"What's safe and cheap in today's market? Food stocks top our buy list this month," suggests leading value advisor Richard Band.

The editor of Profitable Investing explains, "Here are two of my favorite buys, each with the potential to rack up a total return (price gain plus dividends) of at least 15% in the coming year: Nestle (NSRGY) and PepsiCo (PEP).

PepsicCo (PEP) is in the red at the time of this writing. Investors weren't dazzled by the beverage entity's latest earnings report, I guess. I see a quote of $63.16 on my screen; this means that the shares are off by about 2%. Volume is heavy.

According to the Associated Press, fourth-quarter profit on a reported basis went down five pennies to 85 cents per share. Not good to hear, but here's something that will put shareholders in a happier mood: on an adjusted basis, profit calculated out to $1.05 per share, a figure that was one penny ahead of the overall projection.

Beverage firm Coca-Cola (KO) announced that its third-quarter earnings came in better than the consensus estimate. For the quarter, Coke brought in 88 cents per share ($2.06 billion), or 92 cents per share excluding items. The consensus estimate called for earnings of 89 cents per share.

Turning to revenue, Coke saw a 5% increase to $8.43 billion. The company noted that its integration efforts are "well on track," stressing its savings target of at least $350 million per year. These savings will be implemented during the next four years.

The Coca-Cola Company (KO), a stock I own in my portfolio, actually surprised me today. For some reason, I didn't realize it was so close to a 52-week high. At the time of this writing (less than an hour before the market shuts down its trading posts), shares were trading for $59.06. The high for the year is $59.45. Not bad.

The yearly range isn't very wide at the moment. The 52-week low is $49.47. Nevertheless, I always am impressed whenever Coke is behaving in a strong fashion. I've held the company for a long, long time (over a decade), and I can tell you that the shares tend to retreat as soon as they try to break out of a range (or at least it seems that way).

Coca-Cola (KO), the main rival to PepsiCo (PEP), closed higher by nearly 1.6% while the Dow received a beating. Shares of the beverage giant settled at $54.08. The market gave its approval to the company's latest earnings report.

I have Coke in my portfolio as a long-term holding, and I was pretty satisfied with the numbers. What I want from a quarterly report is an indication that the business continues to remain on a stable track to deliver quality future cash flows (I'm not expecting anything too exciting, for the most part). I believe investors essentially got that on Wednesday.

PepsiCo (PEP) is not my favorite stock, but that isn't because I dislike its business prospects. It's not my favorite because I own Coca-Cola (KO). As you can imagine, I have to dislike it at least a little bit.

But I do have to confess to being impressed by the beverage company's stock performance Tuesday afternoon. At the time of this writing, shares were higher by $2.18 to $64.23. That's a 3.5% gain, and for a stock like PepsiCo, it's pretty notable. Especially when earnings growth was, as is oftentimes expected with a blue-chip concern such as this one, rather standard and unexciting.

"In looking for new opportunities, we will continue to focus on a combination of value, growth and financial strength ... all key attributes of PepsiCo (PEP), our latest featured investment," says money manager and newsletter advisor Jim Stack.

The editor of Investech Market Analyst explains, "At first mention of its name, PepsiCo might not be a company that peaks your interest. It's often viewed as just another stodgy stock that depends on its flagship soft drink line to carry the business along.

Sales increased over 4%. Earnings jumped to 90 cents per share from 46 cents per share in the comparable frame. According to BusinessWeek.com, this figure was equal to what analysts were projecting.

Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) issued Q4 results on Tuesday. On a reported basis, the company made 40 cents per share. Last year at this time, there was a loss of $1.28 per share. In addition to that good news, Earnings.com says that expectations hovered around 43 cents per share, a figure much less than the adjusted stat of 59 cents.

Unfortunately, the top line didn't budge, and total worldwide physical case volume for the full fiscal year was worse by 3%. The latter metric is key to a beverage business, and in some ways, ultimately more important than net income. And in terms of cash from operations, there wasn't much going on. For the twelve-month period, money generation was slightly down.

This post is part of a special report, Top Picks for 2010, the 27th annual survey in which TheStockAdvisors.com asks the nation's leading advisors for their single favorite stock for the new year. See all 80 stocks listed here.

"PepsiCo (PEP), my top pick for 2010, remains underrated by the market," says Jim Stack.

The money manager and editor of InvesTech Market Analyst suggests, "All too often, it's viewed as a stodgy soft drink company, fully reliant on its namesake soda line. That's a misconception." Here, he sets the record straight.

In Gordon Pape's Internet Wealth Builder, contributing analyst Tom Slee looks at "recession-resistant" global stocks. Here, he reviews Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP).

Slee explains, "Philip Morris continues to benefit from rising tobacco consumption and 'uptrading' as people in the emerging countries switch to more expensive products.

"Almost recession proof, the international tobacco industry is prospering thanks mainly to new markets, strong cash flows, and reduced litigation.