The Motley Fool's Weekly Editors' Picks

Kris Eddy, The Motley Fool
Updated

Fools were out and about this past week in an investing world jampacked with actions and ideas. Here are three articles you might find useful as you decide how to invest your money.

My Top 10 CEOs of 2011
MasterCard (NYS: MA) CEO Ajay Banga topped Fool contributor Sean Williams' list of top 10 CEOs of 2011. Read about Nos. 1-5 and Nos. 6-10.

"[L]eading MasterCard since only July 2010, he has been nothing short of remarkable," Sean wrote, citing MasterCard's crushing Wall Street consensus estimates and clocking a "ridiculous 67% stock gain [in 2011] while nearly every other financial stock plummeted." And Sean says the MasterCard growth story is just getting started.

Also in Sean's top 10:

  • Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (NAS: AMZN) : Amazon asserted its dominance, caused woes for competitors including Netflix, and set itself up for big growth.

  • Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook: "No decision could have been smarter for Facebook's future value than to delay its IPO filing until the market is more accepting of Internet IPOs," Sean wrote.

  • James Rogers of Duke Energy (NYS: DUK) : Duke increased its dividend and announced a proposed merger with Progress Energy that will, if approved, create the country's largest utility, yielding "operational synergies" and boosting the bottom line.

Check out the stories (here and here) to see all of what Sean had to say about the top 10 CEOs of 2011.

Starbucks' $50 Billion OpportunityMotley Fool analyst Jason Moser is keen on Starbucks' (NAS: SBUX) strategy of using its $30 million purchase of Evolution Fresh to get into the health and wellness market, which could be a $50 billion opportunity. "I think Starbucks is realizing this is a big market," Jason said during a video conversation with Fool editor Eric Bleeker. "This is a way people are moving. They're trying to live healthier lives, so this is [Starbucks'] first shot at it."

Check out the video to hear all of what Jason and Eric had to say and to get a taste of what our "Motley Fool Conversations" videos have to offer.

After a Decade of Stagnation, Is This Tech Titan a Buy, Sell, or Hold?The subject of the headline question is Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) , and the answer to the question is "hold," according to Fool contributor Evan Niu. "Some of the company's prospects look promising, particularly those that focus on the inevitable migration to the cloud," Evan wrote. "Having a strategy is just the first step, though, and Microsoft needs to execute flawlessly to compensate for being so late." Shares look too cheap to justify selling, Evan noted, and Windows 8 could do better than expected.

In Foolish fashion, Evan looked at arguments from all sides of the "buy, sell, or hold" question. Read the article to get the lowdown and see whether you agree with Evan.

To get a hot stock tip from The Motley Fool's chief investment officer, you'll want to get the free report "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012." Check out the details on this "Costco of Latin America."It's free.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool online editor Kris Eddy owns no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.The Motley Fool owns shares of MasterCard, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Amazon.com.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Microsoft, Netflix, Amazon.com, and Starbucks, as well as creating a bull call spread position in Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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