TAL International: Another Cheap And Unusual High Yield Pick

By Bret Jensen:Citigroup's recent article about North America becoming the next Middle East for energy by 2020 was a provocative and entertaining piece of journalism. It also confirmed my own view that we are going through seismic shift in domestic energy production.

By Bret Jensen:The market keeps rallying, and I keep getting more cautious.

By Bret Jensen:ConocoPhillips (COP) has been a core holding in the income portion of my portfolio for over a year. The company split off its refinery business, Phillips 66 (PSX), earlier in the year and just reported its first full quarter as a pure play E&P concern.

By Bret Jensen:Growth at a reasonable price is getting harder to find after the recent rally and with economies slowing worldwide. One stock that has popped up on my radar recently is Trinity Industries (TRN), which is on track to double earnings from FY2011 to FY2013 and is selling at very reasonable valuations.

By Bret Jensen:The Federal Reserve has continued its efforts to provide an unprecedented period of historically low yields, even in the face of substantially expanding government debt. These efforts have forced many income investors out of their comfort zone in search of yield. Traditional sources of income, such as certificates of deposit, yield next to nothing. In addition, traditional income producing sectors within the stock market like utilities look overpriced at these levels.

By Bret Jensen:Although markets are closed today, earnings are still coming out. One of the core pieces of my income portfolio, BP plc. (BP) reported earnings today. It pretty much beat across the board and showed again why it is on the comeback trail after a horrid two years.Key highlights from BP's earnings report:

By Bret Jensen:I recently came across a stock called Methode Electronics (MEI) that has a lot of qualities I love to find in a small cap stock. Among these are a solid dividend yield, cheap valuations and recent insider buying.

By Bret Jensen:Finding good value in the market is much more challenging after the rally of the last six months. Discovering stocks with reasonable valuations and good yield is even harder. However, I believe Linn Energy (LINE) provides the right mix of both for income orientated investors.Linn Energy (LINE):