YRC Worldwide (YRCW) is preparing to release its fourth-quarter results, with the company's earnings report scheduled to hit Wall Street before the market opens on Friday, Feb. 5. Analysts are expecting YRCW to swallow a loss of $1.74 per share, wider than the company's year-ago loss of $1.63 per share.

The transportation issue has fallen short of consensus earnings expectations in each of the previous four quarters, which may explain why bearish speculation is on the rise in the days leading up to YRCW's report.

A lot of people I talked with during the financial crisis thought that something seemed amiss as brokerages and credit-ratings services were issuing, what I liked to call, "happy thoughts" about the economy even though it sure seemed that we were headed over the falls in a thimble.

Among the upbeat outlooks were the ratings of complex debt securities, which quickly deteriorated and led to billions of dollars of investor losses. According to The Wall Street Journal and former Moody's analyst, Eric Kolchinsky, Moody's gave high ratings to complicated debt security in 2009 with knowledge that it would downgrade assets that backed the securities.

This morning, UBS issued an upgrade to eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) - upping the online auction house to Buy from Neutral. The brokerage believes that the company's comparable sales may be starting to "turn a corner." Backing this belief is recent data from a top vendor and "other channel checks."

The vendor, ChannelAdvisor, reported that its comparable sales increased 4.6% in August. The increase followed a 10% decline in the first quarter and a 5% drop in the second quarter. ChannelAdvisor also reported that upcoming changes should help drive transaction growth. These changes include enhancements to eBay's search function and better dispute resolution tools.

As we all know, the market is a fickle mistress -- and I will be the first to admit, she has humiliated me with her indiscretion on many occasions. However, I'm happy to report that my pick of The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM) as a "Cheap Stock" for 2009 has not completely blown up in my face (yet).

The peanut butter-based security jumped back on my radar today when I noticed that brokerage firm Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage of SJM with a Buy rating. Not too many analysts are currently following the shares; according to Zacks, the jam giant has garnered just two Strong Buys and one Hold. Any additional bullish initiations could help the stock extend its recent uptrend.

SG Cowen analyst Richard Chu, maintains his neutral rating on Apple computer.

He breaks it down pretty simply but clearly.  Mac to do well, IPod to falter. 

Apple's two major drivers of growth/revenue are the iPod and the Mac computer. 

1)  iPod - His outlook for iPod growth is to be stagnant over the next 12 to 18 months. 

2)  Mac  - His outlook for the Mac is that Apple has gotten over the costs of transitioning to an Intel CPU and with the launch of their new Boot Camp (allowing use of Windows OS), the prospects are bright for the Mac.

Of course he must not be up to speed with his daily Engadget reading, because if the super secret, hush-hush new iPod launches, I doubt the iPod will have a bad 12 to 18 months.  Apple has consistently dropped a new iPod revamp one after another since the original and I can't see signs of them slowing.  The release of the iPod will likely be 'delayed' to build up hype and conveniently release just in time for Christmas, but one way or another the iPod will continue on its warpath to conquer digital-media-land and there are no time-outs.

[Via Engadget, ThinkSecret]