You've got the bulk of your retirement taken care of -- so what's the best use of $5,000? Blue-chip growth stocks.
By
Michael Sivy and George Mannes, MONEY Magazine
NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) -
When you put your first $5,000 into individual stocks, buy shares of companies to fill gaps in your fund portfolio. In general, funds cover growth stocks, industrials and financials fairly well. But you might want to include a defense stock, say, that doesn't track the economy. Or there might be a particular drug stock you like despite overall industry problems.
At current prices, these eight Sivy 70 stocks look especially timely. They are ranked based on the ratio of price to earnings.
Even more picks
For additional shares that have a total return potential of more than 11 percent a year, based on their dividends and projected earnings growth, look at the Sivy 70 list of blue chip growth stocks. The table below lists eight diverse stocks that look especially timely. 
| Company (Ticker) |
Price |
P/E ratio |
Yield |
Why it looks good |
| Anadarko Petroleum (APC) |
$100.40 |
8.6 |
0.7% |
Independent oil and gas producer with 85% of its reserves in North America |
| J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) |
$42.11 |
12.4 |
3.2% |
Outlook for banks should improve, CEO is focused on raising profitability |
| Home Depot (HD) |
$42.99 |
14.0 |
1.4% |
Do-it-yourself retailer now undervalued because housing market may slow |
| General Dynamics (GD) |
$64.84 |
16.2 |
1.4% |
Leading tank maker and a direct beneficiary of growing defense spending |
| General Electric (GE) |
$33.79 |
17.1 |
3.0% |
Top-quality industrial conglomerate offering unusually high dividend yield |
| Abbott Laboratories (ABT) |
$43.46 |
17.2 |
2.7% |
Some hot new drugs and a promising new line of cardiovascular products |
| Aetna (AET) |
$49.98 |
18.2 |
0.0% |
A health insurer on the rebound and likely to profit from new types of plans |
| CVS (CVS) |
$29.77 |
19.0 |
0.5% |
Rapidly growing drugstore chain that is gaining on larger rival Walgreen |
Notes: As of March 27. P/E ratios are based on estimated earnings for the current year.
Source: Thomson/Baseline.
