This Week's 'Barron's' Roundup

Editor's note: Welcome to Stockpickr's "Barron's Roundup." Each weekend, James Altucher presents Stockpickr portfolios related to articles in the latest issue of Barron's.

Hedge Fund Interview: Barron's talks with Sy Jacobs, founder of New York's JAM Asset Management, which runs two funds focused on financial stocks. He has bearish bets on Hudson City Bancorp(HCBK Quote) and Wells Fargo(WFC Quote), and a bullish bet on MGIC Investment(MTG Quote).

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Talking Shop With the Pros: Barron's highlights investment ideas presented at the Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference, a forum that brings together hedge fund managers and investment professionals. Wall Street stars like Bill Ackman, Bill Miller, Carl Icahn and David Einhorn were in attendance. Stocks receiving thumbs-ups included Citigroup(C Quote), Wendy's(WEN Quote) and Fording Coal(FDG Quote).

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Bullish and Bearish: Each week, Barron's publishes bullish and bearish stories on a variety of stocks. We present summaries of those stories in this portfolio. This week, there are bullish stories on Mohawk(MHK Quote) and Trico Marine(TRMA Quote), plus a bearish piece on FMC Technologies(FTI Quote).

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Latest Activist Purchases: Which companies are the top hedge funds chasing? This week's list includes RedEnvelope(REDEQ.PK Quote), Youbet.com(UBET Quote) and Calpine(CPN Quote).

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Research Reports: The latest analyst research reports highlighted by Barron's, including reports this week on Bankrate(RATE Quote), Echelon(ELON Quote) and Qualcomm(QCOM Quote).

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Top Insider Purchases of the Week: Insider purchases are a lot more predictive than insider selling. Barron's lists companies where managers are buying stock, and we build a portfolio with those companies' stocks. There has been interesting activity in Philip Morris(PM Quote), La Jolla Pharmaceutical(LJPC Quote), GLG Partners(GLG Quote) and Novamerican Steel(TONS Quote).

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1 What would best describe your stance heading into the coming week of trading?                                 Bullish Bearish Neutral         2 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move up in the coming week?                                 --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities         3 Which of these sectors do you think is set to move down in the coming week?                                 --Choose One--Aerospace and DefenseAirlinesAutomobilesBeverages and Food ProductsBiotechnologyCommercial BanksComputers and PeripheralsConsumer NondurablesEnergy Equipment & ServicesHMOs and HospitalsHomebuildingInsuranceIntegrated OilInternet, Software ServicesInvestment Bankers and BrokersMediaMultiline RetailPharmaceuticalsPrecious MetalsSemis, Semi EquipmentTelecom EquipmentTobacco and AlcoholWireless CommunicationsUtilities                                             View the results without voting              Â