Warner Brothers, Time Warner's (TWX) movie entertainment arm, is going to launch part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows in 3D during 2011. We take this opportunity to estimate the value of such movies from Time Warner's perspective. Time Warner competes with Viacom (VIA), News Corp. (NWS), CBS (CBS) and Disney (DIS) in the media and entertainment business.

Our price estimate for Time Warner's stock stands at $35.51, in line with market price.

Time Warner (TWX) probably thought it had the weekend all wrapped up. Sucker Punch looked like it would debut at the top in its opening frame. I don't blame the execs behind this fantasy piece; in theory, it should have brought in all the youthful demographics hungry for a big spring hit to feast upon.

Didn't happen. Instead, News Corp.'s (NWS) Diary of Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was number one with a gross of well over $23 million, according to domestic-theater data at Box Office Mojo. Punch came in second with $19 million.

Facebook primarily makes money through online advertising, both display and search advertising, in which it competes with Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Microsoft (MSFT) and Aol (AOL). However, it has started to tap other business lines as well, like distribution of virtual goods in games and applications.

Time Warner Offering Movies on Facebook Fan Page

Time Warner (TWX) recently announced that it will start offering movies for purchase or rental through Warner Brothers Entertainment's Facebook fan page, making it the first studio to do so. The users will make the purchase with Facebook Credits, a virtual currency. This is no doubt a good move by Time Warner as it gives the company a platform to tap the increasing base of users looking to consume traditional media entertainment online.

Analyst Upgrades

• Molycorp (MCP) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Humana (HUM), HealthSpring (HS) and UnitedHealth (UNH) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Williams Cos. (WMB) to conviction buy from neutral and UBS (UBS) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• China Kanghui (KH) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Armstrong World (AWI) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Time Warner (TWX) to buy from hold at Benchmark Co.
• Calpine (CPN) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• 3M Company (MMM) to neutral from underperform and Kirby (KEX) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

According to Box Office Mojo's early estimates for the four-day holiday weekend, Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX) thriller Unknown has taken the number-one position with a domestic haul of $25.6 million. The next two movies on the chart came close to that figure, but the more interesting thing about them is that they come courtesy of The Walt Disney Company (DIS).

In second place is Gnomeo and Juliet with $24.8 million. Pretty cool, actually. I didn't think the cartoon would necessarily hold up as well as it has in the second weekend.

The earnings season has been going pretty good so far, and Walt Disney (DIS) will get its chance to impress Wall Street this afternoon when it reports its fiscal first quarter results after the market closes.

Going into this afternoon's report, analysts are expecting to see the company report earnings of $0.56 per share, up from $0.47 during the same period last year.

Shares of media conglomerate Time Warner (TWX) are trading sharply higher today after the company impressed Wall Street with its fourth quarter earnings report this morning.

As we noted in our earnings preview for Time Warner, analysts had been expecting to see the company report earnings of $0.62 per share. Actual earnings came in above estimates at $0.68.

Time Warner Inc. (TWX) will be reporting fourth-quarter numbers on Wednesday, February 2. How is the stock looking ahead of the release?

The main point about the shares to me is that they are in a tight range. The 52-week low is $26.74 while the 52-week high is $34.07. The chart is an up-and-down affair as you might expect. While there definitely have been multiple opportunities at making money with this idea, I wonder how many investors tend to think of it as a great long-term vehicle. I know I don't. Time Warner, to me, is one I would trade instead of own at this point.

"It seems plausible to expect the index to return about 13% in the coming year; not exactly a runaway bull, but a bright enough prospect to keep us in the game," says blue chip expert Richard Band.

The editor of Profitable Investing explains, "Here are three growth-and-income names that I deem suitable for virtually all investors of any age: Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Sysco (SYY) and Time Warner (TWX).

"Whether you're three years or 33 years from retirement, now is a good time to stock up on this trio of growth and income recommendations.

Analyst Upgrades

• Yingli Green (YGE) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• National Semiconductor (NSM) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• DuPont (DD) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Blackboard (BBBB) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Kindred Healthcare (KND) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Peabody Energy (BTU) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Savvis (SVVS) to buy from neutral and InterActiveCorp (IACI) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Shares of Disney (DIS) haven't strayed too far from where they were when the latest earnings report was released. It would have been nice if the numbers had acted as a catalyst for the stock (which I own), pushing it above the $40 mark. Didn't happen. Hey, we move on, right?

But Disney has another chance to prove to its investors that it's a great long-term holding. The Mouse's latest cartoon, Tangled, opened on Wednesday. The idea is to capture some value from the crowds that will be out at the multiplex during the Thanksgiving weekend. I sort of have a good feeling about this film.

I don't think anyone can be shocked by the latest results from the movie world. The fact that Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 captured the top spot was a predestined event. And the fact that it made the most money of any Potter film in its debut, as many news reports have mentioned, is also, frankly, not a surprise.

According to Box Office Mojo, Hallows Part 1 grossed $125 million at domestic theaters. This data set shows how that figure compares to the opening performance of the other entries in the series. It's impressive, certainly, but again, considering that the Potter projects have almost reached a conclusion (presumably, anyway), it seems fitting that there's a lot of excitement surrounding the release.

I'm sure execs at DreamWorks Animation (DWA) know it's tough to be a publicly-traded content company that is more directly tied to the film business than a huge conglomerate is; if they didn't, they know it today. No matter how great management thinks the next project is, moviegoers may simply not send it into the stratosphere in terms of the first-weekend gross.

Such is the case with DreamWorks Animation's latest project, Megamind. At first glance, it seems like an awesome hit. According to estimates over at Box Office Mojo, the cartoon came in first place at domestic theaters over the three-day period, beating out other new films from Time Warner (TWX) and Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF).

Time Warner (TWX) was down this afternoon as investors poured over the media conglomerate's latest quarterly results. At the time of this writing, shares were off by 2% to $31.74. Volume wasn't overpoweringly strong, but it was above average, and by the time this is published, it could very well become more significant than it appears to me now.

The yearly range has been a tight one: the 52-week low for the shares is $26.43 while the 52-week high is $34.07. The twelve-month chart isn't that attractive, unfortunately. But shareholders may be more impressed by the Q3 numbers.

IMAX (IMAX) has been a wonderful stock to own. Admit it, you wish you had this one displayed on your broker's positions page (I know I do). On Friday, it closed at $21.65, not far from the new 52-week high of $21.95, which was reached during the intraday session. The one-year chart is an amazing image to behold for a couple reasons. First, there is the simple matter of the uptrend. Second, the stock already experienced a pullback before breaking through to fresh heights.

However, this brings to mind a valid concern: is the stock now a sell? Has it gone too far? You can't help but ask such questions. In fact, Theflyonthewall reported Friday that Craig-Hallum issued a downgrade on the shares. On the other hand, Theflyonthewall also mentioned some good news from Wedbush: that firm raised its rating for the theater entity.