Savvy Stock Picks

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Public, NYSE:WMT) percentage change fell -0.06%, closing the day at $53.57 and its overall traded volume was 5.88M shares on monday, against its average volume of 12.45M. WMT opened the day at $53.56, it made an intraday low of $53.23 and an intraday high of $53.73. The stock has a 52 week low of $47.77 and 52 week high of $56.27. WMT’s market capitalization is 190.82B and it has 3.56B outstanding shares.

About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Public, NYSE:WMT)

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Walmart) operates retail stores. The Company operates in three business segments: Walmart U.S., International and Sam’s Club. During the fiscal year ended January 31, 2010 (fiscal 2010), The Walmart U.S. segment accounted for 63.8% of its net sales, and operated retail stores in different formats in the United States, as well as Walmart’s online retail operations, walmart.com. The International segment consists of retail operations in 14 countries and Puerto Rico. During fiscal 2010, the segment generated 24.7% of the Company’s net sales. The International segment includes different formats of retail stores and restaurants, including discount stores, supercenters and Sam’s Clubs that operate outside the United States. The Sam’s Club segment consists of membership warehouse clubs in the United States and the segment’s online retail operations, samsclub.com. During fiscal 2010, Sam’s Club accounted for 11.5% of its net sales.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (Public, NYSE:LOW) percentage change fell -0.16%, closing the day at $25.48 and its overall traded volume was 5.79M shares on monday, against its average volume of 15.77M. LOW opened the day at $25.39, it made an intraday low of $25.28 and an intraday high of $25.56. The stock has a 52 week low of $19.35 and 52 week high of $28.54. LOW’s market capitalization is 35.16B and it has 1.38B outstanding shares.

About Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (Public, NYSE:LOW)

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (Lowe’s) is a home improvement retailer. As of January 29, 2010, the Company operated 1,710 stores, consisted of 1,694 stores across 50 United States states and 16 stores in Canada. Its 1,710 stores represent approximately 193 million square feet of retail selling space. The Company serves homeowners, renters and commercial business customers. Homeowners and renters primarily consist of do-it-yourself (DIY) customers and do-it-for-me (DIFM) customers who utilize its installed sales programs, as well as others buying for personal and family use. Commercial business customers include those who work in the construction, repair/remodel, commercial and residential property management, or business maintenance professions. During the fiscal year ended January 29, 2010 (fiscal 2009), it opened 62 stores, including five Canadian stores.

iShares MSCI Brazil Index (ETF) (Public, NYSE:EWZ) percentage change fell -0.62%, closing the day at $74.04 and its overall traded volume was 5.62M shares on monday, against its average volume of 13.61M. EWZ opened the day at $74.00, it made an intraday low of $73.76 and an intraday high of $74.26. The stock has a 52 week low of $57.18 and 52 week high of $81.76. EWZ’s market capitalization is 11.15B and it has 150.65M outstanding shares.

About iShares MSCI Brazil Index (ETF) (Public, NYSE:EWZ)

iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the aggregate in the Brazilian market, as measured by the MSCI Brazil Index. The Fund invests in a sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index. As at August 31, 2009, the Fund’s investment portfolio includes basic materials, energy, financial, consumer non-cyclical, utilities, communications, diversified, industrial, consumer cyclical, and short-term and other net assets. The investment advisor of the Fund is BlackRock Fund Advisors.

Valero Energy Corporation (Public, NYSE:VLO) percentage change fell -0.04%, closing the day at $23.01 and its overall traded volume was 5.61M shares on monday, against its average volume of 8.00M. VLO opened the day at $22.89, it made an intraday low of $22.75 and an intraday high of $23.05. The stock has a 52 week low of $15.49 and 52 week high of $23.05. VLO’s market capitalization is 13.03B and it has 566.21M outstanding shares.

About Valero Energy Corporation (Public, NYSE:VLO)

Valero Energy Corporation (Valero) owns 15 refineries located in the United States, Canada and Aruba. The Company’s refineries can produce conventional gasolines, distillates, jet fuel, asphalt, petrochemicals, lubricants, and other refined products, as well as a slate of products, including conventional blendstock for oxygenate blending (CBOB) and reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygenate blending (RBOB). Valero markets branded and unbranded refined products on a wholesale basis in the United States and Canada through an extensive bulk and rack marketing network. It also sells refined products through a network of about 5,800 retail and wholesale branded outlets in the United States, Canada and Aruba. It also owns 10 ethanol plants located in the Midwest with a combined ethanol production capacity of about 1.1 billion gallons per year. The Company operates in three segments: refining, ethanol and retail.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (Public, NYSE:FCX) percentage change grew 0.37%, closing the day at $118.61 and its overall traded volume was 5.59M shares on monday, against its average volume of 10.44M. FCX opened the day at $117.17, it made an intraday low of $117.06 and an intraday high of $119.44. The stock has a 52 week low of $56.71 and 52 week high of $119.44. FCX’s market capitalization is 55.85B and it has 470.88M outstanding shares.

About Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (Public, NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX), through its wholly owned subsidiary, Phelps Dodge Corporation (Phelps Dodge) is a copper, gold and molybdenum mining company. Its portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, which contains the single recoverable copper reserve and the single gold reserve; mining operations in North and South America, and the Tenke Fungurume minerals district in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). FCX also operates Atlantic Copper, its wholly owned copper smelting and refining unit in Spain. As of December 31, 2009, consolidated recoverable proven and probable reserves totaled 104.2 billion pounds of copper, 37.2 million ounces of gold, 2.59 billion pounds of molybdenum, 270.4 million ounces of silver and 0.78 billion pounds of cobalt. Approximately 33 % of its copper reserves were in Indonesia, approximately 33 % were in South America, approximately 26 % were in North America and approximately eight % were in Africa.