I have a big problem—while looking for speculative plays, I keep finding solid companies that are great investments, but not right for TIM. So, I write about them. Now you know why I don’t have any positions in stocks like Synaptics (Nasdaq: SYNA) and China Finance Online (Nasdaq: JRJC) and yet I really like them.

Now, tonight, I f

ind the near $32 billion provider of satellite broadcasting, DirecTV (NYSE: DTV ) at $26.78. They just reported strong earnings yesterday and those numbers managed to help the stock buck the trend today by finishing higher—and breaking out to a new all-time high in the process. We’ll see if it’s enough to withstand the coming bear market (maybe just short-term, but who knows, futures are already down 1% overnight)

Once you read the conference call transcript, (it’s long, but just suck it up and read it!) you’ll see that this is some incredible business. Churn (customers leaving) is down and growth due to their new premium products like HD and DVR capabilities is up big time. Overall, quarterly revenues were up 18%, but both Latin American revenues and the number of US subscribers to its core product rose 45%. And, to top it all off, average monthly revenue per subscriber rose from $73 to $79—chew on that Six Flags (NYSE: SIX! (they’ve been trying to get their customers to fork over $40/visit). All this for a forward PE of 18—not too shabby. I full expect this stock to trade significantly higher over the next year, but it’s going to be a painstakingly gradual process, filled with many dips. Most importantly, this is a perfect technical breakout, look at that chart, it’s gorgeous!

As for TIM plays, there’s not much—the market is gonna get killed in the morning and it could keep going or bounce in the afternoon. We’ll just have to wait and see, but I’d like to buy into some panic, if possible. China Grentech (Nasdaq: GRRF), a Chinese wireless play, reported strong earnings, but it’s got a horrible chart so I’m not expecting much.

As I noted earlier First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) really came in with amazing earnings, quarterly revenues came in around $160 million, nearly 30% higher than the $120 million they were expected to have. Wow! And they raised guidance nicely, too. You don’t see this kind of magnitude in an earnings blowout very often so the 5 million shares that are sold short are definitely gonna need some barf bags and the stock should be strong all day long. The future looks brighter than ever as this is a solar play with actual revenues and profits. Amazing, looks like the run will continue in a potentially big way. Should also help all the other solar plays ESLR, STP, SPWR, blah blah blah. I’m not touching any of them until I see what the overall market has in store (remember, 3 out of 4 stock follow the market)

Another interesting earnings play is Turbochef (Nasdaq: OVEN) as their revenues doubled and losses were stemmed, both beating expectations. Originally, they got their big lift from Subway, but not they’re getting new customers like Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) and the stock is close to breaking out (although the stock has seen better days, so there’s resistance above). Definitely put it on my watchlist.

SEC Warning: Timothy Sykes has no positions, no vested interest and doesn’t know anybody who has any of these stocks.