Abbott's stock could rise 40% over the next 18 months, as a result of a well-executed diversification strategy. And the dividend should keep climbing.

In the debate over fair-market accounting, one important question isn't being asked: Why do banks own so many investment securities -- especially illiquid ones -- in the first place? JPMorgan Chase (JPM), perhaps the most responsible of the bunch, has $670 billion of trading assets and securities -- a sum not far below the $761 billion of loans in its portfolio.

Cemig's American depositary shares could rally to 18 or more in the next two years, from a current 14. A juicy dividend yield -- it's now around 7% -- could give returns an added jolt.

Is it technology's reach or simply the mounting desperation for good ideas that quickly turns any persuasive trade into a pervasive trade? Take Hershey 's (HSY) emergence as this recession's -- and the market's -- indulgence. Amid the obligatory attention to chocolates on Valentine's weekend, the Pennsylvania company's cheap confections have been hailed, quite rightly, as a boon for consumers unwilling to surrender little luxuries but perhaps unable to spring for Godiva. What was once a weakness -- its long-time lack of a premium brand -- quickly was packaged as Hershey's strength. As a result, its shares have become pricier than its calories. At about 37, Hershey trades for 19 times 2009 estimated profits, well above low-teens multiples for bigger diversified rivals from General Mills (GIS) to Kellogg (K). But investors' embrace seems to overlook increased pension expenses this year, and Hershey's hefty long-term debt (roughly 83% of capital). Quarterly earnings reported last month also benefited momentarily from lower raw-material costs, but that bliss may prove short-lived as crop diseases in Ghana and Ivory Coast send cocoa prices up nearly 40% since November.

Across the food aisle looms American Italian Pasta (AIPC), whose shares have rallied more than 600% since March. Apparently, carb avoidance was a bull-market contrivance, and the largest U.S. maker of dry pasta has much to gain from our new zeal for home cooking and cheap, easy nutrition. Nearly half of the Kansas City company's output is private label products supplied to groceries and other retailers, which must benefit from the propensity to trade down to cheap store brands. Shares popped 14% last week after the company beat estimates, and now fetches more than 17 times projected 2009 earnings, well above the 13.7 times for packaged-food companies. All four analysts who cover the stock rate it Buy, and while shares could climb further as the company pays down debt, feeding this increasingly expectant crowd becomes a taller task.

No such high hopes are heaped on CVS Caremark (CVS), which reports earnings Thursday. The drugstore chain had already warned investors margins in the pharmacy- benefits business, acquired for $27 billion in 2007, will be tight after it slashed prices to keep clients, and as doctor visits and prescriptions dwindle in a recession. But longer-term prospects are helped by the shift to generic drugs and mail order. Cash flow from the sale of everyday staples also continues to grow. Yet the shares are slumping at 10.7 times 2009 profits, a discount to the broad market and other drug retailers. Maybe CVS can pull off a pleasant surprise.

Oppenheimer's Michael Schwartz, dean of the options strategists, arrives. His counsel: "Make a friend of fear. Think of selling General Electric 's June 11 puts for $1.85 or June 10 puts for $1.42. That is an attractive premium to take on the risk of potentially buying GE stock at $9.15 or $8.58." "But we own GE at much higher prices," a trader gripes. "And GE's options are priced as if it were a high-risk financial company that may have to cut its dividend to survive, especially if it loses its triple-A credit rating." "As goes GE, so goes the world economy," the dean says. "When the economy recovers, so will GE."

In all, the shares seem a decent if not screaming value. As the company becomes familiar to the investment community and brokerage analysts launch coverage, the stock could get a lift. As a side note, Bristol-Myers shares now contain about $2.30 of Mead Johnson equity at current prices, dropping the effective price of Bristol's business to 19.45 from Friday's closing price of 21.75.