I think 2012 will be an OK year for stock investors. Politics has a way of keeping things rosy through an election. I’m fine with that, as long as we all know it we can make some money from it. I won’t be blindly holding all of my stock investments forever. However, I don’t see a better place to invest overall than the US stock market this year. This article will cover my long and short top stock picks for 2012.
My Long Top Stock Pick
My top stock pick for 2012 is Pepsi (PEP). It’s one of those staples that will plow right through a bad economy. It’s not going out of business, it’s sales won’t dry up to nothing if things stay rough, it can be afforded on a unemployment check budget, and most importantly it has a 3.2% dividend yield right now while I wait for appreciation. Beat that 30 year treasury yield (what crazy times we live in.) Look at the chart for Pepsi:
Even in rough times Pepsi is a cash producer, dividend yielding, and has upside potential. I’m even a Coke (KO) drinker personally, but I have to choose Pepsi for my stock of choice right now. It’s been a fairly tight trading range for awhile now, so I wouldn’t worry about timining too much because the yield justifies the time.
Top Stock Picks 2012 Short
My top stock pick that is a short play is Union Pacific (UNP). This is my speculative play. I have a feeling the oil line from Canada will get through. As the election moves forward energy independence will be a hot topic and this will push for more drilling which will push lower oil prices which has been UNP (railways) best friend. This stock has historically grown at around 9%, but has been on a trajectory more like 12% recently. It doesn’t have the types of earning growth potential that a new hot tech stock does and I don’t believe it deserves this valuation. If the stock price turns and the 50 day crosses back under the 200 day moving average I would short UNP.
Those are my two big choices at the beginning of investing year 2012. I certainly don’t recommend just having two stocks in a portfolio, these are intended to be talking points on my thoughts on investing this year. However, it will be fun to look back this time next year and see how I did.
I’m trying to get the value back into Easy Learn Stock Market this year. If you have any comments or questions feel free to contact me or comment on this page.



