Gannett Corp. (NYSE: GCI)

Originally recommended on Aug. 24/09 (IWB #2931) at $8.16. Closed Friday at $13.22.

Perrigo Company (NDQ: PRGO)

Originally recommended on June 22/09 (IWB #2923) at $26.81. Closed Friday at $36.77. (All figures in U.S. dollars). The shares in this generic drug maker closed on Friday at $36.77 which means we are ahead 37.2% since my June recommendation, including a dividend of 5.5c a share received in August. The company is due to release first quarter 2010 results on Nov. 2, so certainly hold the stock until the earnings report comes out.

Amazon.com Inc. (NDQ: AMZN)

Originally recommended on April 20, 2009 (IWB #2915) at $75.11.

Telephonica SA (NYSE: TEF)

Originally recommended on November 6, 2006 (IWB #2639) at $58.23.

ProShares Ultra Basic Materials ETF (AMEX: UYM)

Originally recommended on December 15, 2008 (IWB #2844) at $14.46.

Everybody I talk to these days is nervous, although for different reasons. Some are nervous because they feel left behind. They sat on the sidelines and missed the incredible rally we've had since March. Now they're afraid they won't have a chance to participate because the market has been refusing to correct.

Others are nervous because they made a pot of money in the rebound and they're afraid they could lose it all in a replay of last year's meltdown. So they don't know whether to take profits, let their winnings run, or curl up in a fetal position and hope they'll be rescued by divine providence.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE)

Originally recommended on Nov. 17/08 (IWB #2841) at $26.88. Closed Friday at $35.71. (All figures in U.S. dollars.)

Okay, full disclosure: I have been involved in the newspaper industry for a good portion of my career. I've worked on large dailies and small weeklies and have always been a major fan of newspapers in general.

So it has been with great dismay that I've watched the industry shrink and crumble over the last few years. It has been beset by a wave of technology-related problems that have significantly reduced the number of major revenue streams particularly classified advertising. Classified advertising was one of the most profitable elements of the newspaper business since its inception. When I talk about classified ads, I'm including employment ads and display advertising from car dealers. When Craigslist came on the scene, a huge chunk of that business just went away.

Investors here in America have lots of things to worry about these days vis-à-vis what is commonly known as the Obama trade. Will Obama tax the rich into the ground? Will Obama's stimulus package work? Is Obama anti-business?

And then there's the current favourite: how can we benefit from (or survive) Obama-Care? Healthcare-related stocks have been trading up and down based on the latest rumour of how the Obama medical plan might be implemented.

We originally recommended Cemex (NYSE: CX) on December 15, 2008 at $8.16. The stock closed Friday at $9.32. (All figures in U.S. dollars.)

I'm torn about the prospects for Cemex. On the one hand, it's a beaten-down stock that fits in exactly the right spot for the infrastructure reflation trade. On the other hand, it still has a huge amount of debt which appears to be getting more manageable but nevertheless will impede the growth of the company.

We originally recommended Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) on May 16, 2008 at $71.48. The stock closed Friday at $12.67. (All figures in U.S. dollars.)

All the machinery companies, and Terex in particular, were hit hard in the market crash. Since the March lows, the stock has doubled but it still has a long way to go before it reaches its highs of last year.

As a continuation of my previous piece on Perrigo Company (PRGO), the second health care company I would recommend is Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (RDY). The company is based in India and has been a major player in the generic drug business for some time. It is not as large as TEVA (TEVA) or Barr Pharmaceuticals (BRL) but is on the next tier down, ranking in the top 12 generic drug manufacturers in the U.S.

Dr. Reddy's products are positioned mainly against prescription pharmaceuticals. Although they produce some over-the-counter products, for the most part they cover a different segment of the market than Perrigo.

If you haven't made money these past two months, you haven't been paying attention. You could pretty much just toss darts and find undervalued companies two months ago but now the pickings are getting slim. It looks as though the easy money has been made for the short term and that we will have to get back to old-fashioned stock-picking to carry us through the summer.

I still like commodities and therefore I still like the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar. There are various ETFs that allow you to play those trades but they been on an incredible run so I would look for a pull-back before jumping into the resource sector.

Veolia Environnement (VE) was originally recommended on April 2/07 (IWB #2717) at $74.32. It closed Friday at $29.49 (all figures in U.S. dollars).

This company has a story similar to CEMEX. It's in exactly the right space for infrastructure spending and green initiatives. The company provides environmental management services focused on water and wastewater and they are involved with all kinds of environmental and energy services including the buying and selling of electricity.

China's Shanghai Composite is next at +44.6% although that gain is not as significant as it might appear because the Shanghai market is largely closed to foreigners. Much more impressive is the 21.5% upward move in May by Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, which is now ahead 26.3% for 2009.

The strong move in China-related stocks has been great news for readers who followed my advice when he recommended buying two China exchange-traded funds in February. The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund (NYSE: FXI), which was priced at $26.81 at the time, closed Friday at $37.37 for a gain of 39.4% in three and a half months. The iShares MSCI Hong Kong Index Fund (NYSE: EWH), which was recommended at $9.74, has done even better. It closed Friday at $14.18 for a gain to date of 45.6%.

As the debate rages as to whether the recession is coming to an end or gathering strength, I started thinking about General Electric (NYSE: GE). Anyone who was astute enough to buy in when the stock briefly plummeted to below $6 in early March has more than doubled their money already (the shares closed on Thursday at $13.04, figures in U.S. currency).

Regular readers of my newsletter will remember that contributing editor Tom Slee advised selling General Electric back in March 2008 when it was trading at $36.31. We received some criticism for that call, with one irate member saying we were dead wrong and he was going to hold on to his shares because "GE is a proxy for the American economy". Well, we all know what happened to the American economy! In fact, GE shares traded slightly higher than $36.31 for a few days after Tom made his call and then began a long, steady slide that didn't end until March 4. In terms of timing, Tom got us out almost at the exact top of the cycle, a rare feat indeed.

Monsanto (NYSE: MON): We originally recommended on April 30/07 at $60.30. Closed Thursday at $90.03 (all prices in U.S. dollars).

Last month the company announced second-quarter earnings of $1.09 billion ($1.97 per share), down slightly from $1.13 billion ($2.02 per share) last year. However, excluding one-time items, earnings per share for on-going business were $2.16, up from $1.77 last year. Pretty good numbers in a tough economy!

Since the tone of the market has been a lot better this past month, I thought I’d return to the idea of picking a couple of old-fashioned growth stocks. Actually, two newfangled growth stocks might be closer to the truth.

You can’t play defense forever, although the past year has certainly felt like forever. However, it does appear as though we may have made a bottom this time, so let's consider some opportunities to start rebuilding the wealth you’ve lost over these past several months. I don’t mean to suggest that there aren’t going to be lots more ups and downs before we can be certain a new bull market has begun, but at least we can start uncurling from the fetal position we’ve all been in since last July.

Originally recommended on Aug. 22/05 (IWB #2532) at $34.30. Closed Friday at $21.66 (prices in U.S. dollars).

Shares of SRA International (SRX) went into free-fall after the company announced third-quarter 2008 earnings that fell well short of analysts' estimates and cut its guidance for the rest of the year.

Originally recommended on April 30/07 (IWB #2717) at $38.75. Closed Friday at $45.90 (prices in U.S. dollars).

Last month, fertilizer producer and food processor Bunge Ltd. (BG) announced it has reached an agreement to buy Corn Products (CPO) for $4.4 billion, the equivalent of $56 a share. However, the payment won't be made in cash but rather in Bunge shares. If Bunge trades between $108.90 and $133.10, CPO shareholders will get the equivalent of $56 in Bunge stock. But if it is outside that range at the closing, they'll receive a minimum of 0.4207 and a maximum of 0.5142 of a Bunge share. Bunge, which trades on the NYSE as BG, closed on Friday at $98.79. This explains why CPO stock is trading well below the takeover price at present.