Top Stock Picks for 2012

The beginning of the year is a great time to review your portfolio and make any make adjustments to prime it for growth.  Check out which companies money managers are liking this year. (Reuters)

Chris Kirchurchak, vice president of Strategic Wealth Partners, expects the market volatility to continue and is focusing on stocks that offer a solid dividend such as Altria, which offers a dividend yield of 5.53%.

Kirchurchak also likes gas and electric utility company Duke Energy because of its dividend yield of 4.8%. He calls the company a good defensive stock with a stable price target—which can provide some calm during market volatility.

Chris Kirchurchak suggests Apple because its price-earnings ratio (P/E Ratio) is six to seven times earnings and it has a strong potential for paying dividends in the future. (Reuters)

RDM Financial Group CEO Ron Weiner’s stock picks favor large U.S.-based multinational companies that benefit from the growth of emerging markets, and Caterpillar is on his list of stocks to watch. As a manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, the company benefits from the infrastructure improvement and expansion going on globally—particularly in emerging markets. (Reuters)

Weiner likes this agribusiness ETF because it can stand from huge growth from emerging markets.  Growing populations around the world mean a higher demand for food, which is good news for the food sector. (Reuters)

McGervey Wealth Management President Mike McGervey sees Sunoco Logistics Partners as a great stock pick because it has a strong five-year growth rate, and has recently revised its earnings outlook upward. It has a dividend of 4.15%, and McGervey  describes it as a relatively defensive stock, which is a good position considering the market’s volatility.

Apparel retailer Genesco is another top pick from Mike McGervey who says the company is ranked second in its industry for relative strength and sixth for its earnings per share.  McGervey says Genesco, owner of stores such as Lids and Johnston & Murphy, has excellent fundamentals and has seen a three-year growth rate of 25%.  It has seen its earnings outlook revised upward and should benefit from the growth of the retail industry.

Mike McGervey says this small-cap stock doesn’t have the defensive nature of Sunoco Logistics Partners, but it has a three-year growth rate of nearly 30% and like Sunoco, its earnings outlook has been revised upward. As an auto dealer, McGervey expects the company to benefit from expectations of a pickup in auto sales in 2012.