During an earnings season when most stocks have beaten their analyst estimates, Beazer Homes (BZH) came in woefully under expectations with a loss of $27.8 million, or 41 cents per share.

Normally, you would expect news like this, coupled with a housing market that looks shaky at best, to be a major deterrent to investors. But I don't think we should write Beazer off just yet. It could actually be an interesting longer-term buy opportunity. Here's why:

Analyst Upgrades

• Piper Jaffray upgraded Psychiatric Solutions (PSYS) to neutral from underweight on expectations the company's merger with Universal Health (UHS) will close.
• Jefferies upgraded Intuit (INTU) to buy from neutral and has a $45 price target on the stock. The firm expects Intuit's 2011 tax season to be at least as good as 2010's and sees improvement in the SMB exposed businesses.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Unica (UNCA) to outperform from market perform. The firm upgraded the stock due to what it sees as improving trends in marketing spending, upcoming enhancements in the company's products and long-term opportunity for marketing software to exceed expectations.
• Textron (TXT) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• RightNow (RNOW) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Beazer Homes (BZH) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.

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

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) saw shares rise following its report of better-than-expected Q1 earnings.
• Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH) posted a Q2 profit and revenue growth, and announced a stock offering.
• CBS Corp. (CBS) reported improvements in both Q1 net income and cash flow, but shares declined.
• Clorox Co. (CLX) posted Q3 earnings that were higher than analysts had expected and offered weak guidance.
• First Solar Inc. (FSLR) reported quarterly earnings that easily topped analysts' expectations.

After the closing bell sounded Monday, Beazer Homes USA (BZH) reported second-quarter earnings.

The homebuilder recorded a second-quarter profit of 10 cents per diluted share, which includes noncash pretax charges of $10.2 million for inventory impairments. Not a bad quarter when compared to the year-earlier loss of $2.81 per share. Beazer's total revenue checked in at $198.2 million, up from $186.6 million in last year's second quarter.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Blackrock (BLK) to hold from sell and removed the stock from its Top Picks Live list as a sell. The firm upped its target for shares to $198 from $190.
• Jesup & Lamont upgraded Starbucks (SBUX) to buy from hold following the company's Q2 results. The firm raised its target for shares to $32 from $25.
• CLSA upgraded Nabors Industries (NBR) to outperform from underperform. The firm said the Q1 report was in-line with their estimate and they expect U.S. land drilling to continue to improve. The firm has a $24 price target on the stock.
• Alcoa (AA) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at HSBC.
• Boeing (BA) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.

Analyst Upgrades

• Oppenheimer upgraded Boeing (BA) two notches to outperform from underperform to reflect, among other things, the company's plans to accelerate 777 and 747-8 production. The firm raised its price target for shares to $80 from $56. Boeing was also upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• FBR Capital upgraded Waddell & Reed (WDR) to outperform from market perform on expectations the company will outperform peers. The firm raised its target for shares to $40 from $36.
• Morgan Keegan upgraded Standard Microsystems (SMSC) to outperform from market perform. The firm has increased optimism that the company will benefit from continued strength in the PC end market.
• Genuine Parts (GPC) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Brean Murray.
• Medtronic (MDT) was upgraded to buy from hold at Lazard Capital.

Many stocks have rallied significantly over the last year. In fact, if you bought almost any stock on March 9, 2009, you would have made a great deal of money. That was the low point for almost all stocks as the market gave in for its final capitulation and beat most of us over the head one last time with the heaviest frying pan it could find.

Stocks like Beazer Homes (BZH) and Ford (F) were selling for 24 cents and $1.65 last year. Other great bargains (in hindsight) were everywhere. It was as if the tree of stocks had been hit by a great gust of wind and all its fruit was lying on the ground. Everywhere you looked there were stocks selling for unbelievable prices. Of course, everywhere else you looked there was doom and gloom, ever increasing arguments that screamed "sell," not "buy." The world was definitely ending; capitalism was dead; there was no hope.

Want to know if your stock is overpriced, maybe ready to take a breather? Then check its PEG. That's Price to Earnings to Growth, or the P/E ratio divided by the growth rate of a company's earnings. It's a quick and easy way to see if your stock may be ahead of its earnings power. It's also one measure a lot of momentum investors rely on as a screening tool.

If a stock's P/E ratio is well above its growth rate, they believe the stock is overpriced and won't touch it. But if the p/e ratio is well below the stock's growth rate, it could signal a bargain. It helps to know your stock's PEG.

Last week's Fed Beige Book report and GDP numbers suggested that the economy may be stabilizing, and this coming week will bring plenty of economic data to confirm or deny that suggestion. On the schedule are consumer credit, construction spending, factory orders, and pending home sales for June, the employment situation, the Import Price Index, and new motor vehicle sales for July, as well as the ISM Manufacturing and Non-manufacturing Indexes for July.

The week will also bring quarterly reports from home builders Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH), D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI), and Pulte Homes Inc. (NYSE: PHM). Yet again, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect all three to have narrowed their losses in the most recent quarter. However, they've all tended to post deeper-than-expected losses in recent quarters as well. Analysts also expect to see their revenue down 45% or more for the past quarter. They forecast long-term EPS growth of 7% or more, but none of these homebuilders has a First Call consensus buy recommendation, not surprisingly. Short interest is falling off for Beazer and D.R. Horton, and D.R. Horton and Pulte have been reporting positive cash flow from operations, but all three of them said they had more long-term debt than cash in hand last time around. Mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI) is likewise expected to report that it narrowed its second-quarter loss.

On Wednesday, federal investigators filed mortgage and accounting fraud charges against Beazer Homes USA (NYSE: BZH). The homebuilder will be able to escape prosecution because it agreed to pay $50 million to victims and to accept responsibility for its improper actions.

Beazer found itself charged thanks to its participation in a scheme designed to fraudulently increase its profits and sell homes. Reportedly, the company also participated in an accounting scheme that was designed to "smooth earnings." Thanks to these schemes, homebuyers defaulted on their loans and some neighborhoods saw home values plummet thanks to loan defaults. State and federal investigators have scrutinized Beazer since March 2007, finding that the company's "aggressive sales tactics" contributed to an "unusually high foreclosure rate in many of its local starter-home communities."

The stock market, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, sharply rebounded from its low of 6440 in March of this year. Currently, as this is written, the notable index is hovering around 8400. That's an increase of 30%. Not bad for two months of trading. While the average is made up of only 30 stocks, those 30 stocks are some of the best. There are also some real losers, such as General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Citigroup (NYSE: C). But for the most part, the index contains the strongest industries with some of the strongest stocks. With that kind of recovery already in place, is it too late to buy stocks or is this just the start of a major rally?