Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory's (NASDAQ: RMCF) first fiscal quarter release had an undeniable theme running throughout. No, it wasn't a happy promo about its delicious confections. Instead, it was the very familiar issue of the recession. I guess the company's premium chocolates aren't wholly economically defensive in nature after all.

According to the results, sales declined by over 5%. Same-store franchised revenues dropped well over 6%. Earnings per diluted share were cut by 25% to 12 cents. Things are rough for Rocky Mountain.

Food processor ConAgra (NYSE: CAG), whose products share space at the supermarket with Kraft (NYSE: KFT), Kellogg (NYSE: K), and Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), is down in Thursday's afternoon trading by over 6% as I write this. The company released earnings for the fourth quarter earlier this morning. Sales increased 8% according to the press release. Adjusted earnings from continuing operations came in at 41 cents per diluted share. This result benefited from an extra week.

The per-share profit compared very favorably to the 18 cents earned in last year's similar quarter. However, in terms of analyst expectations, the performance was relatively unimpressive. Earnings.com indicates that 41 cents is what the market was looking for.

Brown-Forman (NYSE: BF.B), a distributor of alcoholic products, including the iconic Jack Daniel's brand, reported results for the fourth quarter on Wednesday. According to Reuters, Brown-Forman did all right for itself.

The top line saw a decline of 12%, but the bottom line did a lot better, coming in at 53 cents per share. It's not that the per-share profit generated was bigger than last year; it wasn't. But the 53 cents beat Wall Street's view on what the company was capable of delivering. The market thought that 49 cents would be the limit of Brown-Forman's success.

"The road back from near bankruptcy in 2002 for CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS) has been a rocky one," says Roger Conrad. Here's an update from his specialty service, The Utility Forecaster.

"From Three Mile Island to the Enron meltdown, utilities have always recovered from disaster by cutting debt and operating risk and repairing regulatory relations.

"Last fall, the shares of CMS Energy -- our latest featured growth stock -- plunged from high teens to single digits on recession worries in embattled Michigan. Ironically, however, CMS' underlying business is healthier than at any time since the late 1990s.

"Income investors have to be very careful when searching for yield; many high-yielding stocks have turned in disastrous performances over the last year," cautions Chuck Carlson.

In his The DRIP Investor he adds, "That's what makes Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) so attractive. The issues stands as as one in which investors can be confident of a steady dividend stream."

"The stock's current yield of 5% is especially attractive in this environment. And the dividend is taxed at the current preferential tax rate of just 15%, giving it an extra appeal relative to yields on fixed-income investments. Furthermore, the dividend is safe.

What are the best buys among dividend-paying issues? In his Dividend Detective newsletter, Harry Domash focuses on for income-generating ideas for long-term investors.

Here, the advisor reviews some of his latest buys among master limited partnerships, preferreds and yield-oriented closed-end funds.

"Among energy partnerships, we're adding two new picks to the portfolio with a buy rating. First, NuStar Energy (NYSE: NS), currently yielding 8.4%, operates crude oil and refined product pipelines and associated facilities.

"NuStar recently acquired asphalt refining and terminal facilities, a business that's expected to boom once the government supported highway construction projects kick in.

Heinz (NYSE: HNZ), whose supermarket colleagues include Kraft (NYSE: KFT) and Kellogg (NYSE: K), reported Q4 numbers earlier today. Can't say they were the stuff of a growth investor's dreams. Earnings per share came in at $0.55 versus $0.61 in Q4 of last year. The top line had trouble because of currency effects. Sales dropped over 5%. However, organic revenues increased over 5%. Unfortunately, volume decreased 2%. As can be seen, things aren't totally awesome at Heinz.

The company came in one penny ahead of expectations according to my earnings preview. Other sources say Heinz essentially met expectations. No matter what, management has its work cut it out for it in terms of offsetting currency woes and getting those volume stats on the rise.

Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) hasn't been a bad stock. Its recent performance is firmly in the green. Shares of Hormel have increased in value by 8% year-to-date. Over the last six months, the stock is up by roughly 16%.

Now we come to the food entity's second-quarter report, which was issued on Thursday. Do the numbers indicate that the stock will continue to trend higher? Or is now the time to sell?

Last week, World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) reported its Q1 results. Above all, investors interested in this business look at one thing: cash flow. Why? Take a look at WWE's dividend yield.

As of Tuesday's close, the stock was yielding almost 13%! That's high. And a high dividend yield often indicates that a dividend cut may be in the offing -- the theory being that if the yield were sustainable, then buyers would rush in, and their activities would eventually lower the yield by driving the price higher.

Well, WWE hasn't had a great time of it when it comes to cash flow. I found this out when I examined the company's third quarter. Net cash from operations, unfortunately, has been overpowered at times by the dividend obligation. In fact, according to the Q4 report (pdf file), operational cash flow for 2008 dropped significantly to roughly $36 million, and the dividend obligation was over $80 million.

And that was before capital investments. That's sort of like the Undertaker throwing Mankind off the top of a steel cage. In other words, it's not pretty, folks.

When I look at the numbers for Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO), it is hard for me to believe the company has not been bought out already. Capitalized at $22 billion, it would be easy for most of the major oil companies to swallow whole.

Contrarian that I am, my view differs from that of Credit Suisse, which downgraded the stock yesterday based on valuation and lack of a visible catalyst for near-term growth.

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK), whose colleagues include Canon (NYSE: CAJ) and Sony (NYSE: SNE), did not start its new fiscal year with a picturesque first quarter. No, it was more of an ugly, frayed-at-the-edges, nightmarish image of doom and gloom. And although the photography company does have a point when it states right at the beginning of the release that the global economic malaise is affecting its prospects, let's also be realistic. Kodak has been doing badly for a long, long time. This isn't just about the economy. This is about a company that still hasn't properly adjusted to a new, thriving business model.

According to this article, Kodak's adjusted loss of $0.95 per share from continuing operations missed Wall Street's call. By a lot. Some in the analyst community thought that Kodak would lose $0.44 per share. Others thought the company would lose less than even that figure. Doesn't matter what source you look at, the facts in the case make it clear that Kodak is not doing well. Worldwide sales shed just under 30% of their value. The digital segment fared very poorly in Q1.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) might not have the best growth rates going these days, but truth be told, I thought the company's Q3 report was acceptable given everything that is going on.

Yes, sales declined by 8%, driven by currency effects. Organic sales, however, increased 1%. Earnings per share increased 2% to 84 cents. This beat Wall Street forecasts by four pennies according to this source.

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) reported first-quarter earnings on Tuesday morning. By the end of the day, the main enemy of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) was down 2.8% on better-than-average volume. Coke said that it earned 65 cents per share on an adjusted basis. According to Beth Gaston Moon's earnings preview, management met Wall Street's expectations.

So, right off the bat, you can see why the market wasn't so kind to Coke's shares. Meeting expectations isn't enough sometimes. But there are some other issues here, too.

Revenue was kind of soft, and a look at the statement of cash flows shows a decrease in money generated from operations. That number decreased over 20% to roughly $870 million.

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), whose competitors include Target (NYSE: TGT) and Costco (NASDAQ: COST), reported same-store sales for the month of March. According to the press release, things are going pretty well at the retailer, given current economic conditions. Domestic comps over the nine-week frame rose 3.1% on an overall basis. Breaking that down to performance stats for Wal-Mart and Sam's Club on an individual basis, we see that the former increased its comps by 2.6% and that the latter improved its same-store sales by 6.1%. Over the five-week frame, comps weren't as good. They came in at 1.4%. Wal-Mart itself barely saw a move in the metric, rising 0.6%. Fear not, shareholders, for you have to consider the timing of the Easter holiday. It came early last year.

Now, international net sales didn't fare so well because of currency translations. If you decide to include that effect, then sales dipped well over 14% last month. Excluding currencies gives you a much more positive 7.8% increase. Can't really do much about currency issues right now. As we all know, all companies with international exposure have to face them. Nevertheless, I like Wal-Mart's comps. And I particularly like the performance at Sam's Club. A lot of consumers seem to be using the warehouse club to save money during the tough times. Wal-Mart's management is apparently reaching that shopper.

WD-40 (NASDAQ: WDFC), whose consumer-product colleagues include Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Clorox (NYSE: CLX), issued its second-quarter report on Wednesday after the market closed. The numbers were a bit rusty (yes, the bad pun was on purpose!).

First, we have a big net-sales drop of over 20%. Then, we have a 50% decline in net income, with earnings coming in at 25 cents per share. And finally, we see that the 25-cent per-share number missed estimates by two pennies according to this source. Management blamed the bad results in part on the weak global economy and on currency translations.