We have provided estimates from Thomson Reuters on each and offered commentary and guidance on some of these companies.  More detailed previews will be available Tuesday morning for the reports due after the closing bell.  The current previews are below:

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has seen shares back off of highs and the stock is down more than 20% from its year high and all-time high.  The estimates are $0.19 EPS and $18.2 billion.  The Kindle will be a huge focus, but the concern is that the company has been allowing its margins to get crushed far to much for far too long.

ARM Hldgs PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) is key now that it powering so many smartphones, finally living up to its ambitions of the last decade.  As a reminder, these earnings are translated from British Pounds, and estimates are $0.14 EPS and $193.3 million in revenues.

Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) is effectively the second largest pure biotech company and it finally outperformed in 2011.  Estimates are $1.49 EPS and $1.29 billion in sales.  The new screening test to determine if MS patients using TYSABRI are at risk of developing PML has been undercovered by our take.

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) was recently given a huge and successful pop after a Jim Cramer tout.  Estimates are $0.65 EPS and $1.8 billion in sales.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) has a relatively low bar set after Chevron’s earnings stank up the place last week.  Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $1.95 EPS and $119.7 billion in sales.  Keep in mind that revenues are not as widely covered as earnings per share.  Estimates have ticked down by $0.03 in just the last few days.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is going to show just what happens to earnings with Lipitor now being off-patent.   Pfizer has estimates out there of $0.47 EPS and $16.61 billion in revenues.

Seagate Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: STX) has already risen off of guidance but the Thai flooding and PC flux right now create ongoing wild cards.  The disk drive maker is expected to post earnings of $1.07 EPS and $3.14 billion in revenues.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) is expected to report earnings of $1.26 EPS on sales of $14.45 billion.  We will be looking for additional information on past price hikes in the new climate.

United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) recently announced that its production in Slovakia was returning to a 5-day week from a 4-day week due to demand and after labor agreement negotiations.  The estimates are a large loss at -$0.84 EPS on $4.73 billion in sales.  While it has bounced, U.S. Steel is still down by half from a year ago.

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is holding up better than we would have guessed if you have watched refining margins of late.  Estimates are for a loss at -$0.17 EPS on $32.3 billion in sales.

JON C. OGG

AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Reiterated Outperform and Raised Target to $60 at Credit Suisse.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) Maintained Hold but lowered estimates at Argus.
Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ: CECO) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Reiterated Neutral with $10 target at Baird.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Market Perform by Wells Fargo.
Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) named as Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Illinois Tool Works. Inc. (NYSE: ITW) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) Cut to Hold at Argus.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Raised to Buy at Stern Agee.
TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Started as Underperform and named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Zhongpin, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOGS) Started as outperform at Oppenheimer.

If you enjoyed this morning’s Wall Street research notes, you can sign up to receive these directly in your inbox each morning by joining our free email list in the box below.  We also include major movers, key stock calls, news on Warren Buffett and other gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

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JON C. OGG

AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Reiterated Buy with $46 price target at Argus.
Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Reiterated Buy with $40 price target at Argus.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) downgraded to Hold at Benchmark; Raised targets at boutique firm Global Equities Research.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Maintained Underperform and cut estimates at Needham.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse (full summary).
Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. (NASDAQ: PSUN) Raised to Buy at Janney Capital Markets.
ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) named as the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) Raised to Neutral at BNP Paribas.
Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE: TRN) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Started as Perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VWM) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.

If you enjoyed the morning Wall Street research notes, you can sign up to receive these directly in your inbox each morning by joining our free email list in the box below.  We also include major movers, key stock calls, news on Warren Buffett and other gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories. 

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JON C. OGG

Bill Gross’s PIMCO Total Return Fund has $1.4 billion in outflows in December, according to Morningstar. (Reuters)

MF Global sold some assets to Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) before its collapsed. (Reuters)

As a move toward making its activities more public, the Federal Reserve will publish its rate forecasts. (Reuters)

BP (NYSE: BP) stops payments from its Gulf Coast Claims Facility as it waits for a court hearing on how some outlays should be made. (Reuters)

Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) says small business payrolls rose by 55,000 in December. (Reuters)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) may take the chairman title away from its co-CEOs. (Reuters)

Samsung expects a good Q4 because of rising smartphone sales. (Reuters)

PayPal President Scott Thompson will be named Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO. (AllThingsD)

Venture capitalists cut investment activity after a torrid 2011. (WSJ)

Banks grow concerned about investments in Asia as the economy there slows. (WSJ)

MBIA (NYSE: MBI) wins a ruling in its mortgage suit against Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC) Countrywide. (WSJ)

Toyota’s (NYSE: TM) earnings power will be challenged by the value of the yen. (WSJ)

Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) hires the CEO of Brookstone to help resurrect Kmart. (WSJ)

Farmers and the food industry want relief from new government rules on consumer intake of dioxins. (WSJ)

The French government will increase its VAT. (WSJ)

Oprah Winfrey’s new TV show has a poor start. (WSJ)

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) to raise prices in some parts of the country. (WSJ)

Athabasca Oil Sands will sell 40% of one of its oil sands products to PetroChina (NYSE: PTR). (WSJ)

AT&T (NYSE: T) will pay TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) $125 million for a license to some of its technology. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) to launch a new SUV in India. (WSJ)

Online sales help the results of UPS (NYSE: UPS) and American Express (NYSE: AXP). (NYT)

The jobless rate in Germany falls to 6.8%. (NYT)

As Spain’s unemployment reaches 23%, evidence grows that Europe has been divided into financial “haves” and “have not” nations. (FT)

Mobile research firm Flurry says that more than 1.2 billion apps were downloaded the week of Christmas. (FT)

Due to a slow global economy, Fiat may be well short of its goal to sell 6 million cars,  between its main unit and Chrysler, by 2014. (Bloomberg)

Shares of Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) fall as investors worry about the future of online daily deals. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

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M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) is 5.38+ million shares, UP ONLY A TAD from the 5.363 million last quarter but this one had been cut in prior quarters.
Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was 405,000 shares valued at $128.45 million.  The position is the SAME AS last quarter but still almost double from the quarter before.
Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was 28.4 million; SAME AS last quarter but way down from prior quarters and years.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) was 76.7 million shares and listed as THE SAME as last quarter but lower than the 96.3 million shares in prior quarters.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was 4.06 million shares; SAME AS before.
Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) was more than 4.2 million, a LARGER POSITION than the 2.82 million shares last quarter.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was roughly 69 million shares; SAME AS before.
USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) was 17.072 million shares; SAME AS before.
United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) was 1.429 million shares; SAME AS before.
Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK) was ALMOST DOUBLE in shares at 4.202 million worth $146.1 million versus the 2,101,125 shares a quarter before when it had been started as a new position.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a NEW POSITION of 2.291 million shares worth $96.44 million.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was just over 39 million shares; SAME AS before after having been raised in 2010.
Washington Post (NYSE: WPO) was over 1.72 million shares; SAME AS before and Buffett kept his word so far about holding the Washington Post shares despite stepping down from its board.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) over 361 million shares a HIGHER POSITION than the 352+ million last quarter.

PAGE ONE…BUFFETT HOLDINGS ‘A to K’

As noted earlier… today’s holding disclosure has missing data as Berkshire Hathaway was given permission and likely still does not include the full holdings: Confidential information has been omitted from the Form 13F and filed separately with the Commission.

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Deloitte’s annual holiday survey shows that “Shoppers plan on spending an average of $395 on gifts this year, which is a 15 percent decrease when compared to the average gift spending of $466 in 2010.” The prospects of many retailers will be ruined if that forecast turns out to be true. Stores will be shuttered and people put out of work. The silver lining is that people who make more than $100,000 a year are less likely to cut the dollars they will spend compared to last year. But this group makes up only a small portion of Americans.

UPS (NYSE: UPS) recently announced that it will hire 55,000 people to help it transport packages during the holiday season. The freight company reports that “UPS expects to deliver more than 120 million packages around the world this year in just the last week before Christmas, up more than 6 percent compared to the 113 million delivered during last year’s ‘peak week.’” The expectation is that holiday sales will improve overall. “Early indications point to a solid holiday shopping and shipping season,” said Alan Gershenhorn, UPS chief sales and marketing officer.

The most important forecast about holiday sales probably comes from the National Retail Federation, because its members number in the thousands. The association predicts that overall sales in the U.S. will rise 2.8% to $466 billion.

The only reasonable explanation for the difference between the UPS prediction and many others is that e-commerce companies will do far better than brick-and-mortar stores. All of the products sold by firms like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) have to be delivered by shipping firms. It is an interesting theory, but not one that UPS, Deloitte or the NRF mention at all. That may  be because they cannot accurately predict the difference between how well e-commerce companies and traditional retailers will do.

No one appears to know how the holiday season will go this year. Too many consumers feel poor. Too many believe the economy will not get better next year. Too many are concerned about their jobs. Forecasts in this environment are no better than a guess.

Douglas A. McIntyre

WSJ: 3M Profit Slips, Cuts Year View

CNNMoney: Netflix stock sinks 35% as subscribers flee http://cnnmon.ie/vMQnaP $NFLX

WSJ: Vital Signs: Gasoline Still Pricey

Bloomberg: Amazon profit may halve on Kindle squeeze |

NYTimes: A 53% Surge in Poverty Rate Is Reshaping Suburbs

Reuters: UPS reports higher profit, affirms outlook

Yahoo! Finance: Deutsche Bank warns of more job cuts in tough trade

Douglas A. McIntyre

Some of these stocks are in technology, some are not.  Our criteria is to eliminate junk: no companies losing money, no declining earnings, no fresh implosions, no Chinese ADRs, no stuck multi-year turnarounds, and no restructurings that are changing the identity of a company. We also wanted to find companies where analysts still believe that earnings in 2012 will be higher than in 2011, and we eliminated companies in the troubled banking, housing, and auto sectors.  We screened out the volatile commodity stocks, used a multi-billion market cap floor, demanded many years of operating history, and even made sure that each stock had 10 or more analysts covering the stock to make sure that consensus was truly a consensus rather than a straw-poll.

The screened stocks expected to outperform Apple are as follows: Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT); EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD); EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC); FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX); General Electric Company (NYSE: GE); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS); Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN); and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).  A few names with more upside that might immediately come to mind are Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN), or First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR).  Unfortunately, these stocks, even if they do technically have higher implied upside according to analysts, are all under death watch due to a share price implosion.  The consensus targets and any earnings estimates are from Thomson Reuters and Yahoo! Finance.

The reason that Stamps.com is winning is because the closure of more and more locations should drive more and more users and clients its way.  By enabling people to print electronic stamps directly onto envelopes or labels using their PC and printer, the company will get a cut as fewer and fewer people using mail will drive a distance to get stamps.  Its PhotoStamps also allows consumers to turn digital photos or images into valid U.S. postage with many of the same insurance offerings and packing options that the Postal Service offers in its locations.

Fewer locations of the POst Office and fewer processing facilities also will be a win for both United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) and FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX).  Just don’t look at their stocks to try to figure how much they might win from it because those stocks are down since the Post Office woes came to light again last week.

Stamps.com claims to offer far cheaper alternatives than traditional postal meters without long-term contracts. For a rough savings guess I went to Stamps.com calculating tool to check on annual savings and used the following scenario: 10 pieces of mail per day on average with only a $0.48 average piece of mail without any percentages in mail confirmation or with insurance.  The cost calculated was $436 per year.  If 25% required delivery confirmation and also with package insurance, then their projected savings comes to $820 per year.

What is more impressive than the 10.6% gain to $24.75 and the new 52-week high of $25.24 earlier today is that the stock was trading under $21.00 just four days ago.

JON C. OGG

This loss of hope is exacerbated by the state of the economy. A person who is fired now likely will find it extremely hard to find new work. Nearly 6 million Americans have been out of a job for more than half a year, which means that work is scarce either because companies have never recovered from the recession or because firms are concerned that a new recession has started to choke the economy.

Read: Companies Where Employees Are Losing Hope

It is impossible to know whether the employees at a very badly run company have completely hope in their situations. However, this is highly likely certain corporations. Layoffs have already started at many of these companies, sales have fallen, or Wall St. has passed a verdict they have faltered badly or failed.

24/7 Wall St. has compiled a list of companies that are in deep trouble. This is based on share prices, layoffs, analysts’ reports about their futures of these firms and the extent to which they have missed Wall St. predictions about earnings-per-share or are likely to in future.