Analyst Upgrades

• Electronic Arts (ERTS) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Helix Energy (HLX) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Quest Software (QSFT) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• LTX-Credence (LTXC) to buy from hold at Needham.
• Anadarko (APC) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Walgreen (WAG) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Pericom (PSEM) to buy from hold at ThinkEquity.

Last week's preview raised the question of whether consumers were turning to comfort foods in these uncertain times, specifically in terms of second quarter earnings of Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) and Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD). Campbell's strong earnings growth topped expectations, while Krispy Kreme narrowed its loss, though it fell short of estimates.

This coming week should bring reports from more food-related companies, from cereal maker General Mills and food packager CongAgra to grocery chain Kroger, to the parent companies of restaurants Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Carl's Jr., and Hardees. Also look for reports from tech-related companies such as Oracle, Adobe, and Palm, as well as from financials Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, and from economic bellwether FedEx.

Here's what analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are expecting from some of the companies reporting earnings this week, as compared to their results from the same period of last year:

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

• AAR Corp. (NYSE: AIR) posted record third-quarter earnings and revenue.
• Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) posted better-than-estimated first-quarter results and raised its outlook.
• CKE Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: CKR) posted third-quarter results that missed estimates.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) third-quarter profit surged as strong sales offset commodity prices.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) beat third-quarter expectations and offered guidance.
• FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS) second-quarter results beat estimates and it raised its outlook.
• Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) remained upbeat despite a fourth-quarter loss.
• Guess Inc. (NYSE: GES) record fourth-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations.
• Inter Parfums Inc. (NASDAQ: IPAR) posted better-than-estimated fourth-quarter results and raised its outlook.
• Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) beat second-quarter expectations but lowered its guidance.
• JC Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) lowered its first-quarter outlook on weaker-than-expected sales.
• KB Home (NYSE: KBH) swung to a larger-than-expected first-quarter loss on write-downs.
• Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) posted a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss.
• Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) raised its second-quarter and full-year guidance.
• Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) merely met earnings expectations, sending shares lower.
• Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) posted better-than-estimated fourth-quarter results and raised its outlook.
• Usana Health Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: USNA) posted lower-than-expected first-quarter results.
• Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) posted solid second-quarter results, including same-store sales growth.

Also, auction-rate securities issues may hurt some tech company results. Analysts keep cutting earings estimates for the big banks, but some are eyeing Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) earnings prospects as it expands in China, as well as Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) on soaring demand for commodities.

Upcoming results to watch for include Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Monsanto (NYSE: MON), and Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

The report of February rail freight movements was released Thursday March 6, by The Association of American Railroads. Again this month the report reveals some mentionable trends. The report on the AAR website indicates a gain in rail freight volume of 2.8 percent, for the first nine weeks of 2008. An estimated 296.1 billion ton-miles total volume was reported for the period.

There are declines showing in inter-modal traffic. Trailer and container loading is down 3.4 percent for the first two months of 2008. This means that a higher volume of freight is moving by rail, yet less of it is getting to the rails via truck. I could speculate that railroads shall continue to become increasingly more cost effective for volume shipment of freight. Watch for new possibilities with direct-from-rail distribution centers. Watch for rapid growth and development in the RFID sector.

Judging by the most recently available statistics from the American Association of Railroads, the trade and productivity numbers currently coming out of Washington appear to be a bunch of bunk. Will someone please tell Ben Bernanke that cold hard facts will supplant pipe dreams any day?

Rail freight numbers for the week ended June 9 continue to trend downward and are consistent with trending for the year so far. By now, industrial surpluses and inventories should have been reduced to the point that manufacturing would be demanding an increased influx of raw materials, but such is not the case. Plainly put, consumer demand and domestic manufacturing are down, and it shows plainly in reduced freight numbers. The breakdown for the week ending June 9 is as follows:

• Intermodal freight (truck trailers or shipping containers): Down 3.2 percent from last year.
• Carload freight (not including intermodal): Down 5.6 percent.
• 4.0 percent fewer carloads originated from the West and 7.8 percent fewer originated from the East.
• Total cumulative rail freight volume for the first 23 weeks of 2007 was an estimated 754.9 billion ton-miles, down 3.1 percent from last year.

Canadian and Mexican railroad reports show similar trending, though not as significantly as the American declines. The single remarkable exception is the Mexican railroad, Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM), which has reported intermodal volume of 4,878 trailers or containers, up 18.4 percent from the 23rd week of 2006. That significant increase, my friends, is reflective of manufactured goods they're shipping up to us.

Bear these numbers in mind the next time you get your statistical hogwash from Washington. They can tell you that more people are working and they can tell you that companies are manufacturing more stuff, but the true facts come out when the train cars get loaded (or don't).