Barron's Picks And Pans: Monro Muffler Brake, Fidelity National Information Services And More

This weekend's Barron's ponders the prospects for a leading auto services provider and a financial services technology star.

• Prospects for two small-cap banks with strong fundamentals are also examined.
• Other featured articles take a look at what bears such as Bill Gross and Jeffrey Gundlach are saying, and whether infrastructure stocks are overheated.

"6 Steady Growers with Room to Rise" by Jack Hough takes a close look at Amgen, Inc. AMGN, Broadcom Ltd AVGO, Hanesbrands Inc. HBI other steady growth stocks that Barron's feels have plenty of room to keep rising. See why these picks may be better than typical safety stocks in the current climate.

In "Monro: A Muffled Outlook," Leslie P. Norton points out that shares of Monro Muffler Brake Inc MNRO have risen handily for about five years, but at the same time same-store sales have slipped. The stock closed most recently near $62, but see why Barron's predicts that the share price of this growing auto services provider could fall back to the mid-$40s.

Jack Willoughby's "FIS: Banking's Best Stock Play Isn't a Bank" makes a case that revenue at this old-line financial services technology company benefits from the ongoing enthusiasm for cost cutting and the craving for digital services among banks. Could shares of Fidelity National Information Servcs Inc FIS rise as much as 25 percent in the next year?

HarborOne Bancorp Inc HONE and Investors Bancorp, Inc. ISBC both look attractive, given their strong fundamentals, according to "Two Small Banks With Big Opportunities to Grow" by David Englander. See how the former recently came partially public in a first-step conversion and the latter has been building up its franchise recently.

In this week's cover story, "Safe Yields of Up to 5%: Fixed-Income Panel" by Amey Stone, panelists from the latest Barron's income roundtable not only identify opportunities for safe yields above 5 percent, but they offer up some advice on how investors can avoid making mistakes with careful portfolio construction. Find out how to lock in returns in a world where rates are likely to stay lower for longer.

Also in this week's Barron's:

• What bears such as Bill Gross and Jeffrey Gundlach have been saying
• Whether infrastructure stocks now look overheated
• Fidelity's launch of a robo-advisor
• Whether stock buybacks are driving some companies into debt
• The current allure and perils of materials stocks
• The prospects for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL
• How troubles at Tripadvisor Inc TRP have lingered
• What Wells Fargo prefers to Tesoro Corporation TSO

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

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