Email question about:
Best stocks to buy newborns or children?

Walt Disney Co. (DIS)

Q:        I have two one-year-old nephews. They already have more than enough plastic junk to play with, so I'm thinking of buying each of them $50-75 worth of stocks for Christmas. Any thoughts on cheap stocks that you expect to blossom about the time they'll need cash for college?

Jim:     What I always do, when I have the plan for 1-year-olds... I said this recently with Bob Igor, whom I think is fabulous... the guy who runs Disney... You buy a share of Disney (DIS)... to Jim Skinner, the fantastic CEO of McDonald's (MCD*), which I own for ActionAlertsPlus.com, my charitable trust... You buy a share of MCD. Why? They will go to McDonald's, they will go to Disney... They will therefore learn what they own, and it won't be like if you go buy them Seagate (STX) or Western Digital (WDC), okay... No offense to those companies, and none taken...

McDonald's (MCD*)

See DIS comments above for:
MCD*

Email question about:
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO)


Q:        Can you give us an update on the MRO split? Will the drop in oil prices affect this decision?

Jim:     Refining's good. The actual other part is bad. My advice to any of these large oil companies is that, if you have any faith in the future, one of them should just buy MRO. The oil market is horrible. It goes down everyday and yet, I think there is value. As I said to Melissa Francis (on CNBC) today, I think that Schlumberger (SLB) is cheap.

Schlumberger (SLB)

See MRO comments above for:
SLB

Email question about:
Vector Group Ltd. (VGR)


Q:        What's your take on VGR? The stock looks very attractive as a defensive dividend play, but looking at the balance sheet, it seems to consistently pay out more money in dividends per share than it makes in earnings per share. What's the deal?

Jim:     A lot of cash flow there, but I suggest Altria (MO*), which actually broke $15 today. I own that for my charitable trust, ActionAlertsPlus.com. It yields 8%. Everyone is afraid that Obama will put on gigantic taxes and, when California restricted a lot of its tobacco... boy, the smoking did go down a lot... I still think that the Marlboro Man is going to make you a fortune.

Altria (MO*)

See VGR comments above for:
MO*