James Altucher's Top 10 Picks (AGO, WCG, POT, CSH, BDX)

James Altucher has come out with a list of his top ten picks for 2010, which are:

1. Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO), the municipal bond insurer, got the entire playing field to itself after the speculation in mortgage-backed securities knocked out competitors MBIA (NYSE: MBI) and Ambac (NYSE: ABK). Also, Altucher likes that municipal bond defaults stood at just 0.14% this year.

2. Wellcare Health Plans (NYSE: WCG) has resolved its issues with Medicare and James thinks Wellcare will be in great demand as a mediator between the corporate and the government.

3. Rapid urbanization and the consequent need for high soil fertility and yields is what will drive Potash (NYSE: POT) in 2010. Altucher also likes that Potash also represents George Soros’ third largest position.

4. Cash America (NYSE: CSH) has been riding high as the new financier to the sub-prime community. Altucher says that most people pawn gold in a pawnshop and that makes the pawnshop chain a backdoor means to play an increase in gold prices. Other ways to play gold are through ETFS like SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD) and Market Vectors Gold Miners (ETF) (NYSE: GDX).

5. Medical supplier Becton, Dickinson (NYSE: BDX) is Warren Buffet’s latest investment and and BDX has raised its payout for the 37th straight year. Becton looks set to grow with the medical needs of an aging Baby Boomer population.

6. Hillenbrand (NYSE: HI) has a virtual monopoly on the casket industry, catering to 16,000 of the 22,000 funeral homes in the U.S, says Altucher. Favorable demographic and past dividend trends make Hillenbrand a good buy.

7. Altucher likes Telecom Corp of New Zealand (NYSE: NZT) because it is a monopoly in its home country. Also, Altucher likes NZT in 2010 because the Kiwi dollar is the currency most closely correlated to gold prices.

8. STEC (Nasdaq: STEC) faced a problem when EMC (NYSE: EMC) had an inventory glut of their SSD product. .However, a price target of $42 for this $12 stock suggest things are better than they seem for STEC.

9. Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR) supplies WiMax networks to the developing world. Altucher said this is a high growth area and ALVR is trading cheap.

10. Altucher thinks GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) could do well in 2010 as it is another stock that Buffett holds for the same reason as Becton Dickinson.