Barron's Picks And Pans: Altria, Square, Walmart And More

This weekend's Barron's cover story presents the results from the most recent Big Money Poll.

Other featured articles discuss how to invest for the 2020 elections and where to find opportunity in 5G.

Also, the prospects for a fintech giant, marijuana stocks, a retail leader and more.

"Big Money Poll: Why Wall Street Fears Washington" by Nicholas Jasinski says that the latest Barron's poll finds the bulls' ranks have shrunk to a 20-year low.

What does that mean for everything from FedEx Corporation FDX to UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH?

Avi Salzman's "How to Invest Ahead of the 2020 Election" suggests that an especially unpredictable presidential race could roil many stocks. Are there ways for smart investors to profit from the uncertainty with stocks like Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM and Facebook, Inc. FB?

In "Square's Case of 'Mistaken Identity'," Ben Walsh makes a case that, though fintech Square Inc SQ blazed a new trail in the world of payments, its software-like valuation no longer makes sense in a world where everyone else is catching up.

5G is coming, no doubt, but it isn't Apple Inc. AAPL or the wireless carriers that are likely to benefit most, according to "There's Still Opportunity Within the 5G Hype" by Eric J. Savitz. See how QUALCOMM, Inc. QCOM and others could fare.

In James Grant's "Jim Grant: Altria, SoftBank, and Their Divergent Paths," find out why SoftBank's heavy leverage and risky bets raise big questions, and so does the dependence of Altria Group Inc MO on tobacco profits.

See also: Cloud Competitors: How Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure's Quarterly Performance Stacks Up

"Marijuana Stocks Have Taken a Hit. There May Be Room for Growth Now." by Connor Smith shows why upcoming earnings reports from Aurora Cannabis Inc ACB and its peers could help separate winners from the rest of the pack.

In "When Value Stocks Trail Growth, Dividends Can Help," Lawrence C. Strauss points out that dividend stocks like AT&T Inc. T can help narrow the performance gap for a value investor when growth stocks are outperforming. But the dividend isn't the only factor to consider.

Procter & Gamble Co PG topped earnings expectations and raised its 2020 guidance. That could be great news for Walmart Inc WMT. So says Ben Levisohn's "Glad Tidings for Walmart."

Also in this week's Barron's:

Elon Musk's $56-billion pay package goes to court

A new crop of closed-end funds worth a look

Whether the race of global interest rates to the bottom may be ending

Why China's unicorns are playing a waiting game

Whether now is a good time to buy silver

The economic case for paternity leave

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

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