Barron's Picks and Pans: Synchrony Financial, Patterson Companies And More - Alibaba Gr Holding (NYSE:BABA), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Featured stories in this weekend's Barron's offer a look at the prospects for a financial services company, a medical equipment wholesaler and more.

Do a Chinese Internet giant and a specialty retailer have problems on their corporate balance sheets?

Also see why two bond masters have invested in a volatile part of the bond market.

"Synchrony: A Growing Credit-Card Powerhouse" by Lawrence C. Strauss suggests that as it outpaces its competitors,

Synchrony FinancialSYF

, the leader in private-label credit cards, is poised to see its shares surge as much as 40 percent later this year. And the company is expected to start returning some of its cash to shareholders as dividends and buybacks later this year. In "Patterson Sees New Ways to Grow in Dental, Vet Supplies," David Englander takes a look at why shareholders of

Patterson Companies, Inc.PDCO

are likely to be rewarded by this global distributor's sharpened focus on its dental and veterinary supplies units. But will Patterson lose a key exclusive distribution agreement in in 2017? Jonathan Buck's "European Cement Giant LafargeHolcim Looks Rock-Solid" makes the case for this Swiss building materials manufacturer to enjoy steep upside after a transformative merger, as steady demand lays a foundation for strong earnings growth and a recovery in the shares. The stock is traded in Zurich, and the company is expected to begin paying a dividend this year with an implied yield of 4 percent.

Herb Greenberg and Donn Vickrey, principals at Pacific Square Research, are interviewed in "Digging Into the Numbers" by Bill Alpert. They share a passion for rooting out problems on corporate balance sheets, and lately Greenberg and Vickrey have been taking a skeptical look at

Alibaba Group Holding LtdBABA

and

Signet Jewelers Ltd.

SIG

. In Jonathan R. Laing's "No Inflation in Sight, Say Two Bond Masters," discover why the co-founders of Hoisington Investment Management doubt the global economy will rebound soon, thanks to low industrial output, surging levels of private and public debt and the commodities collapse. Their bold bets are not for the faint of heart, Barron's warns, as they have invested in a volatile part of the bond market. Also in this week's Barron's:

Whether the bullish turn in the markets is more style than substance
Why Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. LGF suddenly looks attractive
A coming clash between big cable operators and the likes of Netflix, Inc. NFLX and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN
A new source of demand that ould lend support to the recent gold rally
The long-term prospects for Exor and Societe Generale

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

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