TheStreet.com Power Stock Rankings: April 1

During the week of March 24, TheStreet.com readers searched for 10 stocks more than any others. Research associate Patrick Schultz makes the buy, sell or hold calls on them below, in the order of their popularity.

1. Apple(AAPL): Sometimes the best way to demonstrate the raw power of the Apple brand and insatiable demand for its products is through an anecdote. I have a group of friends from Brazil who just visited New York City and immediately went to buy iPhones and also bought an extra one to sell in Brazil. This immediately caught the attention of my inner trader. They said people in Brazil are "crazy for the iPhone" and they could easily sell 10 of them at home. What is the expression for "holy cow" in Portuguese? --- BUY

Top Ten Most Searched Stocks on TheStreet.com

2. Visa(V): Why does everybody view Visa as the second coming of MasterCard (MA)? Folks, it is not. Visa is already more expensive than MasterCard on a valuation basis. Visa has a market cap of roughly $50 billion and is trading at a P/E of 49 times 2007 earnings per share. MasterCard has a market cap of roughly $28 billion and equivalent P/E of 38 times. Please don't be fooled by the absolute price of Visa in the $60s and Mastercard over $200 as meaning that Visa is cheaper. -- SELL

3. Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI): Finally, we get some progress in the proposed merger of Sirius and XM Satellite (XMSR). Last week, the Justice Department signed off on the deal, and now we're just awaiting the same from the FCC. I would be an aggressive buyer of shares here. -- BUY

4. Bear Stearns (BSC): Jimmy Cayne sold all his shares, and so should you. -- SELL

5. Yamana Gold(AUY): Gold prices up, good for Yamana. Gold prices down, bad for Yamana. Very simple concept, get it? Gold and Yamana had a big pullback, and I am now changing my tune and would be a buyer here (I said hold last week). Anything below $15 looks attractive. -- BUY

6. Citigroup(C): Meredith Whitney, the banking analyst from Oppenheimer, is the hottest hand (or should I say dagger, with all the number cuts she sees) on Wall Street right now. She was right the whole way down on Citi, and she continues her bearish stance. She makes a lot of frightening commentary about the whole financial sector, but I question how much of this news is already baked into the consensus view and expectations. Seriously, who does not know that Citigroup has some problems to tackle? I am going to take an extra Dramamine and hang on for the ride. -- HOLD

7. Google(GOOG): For Google, it's range-bound trading, which means a whole lot of nothing is happening. I see $470 on the upside and $410 on the downside. Yawn. -- HOLD

8. Research In Motion (RIMM): Stop the presses. Hear ye, hear ye. We have a tech stock that is working and actually trading higher. Over the past month, shares of RIM are up more than 9%, while the S&P is down a bit over 1%. Last week, RBC raised its price target to $150 from $140 and said global checks confirmed strong momentum for the first quarter. -- BUY