DAVE HARRIS: Welcome once again to Dave On Stocks, Podcast #52. This is for Thursday April 19^th 2007. I'm Dave Harris. I'm a long term investor with a perspective on the market with individual stock advice.

Now that we're into earnings season, there are some companies of note reporting results for the first quarter. Genentech (DNA) the biotech company reported better than expected 68% rise in profit for the quarter. Earnings per share excluding items came out to .74 cents which beat Wall Street views by .07 cents. I was especially impressed with their cancer drug Avastin, which had a 34% jump in sales. The company's full year forecast calls for roughly a 30% increase in earnings vs. last year. I have a buy recommendation on DNA and see the stock going to $95. Shares closed Wednesday up by .13 cents to $82.69 per share.

Alcoa (AA) the aluminum producer reported a strong first quarter that exceeded expectations on solid sales and higher metal prices. Earnings per share were .75 cents vs. .69 cents last year on an 11% rise in revenue. Alcoa is a classic cyclical stock, and I think this tells us the economic environment is looking good here. I suggest you buy the stock and think it's going to $40 this year.

Viacom (VIA) has an exclusive agreement with Yahoo (YHOO) to provide the ads and sponsored search on all of Viacom's websites. Sites include Nickelodeon.com and MTV.com. The hot new search system from Yahoo is called "Panama".

Weekly initial jobless claims rose higher than expected to 342,000 according to the Labor Department. I don't read much into this because the weekly number is so volatile. I prefer to look at the 4 week average. That increased by 7,000 to 323,250. That's the highest in 3 weeks. But more importantly, the March unemployment rate is down to 4.4%. That's significantly low.

That's all for today's podcast. I'm Dave Harris. Write me with any questions or comments at the "contact us" link on this page. My website is www.daveonstocks.com. This is Dave On Stocks.