I don’t care about subprime or oil. Either oil will eventually go below $100, or we’ll figure out how to deal with higher-priced oil. And of the $11 trillion in mortgages out there, maybe 3% is at risk. Within the next 30 years, 50 million more people will be living in the U.S. They all need a place to live. House prices will go up again, and again, and again.

Whenever the market goes down for a sustained period, like the period we just experienced, everyone assumes that “the trend is down” and that “the market will go down forever”. Howard Ruff, who wrote How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in 1980, right before the biggest bull market ever, just came out with How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century.

Nothing ever changes, and the bears are never right for long.

So before you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, after nightmares of pushing apple carts in the middle of Times Square or the Midwest dustbowl, consider that there are many reasons to be optimistic. And there are many, many stocks out there that are simply dirt cheap (depending on how you define “dirt”) and many stocks that are worth buying.

With that in mind, here are 172 reasons to be bullish:

23 Companies That Have Raised Their Dividend for 25 Consecutive Years

These stocks include Altria (MO), Bank of America (BAC), General Electric (GE) and Coca-Cola (KO).

For the full list, check out the Favorite S&P Dividend Aristocrats portfolio at Stockpickr.

34 Companies With 10 Consecutive Years of Increased Earnings

In general, corporate America's earnings represent 8% of GDP, the greatest they've ever been thanks to booming productivity and, yes, offshoring, which allows companies to improve margins on easy-to-manufacture products. And it's not just one sector. These earnings kings come from every walk of life, including education company Apollo Group (APOL), mega retailer Wal-Mart (WMT) and Dollar Tree (DLTR).

Other stocks with 10 consecutive years of earnings increases include Ross Stores (ROST), Expeditors International (EXPD) and Patterson (PDCO).
For the full list, check out the Top Earnings Champions portfolio.

100 High-Yielding Stocks That Pay Monthly Dividends
Companies pay dividends when they are generating cash and feel good about their future prospects. Otherwise, they horde their cash. Some of these stocks will be volatile. That's the nature of the beast with high-yielding stocks. And many of these stocks are in the energy sector.

But part of the bearish argument on the economy is that energy costs are going up. So while everyone is debating in the classroom, you can collect your monthly checks, and you have your choice from more companies than you ever would have in the past.

The top 10 yielding stocks that pay monthly dividends are: Canetic Resources Trust (CNE), Harvest Energy Trust (HTE), Enterra Energy Trust (ENT), Advantage Energy (AAV), Precision Drilling Trust (PDS), Cross Timbers Royalty Trust (CRT), Pengrowth Energy Trust (PGH), PrimeWest Energy Trust (PWI), Provident Energy Trust (PVX) and Baytex Energy Trust (BTE).

For the full list, check out the Top 100 Highest-Yielding Stocks That Pay Monthly Dividends portfolio.

15 Companies Buying Back Their Shares

Companies buy back their stock when they think their stock price is cheap. This reduces the shares outstanding, increases their earnings per share and ultimately results in higher stock prices.

For instance, IBM (IBM) bought back 97 million shares last year for a total price of $8.1 billion. The company is going to buy back another $5 billion worth this year. Over the past five years, IBM has paid an average of $62 per share in its buybacks. Their stock is now worth about $150. In other words, IBM has made 50% on each of its stock purchases. That's not so bad.

Cigna (CI) is another big buyer. Its shares outstanding have gone from 140 million shares to 112 million shares in the past five years, and it bought back $1 billion worth of stock just last year.

Again, companies only do that when they think the best investment is to buy their own shares. That's bullish. Some of the other companies on this list are Allstate (ALL), Texas Instruments (TXN), Forest Laboratories (FRX) and tech stalwart Cisco Systems (CSCO).

There are many things to be worried about in life. But the current strength of the U.S. markets and economy is not one of them.

For the full list of companies buying back their shares, check out theMad Money Buybacks portfolio.


And here’s our latest list from last week of either companies buying back shares or insiders buying back stock.

A note from James Altucher:

Every weekend I send an email to Jim Cramer and several hedge fund managers about the most interesting portfolios posted on Stockpickr that week. Usually those portfolios not only list stocks according to a theme but also offer significant analysis as to why the stocks are cheap.

Here are some examples:

Stocks related to drilling the Marcellus Shale

MLPS with yields above 7%

Microcaps trading for less than tangible book

Stocks that do well after Hurricanes

Here's the challenge: Build a portfolio at Stockpickr.com with great analysis, and send me the link. Each great portfolio (with analysis) will get posted on TheStreet.com with your byline (as a "Stockpickr Guest Columnist") and will be included in my email I send to Jim and the other
hedge fund managers on my list.


Posted July 23, 2008