Investment Outlook & Favorite Picks from the Pros

In the mid of the stock market meltdown, stockpickers see some investment opportunities. The followings are excerpt from Businessweek about investment outlook and favorite picks from two investment pros

TEUN DRAAISMA, Europe strategist at Morgan Stanley, said:

Key market-timing indicators, which include cheap valuations and strong fundamentals, say it's time to buy.

… "The severe part of the bear market is over, and there is plenty of value out there, but there's no hurry," says the Dutch-born strategist, who is now based in London. His models say the next bull market may not kick off until next summer. Meantime, expect a lot of "bumping around the bottom."

One sector that offers promise right now is telecommunications. "Minutes spent on the phone are not as cyclical as holiday spending or luxury resorts," Draaisma says. "People will still talk as much, maybe even more, to complain about their lives." …

PETER SCHIFF, President of advisory firm Euro Pacific Capital, said

The U.S. economy is in much worse shape than people realize. "At some point the world will cut us off and won't supply us with consumer goods, resources, and credit," Schiff says. While the next five years will be "extremely dire" for the U.S., Asian markets have the most to gain once their dependence on the U.S.

With stocks down as much as 50% in such markets as Hong Kong's, it is a good time to buy. He recommends some unusual commodity stocks with big dividends. One is Singapore Petroleum, an Asian oil-and-gas company. It's trading at 2.5 times next year's projected earnings, and its dividend works out to a 25% yield.