Barron's Picks And Pans: Alibaba, Tesla, Viacom, More

• The cover story in this weekend's Barron's discusses how effects of the financial crisis continue to linger.
• Other featured articles examine the prospects for a turnaround at a media giant and how to play a rebound in RV stocks.
• Also featured: what the midterm elections could mean for stocks and looking to China for bargains.

"How the Financial Crisis Still Affects Investors," the cover story by Avi Salzman, takes a look at how the crisis that threatened the world's financial system was bound to affect investors for years, and there is plenty of evidence that it did. See how some wariness of the market persists even though stocks have rallied and investing has changed in the years since the fall of Lehman Brothers.

Jack Hough's "Viacom Stock Is Worth Buying Regardless of CBS and Moonves" suggests that Viacom, Inc. VIAB CEO Robert Bakish has a savvy plan to revitalize the media company by, among other things, working to put television assets to better use, thereby lifting the sagging stock as much as 20 percent — with or without a merger.

In "RV Stocks Deserve a Second Look, but Vultures Beware," Nicholas Jasinski points out that sales of recreational vehicles have tripled since 2009 thanks to millennial interest, with the industry now plagued by oversupply. See what Barron's suggests to play a rebound and what it may mean for Thor Industries, Inc. THO and its competitors.

Political prognosticator Chuck Gabriel puts the odds for a mixed Congress after the November elections at about 70 percent, according to "How the Midterm Elections Could Be Bullish for Stocks" by Leslie P. Norton. See what Barron's believes this could mean for stocks from Aetna Inc AET to Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT.

See also: Gene Munster: Tesla Still Holds Upside Potential, But Elon Musk Is Making Life Hard For Bulls

In Ben Levisohn's "To Find Bargain Stocks, Look to China's Internet," find out why, if it's internet stocks you're after, Barron's believes it may be time to look to China instead. See how the likes of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA and Baidu Inc BIDU have fared compared to their U.S. counterparts, as well as why.

"Should Tesla Shareholders Worry About Elon Musk?" by Robert Teitelman and Dan Lam asks whether Tesla Inc TSLA shareholders be concerned about the mercurial chief executive after the electric vehicle maker's shares tumbled as Musk smoked marijuana during an interview and renewed his insults toward a rescue diver.

Also in this week's Barron's:

• The best books about the financial crisis
• An alternative view of boom and bust cycles
• The spreading trouble in emerging markets
• The world's forgotten asset class

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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