Barron's Recap: The New King Of Video

• The cover story in this weekend's Barron's offers a look at the prospects for YouTube.
• This issue also includes Barron's 15th annual forecasting challenge, and why investors should prepare for a great power struggle between the United States and China.
• The prospects for short-selling funds, solar stocks, Signet Jewelers, Post Holdings and more are covered in feature stories as well.

Cover Story

"Why YouTube Is Twice as Valuable as Netflix" by Jack Hough. As a standalone company, YouTube could be worth $100 billion, says this week's cover story in Barron's. With nearly $9 million in revenue, the video-sharing website makes up 15 percent of Alphabet Inc GOOGL sales, and its viewership is growing at 60 percent per year — and it is just getting warmed up. See how Barron's thinks YouTube stacks up against Netflix, Inc. NFLX and why shares of Alphabet could top $1,000 within a year. The article includes a look at so-called click magnets, six YouTube stars that together have about twice as many subscribers as Netflix. See also: GW Pharmaceuticals Releases Encouraging Epidiolex Data, Shares Rise 5%

Feature Stories

In "BlackRock Uses Big Data for Big Gains," Sarah Max takes a look at how the managers of the BlackRock, Inc. BLK Scientific Active Equity investment group let computers do the heavy lifting in analyzing investments in order to drive its market-beating results. "The Best Bear Funds" by Lewis Braham discusses how though more than 100 funds claim to be bearish, only five of them have managers who short individual stocks. As the market falters, says Barron's, consider these five actively managed short-selling funds. Avi Salzman's "The Budget Deal Boosts Solar Stocks, REITs" suggests that solar companies and real estate investment trusts are among the beneficiaries of the business-friendly budget deal that President Obama recently signed. But see how it leaves Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out in the cold. Test your wits against other Barron's readers in the 15th annual forecasting challenge, in "Test Your Wall Street Skills" by Andrew Bary. What does the coming year hold for investors? Will rates go up? Will stocks fall? Entries are due next weekend. In Reshma Kapadia's "Middle America's Tiffany," the case is made that Signet Jewelers Ltd. SIG, parent of ubiquitous mid-price jewelers Jared, Kay and Zales, will come through its recent rough patch and shine once more. "Niall Ferguson Takes on the World" by Vito J. Racanelli features an interview with the author of Civilization: The West and the Rest. See why this Harvard history professor sees trouble lurking in Europe, China and Saudi Arabia, but he thinks India looks enticing. Shares of cereal maker Post Holdings Inc POST look richly valued after a 50 percent advance, according to David Englander's "Time to Lighten Up on Post Holdings." Also, checkout the holiday gift from Trinity Biotech plc TRIB. "Big Bangs in Asia" is an editorial commentary by Peter Navarro that discusses why investors ought to prepare for the possibility of a great power conflict between the United States and China. In Barron's Asia: "Time Traveling Back to 2015's Screw Ups" by William Pesek takes a look at five of Asia's policy missteps this past year, including Australia's environmental about-face and China's stock fiasco. See also: Gordon Johnson: Solar ITC Extension Could 'Cripple' Installations Next Year

Columns

Columns in this weekend's Barron's discuss:

• Whether the solar industry is too important to fail
• Why small IPOs don't treat investors well
• A U.S. judge tossing the lawyer for Russian defendants
• The winners and losers in the Federal Reserve's new era
• How the so-called FANG stocks could fare in 2016
• Whether rising rates mean a better 2016 for hedge funds
• What could eliminate leveraged ETFs and hamper managed futures funds
• Which sector will avoid slowing dividend increases in 2016

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities. Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter.