As the end of the year approaches it's time to pick where our rewards will be in 2007. My hot picks are already starting to perform but have much further to go IMO. SOLA, EPY and CCH.

Speculative new energy resource is CFU, might be good this year if not definately the year after.

of course the great advantage of this sort of "fun portfolio" is that you don't have to put your money where your mouth is ...... this means that a total crap share (company) like SEO could multiply 10-fold, though it is probably far more likely to go to zero ...... in priciple, it is the mini-minnows with an sp <10p that are likely to provide the rockets, though there are almost none on which i would care to put any real money at all ...... roulette probably has better odds and that also has the benefit of no spread (typically 15/25% on mini-minnows) and very very small "house" charges.

Of the shares mentioned in previous posts, i am happy to be holding CCT, GTL, DOO and SOLA, though I cannot imagine any of these increasing even say a further 2-fold in the coming 12 months.

I also hold CHP and GOO, the latter being more likely imo to produce significant returns in the next year.

LEAD is tempting me, though at 55 already, an increase of more than 2.5x is probably too ambitious.

VOG may yet bring home the bacon ..... i am currently out of these (about 62p), but would be strongly tempted to buy at 50p and certainly at 40p assuming there was nothing fundamental to drive them that low ...... if they get the hoped-for drilling results, then it would not be too fanciful to see them challenging 250+ once again.

don't forget GWP,the cannabis drug manufacturer...most other synthetic drup companies will probably fold by 2008 due to volunteers being scared off after Paraxcel disaster...they can't get drugs to market unless they have been thoroughly tested on humans...GWP is set to reap the benefits due to having hardly any side effects with their drug...could easily hit 1000p by 2008 from 86p now

Errrr.

Normal shares - LEAD (Leadcom) should have a big year, its had its consolidation year this year, so 07 should be the bacon year.

Penny share high risk bet - I would go PLW (Playwize), priced to fail, but it could do well.

Normal oiler - have to be PELE (Petrolatina) for steady progress in 07

High risk/reward oiler - IPL (Indago Petroleum) with success already at WB-2, and a billion boe drill in H1 07 (no other oilers drilling a billion barrel equivalent target I think) as well as one ongoing drill now, and another big one after the billion boe one.

Normal mining stock - TMC (Toledo) for steady progress in 07.

High risk/reward miner - AUR (Aurum) ridiculous low value on their gold, and a takeover could be coming soon due to that. Up 50% in a couple of months, could well do 100% and more in 2007.

From the Mail today,
MANAGED service provider Nexus
Management softened 0.04p to 1.5p but
could be worth watching. Valued at a pal-
try 11m, its 24pc stake in Peach Direct is
worth about 10m. PD is a thriving US
direct-to-customer retail company which
offers brand-name consumer products.
All mailed customers of PD are pre-
approved for credit by US giant GE Capital.
Nexus has a foot in both camps and could
easily double next year.

To all who have made hot picks i say good luck to you and offer my new year greetings to all,
may it be a profitable year.
best regards

HMY,TAN,YOU,WNG are four AIM stocks I am happy to stick with into the new year. All have grown strongly already but none look tired. I have spreadbets on them all.

HMY (Hamworthy) is a solid bet I reckon. It has such a pipeline of existing and likely orders for this year and beyond, with the rapidly expanding number of gas tankers to fit and service.

TAN (Tanfield) - still needs to confirm actual fleet orders for its all-electrick trucks (rather than just road trials) but that seems quite likely to happen very soon. And meanwhile some other divisions are coming good.

YOU (YouGov) has doubled in the past 4 months, so i guess some profittakers might knock it back a bit if there's any sign of a dip. But I reckon it will still look good at the end of the year. Their ability to take survey soundings among consumers one evening and deliver results next morning is proving popular.

WNG (Worthington Nicholls) - an unsexy business (and website to match) but several analysts are coming around to agreeing it has good prospects. Legislative changes are driving demand and will do so for the next few years.

ITF (Interlink Foods)

See SHARES 26th Oct 06, p23. Fall last May overdone IMO and Interims expected by end of Jan. Recent trades continue to firm SP and a good mince pie consumption should help establish a re-rating.

Re post 61, RNS today announced ITF Interims to be reported in one week on 9th Jan, SP continues to firm!

Would also add FDI to my expectations for 2007 for reasons given in post 25. AGM on 29th Jan

I hold 4 aim stocks and (largest holding first) they are:
GTL Resources - Ethanol - green play
Pipex Communication - WiMax and standard broadband
Interlink Foods - Recovery/takeover play
Caledon resources - Was a gold explorer, now bought a coal mine at brilliant price and will be cash positive within weeks

I only invest in AIM shares because of the IHT advantages. So far since November 05 my 50K AIM portfolio has advanced to 65K Latest to come under the microscope is ROMAG (ROM) a specialist glass maker doing well on solar panels and bomb/bullet proof glass for corporate building projects .

My positions in AIM companies are almost all via spreadbets. It isn't always possible to get a sbet quote on companies smaller than 50m cap, which for me rules out one I quite like the look of - Silverdell (SID) - specialist in asbestos removal/disposal. Website www.silverdell.co.uk

(to pass 50m capitalisation, share price needs to exceed 155.5p)

The biggest 9 shareholders hold nearly 80% of the shares.. so competition to get hold of or get rid of the available 20% of stock probably means the price can get driven up and down a bit too easily for some peoples liking.

really??? ..... IG certainly allow cfd on anything with cap over 10m and can't believe same rule would not also apply to spread

cynic - IG and some other sbet firms will indeed quote for smaller firms - but only if daily volumes are sufficient to make the stock look easily tradable. On stocks that don't appear liquid enough, they will either decline to quote or will demand greater percentage upfront - and that can tie up a bigger chunk of someone's account than they might wish.

MY SELECTIONS FOR 2007, ARE; COIL, Look out in September when MEO.AX start to drill off Darwin 42% owned by coil. Also Elko energy 29% owned by coil coming to AIM soon. COIL at 3.75p now, the estimate on MEO's future value could take COIL's price to 55p. TMC is one of my favourites, I think that ultimately someone like BHP will buy them out, hopefully after some real value has been added. With 80 billion resource value in the ground, an offer of only 1 billion would be worth 36.20 per share. Another hopeful for 2007 is GGG, one of the most undervalued companies on AIM. I also have a list of oilers like CHP, EME, GOO, MRP, OEX and PELE. Finally I would plump for THR. After they have their dilution through a placement about March time, they will press on into production recovering 300,000 tonnes of tungsten over a 4 year period. They say that it will only take 7 weeks production to cover their overheads. Obviously, the proof is in the pudding, but I think a late run towards the end of 2007 is on the cards.

Fonty COH looks good for this year... you in?

CCH doing well and now I'm into DCD-would welcome comments. Soul T are you in this one?

My 2007 top stock pick is IIR (Independent International Investment Research plc)

[Is there a competition for longest stock name?]

Website: www.iirgroup.com
Share price: 20p
Capitalisation: 5.2 m
Year end: 28 Feb 2007

Overview

Independent International Investment Research (IIR) provides research on
global companies and currencies, for broker-dealers, investment banks, money managers and private clients.
The equity research business comprises wholly owned subsidiary Independent Financial Markets Research Ltd. (IFMR). The India-based (Chennai and Mumbai) equity research team now covers 300 companies, of primarily non-US with American Depositary Receipt programs.IFMR, established in 2002, has benefited from the 2003 Global ResearchAnalyst Settlement (GRAS) in the US, which required broker-dealers to provide independent research to retail clients.

Supplementing the equity research business, Pronet Analytics.com Limited
(Regulated and Authorised by the FSA in the UK and registered as an
Investment Advisor with the SEC in the US) offers investment advice and trading strategies to clients such as Standard Chartered and Citigroup. The ability to combine currency forecasts with the Group's fundamental equity research also offers an attractive product differentiator and has helped improve the performance of recommendations for US$-based investors in overseas stocks.


Insinger initiated coverage in September 2006 after the company finally turned a corner and became profitable with the new business model starting to bear fruit. The report provides a detailed background of the company & the new business model [far better than I could hope to write myself].

http://www.iirgroup.com/iir/docs/Insinger_research_note_Sep_2006.pdf

The forecasts were very conservative as you would expect at such an early stage of the companies turn around in fortunes, these forecasts have since been easily surpassed & a trading update was issued on the 20th Dec ;

http://www.iirgroup.com/iir/docs/Trading_update_11_December_2006_v1.7.pdf

Followed closely by an upgrade in forecast from Insinger showing a substantial increase of 261% in EPS forecasts ;

http://www.iirgroup.com/iir/docs/06-12-2-IIR.pdf

At the time this meant the company was trading on an 83% discount to research-oriented peers and as such has risen to today's price of 20p per share [was 13.5p when picked]. This is still very cheap and only puts IIR on a PE of 8 despite their exceptional growth - versus an industry average of 20 25.

Whilst the company does not have a history of earnings performance it is worth bearing in mind that the Insinger forecast only includes CONTRACTED business and does not take into account conversion of the strong existing pipeline or any new pipeline as the year progresses [see comments in trading statement + confirmed by CEO] Additionally any potential revenues from new product developments & other medium term growth drivers [see Insinger initial coverage & last finals] are excluded.

Furthermore the company is looking to break into new areas where independent research is beginning to take hold, in particular SE Asia & the UK. Market commentary is very positive for growth of the indies into these areas. A very useful source of industry specific information is;

http://integrresearch.blogdrive.com

To assist their major expansion plans they are currently strengthening the management team and looking to increase the research analyst heads in their Indian subsidiary from the current 60 to 200 staff during the .

As well as organic growth, earnings accretive acquisitions in the research space will be considered - Any acquisition would be paper based,

The current CFO for example is PT and cannot give any more time so a replacement is being sought, [any of you looking for an interesting role?] Details of which I attach as it gives an insight into where the company is heading in 2007;

http://jobs.efinancialcareers.co.uk/job-4000000000223293.htm

To conclude

+ Current PE is 8 versus industry average of 20 25.

+ Current EPS forecast is ultra conservative as based on contracted business alone, excluding the pipeline and likely additional business wins + growth into new areas.

+ Management & research team being strengthened to take advantage of the pipeline of deals.

+ Mr Smith CEO is planning a number of investor relations exercises [Insinger coverage was the start of this] early this year which is hoped will see the company more appropriately valued by the market.

+ Has very little debt, the company has been supported financially by Mr Smith & his trust over the last 2 years.

+ Significant taxable losses to utilise

+ Potentially a bonus of a multi million settlement from Google for Gmail trademark claim - talks are discussing after previous offer by Google was rejected.

- Liquidity is poor but will hopefully be addressed in some way as part of the investor relations drive and paper being issued for earnings accretive acquisitions.

i bought Tadpole at 1p via spread bet...safest way of trading by far

Mediwatch (MDW)
results to show 1st profit and approvals for PSA watch first 10 min test for prostrate cancer in the WORLD.
results end of jan
Private research note out in feb paid for by company.