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.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the spike in stock prices warrants no buying until prices go lower.

I read a scary book this weekend: the S&P chart book. It was frightening because there weren't more than a handful charts that aren't overextended, and many stocks have reached levels that I didn't like when their companies were doing well. Chart after chart in every business, but especially retail and industrial, have moved up so much that you have to feel like a chump to come in at these levels.

There are almost no stocks with growth prospects that have accidentally high yields anymore. Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) (Cramer's Take) and Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) (Cramer's Take) were the only two that I saw that seemed remotely appealing, and maybe Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) (Cramer's Take).

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Sunoco Logistics (NYSE: SXL) to Buy from Hold on valuation and raised its target on shares to $60 from $56.50. The firm sees better value in Sunoco Logistics than Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP), which it downgraded to Hold.
  
• BofA/Merrill believes Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) offers the most potential upside in the larget cap defense sector. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral and has a $62 target on the stock.
  
• Roth Capital upgraded Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to Buy from Hold based on seasonality, multiple product cycles, and valuation. Roth's target remains $15.
• Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale.
  
• EnerNOC (NASDAQ: ENOC) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at RW Baird.
  
• American Express (NYSE: AXP) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
  

Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced this morning that it will buy privately-owned Colombian cigarette maker Protabaco in a deal that will cost the company $452 million. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on PM.

PM opened this morning at $43.06. So far today the stock has hit a low of $42.01 and a high of $43.57. As of 11:45, PM is trading at $42.85 up 51 cents(1.2%). The chart for PM looks bullish and S&P gives PM a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Tobacco titan Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) is snapping up the South African operations of Swedish Match for a cool 1.75 billion rand, or roughly $224.7 million. The acquisition is part of PM's broader strategy to gain a foothold in the smokeless tobacco arena. Currently, Swedish Match South Africa is the market leader in the South African pipe tobacco and snuff categories.

"This financially attractive acquisition represents an excellent strategic fit for our business in South Africa," said Jean-Claude Kunz, PM's president of Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa. "We firmly believe that merging the two businesses will provide us with the talent, infrastructure, and expertise to further build and grow our portfolio of strong brands in this important market."

"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.

Altria (NYSE: MO - option chain) stock is falling today after a Florida jury found that the death of a smoker was caused by his addiction to cigarettes. MO's subsidiary Philip Morris now is involved in the second phase of the trial , which is to decide who is at fault for his addiction. This is the first case in which an individual smoker's family sued a tobacco company for death by cigarette addiction. This is a tough precedent for MO and the cigarette industry, as it opens the industry up to potentially limitless civil suits from individual smokers.

While I believe that cigarette stocks are well-suited to our current environment, Phillip Morris International (NYSE: PM), a former subsidiary of MO, looks much more attractive to me, due in part to its lower exposure to the American legal system. PM is off by only 0.6% today compared to MO' s 3.5%. If you think Altria stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on MO.

Seems that even this shortened week was full of news and happenings, in the U.S. and around the world. With Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) being bailed out by the U.S. government at the beginning of the week and China announcing fiscal and monetary stimulus plans, the Dow industrials finished in positive territory four days in a row.

But as analysts and pundits, as well as each and every economic release -- in the U.S. and around the world -- remind us, we are not out of the woods yet and the rally has really been a bear-market rally.

Investors looking to take advantage of such rallies, or at least feel they hold stable long-term holdings, can search this week's BloggingStocks' contributors' picks:

Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) and Devry Inc. (NYSE: DV) -- It's often been suggested that educators do well in times of recession and high unemployment as workers look to improve or change their education to get a better job. Leo Fasciocco thinks these two are poised for a breakout.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) reported stronger-than-expected earnings this week and also hiked its forecast. Not surprisingly, cash-strapped consumers turn more and more to discounters. Dollar Tree may continue to benefit from the economic downturn and the stock could also experience a short-squeeze rally.

"If you're going to stay invested, you should look to defensive sectors," explain Ron Rowland and Brandon Clay, who point to consumer staples as a top pick for the current market environment.

In their Invest with an Edge, the advisors explain, "Perhaps the best way to stay defensive is with the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLP), an exchange traded fund.

"In a bear market, opportunities are usually limited to certain sectors. Surveying the investment horizon, we think the consumer staples sector has the best opportunity for growth in this economy.

"Regardless how the economy acts, people still eat. Consumers may not shop at Whole Foods, but they'll still buy groceries. Companies like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Safeway (NYSE: SWY) will continue to rake in revenues from hungry customers.

"In addition, these companies should continue to receive additional revenue from consumers who normally shop at specialty stores, but can no longer afford to.

"Consumers may not be shopping at Sharper Image any more, but there are other creature comforts that will be difficult for Americans to abandon.

"Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) will still sell products during a prolonged downturn. In addition, companies providing toiletries and convenience like Procter and Gamble and CVS Pharmacy stand to do well during a shifty economy.

Analyst upgrades:

• Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) to Market Perform from Underperform as they believe the company's capital buffer could keep outrunning credit losses.
  
• Friedman Billings also upgraded Office Max (NYSE: OMX) to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm believes the risk of recourse to Office Max from the Timber Notes formerly backed by Lehman is low and that any litigation by noteholders will have a low level of success.
  
• Citigroup upgraded CF Industries (NYSE: CF) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent weakness but lowered their target to $113 from $128.
• Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
  
• Granite Construction (NYSE: GVA) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
  

Analyst downgrades:

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) Q3 results were dragged down by charge-offs due to the recession.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) posted stronger-than-expected results due in part to iPhone sales.
• Boeing Inc. (NYSE: BA) posted a bigger-than-estimated earnings decline due in part to the strike.
• Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) reported Q1 earnings that were in line with Wall Street expectations.
• Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) Q3 results fell more than expected due to lower copper prices.
• Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) edged past estimates but felt the squeeze from exchange rates.
• McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI) reported dismal Q3 results as advertising revenues dry up.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted solid Q1 results but offered conservative guidance.
• New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) reported awful earnings and announced that it might cut its dividend.
• Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) topped profit estimates and maintained its guidance.
• RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) better-than-expected results were driven by sales of digital TV converters.
• Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) warned of a Q1 loss and acquisition-related charges.
• Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) missed estimates due to slowing mobile phone sales.
• United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings.
• Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) earnings tumbled in Q3 and it announced layoffs.

For more earnings highlights from this week, see Amazon, McDonald's, Mattel, Pfizer, AT&T, Sony and others.

Watch for upcoming quarterly reports from Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Estée Lauder (NYSE: EL) , US Steel (NYSE: X), Aetna (NYSE: AET), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Qwest (NYSE:Q), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Kellogg (NYSE: K), Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT), MetLife (NYSE: MET), Moody's (NYSE: MCO), Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), Avon (NYSE: AVP), CBS (NYSE: CBS), CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA), Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Washington Post (NYSE: WPO).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Setting aside any talk of price-to-earnings ratios or cap ex spending for a second and consider the following: McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) posted a great quarter, easily beating analysts expectations, as did cigarette makers Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) and Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM). Philip Morris maintained its outlook while Reynolds raised guidance. Drugmaker Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) had lousy results and is laying off 7,200 workers. Selling the coolest phone on the planet (at least for now) did not help the results of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), which reported worse-than-expected third quarter results.

Wait, there's more! Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) reported horrid results because of a machinists' union strike. Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) likely last results as a public company were as awful as people expected. Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) guidance was tepid, though not apparently as awful as some expected since the shares are rising. Let's not forget that the market is down yet again by triple digits, so it's not surprising that some of these stocks are trading down despite their reports.

To recap, smoking and fast-foods are a good thing and making drugs, technology or practically anything else is a bad thing. The best cliche I can come up with is that this market is an order of fries short of a Happy Meal. Its elevator does not go all the way to the top. I just can't think of any more folksy metaphors to explain my frustration. Please respond with any better ones.

All my career, the sentiment indicators have worked. When you get anything near minus 10 on the oscillator, you have to be silly not to buy. When you get anything approximating 35% bulls on the Investors Intelligence survey, you have to buy.

We have almost double that negative on the oscillator and half as many bulls as that pathetic number.

Sentiment has become meaningless. It is incredible.

If we are going into a severe recession, some of the selling makes sense, but not all of it. As we pull back to 8500 on the Dow, we will be looking at stocks that are yielding 6% to 7% that are solid and can't be shaken. We will be finding stocks at prices that we will look back and think it was impossible to believe.

And then there will be another cohort where we will buy and then watch them go down again, because business is so soft.

I want to reiterate that the stock market for now is just plain broken. You can't have Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) down 15% like it is nothing. The company should be losing money with that kind of decline. Remember when I said on Monday that you can't have ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) ) go up 10 because it can go down 10 just as easily?

Well, here we go.

Phillip Morris International (NYSE: PM - option chain) shares are relatively flat today in the face of a bearish market as the company announced it will raise its regular quarterly dividend to 54 cents. As long as they pay that dividend quarterly, then this makes a tidy 4% yield.If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on PM that can take advantage of that dividend.

PM opened this morning at $53.76. So far today the stock has hit a low of $53.66 and a high of $54.46. As of 12:35, PM is trading at $53.96, up 4 cents(0.1%). The chart for PM looks bullish and S&P gives PM a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a March covered call at the $60 level. A covered call is an options position that combines the purchase of stock with the sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.4% return in 7 months if PM is above $60 at March expiration. But unlike our normal credit spread trades, that is not the goal here. This position turns out strictly better than buying and holding the stock if it is below $61.25 at March expiration, and it makes a reasonable return in the unlikely event that the stock rises to that level. Plus, you can probably expect to catch at least two dividend payments over that time. We get about 2% of downside protection on this pretty stable stock by using a covered call. Learn more about this type of trade here.

PM has shown support just below $54 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in PM.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.
• Ambac Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: ABK) posted a wider-than-expected loss; shares hit new low.
• Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) beat Q2 estimates on strength in the managed services businesses.
• Amphenol Corp. (NYSE: APH) beat expectations in the first quarter and raised its guidance.
• Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) posted a larger-than-estimated Q1 loss.
• Aptar Group Inc. (NYSE: ATR) posted record Q1 results and raised its Q2 guidance.
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Q1 earnings plunged on further housing-related write-downs.
• Brinker International Inc. (NYSE: EAT) narrowly beat earnings expectations on cost cutting.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) beat analysts' estimates for the first quarter.
• Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) reported a wider-than-forecast loss on subprime-related write-downs.
• Cree Inc. (NYSE: CREE) earnings slipped while revenues soared 29%.
• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) reported worse-than-expected Q1 earnings on discontinued product charge.
• Gannet Inc. (NYSE: GCI) beat low expectations as earnings and revenue continue slump.
• Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings on international strength.
• JAKKS Pacific Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) missed Q1 expectations on restructuring and litigation costs.
• Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) beat EPS estimates by a penny, as revenue jumped 10%.