Ticker Talk:

Brokerage Merrill Lynch on Thursday released its list of 26 “must-have stocks,” based on expected price appreciation for the next three to five years. Its picks: America Online (ticker symbol: AOL), American International Group (AIG), Bell Atlantic (BEL), Burlington Resources (BR), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Citigroup (C), EMC (EMC), General Electric (GE), Home Depot (HD), HSBC Holdings (HBC), Hughes Electronics (GMH), JDS Uniphase (JDSU), Kyocera (KYO), MedImmune (MEDI), Network Appliance (NTAP), News Corp. (NWS), Nokia (NOK), Nortel Networks (NT), Omnicom Group (OMC), ScottishPower (SPI), Sony (SNE), Texas Instruments (TXN), Total Fina Elf (TOT), Vodafone AirTouch (VOD), Walgreen (WAG) and Yahoo (YHOO). . . . Accelerated Networks (ACCL) of Moorpark, whose products enable telecom carriers to transmit voice and data services over a broadband network, increased its planned initial public offering by 18%. It expected to raise $52 million in the deal late Thursday.