Customers Already Clamoring for New Gold Card That Saves Them 10 Percent on Purchases

Company Closes Transitional Year with Re-architected Cost Structure Results Reflect Q4 and FY08 Transformation and Restructuring Costs Positioned to Grow Earnings in Fiscal 2009

Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/news.php?st=p&id=4209716 for the full story.

Which companies top the biggest losers list?

Let's have some Dutch auctions for CEO jobs.

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Market-trouncing returns could be written in these four stars.

Filed under: Earnings reports, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Starbucks (SBUX), Campbell Soup (CPB), Tiffany and Co (TIF), Xerox Corp (XRX), Deere and Co (DE), salesforce.com inc (CRM)

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

• American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) saw lower Q3 results in the tough retail envirnoment.
• Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Q4 profit surged but it lowered its Q1 forecast due to slowing orders.
• Borders Group Inc. (NYSE: BGP) had dismal Q3 results and said it had ceased its quest to sell itself.
• Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) solid Q1 results beat estimates but shares fell despite a market rally.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) fell short of Q4 profit expectations and guidance was below estimates.
• Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) had a bigger-than-expected Q3 profit and raised its full-year outlook.
• D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) reported a wider Q4 loss as home sales revenue declined by 50%.
• Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) posted strong Q4 numbers that didn't quite match the preliminary results.
• Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) had strong results and an optimistic forecast despite economic conditions.
• Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) lowered its fiscal 2009 forecast and warned of further restructuring.
• Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Q3 earnings declined but topped expectations, and it announced staff reductions.
• Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG) Q4 earnings beat expectations though revenues fell slightly.
• Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) forecast a full-year profit in line with estimates and said it is confident in its liquidity.

Upcoming earnings releases include Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD), Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM), Guess (NYSE: GES), Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL), Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Earnings highlights: HP, Campbell, Deere, Tiffany, Xerox, Borders and others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Wal-Mart (WMT), Starbucks (SBUX), Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Caterpillar (CAT), Citigroup Inc. (C), Altria Group (MO), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Kellogg Co (K), Safeway Inc (SWY), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Allegheny Technologies (ATI), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Stocks to Buy, Stocks to Sell

Seems that even this shortened week was full of news and happenings, in the U.S. and around the world. With Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) being bailed out by the U.S. government at the beginning of the week and China announcing fiscal and monetary stimulus plans, the Dow industrials finished in positive territory four days in a row.

But as analysts and pundits, as well as each and every economic release -- in the U.S. and around the world -- remind us, we are not out of the woods yet and the rally has really been a bear-market rally.

Investors looking to take advantage of such rallies, or at least feel they hold stable long-term holdings, can search this week's BloggingStocks' contributors' picks:

Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) and Devry Inc. (NYSE: DV) -- It's often been suggested that educators do well in times of recession and high unemployment as workers look to improve or change their education to get a better job. Leo Fasciocco thinks these two are poised for a breakout.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) reported stronger-than-expected earnings this week and also hiked its forecast. Not surprisingly, cash-strapped consumers turn more and more to discounters. Dollar Tree may continue to benefit from the economic downturn and the stock could also experience a short-squeeze rally.

Continue reading Stock picks and pans for troubled times: DV, DLTR, BP, ATI, GE, C, MO, K, AAPL, CELG ...

Stock picks and pans for troubled times: DV, DLTR, BP, ATI, GE, C, MO, K, AAPL, CELG ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The hopeless romantic in me fell for Starbucks. Who could resist the topless logo lady kept barely modest by flowing tresses alone? She proved to be my siren on the foggy rocks. My ship, the JSS Portfolio ran aground to the sound of her charms. Which is to say I was early on Starbucks. I'll save you the trouble of joining the email chorus mocking me on this one by coming clean. I may be wrong more than I should be, but I'm never dishonest. I started liking Starbucks way back in January. Chuck Jaffe invited me onto his Your Money Radio program that month and I told his listeners that it was amazing to see the world's largest coffee retailer on sale at less than $20 per share. "That's down to almost half what it was a year ago," I gushed. "This is not some flier, either. Folks, this is <span[More...]

Filed under: After the bell, Google (GOOG), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Starbucks (SBUX), Market matters, Lennar Corp'A' (LEN)

Stocks staged a comeback late in the day after swinging up this morning and then down in the afternoon. What is odd is that it was another one of those days where if you were not watching the actual index readings tick by tick, you might not know if the market was up or down because of a lack of enthusiasm. Confidence did come in a tad higher than expected. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,479.86 (+0.43%)
NASDAQ: 1,464.73 (-0.50%)
S&P 500 857.41 (+0.66%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was down on word that it was closing most of its headquarter offices for four days around the Christmas and New Years periods as part of its cost containment. The interpretation is that there is no magic growth when there shouldn't be any reason to expect it anyway. Shares were down almost 6% at $15.47 right before the close.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) rose sharply on word that it is cutting many contract worker positions, but said it is not laying off full-time workers. Oddly enough, the search giant used to be measured by its headcount growth for a means of forward growth, so this rally is a bit odd even in a cost containment world. Shares were up 10% at $284.95 right before the close.

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) lived up to its guidance of last week. The company maintained the same outlook ahead, although in this report it was more cautious on the consumer hardware and consumer spending side. Unfortunately, traders sold the news and shares were down over 6% at $33.33 shortly before the close.

Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) had a monster trading day on an analyst upgrade as analyst upgrades in this sector have been few and far between. The home builder was Raised to "buy" at UBS. Shares were up almost 40% at $6.43 right before the close.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) traded lower a day after filed its annual report with the SEC and it contained a notice inside that the Flat to +1% base case in same store sales into 2009 is now going to be negative. Arguably this may not be a surprise in the recession, but the market cast its vote by trading it down. Shares were down 3.3% at $8.17 right before the close.

Closing Bell: Markets little changed after choppy session; CSCO, HPQ, SBUX all down, GOOG, LEN up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street

Schaeffer's analyst Colleen S. King takes a look at news on the Street before the market open.

57% of Starbucks say that business has increased in the last month. 29% state that less than 25% of their customers come in 4 or more times per week, while 36% state that 30%-50% of customers do so. Just 14% state that they sell plain drip coffee, rather than a specialty drink, more than 20% of the time.

57% of Starbucks say that business has increased in the last month. 29% state that less than 25% of their customers come in 4 or more times per week, while 36% state that 30%-50% of customers do so. Just 14% state that they sell plain drip coffee, rather than a specialty drink, more than 20% of the time.

Schaeffer's analyst Elizabeth Harrow takes a look at the major news of the day on Wall Street.