Barron's Picks And Pans: Dollar General, IAC, Wells Fargo And More

• This weekend's Barron's cover story presents the publication's latest annual ranking of the best annuities.
• Other featured articles look at dividend aristocrats roaring back, the political considerations for vaccine makers and retail stocks bucking the trend.
• Also: the prospects for index providers, an internet holding company a big bank and more.

Cover story "The Best Annuities" by Karen Hube presents a look at the best of what the industry has to offer. For its latest annual ranking, Barron's compiled 100 of the best annuities based on assumptions such as age, gender, size of investment and time horizon.

Darren Fonda's "Why MSCI and S&P Global Are Worth Buying at Any Price" points out that investors have rewarded the index providers' growth and could lift MSCI Inc MSCI and S&P Global Inc SPGI stocks further as profits climb.

In "Dollar Stores Are a Retail Growth Story Even in a Downturn," Teresa Rivas shows why Dollar General Corp. DG and the like are resilient while many other retailers are struggling. Could there be further upside in these stocks?

What effect could the launch of a COVID-19 vaccine before Election Day have? That's what "The Vaccine Race Might Have Political Side Effects" by Josh Nathan-Kazis looks at — and what might it mean for Moderna Inc MRNA, Pfizer Inc. PFE and others in the race.

In Eric J. Savitz's "IAC Has Cash, Looks Cheap, and Is Shopping for Deals," see what New York-based internet holding company IAC IAC looks like following the spin-off of the dating site Match.com. Is it a whole new company?

See also: 5 Worst-Performing Stocks Of 2010: Where Are They Now?

"Dividend Aristocrats Roar Back After Early-Year Stumbles. These 10 Recently Raised Their Payouts" by Lawrence C. Strauss takes a look at what dividend hikes from the likes of Cardinal Health Inc CAH and Clorox Co CLX may signal.

Might it be time to consider the worst-performing of the big banks this year? So asks Carleton English's "Wells Fargo Stock Has Been Beaten Down. It Could Be a Buy." See how Wells Fargo & Co WFC compares to its peers.

In "9 Cheap Retail Stocks With High Expectations for Earnings," Teresa Rivas shows why, despite plenty of suffering in the retail sector, there are brick-and-mortar winners like Kroger Co KR and Lowe's Companies Inc LOW.

Also in this week's Barron's:

• The market gatekeepers that wield enormous power
• The annual ranking of the top 100 women advisors
• Whether gold will overtake Treasuries in the global hedging battle
• What to expect from the next stimulus bill
• Why M&A has taken a backseat for activist investors

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

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