Dykstra: The Pinnacle and the Dream

Remember, nothing in life is for free. The clock is working against you as the January expiration approaches -- this is known as "time decay," or theta in options parlance. You have to "pull the trigger" when you get a nice bounce up. Take your profit and look for the next victim! (For a list of options definitions, please check out the glossary for TheStreet.com's Options Alerts newsletter.)

As the nation's fourth-largest bank, Wachovia is probably a familiar name to most readers. Today's other pick -- Metso -- probably is not. But you have to look off the beaten path sometimes and this Finnish engineering company is definitely worth getting to know.

Metso did over $5 billion in sales in the past 12 months and its revenue should continue to grow because it has exposure to the suddenly "hot" paper, mineral, civil engineering and energy industries. The reasons I got into car washes and real estate are the same reasons I like Metso -- -- the businesses they're in aren't going away and what they do can't easily be replicated.

This company trades with a forward P/E of 12.7, posted return on equity of over 18%, has a dividend yield of 1.9%, and a very reasonable debt-to-equity ratio of 0.7. And as discussed on Jim Cramer's Real Money radio show Monday, the company hired Goldman Sachs as an adviser in August and could have tremendous break-up value.

Barring that, the company has laid out a series of financial objectives for 2006-2008, including:

Annual net sales growth around 10%;

Consistently more than 15% return on capital employed;

An operating profit margin of 9% toward the end of the period;

An annual dividend of at least 40% of earnings per share;

A solid investment grade credit rating.

Yes, I would say Metso is definitely a company (and a stock) readers should get to know.

(Re)Living the Dream

The Sports Illustrated article mentioned above was entitled "Money Player."

As it applies to my baseball career, the titular reference is the ultimate compliment. Just as I did in baseball, my goal is to earn the moniker "money player" in the investment world, which can only be accomplished by generating "numbers" over a significant period of time. Perhaps, owing to my relative inexperience on the national investment stage, I belonged in the "Faces in The Crowd" section of Sports Illustrated.