In my perusal of gold stocks, only one -- Harmony Gold Mining Co. (NYSE: HMY) -- trades rationally, but that is not enough to justify holding the stock if you believe, as I do, that gold prices are likely to fall.

Even with gold at $1,000 per ounce, HMY trades for a modest 12 times trailing earnings and 15 times forward earnings. For this valuation to hold up, gold prices need to continue their ascent at a fairly significant clip. If gold is truly a hedge against the end of the world scenario and collapse of the dollar, investor expectations should be to protect capital. These gold mining stocks, including Harmony, trade like growth stocks.

Do you see my point?

Imagine what happens to gold mining stocks if gold were to trade for less than $500 per ounce? It would not be pretty. These stocks are priced to perfection and beyond. That is why they should be sold.

Add Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) to the list of overvalued gold miners. At $40 per share, GG now trades within spitting distance of previous highs.

Those highs were attained at the end of an expansionary period, not at the beginning.

One of the hottest gold stocks is Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY).

With a share price that is affordable to the retail customer, smaller investors have been gobbling up shares in 2009.

But like AngloGold, the credit crisis knocked the wind out of the Yamana trade.

Shares actually were fairly valued when they bottomed below $5 per share. Now, with more than 100% recovery of that value, AUY trades above $10 per share. As a result, the valuation is way ahead of itself. Shares of AUY trade for more than 17 times trailing earnings and 18 times forward earnings. Gold prices would have to continue increasing by 15% to 20% per annum in order to justify these prices.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) is one of the largest gold mining operations in the world.

The gold cult has made this company very wealthy -- AU has a current market capitalization of more than $15 billion.

I highly doubt the jewelry market could support that valuation, but the wacko gold bugs certainly do.

Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) announced that it would begin eliminating its hedges against a collapse in gold prices.

In so doing, the company is raising some $3 billion with the sale of stock that will dilute current shareholders.

While the gold hedges may have acted as a brake on revenues and profits in a rising gold price environment, the strategy was prudent.

I'm closing my recommended Buy position with Supervalu (NYSE: SVU), first recommended on April 22, 2009 at a price of $14.98.

Grocer/food distributor Supervalu's shares have drifted lower over the past six months, and traded below its 50-day moving average for more than a month twice -- a bearish sign.

After the closing bell on July 30, Massachusetts-based Evergreen Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: ESLR) reported second-quarter revenues of $63.8 million, compared to $55.8 million for the first quarter of 2009. The company's gross margin for the second quarter of 2009 was 1.9%, compared to 1.2% for the first quarter of 2009.

Unfortunately, these gross margins are way off the 34.7% we saw in the second quarter of 2008.

Several high-profile solar companies recently reported earnings, and although these companies posted mixed results for the most recent quarter, there's no denying that Wall Street has been turning its face toward the sun and bidding up the shares of solar stocks.

So, what's the latest earnings front from stocks in the solar space, and why do the shares of some of the hottest solar stocks continue to shine? More importantly, should you own solar stocks right now, and if so, which ones should you make room for in your portfolio?

Another Dow component, United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), beat its bottom-line forecasts, but like most of the companies we've seen, they did so as a result of cost-cutting.

Revenues of $13.2 billion were below the consensus forecast for revenue of $13.92 billion. The diversified manufacturer also cut its revenue guidance for the year, and lowered the high-end of its profit forecast range.

Excluding a 15-cent-per-share hit from restructuring charges, chemicals giant DuPont (NYSE: DD), yet another Dow component, said it would have earned 61 cents per share. That number bested consensus estimates for a 53-cent per share profit, but once again, the top-line number is cause for concern.

DuPont said its second-quarter profit dropped 61% to $417 million, or 46 cents per share, with revenue falling 24% to $7.09 billion. Analysts had expected the company to bring in $7.14 billion in revenue.

Construction manufacturer and Dow component Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) reported earnings of 72 cents per share, well ahead of expectations of a 22-cent per share profit.

Top-line revenue came in at $7.25 billion, which is a lot of money. Unfortunately, it was nearly a billion-and-a-half dollars below expectations of $8.86 billion.

How did Caterpillar manage to achieve its earnings beat on lower-than-anticipated revenue?

Although the headlines are screaming about how companies are beating their earnings estimates, little newsprint is being devoted to this quarter's real story.

That story is that revenues for many corporations are way down year over year, and more importantly, their top-line revenues are often coming in below Street estimates.

To be certain, there have been some real success stories so far in Q2, and we'll be talking about some of those in a moment. Moreover, it is always a good sign when companies beat their earnings estimates.

Shares of American Express (NYSE: AXP) bottomed in early March at just over $10 per share.

Instead of covering, I hedged my bet by keeping the American Express short open. I suppose that is the entire point of absolute return investing, but boy, was I wrong in doing that.

AXP shot up like a rocket over the last three months and now trades above $23 per share. It has been a big gainer this year, returning 25% through the end of the second quarter.

Investors continued to sell Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) during the second quarter, and shares bottomed at $2 per share.

Looking forward, I recently added Eastman Kodak to my Penny Stock Winners model portfolio as a buy recommendation.

In my opinion, the carnage at Eastman Kodak has been complete and the upside benefit of the digtal revolution is worth the speculation. The company may never fully recover from the last few years, but a small improvement in operations can result in big gains in the stock.

I would be a buyer of Eastman Kodak at these prices.

Next: Stock to Avoid #10

Don't be deceived by the short-term performance of United Technologies (NYSE: UTX). The weakness of the dollar in the second quarter helped push shares of this multinational manufacturer higher. But these gains merely allowed the company to recover big losses sustained during the first quarter of the year.

The double whammy here for investors is exposure to the aerospace industry. As described previously, the weakness in the airline industry will negatively impact revenue for those companies providing equipment to the space. In addition, reductions in defense spending will also negatively impact UTX.

We are in the early stages of seeing change in how this company operates in the current environment. There is no catalyst for this stock to go higher, and shares are vulnerable to the extent the dollar strengthens. I would sell UTX.

Next: Stock to Avoid #9