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.

Comstock Partners, one of the most respected (and bearish) value shops on Wall Street, just came out with a special report that gives a grim analysis of the current U.S. economic situation and a harsh indictment of Alan Greenspan's role in creating it.

Charlie Minter and Marty Weiner believe that the Fed has been guilty of over-interfering in the U.S economy. They think Greenspan (in the late 1990s and then again in 2001 after the terrorist attacks) kept money too cheap to stave off an immediate but short-term crisis. We've all nearly forgotten how in 2001 many smart people thought that real estate was overvalued and headed for a fall. Comstock didn't forget.

"The money that was pumped into the economy stopped the market decline and rather than going into a severe recession (which should've and would've happened) we experienced the mildest recession in history," the Comstock fund writes. "Home values were at extremely high valuations in 2001, yet after the stimulus started it drove the valuations to outrageous levels."

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Amgen, Inc (AMGN), Secure Computing Corp (SCUR), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Level 3 Communications (LVLT) were some of today's more notable downgrades:

• UBS downgraded shares of Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN) to Reduce from Neutral as the firm believes most Medicare carriers will drop reimbursement for Aranesp in certain types of anemia due to safety concerns.

• Goldman Sachs cut Secure Computing Corp (NASDAQ: SCUR) to Sell from Neutral, citing valuation.

• Thomas Weisel believes Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) will have a difficult time regaining lost channel share from Intel (INTC) without additional price cuts, downgrading shares to Market Weight to Overweight.

• Buckingham cut Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) to Accumulate from Strong Buy on valuation.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Edison International (NYSE: EIX) to Hold from Buy.

• Wachovia downgraded shares of Countrywide Financial Corp (NYSE: CFC) to Underperform from Market Perform on concerns that subprime weakness has spread to other sectors of the residential mortgage market.

• Ferris Baker Watts downgraded shares of Comstock Homebuilding (NASDAQ: CHCI) to Hold from Buy to reflect the uncertainty regarding the company's lender relationships and homebuilding market outlook.

• Citigroup downgraded shares of StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE: SFG) to Hold from Buy on valuation and recommends swapping money into Assurant, Inc (AIZ).

• JP Morgan cut AngloGold Ashanti Ltd (NYSE: AU) to Underweight from Neutral.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).