The Sept. 15 issue of Forbes magazine ran a cover story about the most powerful women in the world. Although some of the women made the list because of their political power, such as Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, and Condoleezza Rice, the U.S Secretary of State, many made the list because they head major publicly traded companies.

Based off of this list, Stockpickr has put together a portfolio of the World's Most Powerful Women and Their Stocks.

At the head of the list is Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo (PEP), which owns numerous beverage and snack brands, including Mountain Dew, Quaker Oats, Frito-Lay, Gatorade, SoBe and Tropicana. Nooyi has been chief executive of PepsiCo since 2006, strongly pushing healthier foods. The company just announced that it will invest $500 million in India over next three years in manufacturing capacities and marketing infrastructure. The stock has a P/E of 20, a PEG of 1.78 and a yield of 2.3%.

Pepsico is favored by Prince Al-Waleed, a member of the Saudi Royal Family who owns substantial positions in several U.S. publicly traded companies through his Kingdom Holding Company. The prince also owns Citigroup (C), with a forward P/E of 9; Eastman Kodak (EK), with a P/E of 7; and Motorola (MOT), with a forward P/E of 20.

Next on the list is Angela Braly, president and CEO of WellPoint (WLP), the large health benefits company. An attorney, she joined the company in 1999 and moved up to executive vice president, general counsel and chief public affairs officer before becoming CEO. The company just announced that it will be incurring a third-quarter charge related to its holdings of Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). The stock has a P/E of 9 and a PEG of 0.7.

WellPoint is owned by the Dodge & Cox Stock Fund, which has a Morningstar rating of four stars and is managed by Harry Hagey. The fund has had an average annual return of 17.73% over the last five years. The fund also owns Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), with a P/E of 15; Comcast, (CMCSA) with a P/E of 25; and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), with a P/E of 18.

Kraft Foods(KFT) is headed by Irene Rosenfeld, who shows up near the top of the Forbes list. She became CEO in June 2006 and chairman in March 2007. One of her successes was the integration of the Nabisco acquisition. Kraft was just added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The stock has a P/E of 21, a PEG of 2.63 and a yield of 3.3%.

Kraft is one of the stockholdings of Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world. Buffett also likes NRG Energy (NRG), with a P/E of 15; Wabco Holdings (WBC), also with a P/E of 15; and Lowe's (LOW), another 15 P/E stock.

For more powerful women and their stocks, check out the World's Most Powerful Women and Their Stocks portfolio at Stockpickr.com.

Posted on Sept. 22, 2008