The first four picks were all from the contenders list, but here I reach back to earlier in the year, when in May, I wrote about why I thought Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) would outperform four other, more popular stocks.

I compared it to Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B).

During the past seven months this turned out to be true for half the period, but Apple came on strong and passed it by the second review.

Only three weeks to go before the list of contenders are finalized into my ten picks for 2010. There were 14 before I added three more today and moved one of the stocks on the fence up, leaving another three still on the fence.

I continue to read everything I can get my hands on and recommend doing the same to anyone else seeking to do some stock picking. A lot of the recommendations I come across project possible appreciation of 10% to 15%, and that would be great, but I am seeking at least the potential to double that.

The clock is ticking away the time before the year ends and I have only begun to sort out the possibilities. In Part 1 of this series, I discussed breaking up my potential picks into three categories: contender, on the fence, and out of the running until the 10 stocks have been identified.

Four contenders have been considered so far: American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Anglo American ADR (AAUKY) and Diageo plc (DEO).

Six more are included in today's review: EZCorp Inc. (EZPW), General Electric Company (GE), Wells Fargo & Company (WFC), Annaly Capital Management ( NLY), Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG) plus Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B). These include the remaining five from 2009 and one more familiar to most investors.