The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) reported a slip in profits and warned of slow growth in 2008.
• Alberto-Culver (NYSE: ACV) returned to profitability after a spin-off and restructuring.
• Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT) beat expectations and offered a revised forecast.
• Black & Decker Corp. (NYSE: BDK) beat expectations but lowered its outlook due to the housing slump.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) fell short of earnings estimates, sending shares lower.
• Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) responded to disappointing results by announcing price increases.
• Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) fourth-quarter profit fell on higher costs for raw materials.
• Lenovo Group Ltd. (OTC: LNVGY) nearly tripled quarterly earnings on strong demand for PCs in Asia.
• MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) beat expectations, even after excluding a one-time investment gain.
• McCormick & Co. (NYSE: MKC) posted solid results on strength in international markets.
• McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) beat expectations, but reported flat same-store sales in December.
• Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) reported strong second-quarter results on strength in emerging markets.
• SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) reported a profit but missed revenue expectations.
• Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) missed estimates and lowered expectations for the next quarter.
• 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) beat expectations despite a decline in profits.
• Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) profits fell and it announced a plan to raise prices.
• Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) met earnings estimates but fell short of revenue expectations.

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others and Exxon, Boeing, Halliburton, Sony, UPS, Honda and others.

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) is a newly traded stock which was spun off from Alberto-Culver Company (NYSE: ACV). Sally is an international specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies.

Sally sells and distributes through over 3,100 stores, mostly in the U.S. Sally's growth might have been held back by its former ownership structure, as Alberto Culver often competed against many of the products that Sally distributes in the hair and beauty care business. This new growth possibility could make Sally attractive now.

Being separated from Alberto will allow Sally to more aggressively target new business and grow faster. As part of the Alberto and Sally break-up, Clayton Dubiller & Rice purchased just below half of Sally's stock.

The company will web-cast a lunch meeting tomorrow at 12:30pm with the investment community. It is worth listening to see what management has to say.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Seagate (STX) and Alberto-Culver (ACV) topped today's initiation list.

• RBC Capital Markets started Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX) with a Sector Perform, noting that moderate desktop and notebook trends, along with the ongoing Maxtor integration, have impacted recent performance.
• Prudential initiated Alberto-Culver Company (NYSE:ACV) with a Neutral rating and $22 target, citing valuation and cost challenges.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Kona Grill Inc. (NASDAQ:KONA) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Ryan Beck; The firm said Kona's emerging restaurant concept is in its infancy in terms of growth with strong productivity and unit-level economics.
• First Albany initiated Claire's Stores Inc. (NYSE:CLE) with a Neutral rating, citing expectations of gross margin pressure from additional lower margin accessory sales.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).