Sales growth for Middleby has averaged 22% annually over the past five years, versus 15% for the industry. A positive surprise could send the shares above 80.

Lehman could end up in someone else's hands before U.S. trading opens on Monday morning. Stronger AIG and Merrill Lynch look like the victims of panic selling.

Merrill also looks attractive, with its stock at a fraction of its $22 a share book value. Merrill has taken its medicine by selling mortgage assets and raising capital. The value of its stake in BlackRock Financial is $11 billion, and its retail brokerage network is conservatively worth $20 billion. Their combined value is more than Merrill's current market value of $26 billion, meaning investors are paying nothing for the rest of the firm.

It's tempting to say that AIG is a bargain, even if it's forced to raise equity with a dilutive sale of common stock. Its book value at the end of June was $29 a share. This effectively discounts over $40 billion of after-tax write-downs. Yields on AIG credit-default swaps surged Friday to eight percentage points. Reflecting this, an exchange-traded issue of AIG subordinated debt (AVF) was yielding 14% Friday. That's not a misprint.

McAfee has a stronger track record than Symantec and may prove more nimble in deploying new technology. Its stock, mostly flat this year, could easily jump 30% by next fall.

Little-known Alon USA (ALJ) was up, as well, but may have more reason than just a storm and easing crude-oil prices for its recent strength. Parent Alon Israel Oil has been actively adding to its 75% stake in the $600 million company with open-market purchases. John J. Licata, chief investment strategist of independent research firm Blue Phoenix, notes that the company, recovering from a plant explosion early this year, has significant exposure to asphalt and clean diesel, firmer parts of the industry. And, without hoping one bit for a particularly damaging storm this time, it's worth noting that following earlier severe Gulf hurricanes refining stocks ripped higher as margins stayed high.

The company already faces a variety of headwinds: Many sellers are irritated about recent changes eBay (EBAY) made in its fee structures. The softening consumer economy is not helping matters. And with well over half of its revenue coming from outside the U.S., its financial results will be hurt by the recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar. But that may not be the worst of it. Brian Blair and Ryan Hunter of investment-research firm Wedge Partners wrote late last week that the company's business is "deteriorating" and that the company is readying layoffs that could affect 10% of the company's 15,000 employees.

Live Nation wants to keep a bigger slice of every dollar consumers spend on live music, and one way to do that is to go head-to-head against Ticketmaster in the ticketing business. Others have tried to take on Ticketmaster. But no previous rival has had Live Nation's market share in concert promotion. It is bigger than the next 10 biggest concert promoters combined. Ticketmaster didn't just lose a big customer; it gained a formidable adversary