Shares of office products retailer, Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), recovered today after opening much lower following the company's announcement of a 14% fall in quarterly profit, which missed analysts estimates by 6 cents per share.

For the quarter ending Jan. 31, 2009, Staples said it earned 36 cents per share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $6.17 billion. This compared to analyst estimates of earnings of 42 cents per share, before one-time items, on revenue of $6.79 billion.

News events of the day are providing a dramatic illustration that not all biotech companies are the same.

Just as President Obama lifted the executive order banning the use of embryonic stem cells for research, Roche and Genentech (NYSE: DNA) appear to have reached an agreement on Roche's bid to acquire the 44% of DNA that Roche does not currently own.

Shares of biotech companies engaged in stem cell protocols rallied after the Obama announcement. While most of these companies are small in size with stock prices below $2 per share, the announcement gave impetus to price increases of 17% to 100%.

Discount retailer Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) saw its shares surge higher in Wednesday trading after it posted a fourth-quarter profit from continuing operations that came in ahead of analysts expectations and offered a better-than-expected outlook.

Clearly, investors view BIG as a recession stock to own.

Earnings from continuing operations totaled a dollar per share, ahead of the 93 cents per share analysts were expecting, and 3 cents higher than the year-ago quarter. Revenue fell to $1.37 billion from $1.41 billion last year, but beat expectations of $1.36 billion. Same-store sales fell a mild 3.2%, as sales of discretionary items, such as furniture and toys, were challenging.

Shares of women's specialty retailer Chico's FAS (NYSE: CHS) rose slightly yesterday despite the company posting another quarterly loss.

The operator of 1,074 Chico's, White House/Black Market and Soma Intimates stores said its fourth-quarter loss widened on store impairment charges and severance costs, but absent those charges results exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

The loss for the quarter was $40.5 million, or 23 cents per share including the charges, and 14 cents per share without. Last year's fourth-quarter loss was $20.5 million, or 12 cents per share. Sales fell 9% from a year ago to $373.4 million, while same-store sales were off 13% overall (17% at Chico's and 5% at White House/Black Market).

There was a time when Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) was the cream of the crop in the PC business. Its college dorm beginnings and customization model allowed the company to separate itself from a host of other competitors.

It is hard to say what exact magic it was that allowed the DELL story to unfold, but suffice it to say the company was the best in the business at selling computers to individuals and small businesses. But I'm not so sure that is the case any longer. The heady days of the dot-com boom were when this company reached its prime. It has been a slow death ever since.

With only a day of trading remaining in February, stocks are poised to post another monthly loss. There have been very few stocks going higher in this very persistent bear market.

One exception to the rule has been Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO). Can you believe it?

Get rid of that nitwit Jerry Yang, and this stock is finally catching some tailwind.

Shares have gained more than $1 in value in February, as investors unwound short positions tied to the ineptitude of Chief Yahoo. In addition to short covering, shares caught a bid as buyers look to acquire shares at a discount in case a new deal for the company emerges.

One of the few companies not participating in yesterday's broad-based rally was retail giant Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT). Target said its fourth-quarter profit fell 41% in the quarter ended Jan. 31, 2009.

The Minneapolis-based company said earnings fell to $609 million, or 81 cents per share, compared to earnings of $1.03 billion, or $1.23 per share, in the year ago period. According to Thomson Reuters, analysts were expecting earnings of 83 cents per share.

Is it realistic to expect Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) to deliver double-digit earnings growth in this environment?

Seriously, can retail customers afford premium coffee when budgets are severely strained and debts are high?

No way. Premium coffee is a luxury item, and though many are addicted to java, cutting back is relatively easy to do. In that dynamic, sales are likely to slow.

Home improvement retailer Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) said Friday its fourth-quarter profit fell 60% from a year ago, as consumers continued to shy away from big-ticket items, such as appliances and cabinetry.

Lowe's said it earned $162 million, or 11 cents per share, in the quarter ended Jan. 30 -- down from earnings of $408 million, or 28 cents per share, last year. Revenue fell 4% to $9.98 billion as same-store sales, a key measure of performance since it tracks growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones, dropped 9.9%.

Is it really possible to make money in this market?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Despite the market being down more than 10% at the start of this year, there have been a number of winners that have done quite well.

As I have said many times, the current environment is very unique. Nobody has ever seen anything like this. To survive, one must throw out the old playbook and adapt to the new reality.

HJ Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) recently learned inadvertently how strong its brand was with consumers.

The company had announced that it was going to change the label on its flagship brand of ketchup. It seemed entirely reasonable and appropriate to drop the pickle from the label and replace it with a tomato.

Little did the company expect to encounter outrage from consumers, who launched a "Save the Pickle" campaign, complete with a blog, and an organized letter and e-mail avalanche.

After reaching a historic high in the mid-$30s in June 2007, CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) has seen its fortunes fall in a continuous slide. It's now trading for less than $5 per share.

After reporting reduced revenues for the fourth quarter of 2008, CBS is taking significant steps to conserve capital and strengthen its balance sheet.

The company reported a drop in revenue of 6%, which would have been even greater but for the contribution of recent acquisitions.

Television and radio ad sales were weak, and the Outdoor advertising unit had a 15% drop in revenue. While Outdoor was negatively impacted by foreign exchange rate changes as the U.S. dollar strengthened, excluding currency, revenues for this unit were still down a disappointing 8%.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) were last seen headed south after the world's largest technology company reported fiscal first-quarter results and cut its full-year 2009 guidance.

HP said it earned 93 cents per share, excluding one-time costs, on revenue of $28.8 billion for the quarter.

While the bottom-line number matched analyst estimates, the top-line figure fell well short of expectations by more than $3 billion.

Part of the revenue shortfall was a result of currency fluctuations, but the pullback in technology spending was broad-based, as all but one of the company's major business lines posted a decrease in revenue.

Shares of medical device maker Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) surged on Tuesday in an otherwise lousy market after the company said tighter cost controls and new demand for spinal implants helped it exceed Wall Street's expectations. Shares have been slipping, however, since Tuesday, from a high of $35.39 to $34.44 mid-morning Thursday.

For the quarter Medtronic earned $723 million, or 65 cents per share, on revenue of $3.49 billion.

After adjusting for in-process research and development charges of $72 million, or 6 cents per share, non-GAAP net earnings came in at $795 million, or 71 cents per share, an increase of 12% and 13%, respectively, from a year ago, and one penny ahead of Street estimates.

On a day when stocks were down more than 3%, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) moved to the upside yesterday by more than 4%. The reason for the big gain was the company's fourth-quarter operating performance.

The company reported that it had earned $1.03 per share, excluding items. This compares favorably to analyst expectations of 99 cents per share. In the year prior, WMT made $1.02 per share.

The company said it is seeing customer traffic increase as it draws sales away from competitors. The intense focus on price savings is paying dividends during this economic slowdown.

WMT said earnings were hurt by a strong U.S. dollar that weakened the impact of overseas sales. Looking forward, WMT expects the global slowdown to negatively impact performance and that a strong dollar would hurt earnings over the next few quarters.