Barron's Picks And Pans: Amgen, Barnes & Noble, Expedia And More

• This weekend's Barron's offers the outlook for a private equity giant and a leading online travel booker.
• The prospects for a biotech giant and a struggling bookseller are also examined.
• Another featured article offers a look at how Barron's small-cap stock picks for 2016 fared.

"KKR Has Upside Of 25% or More" by Vito J. Racanelli suggests that private-equity leader KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE: KKR) might be hard to understand due to its complexity, but its asset growth and investment gains are easy for investors to love. And the charms of the alternative-asset giant include a chance to ride the coattails of legendary investor Henry Kravis, Barron's says.

In "Expedia Shares Have 25% Upside," Jack Hough points out that shares of Expedia Inc (NASDAQ: EXPE) have gone nowhere for a year and a half. But with hotel trends improving and profit margins poised to surge after a string of takeovers, Barron's thinks that could change. Can the online travel booker's free cash flow per share more than double by 2020?

David Englander's "Barron's Small-Cap Picks Beat Benchmarks by a Third" takes a look at why small banks were big winners among Barron's 43 small-cap stock recommendations for last year, led by Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ: SBCF). Also see which of the Barron's picks was the biggest loser. Plus, recommendations for two great books on Warren Buffett.

A court ruling blocks rivals Sanofi and Regeneron from selling cholesterol-lowering drug Praluent, according to "Amgen Patent Win Boosts Odds of a Stock Comeback" by Johanna Bennett. See why Barron's believes, given healthy fundamentals, an attractive valuation and appealing dividend yield, biotech giant Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) should reward investors.

In Andrew Bary's follow-up article,"Barnes & Noble Gears Up for Bookstore Battle With Amazon," see why with a low valuation and a 5.5 percent yield, Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) shares may still hold promise, despite a weak holiday quarter and news that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) plans to open a brick-and-mortar store in Manhattan.

Also In This Week's Barron's

• The latest Barron's Mutual Fund Quarterly.
• The growing threat of a global currency war.
• What to cheer and to fear in the economy and markets.
• The Consumer Electronics Show and self-driving cars.
• The fate of the Labor Department's new fiduciary rule.
• How retirees with less savings will depress U.S. growth for years.
• Whether airline payouts will continue to rise.
• Whether to worry that the Dow has not made it to 20,000.
• The bad news parade at Macy's Inc (NYSE: M).
• Japan's zero growth nightmare.
• A smart approach to buying dividend stocks.