As Wall Street braces for another earnings season, research firm Bespoke Investment Group has put together a list of companies that historically tend to beat earnings estimates.

Within the group, United Technology has the highest 'beat rate' at 96 percent, followed by Union Pacific, Johnson and Johnson and UnitedHealth with a rate of 91 percent.

Earnings per share and revenue estimates for the S&P 500 in Q4 of 2012 are expected to grow by 1.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Compared to a year ago, analysts predict consumer discretionary and financial names will show the largest EPS growth, while utilities are projected to lead the way in revenue.

Here is a look at some of the large-cap stocks set to report in the next two weeks.

Facebook may have had a rough go out of the gate, while Wall Street darling Apple got all the attention. But in the past four months, that pairing has been flipped on its head.

Rewind to September: Shares of Facebook touched an all-time low of $17.73, while Apple's stock closed near an all-time high of $674.97.

Since then, Facebook has rocketed nearly 70 percent compared to a 22-percent decline for Apple.

That meteoric rise has made Facebook one of the best-performing stocks in the Nasdaq 100. Apple, on the other hand, is the worst.

During Wednesday's trading session, Facebook closed above $30 a share for the first time in 6 months.

A rolling 60-day correlation between AAPL and FB is at its lowest level on record. In fact, the two stocks have a negative correlation, implying that as one stock rises the other one falls, and vice versa.

While not a fool-proof strategy, if the negative correlation persists, FB may actually work as a hedge for AAPL.

The CBOE Volatility Index plunged 39 percent this week, marking its worst percent drop in at least 26 years.

Similarly, the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN (VXX), designed to track VIX futures, touched an all-time low of 27.5 during Friday's trading session.

The VIX, a measure of market risk and often referred to as the "investor fear gauge," fell below 14, its lowest level in three months, as the S&P 500 rose to its highest settle in 5 years.

(Read more: S&P Closes at Best Level Since Dec. 2007)

Despite the bullish sentiment, forward futures contracts for the VIX point to more volatile times ahead. In fact, three of the last four times the VIX fell over 25 percent in a week, the market posted a loss the following week.

While the stock market welcomed the temporary resolution of the fiscal cliff, it does not seem too concerned about the looming debt crisis, at least according to the VIX.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which is a popular measure of implied volatility of the S&P 500, is down nearly 37 percent in the past three days, its biggest decline since May 2010.

Since 1986, there have been only four instances when the VIX fell more than 30 percent in a three-day period.

In fact, prior to 2010, one would have to go back to the days following the 1987 stock-market crash to see such sharp losses.

"Dogs of the Dow" or "High Yield 10" is a popular investment strategy that recommends buying the Dow stocks with the 10 highest dividend yields at the beginning of the year.

The basic strategy suggests putting an equal amount of money into each of the 10 stocks; although there have been variations that include proportionate investments in the Dogs weighted by share price.

Another permutations suggest dropping the lowest priced, but highest yielding Dog out of concern that the there may be a reason why the yield is so high.

The strategy worked in the past two years. The 10 companies that made it to the list at the beginning of 2012 are up about 10 percent, adjusting for dividends, compared to a 7 percent increase for the index.

Ahead of 2013, here is a look at the highest yielding stocks in the Dow.

McDonald's and Hewlett-Packard are the new additions to the 2013's Dogs, replacing Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods, which is no longer a Dow component.

It's been a reversal of fortunes for banks in 2012: financial stocks lead this year, up 26 percent, after performing the worst of all 10 S&P 500 sectors last year.

Consumer discretionary names are set to finish 2012 with strong gains as well, mainly due to the rally in home builders, home improvement stocks, and retailers. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction ETF trades near four-year highs, up 74 percent this year, as housing has been the economic bright spot of 2012.

Hovnanian leads the builders, up 360 percent. Shares of PulteGroup, Ryland, KB Home, and Standard Pacific have all more than doubled.

Home Depot, a darling of 2011, remains on top, posting the second biggest annual gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 44 percent, behind Bank of America, which is up more than 100 percent. The do-it-yourself home improvement retailer benefited from both the housing recovery and super storm Sandy, which pummeled the East Coast at the end of October.

After falling 18 percent in 2011, financial stocks are on track for their largest gain in nine years, up nearly 26 percent.

A combination of clarity, fundamentals, and other catalysts created momentum for names such as Bank of America and Citigroup, according to Meredith Whitney, CEO of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group.

In fact, Bank of America holds the title for top gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, up more than 100 percent in 2012, after being the biggest decliner last year.

Financials are also the best performing S&P 500 sector in 2012, outperforming the broader index for the first time since 2006.

The magnitude of the gains is significant, as the last time the sector outperformed the market by more than 10 percent was back in 2000.

Here is a look at the top performing stocks in the sector.

Since touching a nine-year low in September, shares of Research in Motion have been on a tear, up over 120 percent just ahead of the launch of its new BlackBerry.

Yet just as the stock continues to climb, so has interest in short positions, or investors piling on bets to sell.

At the end of last month, short interest reached a peak of 113.7 million shares, the highest level since January 2004. That would put short interest for the stock at about 22 percent.

Commodities are on track to halt four years of consecutive gains, despite large bets in related funds.

The S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index is down 0.03 percent this year, on track for its first annual loss since 2008, when it fell 43 percent.

At the same time, money invested in commodity funds is up 86 percent to $20.8 billion compared to 2011, according to data by EPFR Global.

Gold is the big winner in 2012, with nearly 84 percent of the funds invested in physical commodities ($16.7 billion) going towards the metal. Gold has gone up in price for 12 consecutive years, up about 500 percent in that period.

It has been somewhat of a mixed-bag for commodities in 2012. Soybean, soybean meal, wheat, corn, orange juice, and live cattle, for example, reached new multi-year highs at some point, while other names such as natural gas, cotton, sugar, and coffee fell to multi-year lows.

Here is a look at the best and worst performing commodities this year.

Sixty companies in the S&P 500announced share buyback programs worth at least $1 billion so far this year. Within the group, the biggest buying back came from Johnson & Johnson, repurchasing $12.9 billion worth of stock.

American International Group is also high on the list as the U.S. Treasury sold its remaining stake in the company last week, booking a total profit of about $23 billion.

Shares of the insurance company are up 53 percent in 2012, significantly outperforming the overall market, which is up 15 percent. In fact, of the 15 companies that have bought back stock at the fastest pace, only one is down for the year: International Game Technology.