This post is part of a special report, Top Picks for 2010, the 27th annual survey in which TheStockAdvisors.com asks the nation's leading advisors for their single favorite stock for the new year. See all 80 stocks listed here.

"Gold will be the primary beneficiary of the massive bailout and stimulus plans enacted by not only the United States, but every industrialized nation across the globe," forecasts Brien Lundin.

The mining stock specialist and editor of The Gold Newsletter looks to a small gold exploration and development company as his top pick for 2010: Keegan Resources (KGN).

• Jefferies upgraded Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company is taking the right steps to turn its operations around. The firm raised its target price to $13 from $11.
  
• Pali upgraded Whole Foods to Buy from Sell following the Q1 report based on better than expected cost containment, labor costs, capex cuts, and plans to rationalize the store base.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to Overweight from Market Weight. The firm believes HPQ's risk/reward has improved given overdue reduced FY09 guidance and attractive valuation.
  
• Bernstein upgraded Talisman (NYSE: TLM) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuation.
• Navistar (NYSE: NAV) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
  
• Sovran Self Storage (NYSE: SSS) was upgraded to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer.
  
• Suncor (NYSE: SU) was upgraded at Barclays to Overweight from Equal Weight.