EMBRACE THE MALAISE

The author presents the stocks he considers to be a great investor antidote to the current economic malaise of high unemployment and low consumer spending. PetSmart operates 1,149 stores in the US and Canada, many of them containing full-service veterinary hospitals. For the fiscal third quarter ended November 1 PetSmart's revenues climbed 3.5% from a year ago to $1.29 billion. PetSmart's beta is 0.8 (on a scale where 1.0 represents the S&P 500). Although it offers a smaller yield, Aaron's also boosted its dividend recently. The stock's beta is 0.6. Meanwhile, Family Dollar Stores' sales in the August 29 fiscal year rose 6% to $7.4 billion, while net income rose 25% to $291 million, or $2.07 per share.