Zacks.com Announces That John Reese Highlights the Following Stocks: ChevronTexaco, Everest Re Group, Bank of America, Offshore Logistics, and Pulte Homes.

CHICAGO -- The market is a mixed bag, according to John Reese, but discipline and patience will persevere. Learn what the rising rate environment means for the economic recovery, and discover a couple new additions to the Hot List. Read about ChevronTexaco Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Everest Re Group (NYSE:RE), Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), Offshore Logistics, Inc. (NYSE:OLG), and Pulte Homes, Inc. (NYSE:PHM). John Reese is editor of the Validea Hot List newsletter. Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://at.zacks.com/?id=84

Here are the highlights from the Featured Expert column:

Executive Summary from August 13th

The big news last week is that the Fed, once again, raised short-term interest rates by a quarter of a point. Normally, the market isn't happy about interest rate increases. This is especially true in a situation such as we now have where the Fed has all but said it will increase rates even more later this year. But many observers saw a silver lining to the most recent rate increase. They note that the economic recovery hasn't been all that convincing, witness the weak July increase in non-farm jobs of 32,000, added to weakening consumer spending.

The fact that the Fed is raising rates in the face of such economic news is taken as a sign of faith that the recent economic slowdown is unlikely to be long-lived. The Fed has even issued a statement saying, "The economy... appears poised to resume a stronger pace of expansion going forward."

Reese thinks the economic picture, right now, is cloudy, with some aspects of the economy showing strength (job growth until July and housing starts are examples) and others, such as interest rates, indicating weak economic performance. It's a mixed bag, at the moment.

Portfolio Additions:

ChevronTexaco Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is a fully integrated petroleum company, as well as having operations involving chemicals, coal mining, and power and energy services. The Company operates in the United States as well as more than 180 other countries. We've all seen gasoline prices this year and read about how crude oil has hit record highs, so it should come as no surprise that an oil company has risen to the top of the Hot List.

It's a testament to the strength of this stock that four, yes four, interpretations of Reese's guru strategies strongly favor CVX. These include the strategies of Peter Lynch, David Dreman, James O'Shaughnessy and Kenneth Fisher.

Everest Re Group (NYSE:RE), through its operating subsidiaries, underwrites reinsurance and insurance in the U.S., Bermuda and international markets. The beginnings of the company date back to 1973, when Prudential Reinsurance was established as a subsidiary of Prudential Insurance. Then in 1995, Prudential Insurance spun off the reinsurer in a public offering, changing the name in the process to Everest Reinsurance. In 2000, as a result of a corporate restructuring at the holding company level, Everest Re Group became the publicly owned parent of the group. The company is based in St. Michael, Barbados, with its main office in Liberty Corner, N.J.

David Dreman's strategy, based on Reese's interpretation of his seminal book, Contrarian Investment Strategy, indicates there would be a strong interest level in Everest Re. He likes to invest only among the 1,500 largest companies, which includes Everest Re, and prefers companies with rising earnings for the most recent quarters, which Everest Re has.

Other Hot List stocks include:

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) operates through its banking and non-banking subsidiaries as a provider of financial services and products throughout the United States and in selected international markets.

Offshore Logistics, Inc. (NYSE:OLG) is a provider of helicopter transportation services to the worldwide offshore oil and gas industry with operations in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. The company also has operations, both directly and indirectly, in other offshore oil and gas producing regions of the world, including Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico, Nigeria and Trinidad.

Pulte Homes, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) is a holding company whose subsidiaries engage in the homebuilding and financial services businesses.

Read John Reese's complete commentary, and learn a lot more about the above-mentioned Hot List additions, by clicking: http://at.zacks.com/?id=85

About Zacks Featured Experts

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