After trailing the market and their smaller brethren this year, the big integrated outfits offer some of the best value in the energy sector, and Exxon (XOM) looks like the most attractive one. The energy giant does command a higher price/earnings ratio than the other supermajors, but that gap has narrowed this year, enhancing Exxon's appeal. The stock could hit 90 in the next year.

Buoyed by its profitable ground unit, growing overseas business and good operating leverage, FedEx looks like a good investment bet. Its shares, at 82, could climb to about 100.

FMC's performance in a bad recession has been resilient. It has upside from the economy, just as its peers do, says Fisch, who values the shares at 70, 27% above their current price of 55. Investors are skeptical of the outlook for soda ash, but eventually, there will be a lot of recovery there, too. Industrial chemicals could represent incremental income of $1 a share, he adds. The stock is inexpensive, with a price/earnings ratio significantly lower than the group's 16. The Philadelphia firm trades at a discount to its own historical multiple of 14 times. Applying a 15 multiple, near the middle of FMC's historical P/E range, to 2010 earnings results in a stock price of 70. That would be a nice chemical reaction.

Vodafone Group's shares have performed poorly in 2009, but investors shouldn't hang up on the mobile-phone giant. The shares (VOD) have been restrained by slower growth amid a recession in the mature markets of Western Europe, as well as emerging markets. But some observers believe a cyclical recovery in European revenue is less than six months away. That would give the stock momentum.

We liked Leggett & Platt at the bottom of the market in early March, when the shares were at $11.43. Since then they're up 83% including reinvested dividends, compared to a 51% return for the S&P 500. We still like the stock now that the economy is coming off the bottom. It could rise to the mid-$20s in a year. A solid rebound in new-home sales will boost the business, as buyers shop for box springs and mattresses. Leggett & Platt's shares will likely move up before that's viewed as a sure thing.

In short, the solar sector was supposed to provide AMAT with diversification and make it less sensitive to swings in the semiconductor cycle. But instead, it has turned Applied into a solar play right at the moment when demand for semi-cap equipment is picking up. Ergo, analysts aren't keen on the stock.

Pacific Crest analyst Weston Twigg wrote that a year of zero growth in Applied's solar sector in FY2010 "is likely to be viewed as a huge disappointment." Likewise, Caris & Co. analyst Ben Pang asserted in a research note that AMAT isn't likely to show earnings-multiple expansion until there's growth in the solar business. He advises skipping Applied shares and buying Lam Research (LRCX), as a play on a pickup in memory spending, or Cymer (CYMI), as a bet on lithography.

Pacific Crest analyst Weston Twigg wrote that a year of zero growth in Applied's solar sector in FY2010 "is likely to be viewed as a huge disappointment." Likewise, Caris & Co. analyst Ben Pang asserted in a research note that AMAT isn't likely to show earnings-multiple expansion until there's growth in the solar business. He advises skipping Applied shares and buying Lam Research (LRCX), as a play on a pickup in memory spending, or Cymer (CYMI), as a bet on lithography.