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.

"AOL (AOL), formerly America Online, is one of the most storied -- and bloodied -- names in the Internet sector," says Bernie Schaeffer.

Referring to skepticism surrounding its early December spin-off from Time Warner, the editor of Schaeffer's Investment Research chooses AOL as his top pick for 2010, noting, "From a contrarian perspective, the current pessimism could have positive implications."

Options and trading specialist Bernie Schaeffer selects stocks based on a combination of fundamental, technical and sentiment-based metrics.

His research leads to long trading positions for his Schaeffer's Master Portfolio and short trading plays for his Schaeffer's Short Selling services.

Here's a long at four of his latest trading ideas -- long positions in Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and VMware (NYSE: VMW) as well as short position in Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

"Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) is fired up from its first quarter earnings; the results were well above analysts expectations," notes Joseph Hargett.

And with 13.5 million shares of the stock sold short, the analyst with Schaeffer's Research explains, "Shorts account for about 9.5% of the stock's float, which could result in a short squeeze." Here is his review.

"Net income nearly tripled to $81.1 million, or 56 cents per share. Revenue for the auarter rose to $699.4 million from $571.3 million. For the year, Arch Coal lifted its earnings estimate to a range of $2.40 to $2.80 per share, versus Wall Street's consensus view for $2.43 per share.

"Digging into the report, the company noted that profit margins were particularly wide in the Central Appalachia region, while higher prices for coal and cost controls also contributed to the results. Arch noted that the average sales price per ton rose 9.7% to $18.49 from $16.85, while the cash cost per ton rose less than 1% to $13.05 from $12.93.