Barron's Summary

Fund manager picks highlighted, including STA, DFG, VZ, WIN, SVU, JBLU, SOW and CEF.

At 24 a share, the New York Times (NYT) trades where it did in 1987. But its assets could be worth 35. A mgmt-led buyout, though unlikely, would unlock value.

One forecast sees Wynn's (WYNN) gaming revenue hitting $1.4bn this year and $2.3bn in '07. The stock could shoot well past $100 a share.

According to „The Trader” column, REITs represent the largest short position in the portfolio of Douglas Kass, president of Seabreeze Partners. Apartment REITs "are priced for perfection. They'll be down more than 20% in the next 6 months or so," he says. Wall Street's earnings and cash-flow ests imply a 6-7% increase in rents in ‘07 and ‘08. But Kass sees rents rising by only 2-3%, thanks to a slowing economy and the weakness in the condo mkt. They're also trading 10-20% above their net asset values.

“Follow Up” section praises Whole Foods Market (WFMI). If mgmt can meet modest expectations, the shares could work back to 60 in 12-18 months. "The story is not over at Whole Foods, as the co is just about to go through a material acceleration," says Canaccord/Adams analyst Scott Van Winkle.

“Plugged In” column discusses DirecTV (DTV), which is 38.6% owned by Fox Entertainment. DTV's shares have been on a tear, pushed largely by expectations on bets that it might get acquired or merge with a competitor such as EchoStar (DISH). But article suggests that the co can't continue to acquire customers, much less retain them, unless they are raging sports fans. DirecTV won't be able to retain its monopoly forever. On top of that, digital cable is catching up in nearly every way and is much less hassle to install, maintain and operate. Plus, its signal doesn't get knocked out during rainstorms.