Closing Bell: When earnings reactions misfire (CSX, DELL, GS, HNT, JAVA, ORCL)

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) said that its earnings were $308 million or $0.78 EPS. This is down from $385 million or $0.93 EPS a year ago. If you exclude discontinued operations related to the Greenbrier Resort, the earnings on a comparable basis were $0.72 EPS compared to $0.95 a year ago. This was above estimates despite the large drop. Shares wer eup almost 7% at $34.75 late in the trading day.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) may have hurt some possible momentum for technology companies after the PC-maker projected near-term margin pressure due to netbooks and due to current IT-delayed spending. Shares were down almost 8% at $12.00 late in the day.

Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) proved why they call it "golden slacks" in its earnings. Unfortunately, this was telegraphed by recent analyst calls with above-estimate forecasts. Unfortunately, most traders were long ahead of the earnings and many sold into the news. Shares were down 0.3% at $148.90 late in the day.

Health Net Inc. (NYSE: HNT) was one of the day's worse performers on the heels of yesterday's Pentagon health insurance award being awarded away. This effectively takes away most of the profits of the company, and may act as a lesson for all insurers for what to plan their businesses around. Shares were down 14% at $12.15 late in the trading day.

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) took an unusual step. It lowered its earnings guidance ahead of the Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) buyout vote. Because the merger is unaffected, shares of Sun Micro were up 0.5% at $9.21 and Oracle shares were down 0.2% at $20.67 late in the trading day.