EOG Resources (EOG - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced Q4 2010 earnings last night, posting a profit of $53.67 million, or 21 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, EOG earned 36 cents per share on revenue of $1.79 billion. Analysts had forecast a profit of 26 cents per share on revenue of $1.51 billion. EOG also announced it will lift its quarterly dividend by half a penny to 16 cents per share. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on EOG.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to buy from neutral.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Pulte Group (PHM) to neutral from underperform. Note that Citigroup downgraded the stock.
• Ameristar Casinos (ASCA) was upgraded to neutral from sell at Merriman.
• Citigroup upgraded Kimco Realty (KIM) to hold from sell.
• Mistras (MG) was upgraded to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Devon Energy (DVN) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Garmin (GRMN) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at PacCrest.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded BP (BP) to buy from neutral.
• STEC (STEC) was upgraded to buy from hold at Needham.
• MCG Capital (MCGC) was upgraded to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Corporate Office (OFC) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• Citigroup upgraded K-Sea Transportation (KSP) and Post Properties (PPS) to hold from sell.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Embraer (ERJ) to buy from underperform.
• Wilmington Trust (WL) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.
• Parkway Properties (PKY) was upgraded to hold from sell at Stifel Nicolaus.

Analyst Upgrades

• RBC Capital upgraded FMC Technologies (FMC) to outperform from sector perform. The firm upgraded shares based on expectations that subsea order flow and backlog will be significantly higher than previous forecasts. The firm has a $70 target on shares.
• Citigroup upgraded ONEOK Partners LP (OKS) to buy from hold due to valuation and maintains a $65 price target on the stock.
• Needham upgraded Autodesk (ADSK) to buy from hold following the Q4 report and guidance. The firm has a $31 target on the stock.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Under Armour (UA) to equal weight from underweight, citing valuation. The firm raised its target to $27 from $23.
• EOG Resources (EOG) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• FPL Group (FPL) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings and declared an annual dividend.
• Allstate Corp. (ALL) swung to better-than-expected Q4 earnings and also swung to a full-year profit.
• Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD) shares tumbled after it posted disappointing earnings tied to costs.
• The Cheesecake Factory Inc. (CAKE) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings but sales were flat.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) earnings numbers for Q4 resulted in upgrades from two analysts.
• CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) higher Q4 earnings matched the expectations of analysts, and shares rose.

"Exxon's big acquisitions often serve as a blueprint for the rest of the industry," says energy sector advisor Elliott Gue, referring to its recent $41 billion acquisition of natural gas producer XTO Energy.

In Personal Finance newsletter, he says, "The landmark deal represents a major bet on the future of natural gas and sets the stage for a raft of similar acquisitions by energy majors in 2010." Here's a look at four favorites in the sector.

The focus of last week's preview was on oil and energy companies, and we saw that big oil had a good week, reporting better-than-expected results and record profits driven by high prices in the third quarter. Energy-related companies are well represented again this week and expectations in general remain high.

Early in the week, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial anticipate that the big earnings gainers will include EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), and Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC), which are expected to post profits of $2.24 per share (up 64.7% from a year ago), $1.48 per share (up 52.7%) and $2.26 per share (up 61.1%) respectively. All three of them have offered positive surprises in recent quarters, and analysts on average recommend buying EOG and Anadarko. Other expected big earnings gainers early in the week include Forest Oil Corp. (NYSE: FST), Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD), Comstock Resources Inc. (NYSE: CRK), and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). The earnings of phosphates producer Innophos Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: IPHS) are expected to have risen 92.3% to $3.37 per share. Innophos beat estimates in the previous quarter by a whopping 210%, and analysts have been impressed with Innophos's lack of debt and pricing gains despite the slowing economy, so, on average, they recommend buying IPHS.

Also early in the week, analysts expect Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT), Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ: KALU), and Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK) to report that their profits fell 52.9% to $0.33 per share, 45.1% to $0.67 per share, and 41.2% to $0.67 per share, respectively. These companies have tended to beat estimates in recent quarters, and the consensus recommendations of analysts are to buy them. However, PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI), one of the largest private mortgage insurance providers in the U.S., is expected to take another hit as the housing slump drags on. The California-based company is expected to have widened its net loss from $1.04 per share a year ago to $2.43 per share in the most recent quarter. Its shares are down 84.5% from a year ago, and have been trading recently near their 52-week low.

"In recoveries from panic selloffs in the past, the energy patch has tended to outperform the S&P 500," notes energy sector specialist Elliott Gue.

In his The Energy Strategist, the advisor offers his outlook for the sector as well as a package of five favorite energy-related stocks, including ideas in the drilling, infrastructure. oil services and exploration areas.

"This has undoubtedly been the most challenging and unsettled market in recent history for the stock, bond, currency and credit markets. Not surprisingly, the energy sector hasn't been immune to the selling pressure.

"However, I would note that the selloff in most energy stocks I cover has little or nothing to do with fundamentals and everything to do with market sentiment and a pervasive sense of panic.

"Institutions are dumping stocks to raise cash and the primary fear infecting the energy markets is that a dramatic global economic slowdown coupled with a seizing up of credit markets will destroy demand for energy commodities..

This post is part of a series in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked financial experts to name their top stock pick if McCain or if Obama wins the election.

"We see a rough few years ahead for the markets and the economy in the United States; however, if you were determined to invest in the U.S. and McCain wins the election, we would look at defense, pharmaceuticals and oil," says Martin Hutchinson in The Money Map Reporter.

"If you were bound and determined to invest in domestic stocks, a McCain presidency would be good for defense stocks, as defense spending would be higher, so you might look at Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC).

"It would also be good for the large patented pharmaceutical stocks, as they would not be subjected to price controls as the Democrats currently propose.

"Among pharmaceutical stocks Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), with a forward Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio of about 10 and a 5% dividend yield, looks like a good value.

"A McCain presidency would also be very good for domestic oil companies, which would expand their offshore operations, their work with such unconventional oil sources as shale, and possibly even drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG), for example, is rapidly expanding production in the huge Bakken oil fields of the upper Midwest."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

This post is part of a series in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked financial experts to name their top stock pick if McCain or if Obama wins the election.

Which stocks would benefit from a victory by either Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama? To help investors sort through the sectors and stocks best positioned to benefit in a post-election environment, we posed this question to some of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

Importantly, this is not a partisan report; each participating advisor has provided a favorite stock for both candidates, focused not on political preferences but unbiased stock analysis. Below we feature those stocks and ETFs that the advisors believe will be the winners depending on which candidate prevails.

McCain Stocks:

Roger Conrad - Comcast (NYSE: CCW)
Gregg Early - Elbit Systems (NASDAQ: ESLT)
Elliott Gue - Paladin Resources (Toronto: PDN)
Doug Fabian - Market Vectors Nuclear Energy (NYSE: NLR)
Vivian Lewis - Barclays (NYSE: BCS)
Bill Martin - CGG Veritas (NYSE: CGV)'
Yiannis Mostrous - Lonking Holdings (OTC: CIMHF)
Carla Pasternak - Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (NYSE: EVT)
Nate Pile - SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD)
John Reese - General Dynamics (NYSE: GD)
Nathan Slaughter - USEC (NYSE: USU)
Paul Tracy - Shaw Group (NYSE: SGR)
Kelley Wright - CenturyTel (NYSE: CTL)
Tom Vass - Molex (NASDAQ: MOLX)
Martin Hutchinson - Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG)

Obama Stocks:

Roger Conrad - SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR)
Gregg Early - AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV)
Elliott Gue - SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR)
Doug Fabian - Industrial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLI)
Vivian Lewis - Cosan (NYSE: CZZ)
Bill Martin - Geron (NASDAQ: GERN)
Yiannis Mostrous - Dr. Reddy's (NYSE: RDY)
Carla Pasternak - Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP)
Nate Pile - Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)
John Reese - American Eagle (NYSE: AEO)
Nathan Slaughter - Fluor (NYSE: FLR)
Paul Tracy - Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy (NYSE: GEX)
Kelley Wright - Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH)
Tom Vass - Ingersoll Rand (NYSE: IR)
Martin Hutchinson - Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR)

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent weakness and expects positive seasonality in the second half of 2008.
  
• Gilat Satellite (NASDAQ: GILT) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair on valuation.
• Cott Corp (NYSE: COT) was raised at UBS to Neutral from Sell.
  
• EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein.
  
• Integra LifeSciencues (NASDAQ: IART) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus.

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) to Hold from Buy on HDD inventory concerns and share loss at Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) after checks indicated MRVL likely lost the design for the RIM Javelin to Freescale. The firm lowered their target to $15 from $22.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Integrated Device (NASDAQ: IDTI) to Perform from Outperform as they believe the upcoming Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) server memory transition will pressure shares for several quarters.
  
• Broadpoint downgraded shares of Healthaways (NASDAQ: HWAY) to Neutral from Buy as they see few near-term catalysts.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Diebold, EOG Resources and Barnes & Noble were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Diebold (NYSE: DBD) to Hold from Buy on valuation following United Tech's (NYSE: UTX) offer, as they do not see enough upside over the near-term to maintain a Buy rating.
• Oppenheimer cut EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) to Underperform from Perform on valuation, as they think the 20% run-up post analyst meeting was unjustified.
• Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) was lowered to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, as they believe Street SSS expectations are too high given slowing sales and secular margin pressure.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Lehman downgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Equal Weight from Overweight. Credit Suisse downgraded Deerfield Triarc Capital (NYSE: DFR) to Neutral from Outperform.
• Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Banc of America.

• Bernstein upgraded Talisman Energy Inc (NYSE: TLM) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation and potential exploration success in Vietnam and raised Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC), Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN) and EOG Resources Inc (NYSE: EOG) to Market Perform from Underperform on improving gas fundamentals.
• Bernstein also upgraded shares of BP PLC (NYSE: BP) and BG Group (NYSE: BRG) to Outperform from Market Perform.
• Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ: CHKP) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings, citing checks that indicate a strong product cycle for the company's beefed up VPN/firewall product portfolio.
• ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) was upgraded at Citigroup to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they believe the recent correction provides a compelling entry point.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA), Alumina Ltd (NYSE: AWC) and Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) to Buy from Neutral and shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: PCU) to Neutral from Sell.
• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Tempur Pedic International (NYSE: TPX) to Overweight from Neutral.
  
• Infineon Technologies (NYSE: IFX) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.