Diamond Foods (DMND) acquired the Pringle brand product from Proctor & Gamble (PG) for $2.35 billion, as reported in Dealbook.

When we think of Diamond Foods we think of nuts, edible nuts. Diamond's two main brands are Diamond and Emerald. It produces all kinds of nut products for cooking and eating. Among them are almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts and peanuts. The product line also includes microwave popcorn and potato chips.

There have been many lessons to learn from the "Great Recession." But while the message is often clear, we can't always muster the courage, discipline or consensus to act on these lessons.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is about to enter its second season -- the playoffs. And for a Laker fan in Los Angeles, there is much to look forward to. However, the current NBA collective bargaining agreement will end and we will have to witness another battle between the billionaires and the millionaires.

Why can't the NBA learn from other businesses that have successfully maneuvered through economic turmoil to achieve profitability?

Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA - option chain) shares are rising after the company announced it has signed an agreement with Proctor & Gamble (PG) to create a partnership that will combine both companies' over-the-counter medicine divisions. 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 TEVA.

TEVA opened Thursday morning at $50.13. In morning trading, the stock hit a low of $49.86 and a high of $50.59. As of 12:20, TEVA was trading at $50.58 up $1.46 (3.0%). The chart for TEVA looks bullish and S&P gives TEVA a positive 4 stars (out of 5) buy ranking.

Procter & Gamble(PG) is the largest consumer goods company in the world with sales in excess of $79 billion in 2010. It and competes with Colgate-Palmolive(CL),Unilever Group(UL), Revlon(REV) and L'Oreal. Under its current CEO, Bob McDonald, P&G set out on an ambition goal to acquire one billion new consumers by 2014/15. It should then come as no surprise that P&G has ambitious plans for one of the most populous nations in the world, India.

We value P&G with a $75.25 Trefis price estimate of its stock, which is around a 20% premium to its current market share price. A detailed analysis of P&G's game plan for India only reinforces our outlook and hints at further potential upside to our estimate.

Proctor & Gamble (PG) competes with Unilever Group (UN), Revlon (REV) and L'Oreal (LRLCY) in the male grooming market. P&G's share in the global grooming market has risen steadily since its acquisition of Gillette in 2005 to a whopping $57 billion in 2005. We expect this positive trend to continue, driven by growth in emerging markets like India and China, expansion of product lines, and acquisition of newer brands.

Fortune has released its list of the world's 50 most respected companies and once again Apple Inc. (AAPL) tops the list.

This is the fourth year in a row that the Cupertino based company has grabbed the top slot. Apple's respect comes mainly due to the company's ability to release new products at an amazingly quick pace, often updating its main product lines at least once a year.

With over 170 years of "touching lives and improving life" across the globe, Procter & Gamble (PG) continues to provide consumers with quality beauty and personal care products. Headquartered in Cincinnati, P&G draws around 41% of its sales from North America, with Western Europe contributing another 21% to its total sales. P&G competes with companies like Unilever (UL), L'Oreal, Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Kimberly Clark (KMB) and is one of the stocks that scores the best in our cash conversion analysis included below.

Analyst Upgrades

• Medicis (MRX) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray, to outperform from market perform at Bernstein, to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital and to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Wellpoint (WLP) to buy from neutral at Davenport.
• Humana (HUM) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Frontier Oil (FTO) to equal weight from underweight and Resources Connection (RECN) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, Unilever (UL) is the second largest consumer goods company in the world after Procter & Gamble (PG) and sells everything from soaps and deodorants to salad dressings, ice-cream and tea beverages. Its portfolio of billion-dollar brands includes Dove, Lux, Axe, Rexona, Surf, CloseUp, Signal, Wall's, Lipton and Vaseline, to name a few.

Our price estimate for Unilever stands at $35.14, well ahead of market price.

A lot has been written about the slow pace of economic recovery in the U.S. with unemployment levels at close to historical highs at 9.4% (as of December 2010) set in contrast to the feverish growth of emerging markets. It then comes as no surprise that most of the big players in the beauty and personal care industry such as L'Oreal (LRLCY), Estee Lauder (EL), Revlon (REV), Avon (AVP), Procter & Gamble (PG), Unilever (UL), Colgate (CL) and Kimberly Clark (KMB) are increasing their presence in growing markets like China, India and Latin America.

Let's check in on two companies that operate in the arena of consumer goods. One makes plastic storage containers; the other is responsible for delivering batteries and Pringles crisps to market. Both recently released quarterly results.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NWL) said it made 25 cents per share on a reported basis, as stated in this article over at Bloomberg. That was five pennies better than last year's number. On an adjusted basis, profit came out to 34 cents per share, a penny above the overall estimate.

Kimberly-Clark (KMB), a consumer products company that counts Procter & Gamble (PG) as a colleague, is a very interesting stock for two reasons. First, it's not too far away from its 52-week high. Second, it's trading with an extremely nice dividend yield attached. Those two elements can't help but make an investor take notice.

In fact, speaking about the dividend yield, according to the company's Q4 earnings results, management has increased the quarterly payout by 6% to 70 cents per share. Excellent news. Based on Tuesday's closing price of $65.61, a quote that found the stock up by 2.6% on significant volume, the yield on the shares is now roughly 4.3%.

Analyst Upgrades

• Micron (MU) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Baker Hughes (BHI) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• PDL BioPharma (PDLI) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Fluor (FLR) and Rush Enterprises (RUSHA) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Camden Property (CPT) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Pinnacle Financial (PNFP) to buy from hold at Wunderlich.
• Linear Technology (LLTC) to neutral from reduce at Nomura.
• Hologic (HOLX) and Illumina (ILMN) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• F5 Networks (FFIV) to buy from neutral at Gleacher.