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

• Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) Q2 earnings were in line with expectations but sales beat.
• Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) beat earnings estimates for Q1, but on horrible metrics, sending shares lower.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) lower Q2 earnings beat expectations and previous guidance, boosting shares.
• CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) Q1 profit and sales dropped, but still beat expectations, sending shares higher.
• Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) posted a smaller-than-expected Q2 net loss and shares rose.

Both J.M. Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM) and Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) topped earnings expectations in their respective quarterly reports Thursday, and shares of both ended the day higher.

Smucker said results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 30, 2009, included the operations of Folgers Coffee Co. since the completion of the merger in November. Adjusted income per share for the quarter was $1.02, a year-over-year increase of 40%. For the full year, it was $3.77 per share, an increase of 20%.

Today was one of those low news flow days where you never had any real solid feel for where the market would close until the very end of the session. We have seen too many rallies dashed by closing imbalances at the end of the day when there was thin volume.

Some Philly Fed data helped hold the market, and that was on the heels of the largest drop in continuing jobless claims since 2001. Some of the agriculture stocks staged a small comeback after yesterday's huge losses.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,554.77 +57.59 (0.68%)
S&P 500 918.34 +7.63 (0.84%)
Nasdaq 1,807.72 -0.34 (-0.02%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Carnival (NYSE: CCL) closed at $23.73. CCL is scheduled to report Q2 EPS on June 18. CCL June 24 straddle is priced at $1.85, July 24 straddle is priced at $3.30. CCL June option implied volatility is at 63, July is at 57; verses its 26-week average of 63, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement after EPS.

CBOE Volatility Index S&P 500 Options (CBOE-VIX) at 28.11; 10-day moving average is 29.40.

ISE Sentiment Index-ISEE closed at 125 on 6/11/09. ISEE 10-day moving average is 130.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

The Swine Flu outbreak keeps chugging along as the number of people affected rises.

Shares of all travel-related companies have been sickened by the threat of a really bad pandemic, as opposed to a mild flu with a lot of media hype. And the market concerns can hardly be sneezed at. During the hellish Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918, when tens of millions died, the bug circumnavigated the globe once in a milder form before mutating into the more virulent and deadly form that killed so many.

Carnival Corp (NYSE: CCL - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced this morning that it will resume stops at Mexican ports now that health officials have lifted advisories against non-essential travel to the nation.

CCL also said the H1N1 Influenza scare will likely reduce second-quarter earnings by 5 cents per share. While that isn't a good thing, investors often prefer to know how bad the news instead of having to guess. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CCL.

CCL opened this morning at $26.18. So far today the stock has hit a low of $25.81 and a high of $26.60. As of 11:35, CCL is trading at $26.41 up 1.41 (5.6%). The chart for CCL looks bearish and S&P gives CCL a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

Some contend that shorting stocks is un-American. Hardly. Selling short provides liquidity to the markets, aids in price discovery, and provides an extra check -- some argue the only check -- against ill-conceived business ideas and incompetent executives.

New York Stock Trader Dave Fischer is a short king, and has made most of his money over the past 15 years shorting stocks. His favorite phrase is, "With those fundamentals, that stock can't hang on for long."

Late Tuesday, Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) reported that it will temporarily cancel all stops in Mexico due to fears surrounding the swine flu. "We have decided to cancel calls at Mexican ports for all current sailings. Additionally, we will cancel calls in Mexico for all voyages departing Thursday, April 30 through Monday, May 4," the cruise line operator said in a statement.

Carnival isn't the only cruise line playing it safe. Sector peer Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) also announced plans to temporarily suspend port calls in Mexico. Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has not recommended any travel restrictions to halt the swine flu's spread.

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) said revenues and bookings both declined in the most recent quarter.
• Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported strong Q4 results in the wake of Circuit City's demise.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) sailed past analysts' Q1 projections, sending shares higher.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) Q3 results topped analysts expectations and drove shares higher.
• DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) swung to a larger-than-expected Q4 loss and revenue slipped.
• DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) reported a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss as same-store sales declined.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL - option chain) shares are headed higher today after the company posted a first-quarter profit of $260 million, or 33 cents per share, beating analysts' projections of 19 cents per share. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CCL.

CCL opened this morning at $23.01. So far today the stock has hit a low of $22.98 and a high of $24.94. As of 11:40, CCL is trading at $23.65, up 34 cents (1.5%). The chart for CCL looks bearish and S&P gives CCL a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

Analyst upgrades:

• Barclays upgraded Spectra Energy (NYSE: SE) to Overweight from Equal Weight. The firm believes Spectra's valuation is attractive and that the dividend is secure.
• Soleil upgraded Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent pullback and maintains a $45 target on the stock.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded O'Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY) to Outperform from Underperform on valuation and the company's better than expected sales and earnings acceleration. The firm has a $38 target on the stock.
• Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Sell List.
  
• Intercontinental Hotels (NYSE: IHG) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
  
• Valspar (NYSE: VAL) was lifted to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.

Wednesday, consumer products maker Newell Rubbermaid (NYSE: NWL) delivered some bad news to investors when it slashed its current quarter profit outlook rather significantly.

It took the Street completely by surprise, and the shares got hammered to the tune of 27%.

Then yesterday, one of the quintessential companies that relies on consumer spending, Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), announced that it too has lowered its profit guidance for 2009, to a range of $2.25 to $2.75 per share from its previous range of $2.50 to $3 per share.

The company said it expects full-year net revenue yields to fall 6% to 10% on a constant dollar basis compared with previous guidance of a drop of 1% to 5%.

Despite the weak outlook, the shares were up on a day when not much else was rising.

What gives?

U.S. stock futures were somewhat higher Monday morning as investors put October -- one of the worst months ever -- behind them and braced for the impact of the presidential election. A slew of economic data will be released this week, including September construction spending and the October release of the ISM index due today after the market opens. Global stocks were generally higher even as oil slipped again.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) said Monday it will invest $1 billion in China over the next four years. The beverage company wants to expand local manufacturing capability, research and development and sales force.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) -- the company has been in the process of trying to find a way to merge with Chrysler. While we didn't hear much about the merger so far from the United Auto Workers union, it seems
it intends to play a key part in it and has has retained an adviser to help with workers' concerns should the merger occur, the WSJ reported.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) saw its 27,000 machinists resuming work Sunday after a 57-day strike that shut down production. Because of logistics, it will take several weeks before Boeing is running normally. The company missed at least 70 deliveries as a result of the strike. Seems it may miss more until production is properly under way. Boeing was downgraded to Conviction Sell from Neutral by Goldman Sachs, saying investors should sell into the strength from the resolution of the machinists union strike.

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

• Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) beat earnings expectations for Q3, lifting shares.
• AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) topped Q1 estimates and maintained its full-year guidance.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) reported solid Q3 results that topped analysts' expectations.
• FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) Q1 profits slumped on fuel costs and the economy, but revenues were higher.
• General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) posted solid Q1 results and lifted its full-year guidance.
• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) beat Q3 earnings expectations but revenue fell short of estimates.
• K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN) reported a loss for Q4 but still beat analysts' expectations.
• Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) reported strong Q3 results, including a rise in same-store sales.
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) posted better-than-expected Q3 results amidst chaos on Wall Street.
• Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) beat Q1 expectations and annouced record operating margin rise.
• Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) reported better-than-expected results even as its net loss widened.

Upcoming quarterly reports include AutoZone (NYSE: AZO), Lennar (NYSE: LEN), Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY), Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), and KB Home (NYSE: KBH).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Famous cruise line entity Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), which competes with Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) and The Walt Disney Company's (NYSE: DIS) vacation voyages, reported earnings for the third quarter on Thursday. The company held up well during the summer months. Revenues increased 11% to $4.8 billion. Earnings per diluted share did decrease slightly from a year ago, dropping two pennies to $1.65. But management reported that the number was better than expected because of lower costs and the positive effect of an insurance recovery. As far as Wall Street estimates were concerned, the bottom line beat by a wide margin. This item says that Carnival bested estimates by $0.07.

Another cool thing is that Carnival narrowed its fiscal-year guidance in a most positive way. Before, the company expected that it would book earnings somewhere between $2.70 and $2.80 per share. Well, now management thinks it'll do between $2.79 and $2.81. That shows confidence in the business, and it looks like the market is pretty happy with the results. Taking a look at the stock at the time of this writing, I see that is up almost 3%, and that volume is decent so far.

I personally would not buy Carnival at this time, however, even though there are some sound elements to this story. It does sport a very good dividend yield of 4%, but it's not close to the 52-week low, and one could argue that the upgraded guidance is confirmation that the stock could be a buy. Still, the market is volatile, the economy is questionable, and energy prices remain a concern. Plus, the earnings release did note some weakness in occupancy levels for advance bookings. I'd be fearful of looking at Carnival before a pullback brings the stock in a little. Long term, though, I do think the company will prosper, since I think it is a great brand in the leisure business.

Disclosure: I own Disney; positions can change at any time.