19 Stocks for Dow Peak

So what's the best way to take advantage of a march past new highs, if it does occur?

Well, genius, you've got to start buying stocks. Pronto. And the more you think it's probably not the right idea -- that it's too late in the day, that all the best names are up too high, that the economy is about to run off the rails, that Iran is going to blow up the world and the dollar is going to collapse -- the more likely that it is still the right time. (The wrong time, by the way, is when you are absolutely certain that you've got it made).

Basic Lessons

If it's been a while since you actually picked stocks, let me remind you of a few basics first.

Successful investing is about becoming a capable, responsible actor in a story that stars you. It is not really about the economy, politics, the weather or corporate results. And it's not about choosing the right brokerage, analyst, advisor or any other intermediary. It is about your own powers of observation and how you use your brains, intuition, memory and emotions to react and adapt to change.

The change that you are witnessing now, to come full circle, is a new high. Although it is a long way up from the bottom, it may also be a long way down from the ultimate next top. The new high -- if we get there, and if it holds -- marks a milestone of confidence in the strength and credibility of large U.S. companies after six long years in the wilderness following accounting scandals, recession and the 9/11 terror attacks.

To get started again with your cash, you need to get back to basics -- like a major-league infielder taking ground balls during spring training -- and make sure you are using your personal strengths to their best advantage.

Let's cut right to the fastest possible way to get some stocks back in your portfolio.

For a start, you can use a stock screener. In this case, I used MSN's StockScouter stock-rating system. I requested a list of the stocks in the major Dow Jones indices with StockScouter scores greater than 8, and here's the list I came up with on Monday.

Top Dow Jones Index stocks
Dow Industrials	StockScouter Score	5/8 close	Mkt cap
Caterpillar (CAT)	10	$79.79	$53 billion
Citigroup (C)	9	50.19	250 billion
Alcoa (AA)	8	36.05	30.5 billion
Boeing (BA)	8	87.38	70 billion
General Electric (GE)	8	35.01	365 billion
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)	8	58.71	174 billion
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)	8	46.14	162 billion
3M (MMM)	8	87.99	65 billion
Altria Group (MO)	8	73.54	154 billion
United Technologies (UTX)	8	64.97	65 billion
ExxonMobil (XOM)	8	63.84	387 billion
Dow Transports
GATX (GMT)	9	47.93	2.4 billion
J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT)	9	25.62	3.9 billion
CSX (CSX)	8	73.22	16.4 billion
Landstar System (LSTR)	8	45.01	2.6 billion
Norfolk Southern (NSC)	8	56.01	23.3 billion
Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG)	8	51.50	2.0 billion
Dow Utilities
TXU (TXU)	9	57.23	26 billion
Edison International (EIX)	8	40.09	13.2 billion
Source: MSN