By Dan Jamieson – Investment News

The United States will avoid a “double dip” recession, with real gross-domestic-product growth topping 2% next year, according to Standard & Poor’s Corp.The research firm is estimating a 1.7% annualized growth rate in the fourth quarter, and a rate of 2.4% by the end of next year, Sam Stovall, S&P’s chief investment strategist, said in a conference call today.

The corporate earnings free-fall will end this year, and bottom lines should improve in 2010, Mr. Stovall said.

While many observers have been worried about lackluster revenue growth, Standard & Poor’s estimates 3% top-line growth this quarter, and an 8% revenue gain for U.S. public companies next year.

Mr. Stovall said that cyclical stocks tend to outperform as the economy recovers from a recession, a pattern that “tends to hold into the second year of a recovery.”

Standard & Poor’s is recommending an overweight to consumer cyclical, energy, industrials and technology stocks.

“Value tends to beat growth, and smaller-caps tend to trounce” larger-company stocks during a recovery, Mr. Stovall added.

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