts in history, with Equity Residential and AvalonBay buying Archstone from Lehman Brothers.  I believe that that opens the door to more potential buyouts as other sharks look for undervalued assets.  A company looking to expand it's portfolio could make a bid on a company like AIMCO and add 100,000 units to its holdings while it's share price is low.

Currently AIMCO trades at $29.16.

My favorite RAX

My selection for this quarter is one we all know, Rack Space Hosting, inc. We jumped on board when they were at $25 a couple of years ago and rang the cash register along the way. The cloud has really helped accelerate their grow and that has pushed the current price to about $73 per share. The cloud revenue has grown about 25% in Q4.! Forbes recently named RAX in the Top 100 companies to work for, again. Rack Space Hosting has also been in the rumors of a buyout from Dell and another technology company. This stock will be worth over $100 in the next couple of years as the cloud technology pushes forward. I suggested it would triple when we bought it back in 2010(see previous posts). We can ride this stock over the century mark if we buy and hang on to it. I am bullish on RAX long term and highly recommend we ride the wave over the century mark. If companies are trying to buy them and employees are very happy, it is an investment we need to strongly recommend. We have experienced the potential of the RAX. Lets RAX it again! http://news.investors.com/technology/021113-643898-rackspace-reports-q4-earnings-cloud-growth-expected.htm?ven=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

LOWES

My pick this quarter is Lowes (LOW). $39.03 per share. I started looking at Lowes because my company is the HVAC contractor in 3 of there stores. There outside project division is a big part of there business. HVAC, siding, roofing, windows, doors.. If you look at there charts you may think we missed the boat, but I don't think so. They have been trending up for about a year and a half. They have consistently increased revenues since the 1990's. And with the housing market turning around and future outlook good, I see Lowes taking advantage and continuing to increase numbers.  This article have some great pros and cons of Lowes so you know it's not biased. http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/lowes-companies-inc-low-never-stop-improving-never-stop-investing-57778/

Who doesn't love drugs?

My pick is Abbott Labs, a major player in the drug space with Merck, Glaxo, Pfizer, J&J, etc. We've had success in the health sector (HNT, BSX) and this country spends more on insurance and med products than any other in the world. The numbers make sense- 9 PE and a $34/s price tag. The stock has been on a steady include for the past three years and pays a heavy $2/yr dividend. There are more filled prescriptions today than there has ever been and that number will continue to grow. We've consistently done well in the health sector and until Obamacare is straightened out, we'd be crazy to abandon this investment category.

Time to make the Donuts..

My pick for this qtr is Dunks.. DNKN.  I was looking at some food industry stocks - its been a while since we dabbled in that sector.  Domi-hogs has come a long way since then. I chose dunks because i think they have plenty of room for growth, especially onto the west coast.  Right now they plan on opening 1000 stores in Cali.  They've been advertising like crazy and they keep expanding their menu.   They are trading around $36 a share, close to 52 week high and their PE ratio isn't that great compared to its competitors like Starbucks and Krispy Cream.  But i have confidence.  I'm long on DD.