Recommendation: Nissan

This brings us to our first stock recommendation, Nissan Motor Company (Nasdaq: NSANY), 100 shares of which were bought for the All-In-vesting portfolio on 6/23/06 for 21.18. Nissan ranks as the third largest Japanese automaker behind Toyota and Honda, all of which have taken the lucrative American market by storm and show few signs of slowing. The major American competitors, Ford, GM, and Chrysler have put up a feeble effort in defending their territory from the Asian invasion. The so-called "Big Three" American manufacturers all appear headed towards possible bankruptcy, with the latter getting bailed out by its 1997 "merger" with the German company Daimler, which came to light in 2003 as actually being a messy hostile takeover that has left the company divided and weaker. These struggles have left the door open to foreign companies, which have certainly taken advantage, with the top three Japanese automakers having increased their share of the US domestic market by 8% between 1990 and 2004, while the share of the "Big Three" has declined 13%. However, the "Big Three" still account for over 50% of the US market share, leaving plenty of room for further Japanese expansion as the American automakers battle bankruptcy. Don’t forget about two other markets with possibly more untapped potential, China and India, whose burgeoning middle class promises to create even more demand for automobiles in the future.