A lot of earnings reports were issued last week. The market was busy sorting them all out. I'm going to take a fast look at several of the issuing companies.

American Express (NYSE: AXP): Don't leave home without it. Good advice for the card, perhaps, but what about the company? Should your portfolio leave home and forget this stock? I'd say so. It's not that American Express lost the earnings game. On the contrary, Bloomberg reported a beat. American Express earned 44 cents per share from continuing operations, adjusted. This was six pennies ahead of forecasts. Okay, I applaud such performance. And shares are way off the single-digit 52-week low. Thing is, I'm in love with another card business. Visa (NYSE: V). As I've stated before, I enjoy the beauty of Visa's lower-risk model. It doesn't have to put up with loan risk. Yes, the situation at American Express might be improving, but I'm not going to buy this one.

Analyst upgrades:

• Credit Suisse upgraded Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Outperform from Neutral after the close Monday. The firm believes Motorola's devices segment will approach breakeven in 2010 while operating margins in nonhandset segments will expand, and that a break-up story will reemerge. Credit Suisse raised its target on shares to $9.50 from $7.
• UBS upgraded BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) to Buy from Neutral. The firm cites BHP's leverage to iron ore, coking coal, copper, and oil for its upgrade after raising its commodity price forecasts.
• Merriman upgraded Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) to Buy from Neutral to reflect higher met coal price forecasts. The firm believes Chinese demand is strong and has a target range of $66-$72 on the stock.
• Intersil (NASDAQ: ISIL) was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Coach (NYSE: COH) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), a defense contractor whose related companies include Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) and Boeing (NYSE: BA), posted second-quarter results earlier in the week. The company seems to be performing pretty well, judging by the growth in the stats.

Net sales increased 4%. Okay, that might not sound so robust, but income from continuing operations rose 25% to $1.24 per share. According to Earnings.com, the market was only looking for $1.13 per share from Raytheon. Operating cash flow also looked good, especially once you take into account a timing element related to cash contributions for pension plans.

The earnings crunch begins in earnest this week, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting a parade of companies reporting profit declines in the just completed quarter. That includes more financials, such as American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK), M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB), Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS), State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT), US Bancorp (NYSE: USB), and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). On the other hand, Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC), Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF), and Zions Bancorp. (NASDAQ: ZION) are expected to post losses.

This week's anticipated earnings decliners also include tech companies such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Lexmark International Inc. (NYSE: LXK), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is expected to post a loss.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Sunoco Logistics (NYSE: SXL) to Buy from Hold on valuation and raised its target on shares to $60 from $56.50. The firm sees better value in Sunoco Logistics than Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP), which it downgraded to Hold.
  
• BofA/Merrill believes Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) offers the most potential upside in the larget cap defense sector. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral and has a $62 target on the stock.
  
• Roth Capital upgraded Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to Buy from Hold based on seasonality, multiple product cycles, and valuation. Roth's target remains $15.
• Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale.
  
• EnerNOC (NASDAQ: ENOC) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at RW Baird.
  
• American Express (NYSE: AXP) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
  

After finding three stocks yesterday that were a good bet to beat the the S&P 500 index going forward, I decided to pursue this notion further. Each of yesterday's stocks was in a different industry that will have strong recurring revenue and pays a dividend; energy, food and booze.

Today's three stocks are in diversified mining, electric power utilities and high-tech defense. Going back ten years, they have all trounced the index and I'm betting they will continue to do so.

Analyst upgrades:

• Morgan Stanley upgraded CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) to Equal Weight from Underweight to reflect higher crude oil price estimates.
  
• Goldman upgraded VMware (NYSE: VMW) to Conviction Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $29 from $27 following positive checks that indicate strong business actively. The analyst expects VMW's revenue growth to be up 9% in 2009 vs. expectations for overall IT spending to be down.
  
• UBS upgraded ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ONNN) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $5 from $3.80 based on positive Asia checks that indicate an improving demand outlook and that the company could beat near-term expectations.
• Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) was lifted to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• Ashland (NYSE: ASH) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

Analyst upgrades:

• RW Baird upgraded LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation and expectations for raised 2009 guidance. The firm has a $36 target on the stock.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Swiss Reinsurance (OTC: SWCEY) to Buy from Hold following the CEO change as the firm views it as a positive move.
  
• Wachovia upgraded DuPont Fabros (NYSE: DFT) to Outperform from Market Perform because it thinks the company has taken major measures to mitigate its liquidity risk by obtaining additional debt. The firm also notes that the company signed several new leases.
• Goldman added Air Products (NYSE: APD) and Burger King (NYSE: BKC) to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• MSC Industrial (NYSE: MSM) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair.
  
• Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.

At long last -- to this Democrat's view anyway -- Barack Obama is the president of the United States. Now, it's time to gaze into our crystal ball.

Obama has many things on his plate, including fixing the economy. Lots of people are trying to pick the winners and losers. Here are my guesses. Keep in mind that it may take several years for the impact of Obama's policies to be felt.

Defense: Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT), Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) and Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) will benefit from the spending needed to replace worn-out military equipment from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Obama's push to improve health care technology. The defense contractors over the past few years have become huge government IT contractors and are experts at systems integration. Each have plunged by double-digits over the past year.

Healthy living: Call me an optimist but I expect the Obama administration to push healthier living and for greater control of health care. Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN), the largest provider of organic food, seems a likely beneficiary. Also, it's hard to see how he is going to be able to digitize health care records without the involvement of health insurers such as Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI). Hain is down 42% over the past 52 weeks, while Cigna has plunged more than 70%.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) to neutral from sell and placed a short-term buy rating on shares based on the new Palm Pre. The firm raised its target to $6.50 from $1.35.
  
• UBS upgraded Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $7.50 from $5.75 based on its improved view of the company's credit risk.
• Canaccord upgraded Elan PLC (NYSE: ELN) to Buy from Sell and raised its target to $10.87 from $6.90, citing Tysabri potential.
• Brandywine Realty (NYSE: BDN) and Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) were upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
• Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) and L-3 Comm (NYSE: LLL) were raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

I made it through mid-year of tracking my 2008 picks from last December and then -- Wham! -- I went from a slight advantage to being humbled badly by the market. However difficult it is to display your failings, once again I will share all of the horrors since I posted the original story Chasing Value: Final list -- 8 stocks for 2008.

The master is still the master, Warren Buffett and his life's work Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) beat me easily as well as the three indices I tracked.

For the most part, unless you started shorting stocks, there was no place to hide and most of my picks were big losers. There were two that beat Buffett and the market. The defense sector was the defensive sector it was supposed to be with Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) doing well on a relative scale. The other place you could have a morsel of stability was utilities and Huaneng Power International (ADR) (NYSE: HNP) lost less but not by much.

One of the things that really helps the U.S. balance of trade is weapons sales. In a recession, perhaps they should be encouraged more.

According to Reuters, Iran's Gulf neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, has signed a deal worth $3.3 billion to buy missiles from U.S. firm Raytheon (NYSE: RTN).

The Census Bureau reports that the October balance of trade was a negative $57 billion. A lot of that could be made up by selling missiles, tanks, rifles, and war planes. The Department of Defense has to approve most of the sales, but perhaps it should be annexed to the Department of the Treasury, at least until the recession is over. Some of the countries where a lot of sales are prohibited, like North Korea, could be added to the "OK to export weapons" list?

In September, The New York Times reported that "From tanks, helicopters and fighter jets to missiles, remotely piloted aircraft and even warships, the Department of Defense has agreed so far this fiscal year to sell or transfer more than $32 billion in weapons and other military equipment to foreign governments, compared with $12 billion in 2005." Up that number to $100 billion and think of the jobs it would create.

Weapons sales are not on the new Obama list of plans to create 2.5 million jobs by spending $800 billion. And, selling weapons does not cost the government at dime.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

This week was saved today as the White House finally approved a $17.4 billion auto bailout package using TARP money. Stocks were stable after two days of decline, but all-in-all the week wasn't bad. It's the third week now that stocks, while perhaps having big swings daily, end up not so bad.

Once again, this stagnant time could be exactly the time investors may want to look for long-term deals. They may have to hold on to them for a while as the markets continue their up and down swings. But eventually, if it's a few months or a year from now, stocks will start to recover and cheap deals bought today may be big gainers.

But where are the deals? BloggingStocks contributors added some ideas this week:

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is one of Jamie Dlugosch's favorite blue-chip names. Analysts expect the company to make $2.12 per share in the current fiscal year ending in September. If the company earns $3 per share down the road with a 15 multiple, Disney shares could double. In the meantime, it pays 1.5% dividend yield.

Qwest Communications International (NYSE: Q) has many shortcomings to be sure, but "the company also has very valuable assets and strong cash flow" and the stock "would command a good premium in a takeover." according to George Putnam.

You can't put one in your holster yet, but they have done it. The Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has brought H. G. Wells' science fiction invention of the ray gun to reality as an advanced missile defense system.

The first serious battlefield ray gun is now being deployed. And the next generation, now in the laboratory, is coming soon.

It was last July when I posted Chasing Value: Raytheon says 'Game on' highlighting the stock. It was one of this year's picks, and while down, it has out performed the market. I liked it last year, I liked it mid-year and I still like it. The company is a leader in missile defense systems and civilian airport radar and monitoring systems.

"As my high school football coach always quipped, 'Offense may win fans, but defense wins games,'" says leading growth stock expert Louis Basenese.

Here, the Oxford Club associate investment director takes a look at his three favorite defense stocks, noting, "When it comes to investing in the current environment, I'm convinced that you can't go wrong with this trio of companies."

"In my view, this sector willl never fall out of favor. The recent development with Russia serves to underscore another point I've been making for years. We always have to be prepared.

"Or, put another way, there will never be a good time for defense cuts, lest we want to leave our country vulnerable.Add it all up, and we can expect defense companies to enjoy steady demand. Even in the face of a recession.

"As the CEO of Rockwell notes, there has been absolutely no fallout in the defense industry as a result of the worldwide credit meltdown or other economic woes. So here's a quick run-down on the three defense companies we prefer for investors.