Saut: Emphasis on Large-Cap, Dividend Yielding Stocks; SGP Still a Buy

Excerpt from Raymond James strategist Jeffrey Saut's latest essay:

...[W]e have a cadre of mutual funds that we believe can be bought ANY day of the week. The list begins with Quaker Strategic [QUAGX], captained by the adroit Manu Daftary, who by our pencil is one of Wall Street’s most gifted stock pickers. Also from Quaker is the more conservative Quaker Capital Opportunities [QUKTX], managed by our friend Charlie Knott.

Two long/short funds also remain high on our “hit” list, those being Diamond Hills [DIAMX] and Icon [IOLIX], since such funds have the ability to make money in both “up” and “down” markets. As always, there are a number of mutual funds managed by the skilled Ivy Funds, as well as the Pimco organization, which embrace our “stuff stock” theme.

As for our individual stock selection, for the last few quarters we have tried to emphasize large-cap, dividend yielding, international earning, thematically selective type stocks. Some names often mentioned in these missives have been General Electric (GE), Microsoft (MSFT), and Wyeth (WYE), which “caught” a bullish write-up in this week’s Barron’s based on its Alzheimer’s drug.

Yet by far the most questions we received last week centered on our “buy” recommendation of controversial Strong Buy-rated Schering-Plough’s (SGP) convertible preferred “B” shares. Given last week’s downside consternations, is it any wonder our phones lit up? Still, we recommended yet another one-third purchase of those convertible shares that should leave longer-term investors “averaged in” around $175 per share with an 8% yield. Our analyst thinks SGP is worth mid-$20s even if ALL the sales of Vytorin and Zetia go away.

The call for this week: Rally time!