The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the world's most recognized stock index, will hit 20,000 by 2013, up from its current levels of around 11,575, says Larry Robbins, of Glenview, a $4.8 billion hedge fund.

For Robbins, price/earnings multiples, ratios that gauge a stock's attractiveness, are too low considering healthy earnings, which means many would-be investors are still nervous and would rather sit on cash than get in the stock market.

Price/earnings multiples, Robbins says, should expand by 45 percent by the end of 2013, which would take the Dow up to 20,000 in the process.

"Larry Robbins’ prediction is the most optimistic prediction we’ve seen coming from a credible hedge-fund manager," says InsiderMonkey, an investor-information service.

"Larry Robbins thinks those investing in 10-year Treasurys aren’t doing so for the paltry return. They’re in it to front run the Fed and make a quick buck at the expense of the taxpayers. Once this trade is over, Robbins says, they have nowhere to go except the high quality stocks in the stock market."

The market is recovering after the crippling financial crisis of the last couple of years, and some Wall Street heavyweights are making recommendations: despite high growth from smaller-cap concerns, invest in big companies in 2011.

“In 40 years I have rarely seen a situation where so many big, profitable international companies are selling at such relatively cheap prices,” Donald Yacktman, head of the $1.9 billion The Yacktman Focused Fund, tells Bloomberg.

Bill Miller, of Legg Mason, has said investors have a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to buy large-cap U.S. stocks at the cheapest prices in almost six decades, Bloomberg adds.