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

• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) earnings prospects may suffer if holiday sales are poor.
• Circuit City Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CC) disappointing results were followed by a restructuring announcement.
• Conexant Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CNXT) raised its guidance, send shares up sharply.
• Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) posted a Q2 loss due in part to restructuring Australian operations.
• Con-Way Inc. (NYSE: CNW) reduced Q3 guidance resulted in an analyst downgrade.
• Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings, sending shares higher.
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) Q3 earnings prospects led to an analyst's upgrade.
• International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) fell on rumors it would miss earnings estimates.
• Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Q3 profits fell and it warned of challenges through 2009.
• Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) fell short of expectations and warned of a production slowdown.
• Nabors Industrial Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) warning about earnings led shares near a new low.
• Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (NYSE: PBG) beat Q3 expectations despite struggling with economic woes.
• Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) earnings prospects led to an analyst's downgrade.
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) said it expects to return to profitability after four straight quarterly losses.
• Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Q4 earnings fell short of expectations, though sales increased.

Also, Jim Cramer reminds us that earnings still matter. Changing accounting rules may affect the earnings of big banks.

Upcoming quarterly reports include Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST), Monsanto Co. (NASDAQ: MON), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

FedEx Freight and FedEx National LTL, two units of Fed Ex Corp (NYSE: FDX) have cut their standard Less-Than-Truckload fuel surcharge by 25% this morning, effective immediately. The drop in surcharge rates comes at an unexpected time, the summer. According to the Department of Energy, the average U.S. retail price for diesel fuel hit its highest point last week since September of 2006.

Logic suggests that FedEx would lose money on this announcement. However, management believes the move will provide them an advantage in the market. Douglas G. Duncan, President and CEO of FedEx Freight said, "By significantly reducing our fuel surcharges, we offer immediate and long-term assistance to shippers who are facing both a challenging economy and volatile fuel prices." Both units update fuel surcharges on a weekly basis based on prices published by the DoE.

While the cuts mean that FedEx Freight will assume more of the fuel costs, Duncan hopes that additional volume would make up for "a great deal of that." This additional volume Duncan talks of has to come from somewhere. FedEx has some serious competition in the LTL market, including United Parcel Services' (NYSE: UPS) Overnite Corp, Con-way (NYSE: CNW) and the largest of the truckers, YRC International Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW).

It looks like FedEx struck first blood in the battle for additional market share. Shares of FedEx are only down 14 cents today, to $115.53 in mid-day trading. In order to compete, look for Overnite, Con-Way and other LTL companies to cut their surcharge rates after the summer, when diesel prices are expected to taper off.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Costco Wholesale Corp (COST), Apple Inc (AAPL), DirecTV Group, Inc (DTV) and EchoStar Communications (DISH) were today's more noteworthy upgrades:

• Piper Jaffray upgraded shares of Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ: COST) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $65 target to reflect valuation, improved fundamentals and hidden value in real estate.
• Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) was added to American Technology's Focus List with a $145 target.
• Cowen upgraded shares of DirecTV Group, Inc (NYSE: DTV) and EchoStar Communications (NASDAQ: DISH) to Neutral from Underperform citing potential cash flow growth and re-capitalization opportunities that will offset competitive risks in the near-term.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Con-Way Inc (NYSE: CNW) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens citing a tonnage rebound at the company.
• Bear Stearns transferred coverage and raised its rating of Netease.com, Inc (NASDAQ: NTES) to Outperform from Peer Perform citing valuation.
• Bernstein upgraded its Cardiac Rhythm Management group, which contained Boston Scientific Corp (NYSE: BSX), Medtronic, Inc (NYSE: MDT) and St. Jude Medical, Inc (NYSE: STJ), to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm cited anticipated recovery of the ICD market and easier comps for 2007 and expects the U.S. ICD market to have 10% growth compared to last year's negative growth.
• JP Morgan upgraded Borland Software Corp (NASDAQ: BORL) to Overweight from Underweight, as the firm expects the company to achieve margin targets and named Borland its turnaround pick for 2007.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Brinker International Inc (EAT), National Semiconductor Corp (NSM), and three select transportation stocks were today's more notable upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Brinker International Inc (NYSE: EAT) to Buy from Neutral with a $38 target, citing valuation following the recent sell-off.

• National Semiconductor Corp (NYSE: NSM) was upgraded to Accumulate from Source of Funds with a $28 target at ThinkEquity, following the company's Q3 report and guidance.

• Three transportation companies were upgraded at Stifel: Con-Way Inc (NYSE: CNW), FedEx Corp (NYSE: FDX) and Universal Truckload Services Inc (NASDAQ: UACL) were upgraded to Buy from Hold to reflect attractive valuations.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Credit Suisse upgraded Office Depot, Inc (NYSE: ODP) to Outperform from Neutral.

• JMP Securities upgraded Texas Instruments Inc (NYSE: TXN) to Market Outperform from Market Perform ahead of the mid-quarter upgrade. Texas Instruments was also upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel.

• Calyon Securities upgraded Halliburton Co (NASDAQ: HAL) to Add from Neutral on valuation.

• Bernstein upgraded Charles Schwab Corp (NASDAQ: SCHW) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• BMO Capital Markets upgraded Cognos Inc (NASDAQ: COGN) to Outperform from Market Perform. BMO believes Cognos will receive additional business due to Oracle Corp's (NASDAQ: ORCL) acquisition of Hyperion Solutions Corp (NASDAQ: HYSL) and also see a greater chance that Cognos itself could be acquired.

• Cowen upgraded King Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: KG) to Neutral from Underperform citing Skelaxin's new label approval, which likely delays a generic.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: YRC Worldwide Inc (YRCW), Baidu.com, Inc (BIDU), an several e-commerce names were today's more notable initiations:

• Prudential started YRC Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ: YRCW) with an Underweight rating and $41 target. The firm said recent organizational changes could be a distraction in what it expects to be a challenging first-half of 2007.

• Susquehanna views Baidu.com Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) as a strategic holding in its China portfolio and expects the company's massive brand value to drive continuous growth; shares were initiated at Susquehanna with a Positive rating.

• Oppenheimer initiated three e-commerce names today:
  
• eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) was initiated with a Buy rating and $38 target
• Overstock.com, Inc (NASDAQ: OSTK) and Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) were initiated with Neutral ratings.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• In addition to YRC Worldwide, Prudential initiated several companies in the transportation sector:
  
• Con-Way Inc (NYSE: CNW) was started with an Underweight rating and $47 target
  
• Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE: CP) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) were initiated with Overweight ratings
  
• Canadian National Railway (NYSE: CNI) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $47 target.

• Jefferies initiated Forest Oil Corp (NYSE: FST) with a Buy rating and $42 target.

• Citigroup believes aQuantive, Inc (NASDAQ: AQNT) will be one of the key beneficiaries of the strong secular growth in online advertising and they note that shares are trading in the lower half of its 52-week range; shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $33 target.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX), today's most notable upgrade, was raised to Overweight from Neutral by JP Morgan citing valuation.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Goodrich Corp (NYSE: GR) to Hold from Sell, also citing valuation, with a $48 target.

• Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey upgraded Universal Tech Institute Inc (NYSE: UTI) to Neutral from Reduce; the firm believes any further deterioration in business conditions is limited.

• Con-way Inc (NYSE: CNW) was upgraded to Outperform by Morgan Keegan and Raymond James and to Neutral from Sell at Merrill Lynch, following the company's fourth-quarter report.

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $40 target.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The trucking sector, PepsiCo (PEP) and Electronic Arts (ERTS) were the most notable upgrades today.

• Wachovia upgraded the trucking sector to Market Weight from Underweight, as they believe the negative sentiment towards the group is starting to bottom, also noting that trucking stocks tend to rally before fundamentals fully bottom. Wachovia upgraded Con-Way Inc (NYSE: CNW) and Covenant Transport 'A' NASDAQ: CVTI) to Outperform from Market Perform, and Arkansas Best (NASDAQ: ABFS), Heartland Express Inc (NASDAQ: HTLD), Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN), US Xpress Enterprises 'A' (NASDAQ: XPRSA) to Market Perform from Underperform.

• JP Morgan added PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) to their Focus List, as the firm believes the recent pullback due to concerns over commodities costs and margins is overdone.

• Janco upgraded Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) to Buy from Hold with a $69 target, citing valuation.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $77 target at Bear Stearns; the firm views Amgen's risk/reward as favorable as the most reasonable of CERA's launch scenarios, owned by Roche Holdings AG (OTC: RHHBY), are priced into valuation, and sees significant upside if CERA does not launch.

• Caris upgraded LSI Logic (NYSE: LSI) to Buy from Above Average with a $12 target; they believe investors are underestimating the synergies involved with the Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR) deal. The broker sees upside to earnings estimates and raised their target of LSI Logic to $12 from $11.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of ImClone Systems (NASDAQ: IMCL) to Neutral from Sell, and sees a short-term trading opportunity due to the overly negative sentiment into the upcoming sales figures. The broker thinks Imclone could meet its Erbitux sales estimates despite weak prescription data.

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