The earnings crunch is on. Among the many companies scheduled to report quarterly results this week are such so-called bellwether stocks as Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), DuPont (NYSE: DD), and United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS), all of which analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect to report lower earnings for the recent quarter. Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD), and Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), on the other hand, are expected to post marginal earnings growth.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"Airline stocks are looking good now; the airlines should benefit greatly from the big drop in crude oil, as lower crude means lower fuel costs for their operations," notes breakout specialist Leo Fasciocco.

In his Ticker Tape Digest, he looks at Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT), a "niche travel airline providing nonstop flights from 53 small cities to large vacation destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando."

The advisor explains, "The Las Vegas-based company has annual revenues of $483 million. The company also has fixed-fee deals with Harrah's Entertainment to fly certain prespecified routes. The firm's fleet is composed solely of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft.

"ALGT recently broke clear of a seven-week flat base. Its price pattern of the past few weeks has been a zig-zag with a bias to the upside. The current base is a bit choppy. However, the technicals are extremely bullish. ALGT's push to a new high is very bullish and could bring in more buying.

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

• Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT) beat estimates with soaring Q1 revenues, bucking the airline trend.
• Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) Q1 profits doubled but fell short of expectations.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) posted solid Q1 results despite negative operational cash flow.
• Centex Corp. (NYSE: CTX) posted a Q4 loss well below analyst estimates.
• Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) profits plunged in the first quarter on litigation charges.
• Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) posted another big loss, way off estimates of a small profit.
• Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) posted its first quarterly loss since 2003 on write-downs.
• Gardner Denver Inc. (NYSE: GDI) beat Q1 expectations and raised its outlook for the year.
• International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) fell short of Wall Street's Q1 earnings estimates.
• Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) beat Q1 estimates and offered fully-year guidance.
• KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR) Q1 profit more than doubled on arbitration benefit.
• MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) topped analysts' expectations as Q1 profits more than doubled.
• Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) Q1 profits tumbled 55% but still beat analysts' estimates.