"Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) reported fourth quarter profits that topped Wall Street's expectations," says Geoffrey Seiler.

In his BullMarket,com advisory, he forecasts, "We expect to see continued operational improvements in the months ahead." Here, the advisor reiterates his buy rating and boosts his price target for the stock.

The advisor observes,, "The company reported a net profit of $436 million, or 44 cents per share, for the quarter ended August 31st, a -1.5% decrease the same quarter a year ago. Results topped the Wall Street consensus by 5 cents share and edged the full-year EPS estimate by 3 cents.

Validea is an intriguing newsletter that selects stocks based on the strategies of the market's most legendary investors. Here, editor John Reese takes a look at Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO).

"This mall-based clothing retailer targets youngsters age 14 to age 17 through more than 900 stores in 49 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada.

"The company has developed a new retail store concept called P.S. from Aeropostale, which will offer casual clothing and accessories focusing on elementary school children between the ages of seven and 12.

"Maidenform Brands (NYSE: MFB), which earns our strong buy rating, saw sales rise 5.6% in the second quarter based on strong demand," reports analyst Tracey Ryniec.

In Zacks Elite Stocks, she explains, "Maidenform Brands sells intimate apparel such as bras and shapewear at department stores and other retail outlets.

"The company provides a collection of recognizable brands including Maidenform, Lilyette, Control It!, and Sweet Nothings. It also licenses the Donna Karan and DKNY brands, which it launched in the first quarter.

"Diageo (NYSE: DEO), the world's largest spirits maker, offers solid and safe dividend, as well as the potential for strong capital appreciation," says Louis Basenese.

The senior analyst for the prestigious The Oxford Club suggests, "Moreover, investors can also prepare for a US dollar decline by buying these shares." Here's his bullish outlook.

"Headquartered in London, roughly 70% of the company's sales come from outside the United States. So any dollar dip will increase the value of our ADRs.

"Moreover, management concedes that positive currency tailwinds in the other countries where Diageo sells spirits will help the company easily grow earnings by double digits this year.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB), a consumer-products company that counts Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) as colleagues, announced Q2 results on Thursday. The performance wasn't spectacular, but management successfully defended the bottom line from the recession by instituting pricing strategies that leveraged the brand equity of the company's portfolio.

The bottom line fell, of course, but probably not as far as it would have if there weren't any pricing mechanisms in place. Earnings per share came in at 97 cents. This was six cents lower than last year's adjusted Q2 income. Revenues were challenged by dollar fluctuations, dropping well over 5%. However, here's the silver lining: organic sales increased almost 3%, even with volumes on the decline.

Shares of Del Monte (NYSE: DLM) are up over 9% in early afternoon trading. And the volume is doing gangbusters business. The market is responding to the company's fourth-quarter results. The numbers did tell an overall fun story.

To begin with, revenues saw a big jump of 20%. As many news items have pointed out, price increases helped out. It should also be pointed out that the company's press release indicated that an extra week skewed things a bit. That's okay, though, it was still a good top-line performance. Earnings per share from continuing divisions came in at $0.35, which meant that Del Monte grew the bottom line by 75% (a couple elements affecting the perception of this profit expansion was a better tax situation linked to a positive change in California tax code and a $0.04 per-share transformation expense recorded in Q4 2008). Analysts said the company might earn $0.26 per share. That's a pleasant difference, isn't it?

"Income investors have to be very careful when searching for yield; many high-yielding stocks have turned in disastrous performances over the last year," cautions Chuck Carlson.

In his The DRIP Investor he adds, "That's what makes Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) so attractive. The issues stands as as one in which investors can be confident of a steady dividend stream."

"The stock's current yield of 5% is especially attractive in this environment. And the dividend is taxed at the current preferential tax rate of just 15%, giving it an extra appeal relative to yields on fixed-income investments. Furthermore, the dividend is safe.

A recent Time magazine cover story described it as, "The New Frugality." The "it" here is the change in behavior, attitudes and even values Americans are embracing as a byproduct of the "Great Recession." It's just a fact that most of us have in some way or another altered our spending habits to a more frugal lifestyle as a direct result of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.

One company feeling the sting of the country's new frugality is high-end retailer Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM). Today the company reported a Q1 loss of $18.7 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with a profit of $10.4 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier. A performance not uncommon for retail stocks these days.

The losses were actually smaller than the company had projected, but those previous projections included a slashed advertising budget, a cut in capital spending and lowered merchandise inventories. More importantly, the company said that revenue in the quarter ended May 3 fell 22% to $611.6 million. Yikes!

Of course, Wall Street rewarded the anemic results with a near-10% drop in Wednesday's trade. So, what does the Williams-Sonoma miss tell us?

"To invest in the growing personal protection industry, Brinks Home Security Holdings (NYSE: CFL) looks particularly attractive," says Jim Powell in Global Changes & Opportunities Report.

"Brinks Holdings is an October 2008 spin-off from Brinks Company; as its name suggests, Brinks Home Security has a tighter focus than its parent organization that offers security services to banks and other high value businesses.

"I think the emphasis on protecting families from burglary and home invasions is a plus in today's economy.

"Our confidence in this market is growing... albeit slowly; the fundamental blocks are already in place for a market bottom, and the technical blocks seem to be following," says Jim Stack, well known for having accurately forecast the market. housing and economic downturn.

In InvesTech Market Analyst, he suggests, "We are now stepping up our allocation. The newest addition to our Model Portfolio is VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC)."

"VF Corporation is the world's largest publicly held apparel manufacturer and distributor. It owns an incredibly diverse line of brands; including such well known names as Wrangler, Lee, North Face, Vans, and Nautica.

This post is part of a seven article report -- Food for thought: Best bets in food & beverage stocks.

"Customers are trading down to McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) from higher-end restaurants," says growth stock expert Toby Smith in his ChangeWave Investing.

The fast food operator is also a buy from Bill Martin, who adds, the company continues to serve up solid results. In his BullMarket.com advisory, he reviews the stock's recent quarter.

First, Toby Smith explains, "Given the endless parade of depressing economic news, it's no wonder that most people have lost their appetite for food -- if not altogether, then at least for the finer dining.

"Our proprietary ChangeWave Alliance survey -- ongoing pols of thousands of individuals and investors in various industries and professions -- just 5% of respondents said they would spend more at restaurants, which is unchanged from the all-time low.

"The CEO of Target (NYSE: TGT) has purchased $4.6 million in shares of the discount retailer, and we're going to follow suit," says Bill Martin in his BullMarket.com advisory.

"Chief Executive Officer Gregg Steinhafel purchased 150K shares at $30.54 on March 18th. On the same day, he also acquired 78K shares at $31.58 for his 401(k) plan in what appears to have been an automated transaction.

"Following the transactions Steinhafel now holds 555.8K shares, exercisable options on 727.7K shares at $34.00 to $58.13, and unexercisable options on 600.9K shares at $48.16 and $58.13.

"Personally, I haven't played a video game since college; but I know the video game market is red hot," says Alex Green; here, the investment director for The Oxford Club takes a look at GameStop (NYSE: GME).

"With more than 5,100 stores throughout the United States and 15 other countries, GameStop is the world's largest video game retailer.

"Its stores include GameStop, EB Games and Electronics Boutique. It also publishes Game Informer, the industry's largest circulation video game magazine with more than 2.2 million paid subscribers.

"McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) has bucked the global recession in February as both global and U.S. same *store sales rose," says Tracey Ryniec, who has chosen the fast food giant as its latest featured company in Zacks Ellite Stock of the Day.

The analyst explains, "The company, which operates more than 32,000 McDonald's restaurants in over 100 countries, reported February comparable sales results on Mar 9 that showed global sales rising 1.4% year over year even as Feb 2008 included an extra day due to leap year. Excluding the extra day, sales grew 5.4%.

"U.S. sales climbed 2.8%, or 6.8% if you exclude the extra calendar day in 2008. Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa rose 0.7%, or 4.1% if you exclude the extra calendar day. Only Europe saw a decline, losing 0.2%, but if you exclude the extra day, even Europe increased 4%.

"I now believe some bargains are developing among technology stocks," says growth stock expert Mark Skousen. In his specialized trading service, The Turnaround Trader, he adds, "Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is a fallen tech leader that may even rise in a bear market -- and has a chance to double or triple once the market turns around."

Skousen expplains, "Technology stocks appear to have bottomed and are moving higher. Motorola, the $8-billion mobile ohone manufacturer, is in the midst of a classic turnaround situation.

"It used to be the cell phone technology leader, having developed the world's first handheld cellular phone and technical standard for high-definition TV. Yet the stock has fallen nearly 70% from its lofty highs of $26 a share two years ago.