Top best stocks in December

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 By motley fool.                As 2016 winds down, it's natural for investors to take stock of their financial portfolios. With that in mind, we asked a few Motley Fool specialists to select their best ideas to get investors started off with a bang in 2017. Their answers: Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Under Armour (NYSE:UA) (NYSE:UA-C), General Electric (NYSE:GE), VF Corp. (NYSE:VFC), Mastercard (NYSE:MA), Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI), and Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP). Read on to see their investment theses for these stocks. 

This stock will keep you warm at night

Dan Caplinger (VF Corp.): Some of the best stocks fly under the radar of most investors. VF Corp. is one such company, with an eminently forgettable name that nevertheless is the force behind top brands including The North Face, Vans, Timberland, and SmartWool, as well as Wrangler and Lee jeans and a host of other licensed product arrangements. The company not only sells products through its own proprietary stores but also serves as a wholesaler for other retail businesses, including department stores, specialty stores, and mass merchants.
VF has put together a strong track record of performance, with average annual returns of 12% going back 30 years. Yet retail weakness in recent years has hurt VF's share price, making now an attractive opportunity to jump in and take advantage of those choosing to sell to harvest tax losses.
VF has also boosted its dividend for 44 straight years, including an impressive 14% increase announced within the past couple of months that sent its quarterly payout to $0.42 per share. That gives VF stock a 3% yield, and with improving prospects for the retail industry as the holiday season begins, the apparel maker is in a good position to start delivering better total returns to shareholders in 2017 and beyond.

Our fickle market got this one wrong (again)

Steve Symington (Under Armour): Shares of Under Armour have fallen around 20% over the past month as of this writing -- to near a fresh 52-week-low -- on the heels of its third-quarter 2016 results. But that's not to say those results were bad.
Quarterly revenue climbed 22% year over year (23% at constant currency), to $1.47 billion, marking its 26th straight quarter of achieving at least 20% top-line growth. Net income increased 28%, to $128 million, while net income per share grew 26%, to $0.29. And that was enough for Under Armour to reiterate its full-year guidance for 2016 revenue of $4.925 billion (good for 24% growth over last year), as well as its outstanding goal of reaching $7.5 billion in revenue by 2018.
So what was all the fuss about? During the subsequent conference call, management detailed plans to make aggressive investments in bolstering Under Armour's retail presence, footwear business, and international distribution, which meant reducing its
previous $800 million goal for operating income in 2018.
In addition, the market frowned upon lower-than-expected gross margin in the near term, even though that result came primarily from the relative outperformance of Under Armour's lower-margin footwear and international businesses -- something that I incidentally suggested two months ago would happen, as I took the opportunity to explore the risks that could cause shares to temporarily decline.
This isn't the first time we've seen Under Armour prove the market wrong after similar short-term-oriented declines. I think this is a fantastic opportunity for long-term investors willing to buy Under Armour shares this month.


        To read more        
Jamal Carnette | November 28, 2016

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