Navellier Growth: your source for market-beating growth stocks

 

Anyone who's turned on a TV, surfed the Web or opened a newspaper in the past 8 months knows that banks and brokerages have stolen the headlines. Write-downs, defaults, mortgage debt, credit crunches and the like have been top of mind on Wall Street for what seems like an eternity. Even blowout second quarter earnings took a backseat to the bad news financials!

We've seen a lot of blissfully ignorant investors rush back into banks and brokerages lately, but it looks like the phony rally in financials has come to a halt. Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) both declined more than 20% on Monday, we heard news this week that JP Morgan (JPM) will write down another $1 billion in bad debt, and poor housing numbers on Tuesday pushed the entire sector down even farther. Looks like financial stocks won't be in demand again any time soon!

So what stocks ARE investors buying up? PortfolioGrader Pro, my FREE stock ranking tool, has identified the 20 most widely-held stocks on the Street. Here's a preview:

• Energy provider BP PLC (BP) made headlines recently when it announced it had closed an oil pipeline that runs through Georgia until tensions between Russia and the former Soviet Republic subside. Grade: B.
• BHP Billiton (BHP), a natural resource miner, made the front page of financial Web sites after announcing record annual profit, an increased dividend payout to investors, and a raised guidance. Grade: B.
• Tech-giant IBM (IBM) reported its second quarter net income was up 22% to $1.98 per share over last year. Investors expected the company to make $1.82 per share—that's an 8.8% earnings surprise! This company fails to disappoint. Grade: A.

Other companies on the list:

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)—Grade: A
• AT&T (T)—Grade: C
• Procter & Gamble (PG)—Grade: A
• HSBC Holdings (HBC)—Grade: C
• Microsoft (MSFT)—Grade: B
• Google (GOOG)—Grade: B
• Apple (AAPL)—Grade: A

For the completed list of the most widely-held stocks and how they rank, sign up for PortfolioGrader Pro today! Registration is absolutely FREE.

But keep in mind: Just because Wall Street craves certain stocks doesn't mean they're money-makers. In fact, only one of these stocks is on my Blue Chip Growth Buy List. Why? Because many of these companies don't meet the fundamentally superior criteria I look for in all of my stocks.

If you want a portfolio that exemplifies what's actually working on Wall Street NOW, subscribe to Blue Chip Growth today and get a special one-time offer for new subscribers of just $149 for a full year! Don't delay—sign up today.