Dividend.com: Sara Lee's Got Flour Power

Clearly, we would avoid AIG shares here. No reason to pick a bottom when the story is this confusing. We would look elsewhere in the financial sector, names such as PNC Bank(PNC Quote) or US Bancorp(USB Quote), to name a few.

Advance Auto Parts Defies Auto Industry Slowdown

Advance Auto Parts (AAP Quote) just reported a revenue increase of 5.6% to $1.24 billion in its latest earnings report. Same-store sales increased 2.9%, even better than last year's 1.2% increase in the same time period.

Management has the commercial sales side buzzing, as that division posted a 13.5% increase. Shares are up an amazing 30% in the last 12 months. These solid numbers were achieved in a very tough economic environment.

We are thus adding shares of Advance Auto Parts to our "Recommended" list. The dividend yield of 0.57% (based on last night's closing stock price of $42.03) is on the low side, so we think AAP shares are best bought on pullbacks, if possible. We are certainly impressed with the company's outperformance in this tough economic period.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system.

Get your daily dose of Jim Cramer and all the stocks in his head. Sign up for the free Daily Booyah! newsletter by clicking here.