The stock of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), first discussed here on March 25, 2009, at a price of $28.78, has pulled back slightly after pushing $38, but just view that dip as a chance to scoop up shares of a superior company.

Look for Archer to post a 10% to 15% revenue increase in FY2011, as global demand for food continues to rise. Long term, the company remains well-positioned to capitalize on the development of emerging markets and population growth. Oilseed performance will be a star performer, followed by agricultural services.

Analyst Upgrades

• Netflix (NFLX) and Zions Bancorp (ZION) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Akamai (AKAM) to buy from neutral at Merriman.
• CSX (CSX) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Nordstrom (JWN) to buy from neutral, WellCare (WCG) to conviction buy from buy and Humana (HUM) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• E-Commerce China Dangdang (DANG) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• VMware (VMW) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Celanese (CE) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.

Raw commodities like grains, sugar and cotton are skyrocketing in price. These raw foods are then processed for consumption. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is one of the world largest food processors. It processes corn into corn oil syrups, sweeteners, citric and lactic acid and ethanol. Soybeans are crushed into soybean oil and meal, Wheat is processed into flour and pasta. Cocoa is turned into chocolate and confections. It provides animal feed for farmers and meal for brewers. It has one of the largest distribution networks in the world.

Analyst Upgrades

• Research In Motion (RIMM) to buy from sell and Gap (GPS) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Archer Daniels (ADM) and Airgas (ARG) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• NCR Corp. (NCR) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Valero Energy (VLO) to top pick from sector perform and Western Refining (WNR) to outperform from underperform at RBC Capital.
• Fred's (FRED) to overweight from neutral at JP Morgan.
• Marsh & McLennan (MMC), Willis Group (WSH) and Brown & Brown (BRO) to equal weight from underweight at Barclays.
• Host Hotels (HST) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• La-Z-Boy (LZB) to strong buy from market perform at Raymond James.

Despite the turmoil in the Middle East, the market powered to a 30-month high, closing above 12,000 Tuesday. The key driver was a slew of strong earnings reports. The last time we saw Dow 12,000 was on June 19, 2008. Across the board, the major averages were strong. The Dow climbed 148.23 to 12,040.16, S & P 500 rose 21.47 to 1307.59, and the NASDAQ surged 51.11 to 2751.19, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Here are just a few stocks that moved the Dow higher:

• Pfizer (PFE) rose $1.00 to $19.22. Fourth-quarter profit tripled from a year ago.

Archer Daniels Midland's (ADM) stock, first discussed here on March 25, 2009, at a price of $28.78, has pulled back slightly after testing the $35 level, but the outlook remains good for additional gains.

Archer should record a 3% to 5% revenue increase in FY2011, as global demand for food continues to rise. Further, long-term, the company remains well-positioned to capitalize on the development of emerging markets, and population growth. Oilseed performance will be a star performer, followed by agricultural services.

All in all, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) posted a stellar second-quarter earnings report. Net income came to $732 million or $1.14 per share. This compares to $567 million, or $0.88 per share in the same period a year ago. The Street was looking for $0.78 per share.

Revenues rose by 32% to $20.93 billion. The consensus estimate called for $17.5 billion.

Analyst Upgrades

• Large Cap Pharmaceuticals sector upgraded to Overweight at Wells Fargo.
• Archer Daniels (ADM) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Cypress Semi (CY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• MFA Financial (MFA) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
• Blackstone (BX) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
• Comerica (CMA) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
• Dollar Tree (DLTR) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
• NuVasive (NUVA) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink.
• Cogdell Spencer (CSA) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
• Hersha Hospitality (HT) upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies.
• G&K Services (GKSR) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at RW Baird.
• Graham Packaging (GRM) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Shaw (SJR) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Last year, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) was included in my stock picks for 2010 and it lost 4.9%. I gave some consideration to keeping it in the mix this year but thought more highly of other stocks in 2011, so I cast it off.

The turning of a calendar page is arbitrary and investments have only modest correlation to it in most instances. However, two weeks into the year ADM is already up, closing Wednesday at $32.56.

Corn prices have been rising and when last I checked futures were up another 1.47% in early morning trading.

Here are the next four of my 2011 picks. I am behind schedule, after publishing the first 5 earlier in the week (see: Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks -- 5 of 11). This year instead of starting completely anew, I am adjusting my 2010 picks. There is no sense in abandoning good ideas just because the calendar turned a page.

You will actually find support of running themes I have been writing about over the past few months. One of these is the idea of making a contrarian investment in a basket of stocks that have been both scalded and scolded in the headlines. Six stocks were included in such a group that I called the "toxic stocks" (see: Chasing Value: Toxic Stock Update #3 -- BAC, BP, C, GE, GS, RIG).

The year 2010 has come and gone and my results are in. This is my fourth annual stock results to be reported on BlogginStocks, so something of a track record is starting to form. This past year ended with a modest improvement over the unmanaged Standard & Poors 500 index

The original story, Chasing Value: 10 Stock Picks for 2010, took readers through a review of many candidates, concluding with the ten picks, using prices from Dec. 28, 2009.

Leave it to our representatives in Washington to make a compromise that ignores most of their previously stated beliefs -- of only a few days ago. This just reinforces again the old joke "How do you know when a politician is lying?..."

Monday the Obama administration and congressional Republicans came to an agreement to extend both unemployment benefits by 13 months, and the Bush-era tax cuts for all by two years. What happened to the Republican and Democratic noise about fiscal responsibility and reducing the debt?

A few days ago Republicans were not going to vote for an extension of the unemployment funding if there was not an associated revenue offset to pay for it. That's gone, so the deficit is going up. The Democrats claimed they would not back an extension of the tax cuts for people that earned over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for joint returns claiming this would add $900 billion toward debt reduction. That's gone so the deficit is going up.

If you persevered and maintained your position with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), first discussed here on March 25, 2009, at a price of $28.78, during its bear hug earlier this year, you're being rewarded.

ADM found support near $24, and soared to more than $34, before a recent correction to about $31.

Archer should record a 5% to 7% revenue increase in FY2011, as global demand for food continues to rise with the global economic recovery, which should post GDP growth of 4.2% next year, according to International Monetary Fund research. Long term, the company remains well-positioned to capitalize on the development of emerging markets, and population growth. Oilseed performance will be a star performer, followed by agricultural services.