For the most part, SAP (SAP) sells sophisticated and expensive business software. Needless to say, such offerings are often deferred as budgets get squeezed.

However, after a tough 2009, it looks like SAP is seeing some improvement. In fact, the company expects revenue growth of 4% to 8% in 2010. Moreover, it looks like operating margins will improve because of the cost-cutting efforts. How much? The expectation is for 30% to 31%. Last year's margin was at 27.4%.

Oracle (ORCL) closed at $25.34. Overall option implied volatility of 26 is below its 26-week average of 30, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Forest Labs (FRX) closed at $31.35. Q3 EPS are expected on Jan. 19. Forest Labs February and March put option implied volatility is at 29, August is at 30; near its 26-week average of 31, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

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

CDC Software Corporation (CDCS), which is an enterprise software provider, hit the public markets last year. Other than raising some capital, another goal of the offering was to pull off some M&A deals.

And, this week CDC made a move: a $105.1 million offer for Chordiant Software (CHRD). So far in today's trading, the shares of the company are up 12% to $3.75.

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

• Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) shares rose after lower Q4 earnings and revenue beat analysts' expectations.
• Best Buy Inc. (BBY) shares sold off despite better-than-expected Q3 results due to the lower gross margin.
• Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) warned that Q4 earnings would come in lower than the Street view
• Discover Financial Services (DFS) shares were up after it reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings.
• First Solar Inc. (FSLR) offered a solid 2010 outlook but the consensus EPS estimate is high in the range.
• General Mills Inc. (GIS) strong Q2 results included better-than-expected earnings and a rosy outlook.

Today had little economic data to boost or quell markets. Asian stocks were weak but European market gave the US a boost on German business confidence. Today's gainers were mostly on earnings and oil and gold both rallied off lows after Iran's military supposedly raised an Iranian flag over an Iraqi oil well in a disputed area now part of Iraq. Gold may still be dead or range bound the rest of 2009.

The closing bell on this Triple Witching expiration date was not certain on the direction throughout most of the late morning and through most of the afternoon.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,310.23 +1.97 (0.02%)
S&P 500 1,102.73 +6.65 (0.61%)
Nasdaq 2,211.69 +31.64 (1.45%)

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U.S. stock futures advanced Friday morning, indicating Wall Street is ready to reverse the negative trend of the last few days. Several strong and better-than-expected company reports late Thursday contributed to the changing atmosphere as investors regained confidence in companies' profit prospects.

Enterprise software giant Oracle Corporation (ORCL), which finally completed the deal to acquire Sun Microsystems, Inc. (JAVA), is scheduled to discuss its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 in a conference call Thursday, December 17, at 5:00 PM (ET). You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

The three months that ended in November saw Oracle deny that its proposed acquisition of Sun Micro would reduce competition and detailed its plans for Sun. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for Oracle to report that earnings for the quarter rose two cents per share from a year ago to $0.36. Revenue is expected to the same as a year ago, or $5.7 billion.

Sun Microsystems (JAVA) rallied to close at $9.28 on hopes for a deal closure with Oracle's (ORCL) proposed purchase of Sun Microsystems. ORCL announced in April it was paying $9.50 in cash per share for JAVA. January put option implied volatility is at 28 below a level of 41 from a month ago, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Chesapeake Energy (CHK) closed at $24.37. Natural gas is recently up 1.46% to 5.41, according to Bloomberg. January option implied volatility is at 42; April is at 46, below its 26-week average of 49, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

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

When it comes to enterprise databases, the name Oracle (ORCL) is usually the first one that comes to mind. This is why it was inevitable that the company's proposed $7.4 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems (JAVA) would encounter headwinds from the antitrust authorities, especially the European Union due to the fact that Sun owns the open-source database system, MySQL.

While Oracle can often use lots of bluster, the company is also a realist. And, it certainly wants to close its deal for Sun, which has been languishing because of the uncertainty.

Best Buy Inc. (BBY), which was a favorite on Black Friday, announced a partnership with Netflix (NFLX) and another one with Google (GOOG), as well as declared a quarterly dividend, during its fiscal third quarter. For the three months that ended in November, Best Buy is expected to report that earnings rose 18.6% from a year ago to $0.43 per share. Revenue is expected to total $11.9 billion, or 4.2% higher than a year ago. The full-year forecast is for a profit of $2.95 per share (+2.4%) on $48.6 billion (+7.8%) in sales. This Richfield, Minn.-based company has topped earnings estimates in three of the past four quarters, by as much as 21 cents per share.

Best Buy's long-term EPS growth forecast of 12.5% is better than that of Walmart (WMT). Best Buy's earnings multiple is 14x. Analysts, on average, recommend buying BBY and have for more than 90 days; two analysts recently raised their earnings estimates. The mean price target is $44.77. Shares have risen 11.5% in the past three months and recently reached a new 52-week high of $44.50.

Sun Microsystems( JAVA) closed at $8.15. European antitrust authorities formally objected to Oracle's (ORCL) proposed purchase of JAVA, reports the Wall Street Journal. The move is expected to delay the deal from closing. ORCL announced in April it was paying $9.50 in cash per share for JAVA. JAVA December option implied volatility is at 47, January is at 48, April is at 34, above its 21-week average of 21, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

American International Group (AIG) closed at $35.50. Moody's sees AIG repaying government loans. AIG December call option implied volatility is at 77, puts are at 85; below its 26-week average of 108, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

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

It's not the first time this happened, and likely not the last. The European Commission has objected to Oracle's (ORCL) acquisition of Sun Microsystems (JAVA) after U.S. authorities have approve the $7.4 billion deal.

The issue is Sun's database product, MySQL, which European antitrust authorities fear wouldn't be developed after the acquisition since Oracle has its own database and therefore it would hurt competition in the database business. Together, the two will have quite a large share of the market, the EU contends. The U.S. authorities disagrees, saying there are enough competitors in the market and that "the merger is unlikely to be anticompetitive."

It was to be expected. After Wall Street climbed to 13-months highs with stocks rallying over 2% just on Monday to add to last week's gains, finally U.S. stock futures edged lower Tuesday morning, indicating stocks will are poised to retreat somewhat at the open. There's not much news this morning as investors await some housing data.

Deals and the Group of 20 helped sentiment Monday push stocks for their six straight higher close. Several deals in the making boosted investor confidence as did the Group of 20, which said over the weekend that it would keep economic stimulus measures in place for now. And with the Federal Reserve indicating it would keep rates low, buyers came back in droves Monday taking the Dow industrials up over 200 points.

As companies try to find ways to cut costs, one popular approach is to leverage software. And an area that is getting lots of traction is supply chain management. Hey, it's worked for companies like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), right?

A leader in the supply chain software space is JDA Software (NASDAQ: JDAS). Well, now the company is going to get bigger; that is, it will purchase i2 Technologies (NASDAQ: ITWO) for $396 million. In fact, the deal will make JDA the world's largest player in the supply chain space.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) closed at $8.18. Oracle's (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced in April it was paying $9.50 in cash per share for JAVA. JAVA November option implied volatility is at 57, December is at 57, January is at 59, above its 21-week average of 19, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

CBOE Volatility Index-VIX at 27.90; 10-day moving average is 22.77.

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