Better days could lie ahead for the Stamford, Conn., provider of wrestling-related products and entertainment (ticker: WWE), especially if it wins several lawsuits filed in recent years against licensees it alleges have illegally acquired the rights to its name and franchise. For World Wrestling, which derived almost a fourth of its 2006 revenue from licensing, a win in court "could provide a significant, recurring boost to financial results, specifically a 14% to 22% increase in earnings before interest and taxes.

American Express conceivably will benefit from the litigation, which focuses on the so-called exclusionary rule by which MasterCard effectively sought to prevent banks that issue its card from issuing AmEx or Discover cards. Rodelli states, "the market fails to appreciate the strategic interest of both American Express and Discover in using their strong antitrust claims to gain long-term advantages in the marketplace, as opposed to a one-time settlement payout."

The disputes center largely on the future division of royalty payments on third-generation, or 3G, mobile-phone technologies; Nokia has charged that Qualcomm's royalty rates of around 5% are too high, while Qualcomm has filed patent-infringement claims against Nokia. The disagreements have weighed heavily on Qualcomm's stock, which peaked at 53 in May, troughed at 33 in August and now trades around 43. But with the shares fetching 24 times expected earnings (minus cash) -- a valuation near historic lows -- Rodelli argues that there's little downside risk, and substantial upside if "any positive catalysts" arise on the legal front.