After an 8 percent gain in 2007, The Examiner Top 10 looks for another positive year in 2008.
Although there?s no shortage of tough economic news ? oil prices, the subprime mortgage crisis and the housing downturn ? analysts predict 2008 will be another strong year for investors.
“In 2008, you?re going to see a net gain,” said Joel N. Morse, a professor of finance at the Merrick School of Business of the University of Baltimore. “I don?t think you?re going to see the market pull back.”
PNC investment analysts are forecasting an 11 percent to 15 percent total return from U.S. stocks in the new year.
“As the economy and earnings growth slow, investors should prefer growth companies that can continue to deliver earnings growth,” said E. William Stone, chief investment strategist for PNC.
With company growth in mind, Under Armour leads the pack of new companies in The Examiner Top 10 for the new year. The Baltimore-based sports apparel company?s stock price had an up-and-down 2007, beginning the year at $50.75 per share and going as high as $73.40 per share in August.
The stock has slipped some since peaking in the summer, but Under Armour posted record sales and profits in the third quarter and has joined Nike as a leader in the sports apparel market.
ArcelorMittal joins the Top 10 because, as of now, the world?s largest steel producer still owns the Sparrows Point steel mill in Baltimore County. An agreement to sell the plant for $1.35 billion to the international investment group E2 Acquisition Corp. fell though in December because of E2?s inability to secure financing. ArcelorMittal is required by the U.S. Department of Justice to divest the plant because it acquired a steel competitor.
ArcelorMittal?s stock price opened 2007 at $40.80 per share and will close the year at close to $80 per share.
Also new to the portfolio is Provident Bank, Maryland?s largest independent commercial bank with more than $6.2 billion in assets; Northrop Grumman, a $30 billion defense and technology firm with about 10,000 employees in Maryland; Southwest Airlines, the largest air carrier at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport; and Verizon, a telecommunications firm serving about 2 million Maryland customers.
Constellation Energy, Legg Mason, Lockheed Martin and T. Rowe Price, all Top 10 holdovers from 2007, round out The Examiner portfolio for 2008.
Top 10 for 2008
» ArcelorMittal
» Constellation Energy
» Legg Mason
» Lockheed Martin
» Northrop Grumman
» Provident Bank
» T. Rowe Price
» Southwest Airlines
» Under Armour
» Verizon
