Ryan Detrick, chief technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research, thinks the stock-market rally has legs, mainly because others don’t.

Bearish investor sentiment can often represent a positive indicator for stocks, as the bears ultimately have to cover their short positions.

“The main reason we’ve been bullish is we continue to see skepticism amongst the upward price action,” he told CNBC.

Detrick noted that investors are abandoning stocks for bonds. U.S. stock mutual funds saw an outflow of $8.1 billion in October, according to research firm Morningstar.

“People just so little believe in this rally,” he said.

“As long as we keep seeing that, and the market continues to stair-step its way higher . . . we continue to be bullish into the early part of next year.”

Detrick expects the Standard & Poor’s to reach 1,250 by 2010, about 13 percent above current levels.

Investors should continue to buy into the riskiest assets, such as real estate investment trusts (REITs), he says.

“We like REITs: commercial real estate. You won’t find a more hated area than commercial real estate.” In particular, Detrick recommends iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index Fund, an exchange-traded fund.

Some other experts share Detrick’s bullishness. “Stocks are still more attractive than bonds,” Julius Ridgway of Medley & Brown financial advisors told Bloomberg. “Lots of businesses are doing fine and getting better.”