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

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) posted its biggest quarterly loss since its creation in 2006.
• Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) missed earnings estimates despite revenue up 50%.
• Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) fourth-quarter profit soared on strong sales of Avonex and Tysabri.
• Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) reported record profits due to surging oil prices.
• CNET Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: CNET) revenue rose but the forecast was not encouraging.
• Data Domain Inc. (NASDAQ: DDUP) third-quarter revenues spiked due to aggressive overseas expansion.
• Elizabeth Arden Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN) benefitted from overseas growth, which offset weak holiday sales.
• GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) warned that 2008 earnings would be affected by competition from generics.
• Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS) beat estimates and raised its guidance.
• Micros Systems (NASDAQ: MCRS) beat expectations and offered guidance in line with estimates.
• News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) fell short of earnings expectations despite strength in MySpace and Fox News.
• PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) results met estimates and it announced further share buybacks.
• Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) beat estimates and raised its guidance.
• SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRF) missed expectations due to a seasonal decline.
• Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) expects to report its seventh straight quarterly revenue decline.
• Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) attributed solid earnings to growth in China, Russia, emerging markets.
• Wendy's International Inc. (NYSE: WEN) missed earnings estimates, despite beating revenue forecast.
• Western Union Co. (NYSE: WU) posted results just ahead of Wall Street estimates.
• Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) posted solid results on overseas growth and share buybacks.

The earnings crunch rolls on, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Activision Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) earnings soared on popularity of Guitar Hero and other game franchises.
• Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) beat earnings expectations and offered revised guidance.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) beat estimates despite lower profits due to restructuring costs.
• Chattem Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTT) beat estimates and raised its guidance.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) met estimates but a weak forecast raised concerns.
• Dionex Corp. (NASDAQ: DNEX) beat estimates on strength in petrochemical and food/beverage markets.
• Electronic Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: EDS) earnings fell, helping to raise concerns about tech stocks.
• Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) beat estimates and affirmed its outlook.
• Gannett Inc. (NYSE: GCI) missed fourth-quarter earnings estimates on lower ad revenue.
• Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) missed expectations due to rising construction costs.
• MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) forecast it would beat earnings expectations by as much as 10 cents a share.
• Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) beat revenue estimates and raised its guidance.
• RealNetworks Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK) warned it would miss first-quarter and full-year expectations.
• Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) posted disappointing results that included cancelled game franchises.
• Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) met estimates and announced restructuring plans (see transcript).
• Unilever (NYSE: UL) fourth-quarter net income tanked on a sell-off of its European frozen food business.
• Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) posted better-than-expected results on gains in TV and theme parks.

We're probably in a bear market now, Doug McIntyre says in the latest edition of StockWatch: Between the Bells. The editor of financial news site 24/7 Wall St. and prolific BloggingStocks contributor cites two factors that demand investors' attention: the rising, record price of oil -- underscoring the falling value of the dollar -- and an increase in homeowners defaulting on their mortgages in the coming year.

As Doug McIntyre recently pointed out on BloggingStocks, there's really no reason to assume that the success Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI) had in consummating its acquisition of Wild Oats will have any effect on other deals.

But it's still fun to to speculate, and The Detroit News is doing just that: Is a merger of struggling book retailers Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) and Borders Group Inc. (NYSE: BGP) on the way?

If so, there is only one category that such a merger could be classified under: Two drunken sailors trying to hold each other up. As for anti-trust concerns, how could consumers be effected by the merger of two companies that sell overpriced -- compared to Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) -- books at stores people don't go to anymore?

The Whole Foods deal was about a rapidly growing enterprise trying to expand its empire, and that one made it through the courts. It's hard to imagine regulators stopping the merger of two struggling companies in a contracting industry, even if they wanted to.

Whether such a deal would do anything to help shareholders of the combined entity remains to be seen, if such a deal does indeed come to pass.

Plenty of investment guru's have suggested buying on fear and selling when greed reaches its pinnacle. Well I think the fear side is self evident but I'm not hearing about many analysts who are brave enough to buy right now. As a matter of fact I only hear that this would be a very foolish time to invest in the financial sector, in particular, any stocks with sub-prime or "Alt-A" mortgage exposure.

For this reason, contrarian that I am, I thought I would speak out about my recent BAD CALLS, or at least very premature calls, and start tracking them for all to see -- accepting the ribbing, tomato-throwing and blunt comments about the error of my ways.

I own four of the five stocks I will be following for the next year, Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: IMB), Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP), and Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM). I wrote favorable comments on each and in the case of WM, more than once. Needless to say, I am under water on all of them. I do not own Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) but it will make for a fine pace car in the middle of this storm.

Earlier today Douglas McIntyre posted Dow 13,000? -- Stocks to put in the dumpster. Then Georges Yared posted Rebuttal to Dow 13,000: Stocks for the dumpster which got me thinking about what the numbers say. What are the fundamentals? Do they matter? Georges is on record supporting Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) growth stories and Doug took them both down a notch today.

Before I even begin I must share that among my colleagues, I hold these two in the highest esteem. They offer market and stock opinions that are very worth considering and often give me ideas. Georges disagrees with Doug about Google being overpriced and the market has tended to agree with him. I think Doug however, is simply reminding investors that sometimes when such euphoria takes hold it might be worth taking pause. I often like to make my stock decisions on the week end when the market is closed for exactly this reason.

Since I am a value investor I would have a natural tendency to lean toward Doug's slant on the subject but the interesting thing to me is that nothing Georges has said is inaccurate. But what do the numbers tell us, if anything about these ideas.

A Mr. Barry Peters wrote, what to me was the funniest comment of the week on bloggingstocks.com, "Give people something unique, not another celebrity (whom they can't see; the Pamela Anderson deal on Sirius rates amongst the stupidest things that any company has ever done in the entertainment industry!!! $5 million dollars pissed down the toilet."

I'm still laughing. Barry thank you for taking the time to comment. This week Peter Cohan, Doug McIntire, and I all wrote about the limited potential of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) / XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR) to succeed from an investment perpsective, regardless of the mergers ultimate outcome or whether subscribers enjoyed the service. Barry supported our positions in great detail outlining the wonderful benefits of Sat-Rad if you live in remote places or are traveling cross-country or just hate commercials. Then he explained why the economics do not work and will not work and added the comment above.

I cannot help but think how often we are awash in news tidbits that are not newsworthy, but Ms. Anderson on a radio 'show', now that's hysterical. Her television show 'Stacked' (yes, that is what Fox TV called it) lasted 1.5 seasons. If people would not watch her, how could Sirius think anyone would want to listen? How serious can they truly be?.

If you have any interest in the original stories and comments see the following:

• Mel's Mega Merger: XMSR and SIRI combine! or Time for Sirius selling? and SIRI/XMSR: Calculating the antitrust odds - by Peter Cohan
• Companies management can't fix: Sirius & XM - by Doug McIntyre
• GM/Chrysler or Sirius/XM: Two losers don't equal a winner: and Sirius and XM: Two losers -- A follow-up - by Sheldon Liber

Check out my other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.