Barry talks up gold stocks - on CNBC!

Barry Ritholtz of "The Big Picture" blog fame was on CNBC earlier today to take credit for his miraculous "worst to first" performance in stock market prognostication for 2007.

Yours truly had a hand in working up a graphic for that disastrous 2006 prediction (see below) and, at the time, some consideration was given to attempting to counsel Barry on his uber-bearish 2006 forecast, but by then it was too late anyway.

Whatever it was that happened in 2006, redemption came in spades in 2007, particularly when considering his top stock pick for the year, fertilizer king Mosaic Co. (NYSE:MOS) that gained something like 350 percent, trouncing Apple, Google, and just about every other stock.

Well done Barry!

What was even more enthralling than past performance was the outlook for 2008 where gold stocks figure prominently in Barry's big picture and major gold miner Newmont (NYSE:NEM) is his top pick.

While not a regular viewer of CNBC, my impression is that you don't hear gold stocks talked about much. This may or may not be true, but judging by Mark Haynes' rather incredulous reaction to hearing "gold miners" and Newmont, it's probably true.

It's also probably true that, given what has happened in the first seven trading days of 2008, you'll probably hear "gold miners" quite a few more times before the year is through.

Here's that infamous 2006 chart:

Click to Enlarge

To his credit, as documented here two years and 7 days ago, Barry did make the iShares Gold Trust ETF (AMEX:IAU) his top pick in 2006 and it fared much better than that lonely red diamond in the chart above.

Full Disclosure: No position in MOS, NEM, or IAU