'Real Money' Radio Recap: Second-Half Rebound Candidates

Aaron Task celebrated the start of the second half by predicting which first-half losers will turn into winners by the end of the year. Task, co-executive editor of TheStreet.com, subbed Friday for the vacationing Jim Cramer on his "Real Money" radio show.

Using a list supplied by The Wall Street Journal, Task reviewed the mega-cap stocks that had the roughest first half and -- contrarian that he is -- forecast a turnaround for most of them.

Wal-Mart(WMT Quote) has had a terrible first half, but Task said that negative sentiment has reached a peak. Should the economy slow down in the second half, shoppers may opt to walk the aisles in their local Wal-Mart as opposed to a more upscale and pricey store, Task says.

With regard to drugmaker Merck(MRK Quote), Task says institutions have to own it and will like it even more at these depressed levels, especially with its current juicy 4.59% dividend yield.

Another first-half loser likely to turn around with a slowing economy is McDonald's(MCD Quote) Task says. Same goes for IBM(IBM Quote), another American icon of a company, which Task says is being hit by too much negative sentiment.

Aluminum giant Alcoa(AA Quote) kicks off earnings season next week, and Task says the company could pop if it provides better-than-expected earnings, mostly because it has been out of favor for so long.

And as for 3M(MMM Quote), which fell over a management shuffle, Task says it may be time to dip a toe in and start buying.

As for the first-half winners, Task advised listeners to take profits in Boeing(BA Quote) which is up 27% year-to-date. And despite Cramer's love for shares of Intel(INTC Quote) Task warned that there very well may be "too much optimism going into the quarterly report."

Task's guest John Rutledge, chairman of Rutledge Capital, spoke more about inflation and exchange-traded funds than individual stocks.