Five Stocks for the Day After the End of the World

So the latest batch of Chicken Littles is certain that doomsday is May 21, 2011. Of course this is just the latest in a long line of end-of-the-world predictions. Someone is bound to be correct eventually, I suppose. But will this be the day? We will see soon. In the meanwhile, here are five stocks that might be worth a look if you expect life to continue after May 21. MetLife If the world refuses to cease, then we're going to need that life insurance after all. The largest life insurer in the United States is MetLife MET. The New York-based company reported strong first-quarter results earlier this month. The new chief executive officer, Steven Kandarian, said: "In addition to benefiting from the acquisition of Alico, we grew operating earnings in our U.S. Business by 15% while total net investment income increased 14% over the first quarter of 2010." MetLife has a long-term EPS growth forecast of 12.7% and a 1.7% dividend yield. The share price has pulled back about 6% recently and ended today at $44.33. The stock has underperformed the broader market since the beginning of the year, but its performance is in line with competitor Prudential PRU and better than American International Group AIG. Heinz Returning to life as normal probably will mean that it is time to stock up the pantry again. H. J. Heinz HNZ can help with that. The Pittsburgh-based company offers condiments, soups, frozen foods, processed foods and baby food. It also has a consensus Buy rating, a dividend yield of 3.4% and a healthy return on equity of 53.5%. Heinz reports fourth-quarter and fiscal-year results next week (if the world has not ended, of course) and analysts are looking for quarterly earnings up 16.7% from a year ago and revenue up 5.4%. Note that Heinz regularly beats consensus earnings estimates. Its share price reached a multi-year high of $53.00 today and is more than 9% higher than three months ago. Proctor & Gamble When it comes to stocking up on other household products—from diapers to shampoo, deodorant to batteries, pet food to paper towels—Procter & Gamble PG has you covered. The world's largest producer of household products boosted its dividend in April and announced in February that Meg Whitman, former eBay EBAY CEO and California gubernatorial candidate, had joined its board. The Cincinnati-based company has a consensus Buy recommendation and a return on equity of 16.1%. Analysts expect to see 14.5% year-over-year EPS growth and 8.9% revenue growth in the current quarter. The share price reached a 52-week high of $67.72 today after climbing about 5% in the past few weeks. DeVry A second lease on life is often a good time to consider going back to school. For-profit educator DeVry DV offers professional, undergraduate and graduate programs in the areas of technology, health care, business and management. The company reported strong fiscal third-quarter results attributed to its diversification strategy. DeVry regularly beats consensus earnings estimates, and its revenues are expected to have grown 14% this year. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 11.8%, the PEG ratio is 0.9 and the return on equity is 27.0%. Shares are trading at 11.4 times earnings estimates, and the share price has been range-bound mostly between $50 and $55 since January. Yet the stock's performance has been in line with the broader market, as well as with competitor Apollo Group APOL, year to date. Royal Caribbean And those pushing this doomsday forecast may want to get away from it all afterwards—say, on an extended cruise. Royal Caribbean Cruises RCL carries millions of passengers to ports from Alaska to Europe, from Australia to the Caribbean. The Miami-based company announced in January that it would build its fleet with more energy-efficient "next generation" ships, starting in fall of 2014. CEO Richard Fain said, "The year started off with a roar—strong bookings, low costs and solid profits—and in the first quarter every one of our brands exceeded its forecast." Earnings results have been better than expected in recent quarters, and the long-term EPS growth forecast is 17.2%. The PEG ratio is 0.7 and shares are trading at 15.8 times earnings estimates, which is much lower than the industry average. The share price bottomed below $37 recently and is up more than 5% in the past month. The stock has outperformed larger rival Carnival CCL over the past year.