This Week's Barron's Roundup

07/20/08 - 10:15 AM EDT

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.

Small-Cap Growth Manager: Barron's interviews Jim Oberweis, manager of the $10 million Oberweis Mid-Cap Fund (OBMDX). He favors Intuitive Surgical(ISRG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Flir Systems(FLIR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Managing for Life: Barron's talks with Jeff Coons, co-director of research at Manning & Napier Advisors. The firm is a long-only shop that adjusts asset allocation between stocks and bonds based on investors' time horizons. He likes Google(GOOG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Medtronic(MDT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Power Up: Barron's believes that investors who place the correct bets on solar energy stocks could make a ton of money in the long term, despite near-term headwinds. The experts favor names like First Solar(FSLR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Canadian Solar(CSIQ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Solarfun Power(SOLF - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Bank On It: Barron's thinks the massive selloff in financial stocks represents a "once-in-a-generation opportunity," and among the stocks it likes are Lehman Brothers(LEH - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Prudential(PRU - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Speaking of Dividends: This Barron's column highlights the latest dividend increases, initiations and cutbacks. This week, there's information on Wells Fargo(WFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and General Motors(GM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

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 Trinity Industries(TRN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Accenture(ACN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and T. Rowe Price (TROW).

Latest Activist Purchases: Which companies are the top hedge funds chasing? This week's list includes names like Eastman Kodak(EK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Overseas Shipholding(OSG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Premier Exhibitions(PRXI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Research Reports: The latest analyst research highlighted by Barron's, including reports this week on Piper Jaffray(PJC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Cypress Semiconductor(CY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Intel(INTC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

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 Bankrate(RATE - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), American Eagle(AEO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Goodrich Petroleum(GDP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Charming Shoppes(CHRS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).