Fourteen stocks have been reviewed so far with eight of them potential contenders for 2010. These include some picks from 2009, some old dependables and a few more on the speculative side.

During the year I have written on occasion about selling put options (naked puts) because the premiums offered were very generous and from my perspective assumed market collapse. This was reflected in my July post Serious Money: The world's dumbest market

Today I am considering four naked puts and two more stocks. The options are all based on stocks now in review.

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

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) said its Q3 profit declined despite the popularity of Guitar Hero.
• Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) said Q3 revenue surged and its offered impressive cash flow numbers.
• Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) easily beat Q3 earnings estimates and raised its full-year guidance.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) lower Q1 results topped estimates and sent shares higher.
• Cognizant Technology Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: CTSH) was upgraded following its strong Q3 results.
• Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) received an analyst's upgrade following the Q3 results.

American auto maker Ford Motor (NYSE: F) gave investors a reason to smile this morning when it posted a surprising $1 billion profit for its third quarter.

Going into this morning's earnings release, analysts had expected to see the Dearborn, Michigan-based auto manufacturer to lose 12 cents per share. But Ford had other ideas, posting a profit of 29 cents per share, or $997 million.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), whose cost-cutting efforts encountered a setback this weekend, is scheduled to discuss its third quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Monday at 9:00 AM ET, hosted by CEO Alan Mulally and CFO Lewis W. K. Booth. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in September, Ford's Fusion saw record sales, it announced a boost in production, and it opened a plant in Thailand. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this leading auto maker to report that it further narrowed its net loss to $0.12 per share. That compares to $0.21 per share in the previous quarter and $1.31 per share a year ago. Ford has offered up smaller-than-expected losses in the past two quarters, by as much as 48 cents per share.

Analyst upgrades:

• RBC Capital upgraded Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) to Outperform from Sector Perform and said the company has attractive franchise value and earnings power, and is nearing the start of a credit driven earnings recovery. The firm raised its target to $22 from $19.
• Oppenheimer assumed coverage of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and upgraded shares to Outperform from Perform. The firm expects Amazon's revenue growth to re-accelerate over the next several quarters, making consensus estimates too conservative. Opco set a $130 price target on the stock.
• Barclays upgraded Ford (NYSE: F) to Equal Weight from Underweight and believes the company will report Q3 results above the Street. The firm raised its Q3 EPS estimate to 7 cents from 16 cents, vs. consensus of 21 cents, and its price target to $8 from $7.
• Charles River Labs (NYSE: CRL) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
• Briggs & Stratton (NYSE: BGG) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
• Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) has been looking to sell its beleaguered Volvo unit since last December and reportedly hopes to narrow the field of bidders this month.

One of the leading contenders is the Crown group, which is led by former Ford director Michael Dingman and former Ford labor executive Shamel Rushwin. Crown entered the talks about two months ago, and it hopes to attract former Volvo executives such as one-time CEO Roger Holtback as equity partners.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says stocks connected to the sector will take it on the chin if the housing index falls further.

A perusal of the charts this weekend shows something surprising: The weakest group out there has been the homebuilders for several weeks now. KB Home (NYSE: KBH) (Cramer's Take), D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) (Cramer's Take), Lennar (NYSE: LEN) (Cramer's Take), and Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) (Cramer's Take) have simply been a horror show. What's going on here? How can these stocks be so dangerous when mortgage rates have crashed through 5%, the level that every banker I talk to says mortgages jump off the table and refinancings rush to be done.

What's going on? This group's tracking more than just mortgage rates. It's tracking employment and news flow and both are terrible.

It should not come as too big of a surprise, but American auto maker Ford Motor (NYSE: F) announced today that its sales fell by 5.1% in September.

Following this summer's widely popular "cash for clunkers" program, it was some what expected that demand would weaken during September as so many people had just recently purchased new cars to take advantage of the government program.

We're wrapping up the third quarter soon. Earnings will be out in October for most companies, certainly the largest names. They should look very good ... when compared to the third quarter of last year. And the fourth quarter will most likely look even better when comparisons are made.

There's the rub. The percentage increase in earnings will be strong for most companies as many of them wrote down assets, especially in the financials, last year at this time. Mortgages that weren't paying, loans that were way past due, they were losses. Every kind of asset a bank or thrift owned was under scrutiny. Many financials bit the bullet and wrote off large numbers, to get the bad news out of the way. Others nibbled at it, stretching out the pain over several quarters. By now many of those write offs have been taken, and those kinds of losses will be lighter, making earnings much better.

Data analysis of the government's Cash for Clunkers program is beginning to surface. That analysis, coupled with some not too impressive projections, is beginning to paint a murky, if not dismal, picture of the auto industry's future. I read an excellent break down of the data, which was provided by Michelle Krebs via Edmunds Automotive Network.

First off, some analysts are claiming that while the Clunkers program did boost auto sales for the month of August, those sales were most likely moved forward on the calendar by auto buyers who were already contemplating a purchase. The supposition is that these consumers simply bought earlier to reap their government vouchers (you're welcome). Dismal September sales numbers are being projected for auto makers.

Sales of vehicles from the new General Motors Co. fell more than 20% in August, compared to the same time last year. Of course, a lot has changed in that year. Customers were flocking away from car dealers at the end of last summer as the recession tightened its grip, consumers tightened their wallets, and car sales and associated activities were in the toilet.

Fast forward a year later: GM recently exited bankruptcy as the "new GM" while having jettisoned quite a bit of the baggage that helped push it over the edge earlier this year. GM is still digging itself out of a hole, and the just-completed "Cash for Clunkers" U.S. government subsidy helped it not have a 40% decline year-over-year compared to August 2008.

It should not come as any surprise, but Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) announced today that August saw an industry wide increase in auto sales.

Of course, the increase in sales can be attributed to the highly popular "cash for clunkers" program that brought auto buyers out in huge numbers. The August increase is the first time auto sales have moved higher in over 2 years.

As we noted yesterday, a lot of auto dealers have decided to pull out of the popular "cash for clunkers" program. This comes as a result of lack of payment by the government, and today General Motors said that it will start to advance dealers the cash that they are due from the government related to the program.

Today's announcement by General Motors marks a change in company policy, which had earlier stated that it was not in a position to come to the aid of its dealers.

Everyone knew that the government's "cash for clunkers" program would be enticing to potential auto buyers, but no one, including the U.S. government could have predicted just how popular the program would be.

Auto makers and dealers have seen a vast response to the program, but now some dealers are starting to wonder when the government is going to keep its end of the deal, and have decided to remove themselves from the popular program.

The government's "cash for clunkers" has been far more popular than anyone thought, prompting General Motors to boost production at several factories to keep up with demand.

While not everyone is so convinced that the "cash for clunkers" program is good for the economy, there is no doubt that the big American car makers are enjoying the benefits. Five days ago I wrote about the decision by Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) to boost production by 15% above its prior estimates, and today General Motors announced it will raising output and bringing back employees that it had been forced to lay off.