If you were paying close attention to this column last week, you would have sidestepped some of the pain and misery investors in many of the stocks discussed have suffered lately. Of late, we have seen the general direction of the markets turn positive, even in the face of news to the contrary.

Perhaps it is because investors have an appetite for stocks, since there seems to be few investment alternatives. Real estate is off limits and the yield on bonds and other fixed-income investments is pathetically low.

The theme for the week ahead is SMOOTH SAILING. In this week's column, we delve into some stocks that will be announcing earnings, and that may benefit from the changing tide of investor sentiment. To be sure, there will be several areas of choppiness as we continue to be bombarded by the stormy realities of a turbulent economy.

Monday, May 19

The chart for Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) looks M'm M'm good. Sporting a smooth line with nary a ripple over the past 12 months, management has done a great job at keeping both company earnings and share price up, even in the face of significant food inflation. While shares have been condensing during the past few months, recently they have been rising with a series of higher highs and higher lows. Be on the outlook for earnings of 44 cents per share on revenue expectations of $1.89 billion. Now that I think of it. That's a lot of soup wrapped in tin-plated steel -- one of many materials that has seen its price almost double in the past six months.

Yesterday we learned that Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is taking another shot at the movie promotion business by pushing (for a cut of the action) the National Geographic movie "Arctic Tale." Starbuck's initial effort, last year's "Akeela and the Bee," had indifferent results.

While most of the big releases for 2007 already have commercial tie-ins, I thought about other companies that might make money by offering some targeted marketing. Perhaps

• Ratatouille -- KFC (Yum Brands, NYSE: YUM)
• The 40-year old Virgin -- Weight Watchers Intl (NYSE: WTW)
• Sicko -- The Church of Scientology
• Live Free or Die Hard -- Viagra (Pfizer, NYSE: PFE)
• Evan Almighty -- Chris Craft
• Transformers: The Mitt Romney Campaign
• The Simpsons Movie: Sylvan Learning
• Hairspray: Lane Bryant (Charming Shoppes, Inc., NASDAQ: CHRS)
• Hostel: Part II -- Hilton Hotels (NYSE: HLT)
• 1408 -- Hostelling International

And, as a special subscriber gift offer promotion,

• The Wall Street Journal (Dow Jones, NYSE: DJ) -- Citizen Kane