Let's take a quick look at two companies that reported earnings earlier in the week. One is a favorite of chocolate lovers while the other is all fun and games.

We'll start with the sweeter of the two, Hershey (HSY), which posted its release on Wednesday. The Associated Press indicates that fourth-quarter adjusted income of 61 cents per share only equaled what the analysts were looking for. If you're a shareholder, you probably were disappointed. After all, you always want a beat. If the bottom line didn't go beyond the forecast, there's always the top line, right?

Mattel (MAT) February put option implied volatility is at 39, April is at 34, according to Track Data, compared to its 26-week average of 31 into its release of Q4 EPS on February 2, suggesting larger price movement.

Yum! Brands (YUM) is expected to report Q4 EPS on February 2. Overall option implied volatility of 23 is below its 26-week average of 26, according to Track Data, suggesting decrease price movement.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Analyst Upgrades

• Dominion (D) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Corinthian Colleges (COCO) to outperform from underperform at RBC Capital.
• Canadian National (CNI) to sector outperformer from sector performer at CIBC.
• DragonWave (DRWI) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Infosys (INFY) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• SL Green Realty (SLG), Lexington Realty (LXP) and Taubman Centers (TCO) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sunstone Hotel (SHO) to buy from neutral and Extra Space Storage (EXR) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.

Dawn Kawamoto over at DailyFinance wrote an article discussing THQ Inc. (THQI). She brings into focus a licensing deal between the video-game publisher and Mattel, Inc. (MAT). There was also mention of the incredible price action in the stock. So, what are investors to make of the thesis? What about traders?

This is a tricky one. And I've been wrong about THQ's prospects before. It's certainly difficult to predict the movement of a stock that's priced in the single digits. At the time of this writing, the shares were trading at a quote of $6.26.

Two stocks come to mind when thinking about Christmas: Hasbro (HAS) and Mattel (MAT). Last year around this time, I discussed Hasbro. This year, I thought I'd take a brief look at Mattel.

The owner of the iconic Barbie industry has been trading in a relatively tight range over the past twelve months. The 52-week low is $19.07, and the 52-week high is $26.70. The shares closed down 1.3% on Thursday to settle at a quote of $25.88. (Hasbro likewise faced selling pressure on that day, losing over 2%.) The chart shows some rocky sideways action, followed by an uptrend.

Toy manufacturer Mattel (MAT) announced Friday morning that its third-quarter earnings increased to $283.3 million, or 77 cents per share. The results were 23% better than last year's third-quarter earnings of 63 cents per share, or $229.8 billion.

As for sales, the toy maker pulled in $1.83 billion, which is 2% better than last year's same-quarter results. Compared to a year ago, the results were very solid; compared to expectations, the results are mixed. The Street expected MAT to earn 75 cents per share (which it beat by two cents per share) on sales of $1.94 billion (which MAT missed).

Earlier this morning, Mattel (MAT) announced that its Fisher-Price subsidiary will recall a number of products. The company is recalling certain toddler tricycles, high chairs, a toy vehicle set, and infant toys with inflatable balls.

The Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles are recalled because of risk of injury if the child hits, sits, or falls upon a toy plastic key. The Healthy Care, Easy Clean, and Close to Me High Chairs are recalled due to the danger of a baby falling against tray storage pegs. Other recalled toys include a toy vehicle set because of choking hazards, and infant toys with inflatable balls because of a choking hazard stemming from valves.

Mattel believes that the cost of these recalls will reduce the full-year 2010 earnings by roughly a penny per share. The costs should be recorded during the third quarter.

On Friday, Mattel (MAT) sold off after reporting its latest quarterly results. Today, that company's major enemy in the business, Hasbro (HAS), finds itself on the receiving end of a bearish onslaught. The selling seen this session, however, isn't as bad as what occurred last week, when Mattel dropped a couple bucks. Still, it could be disappointing to shareholders.

Hasbro is down 1.3% in afternoon trading at the time of this writing. Not too bad, but the stock, which is exchanging hands around the $39 mark, has pulled back from the 52-week high of $43.71, a level that was achieved just last month.

In the year following Bush's dividend tax cuts, the Dow Jones rose 16%. When the tax cuts expire in a few months, will the market drop?

One method of evaluating stocks is that they are worth the present value of all the future cash flows. This can make dividend stocks particularly attractive to investors because they get paid rent or a dividend for holding a company. If conditions change and those future dividends are no longer expected, a stock can suddenly be worth a lot less. This is a large reason why we see stocks drop suddenly at earnings announcements or when companies revise outlooks.

Hasbro, Inc. (HAS) had a notable trading day. The company's shares hit a new 52-week high of $40.77 after the first-quarter earnings report was distributed to the market. Volume was strong during the session.

Quite frankly, I look upon Hasbro as a very viable candidate for investment capital. Why do I say this? Well, I think we've got a nice combination of technical and fundamental strength. And let us start with the technical side of things. Check out the one-year chart. Not a bad trend, huh? Wall Street is clearly positive on the future prospects of the toy maker. Put this chart together with the 52-week high and you've got yourself a compelling price-action thesis.

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

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) shares declined despite better-than-expected Q1 results due to profit taking.
• Alcoa Inc. (AA) reported a decline in revenue and earnings in line with expectations, leading to a sell off of shares.
• Bank of America Corp. (BAC) Q1 earnings results beat consensus estimates but shares fell on other news.
• General Electric Co. (GE) posted better-than-expected earnings but said revenue declined in the first quarter.
• Google Inc. (GOOG) Q1 earnings and revenue topped expectations but a surge in expenses sent shares lower.