Top Takes From RealMoney

The RealMoney contributors are in the business of trading and investing all day on the basis of ongoing news flow. Below, we offer the top five ideas that RealMoney contributors posted today and how they played those ideas.

TheStreet.com brings you the news all day, and with RealMoney's "Columnist Conversation," you can see how the pros are playing it on a real-time basis. Here are the top five ideas played today:

1. Defensive Stocks Earn Their Name

Steve Gear
1/27/2009 3:10 PM EST

Some defensive stocks are holding up well for investors. Companies in the food industry I recommended last fall, such as Ralcorp(RAH Quote), Fresh Delmonte(FDP Quote), Delmonte Foods(DLM Quote) and Flowers Foods(FLO Quote) are up or holding their own in the recent selloff. American Italian Pasta(AIPC Quote) continues to be my highest conviction idea for earnings growth. Food and private label products are a great place to be in 2009.

2. The Best and the Worst

James Altucher
1/27/2009 11:29 AM EST

As part of my daily research, and in an attempt to get a "feel" for the daily market, I talk to various long and short managers constantly. Here are some of their most recent ideas:

Astec Industries(ASTE Quote): One long manager called Astec the single best way to play Obama's stimulus package, particularly with regard to the $30 billion or so that will be allocated toward road and highway pair. This under-the-radar name trades for just five times cash flow, and it sported 40% growth last year.

Scotts Miracle-Gro(SMG Quote): A short manager I talked to called Scotts horribly overvalued here, as weak cyclical sales, coupled with nonexistent consumer spending for its products, will likely bite into margins in 2009. More than 75% of Scotts' business is based on the global consumer, breaking down as follows: 36% from garden-related items, 30% from lawn items, 18% from home protection items and 16% from international. The short manager also highlighted the massive amount of insider selling recently and the fact that Scotts has a decent amount of loans that need to be rolled over this year and next.