Barron's Picks And Pans: McDonald's, PG&E, Softbank And More

The cover story in this weekend's Barron's examines a troubled utility that could still offer upside.

Other featured articles discuss how to play the hybrid vehicle trend, software stocks that look bubbly and the tech dividend kings.

Also, the prospects for a Japanese conglomerate, a fast-food leader, a biotech with a big backer and more.

"Pacific Gas & Electric Stock Could Be a Buy—Despite All the Risks" by Alexandra Scaggs suggests that a turnaround of California utility PG&E Corporation PCG faces a number of hurdles. See why Barron's says there could be upside.

Andrew Bary's "Sky-High Software Stocks Look Bubbly" points out that Wall Street loves companies like ServiceNow Inc NOW and Workday Inc WDAY because of their powerful revenue growth. But where are the profits?

In "Hybrid Vehicles Could Drive the Auto Industry's Next Decade," Jack Hough makes the case that the all-electric future may not be imminent. In the meantime, investors should look at auto suppliers that have diversified into electric content, like Delphi Technologies PLC DLPH.

Technology stocks aren't traditional dividend havens like utilities and consumer staples have been, according to "Microsoft and 7 Other Tech Stocks That Yield Steady Payouts" by Lawrence Strauss. That's shifting as companies such as Apple Inc. AAPL operate mature businesses that throw off excess cash.

In Eric Savitz's "The SoftBank Stock Story Keeps Getting Better," see why Barron's believes the news on Sprint Corp S, an accelerated timetable for a WeWork IPO and Vision Fund 2 all gave SoftBank Group shares a boost.

See also: Beyond Meat Shorts Take Another $100M Hit On Dunkin' Partnership

"Motorola and 2 Other Misunderstood Stocks a Top-Performing Fund Is Betting On" by Sarah Max takes a look at what it takes to be part of the featured $3.1-billion midcap value equity fund that includes Humana Inc HUM among its holdings.

In "Carnegie Mellon University Is a Big Backer of This Biotech Stock," Ed Lin examines why this private research university has disclosed that it owns more than 5% of Neubase Therapeutics Inc NBSE. See what ties the two together.

Shares of Mcdonald's Corp MCD rose after the fast-food giant reported second-quarter earnings largely in-line with estimates last week. So says Teresa Rivas's "McDonald's Stock Is Rising on an American Revival."

Also in this week's Barron's:

The Barron's ranking of the largest robo-advisors

Why TV's great unbundling has only just begun

If the Federal Reserve stopped having regular meetings

Betting on U.S. stocks ahead of the Fed meeting

Whether the Fed cutting rates now is a mistake

Whether negative interest rates could be headed here

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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