Barron's Picks And Pans: Amgen, Barnes & Noble, Expedia And More

• This weekend's Barron's offers the outlook for a private equity giant and a leading online travel booker.
• The prospects for a biotech giant and a struggling bookseller are also examined.
• Another featured article offers a look at how Barron's small-cap stock picks for 2016 fared.

"KKR Has Upside Of 25% or More" by Vito J. Racanelli suggests that private-equity leader KKR & Co. L.P. KKR might be hard to understand due to its complexity, but its asset growth and investment gains are easy for investors to love. And the charms of the alternative-asset giant include a chance to ride the coattails of legendary investor Henry Kravis, Barron's says.

In "Expedia Shares Have 25% Upside," Jack Hough points out that shares of Expedia Inc EXPE have gone nowhere for a year and a half. But with hotel trends improving and profit margins poised to surge after a string of takeovers, Barron's thinks that could change. Can the online travel booker's free cash flow per share more than double by 2020?

David Englander's "Barron's Small-Cap Picks Beat Benchmarks by a Third" takes a look at why small banks were big winners among Barron's 43 small-cap stock recommendations for last year, led by Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida SBCF. Also see which of the Barron's picks was the biggest loser. Plus, recommendations for two great books on Warren Buffett.

A court ruling blocks rivals Sanofi and Regeneron from selling cholesterol-lowering drug Praluent, according to "Amgen Patent Win Boosts Odds of a Stock Comeback" by Johanna Bennett. See why Barron's believes, given healthy fundamentals, an attractive valuation and appealing dividend yield, biotech giant Amgen, Inc. AMGN should reward investors.

In Andrew Bary's follow-up article,"Barnes & Noble Gears Up for Bookstore Battle With Amazon," see why with a low valuation and a 5.5 percent yield, Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS shares may still hold promise, despite a weak holiday quarter and news that Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN plans to open a brick-and-mortar store in Manhattan.

Also In This Week's Barron's

• The latest Barron's Mutual Fund Quarterly.
• The growing threat of a global currency war.
• What to cheer and to fear in the economy and markets.
• The Consumer Electronics Show and self-driving cars.
• The fate of the Labor Department's new fiduciary rule.
• How retirees with less savings will depress U.S. growth for years.
• Whether airline payouts will continue to rise.
• Whether to worry that the Dow has not made it to 20,000.
• The bad news parade at Macy's Inc M.
• Japan's zero growth nightmare.
• A smart approach to buying dividend stocks.