Halloween, though not the blockbuster holiday that Christmas is, still results in some additional spending on the part of consumers as they stock up on candy and costumes, and maybe take in a scary movie or two. With those treats in mind here are some stocks that may give investors sweet dreams -- and hopefully not nightmares.

As is well known, candy is all the rage at Halloween, and among the largest candy stocks are Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) and Cadbury PLC (NYSE: CBY). Last week, Hershey reported third-quarter earnings rose 30% despite weaker volumes affected by higher prices for its sweets. Last year's numbers also included special charges. Still the company said it expects full-year earnings to be ahead of Wall Street forecasts. In 2010, the Pennsylvania company said it expects earnings excluding items to rise 6% to 8%. The stock has a forward-looking price-to-earnings ratio of 16 and a current dividend yield of 3.1%.

Perusing a local Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) location this weekend while doing some research, I noticed a rather gory Halloween display near the exit of the store. This seemed like a good impulse purchase for those silly enough to want a fairly lifelike headless monster decorating their houses for a few weeks. In fact, I was amazed Wal-Mart featured this display, since the conservative chain won't stock some DVDs or CDs due to content that's not very 'wholesome'.

Looks like I'm not the only one who was surprised at the display, as a mom in Texas is now saying the same display in her local Wal-Mart gave her three daughters nightmares. Four year-old Grace Whitney stated that, "It looked like a real, live monster," while mom Adriana Whitney said that she didn't expect to see something like that while grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.

Ms. Whitney told a local news station that all three of her daughters were unable to sleep in their rooms after seeing the display. As a result of the complaint, Wal-Mart moved the display from the entrance area to an aisle where the other Halloween displays are kept. My question is this: why place something a tad over the line next to the doors where everyone can see it in the first place? I visited a Target (NYSE: TGT) store this weekend as well -- no goofy headless statues were next to its door. But, perhaps the margin on this product is enough to justify Wal-Mart's placement, eh?

The usually insightful Mark Hulbert has written a column about the Halloween indicator. A few months ago, he had the good sense to give the fabled Super Bowl Indicator a sound debunking.

But in his most recent column about the Halloween indicator, he makes a tragic leap in logic: Historically, it seems to work and therefore there's a reason to believe there's something to it. In my own piece on the Super Bowl indicator a few months ago, I wrote this:

When examining investing strategies (along with strategies for life in general), we should look not for evidence of past success, but a compelling reason that a strategy works. For instance, Warren Buffett's strategy of buying well-run companies with strong competitive advantages at cheap prices relative to their cash flow makes intuitive sense. And it has yielded strong results in the past and seems likely to continue to do so. But what about homing pigeons and bullish haramis? Is there any reason that Fibonacci sequences would be the key to picking stocks that will beat the market?

Given the tendency of humans to see patterns where none exist -- and for technicians to develop algorithms to find patterns in historical events -- I'm inclined to dismiss the Halloween indicator as being about as relevant as the Super Bowl indicator. I just can't think of any reason why it would be anything other than randomness, and I doubt that it is.

[photo Tasitch]

It's usually sometime around October 1 that I first start seeing the Halloween costumes on the three- and four-year-olds in my neighborhood. A little girl on a morning run September 29 was my first sighting: a slinky tiger suit. It was especially awesome worn with one sleeve off. Last night, my son's friend Jackson came over to play wearing his Flash costume. My girls are equivocating; princesses, Tinkerbell, or the all-pleasing little girl combo, the fairy princess?

Yep. It's all about princesses, and mermaids, and of course, princess mermaids this year. It's Ariel's fault, naturally, she of the Little Mermaid movie re-release and the incessant repetition of "Kiss the Girl" on Disney Radio. As for my four-year-old, he wants to be a pirate. More specifically, a Pirate of the Carivean (his interpretation of "Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest" -- frighteningly enough, he knows to put "Dead Man's Chest" at the end of the title every time he mentions it). Or maybe, he tells me, Diego (of Go, Diego, Go!, part of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA)'s Dora the Explorer franchise on Nick Jr.).

When I saw the Wall Street Journal's piece on popular Halloween costumes this year [subscription required], it got me to thinking: could I recommend stocks based on my considerable Halloween costume field studies?

Most obviously, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is a good bet for your Halloween investing dollar (is there such a thing?) It's princesses and mermaids and pirates, oh my! on the trick-or-treat path this season. But what else?

Somewhere in the deep dark attics of Time Warner, Superman has been waiting. He's been gathering star dust, or whatever it is that superheroes gather when they lie in attics so long. Up until last year, he was stored right next to Batman -- until he, you know, Begined with the $200 million, eighth-highest-grossing movie of 2005.

It was about time Superman answered the call and swooped down to save Time Warner from its no-big-movie-having self, says Rick Munarriz for the Motley Fool. The company has no top-10 movies this year, despite big hopes with action block-wanna-be-busters V for Vendetta, Firewall, and Poseidon.

That will certainly change with Superman Returns, says Munarriz, and he doesn't even much care if the movie doesn't make back its $260 million production budget. If people love it (and they will!), "it can turn the spigot for more cost-effective sequels in the coming years. This is about more than just one film or one Halloween season with a few more trick-or-treating Superman kiddies than in years past. It's about making a statement."

I, for one, hope Superman can save Time Warner -- if only for the fun I'll have writing headlines about it. [Photo opendoorexit]