Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) better-than-expected Q4 numbers due to strong holiday sales of media products.
• BlackRock Inc. (BLK) reported strong Q4 results and doubled assets under management due to an acquisition.
• Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) shares fell despite better-than-expected Q4 earnings as guidance fell short of the Street view.
• DeVry Inc. (DV) reported better-than-expected Q2 numbers due to increasing enrollments, which lifted shares.
• EMC Corp. (EMC) reported strong Q4 results that beat the Street view and offered full-year guidance.
• General Dynamics Corp. (GD) Q4 results fell short of expectations and its guidance was less than estimates.

An hefty restructuring charge -- its biggest ever -- led to a 19% year-over-year earnings drop for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Excluding these charges, the New Jersey-based health care products giant earned $2.8 billion, or $1.02 per share for the fourth quarter and $4.63 per share for the full year. That topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly earnings of $0.97 per share and $4.55 per share for the full year.

Johnson & Johnson also reported fourth quarter sales of $16.6 billion, up 9.0% from a year ago, and again topping expectations. But sales for the full year totaled $61.9 billion, which was 2.9% lower.

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In The DRIP Investor, he looks at the 10/10 Club -- stocks that have boosted their payouts by 10% a year for at least 10 years. He explains,"The table below features seven stocks that belong to the exclusive '10/10' club:

As we move gradually closer to a stable economy where retail investors are again ready to enter the markets, we see a lot written about which stocks, sectors, and investment types are smart bets for future growth.

Money Magazine recently ran a piece in their Investor's Guide 2010 series entitled "10 Stocks That Can Keep Running," which offers three areas in which the markets are likely to be solid in the coming years. This author's opinion is they were mostly right. But there needs to be a little more explanation for the average retail investor.

The U.S. Justice Department has charged giant pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) with paying tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare Inc. (OCR) to boost sales of its drugs to nursing-home patients, as reported by the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Prosecutors allege that Omnicare's annual purchases of Johnson & Johnson medicines nearly tripled under this scheme to more than $280 million.

According to prosecutors, the alleged kickbacks occurred between 1999 and 2004 and included payments for physician prescriber data that was never furnished. Johnson & Johnson also paid quarterly rebates based on Omnicare's success in switching patients from competitors' drugs in what both companies called an "intervention program."

Procter & Gamble (PG), whose related companies include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB), is yet another stock close to a 52-week high. Is it too high to buy, or is it likely to be a prudent defensive holding for 2010?

P&G's price action is pretty interesting. Even though it's near a 52-week high, it's actually flat on the year-to-date frame in terms of performance. That doesn't include dividend payments, of course, but nevertheless, there have been so many other stocks that have bounced off the March lows and delivered serious price appreciation superior to what P&G has been able to accomplish. This is one argument for the stock, since you might not have to worry about it being overbought relative to other equities.

Dow member Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is expanding its voluntary recall of Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets, due to consumer reports of an unusual moldy odor emanating from the pill bottles. J&J previously recalled five lots of the over-the-counter painkiller, but the recall has now been expanded to all product lots of the Arthritis Pain Caplet 100-count bottles with the red EZ-Open cap.

The musty odor, according to Johnson & Johnson, can be traced back to a chemical known as 2,4,6-tribromoanisole, which results from the breakdown of a different chemical in wooden pallets used in transporting and storage. J&J will resume production of the 100-count Arthritis Pain Caplets in January, after relocating production to a new facility.

I'm going defensive this year. The stock market had a great run in 2009 with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index up more than 60%. It's hard to believe stocks can run too much higher. They can, of course, if earnings explode. But that seems like a drug-induced dream at this point, considering over 10% unemployment.

I also think interest rates will be higher next year, that the economy will improve somewhat, and that unemployment will go down but not by much. So I'm focusing on stock with these attributes:

"For our latest featured stock of the month, we have chosen Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)," says Vita Nelson, a specialist in long-term investing through the use of dividend reinvestment plans.

In her Direct Investing newsletter, she explains, "We think that enrollment in Johnson & Johnson's DRIP makes the perfect gift this holiday season because it is one of the most widely recognized names in the world.