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

• Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) lowered its Q3 earnings forecast below analysts' estimates.
• Advanced Medical Optics Inc. (NYSE: EYE) lowered guidance led to an analyst's downgrade.
• Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) fell well short of Q3 estimates on lower demand and falling prices.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) Q3 profits fell more than estimated, and it cut its dividend.
• Brunswick Corp. (NYSE: BC) forecast a full-year loss and accelerated layoffs.
• Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) Q4 earnings just missed estimates thought revenues were up.
• Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) earnings results and growth prospects impressed one analyst.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) earnings may be diluted by its acquisition of Bill Me Later.
• Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) earnings prospects led to an analyst's downgrade.
• General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) results were in line with low expectations, and dividends will be sustained.
• General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) earnings prospects for 2009 impress Jim Cramer.
• Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: HST) Q3 earnings tumbled while revenue slipped.
• IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) surprised Wall Street by offering strong Q3 preliminary results.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of ING Group (NYSE: ING) to Outperform from Market Perform after upgrading the European insurance sector to Overweight from Neutral due to improved risk management.
  
• Keefe Bruyette also upgraded Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's national footprint if the Wachovia (NYSE: WB) deal goes through.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) to Overweight from Neutral citing top line performance, growth profile and valuation, among other reasons.
• Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  
• Amylin Pharma (NASDAQ: AMLN) was raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
  
• Louisiana Pacific (NYSE: LPX) was upgraded at RBC Capital to Sector Perform from Underperform.

Analyst downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) to Hold from Buy and lowered its target to $50 from $55 to reflect risks to the company's earnings outlook from the weakening economy.
  
• Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) was cut to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank as they believe the economic slowdown will bring slower volumes. Coca-Cola's target was lowered to $56 from $64.

Analyst upgrades:

• Merrill believes Assurant (NYSE: AIZ) is well-positioned to weather the turmoil in the capital markets environment and cites the company's defensive characteristics for the upgrade. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded R.H. Donnelly (NYSE: RHD) to Hold from Sell to reflect the company's cost cuts and its ability to buy back bonds at discounted prices.
  
• Citigroup raised Consol Energy (NYSE: CNX) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they are seeing no fundamental deterioration in coal.
• Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
  Raymond James raised shares to Outperform from Market Perform.
  
• Penske Automotive (NYSE: PAG) was upgraded to Add from Neutral at Calyon.
  
• ICF International (NASDAQ: ICFI) was lifted to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.

Analyst downgrades:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Sell from Hold after the company reported Q2 results to reflect a deceleration in growth and margin pressures. RIMM's target was lowered to $70 from $120. RBC Capital downgraded Research in Motion to Sector Perform from Outperform citing reduced margin visibility and the slowing macroeconomic environment.
  
• Stephens downgraded Vitran (NASDAQ: VTNC) and Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA) to Equal Weight from Overweight to reflect the companies' deteriorating demand and pricing environment. Vitran's target was cut to $15 from $22 and Saia's was lowered to $16 from $24.
  
• Mentor (NYSE: MNT) was downgraded to hold from Buy at Jefferies to reflect continued weakness in the breast implant market and the potential for lowered guidance. Mentor's target was lowered to $31 from $36.
  
• Merrill cut ING Group (NYSE: ING) to Underperform from Neutral.
  
• CF Industries (NYSE: CF) was downgraded at Citigroup to Hold from Buy.
  
• Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA) was lowered to Sell from Hold at Natixis.

Analyst initiations:

• Suntrust initiated Idexx Laboratories (NASDAQ: IDXX) with a Neutral rating, citing slowing organic revenue growth, valuation and a slowing lab business.
  
• Jefferies initiated Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) with a Hold rating and $33 target. The firm prefers to stay on sidelines due to valuation and macro risks.
  
• Hersha Hospitality (NYSE: HT) was assumed with a Market Perform rating and $7.50 target at Keefe Bruyette. The firm believes near-term demand trends in New York City could slow.
  
• Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) was initiated at Baird with a Neutral rating and $54 target.
  
• KeyBanc assumed ENGlobal (NASDAQ: ENG) with a Hold rating.
  
• Piper initiated Pentair (NYSE: PNR) with a Neutral rating and $39 target.

The market's choppy / consolidating pattern continues, suggesting the need for an additional defensive play or two (or perhaps more), and with this as a backdrop, Ecolab is worth a review.

Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) is a global supplier of cleaning, sanitizing, and maintenance products and services for the hospitality, institutional, and industrial markets.

Analysts expect the company's domestic institutional, Kay, food & beverage, health care, and pest elimination units to continue to expand. Revenue is expected to increase a healthy 10-13% in 2008.

Further, international sales should continue to be strong, with better-than-adequate margins. Overall costs remain reasonable, even with higher raw material costs. In short, it's a largely positive commercial landscape for ECL, bolstered by favorable international economic conditions. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for Ecolab are $1.66/$1.90.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Home Depot, Seaspan and Pharmasset were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Morgan Keegan initiated Home Depot (NYSE: HD) with a Market Perform rating, citing valuation and the possibility that housing continues to deteriorate in 2008.
  
• Oppenheimer believes Seaspan (NASDAQ: SSW) is well positioned within the containership sector given its modern fleet profile and entrenched liner relationships. The firm assumed coverage with an Outperform rating and $32 target.
  
• JMP Securities initiated shares of Pharmasset (NASDAQ: VRUS) with a Market Outperform rating and $35 target and believes R7128 is evolving to be the premier product in hepatitis C. The firm expects a phase 2b trial evaluating R7128 in combination with standard of care to be initiated in 2H08 by partner Roche (OTC: RHHBY).

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• UBS started BioMarin (NASDAQ: BMRN) with a Neutral rating and $38 target.
  
• First Analysis initiated Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) with an Equal Weight rating.
  
• Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) was initiated with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan.

Shares of Microtek Medical Holdings (NASDAQ: MTMD) bounded 27.93% higher Wednesday, jumping $1.31 to close at $6.00 in one of the Nasdaq's largest percentage gains.

Microtek's gain was driven by yesterday's announcement that Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) plans to buy out the company's 43.5 million outstanding shares for $6.30 per share in cash, or $274.1 million.

Analysts that cover the health care industry don't seem too surprised by the acquisition. Both companies are among the leaders in their field, and the deal is expected to leverage the resources of both. Ecolab provides cleaning and pest control services to the hospitality industry while Microtek is a supplier or infection and fluid control products, and other surgical products.

Microtek will release its second quarter earnings Thursday.

Stock futures are negative to flat in early morning, pointing to a negative start for the Nasdaq as concerns are lingering from Friday's Micron Technology Inc.'s (NYSE:MU) warning regarding its results and the overall chip market. S&P 500 futures, however, are flat.

After oil climbed above the $60 a barrel mark on Friday, today, oil prices fell back to the low $59.

Meanwhile, the dollar was higher against the euro and the yen as well as other currencies after the weekend meeting of the G7 economic powers.

In corporate news:

While earnings season is not over, it isn't as busy as the past few weeks. Reporting today are Loews Corp. (NYSE:LTR) -- expected 98 cents per share for the fourth quarter and Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) -- expected 34 cents per share before the market opens. After the market closes, Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE:YUM) is expected to report fourth-quarter income of 79 cents per share.

The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) $5.3 billion hostile takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange failed to gain support of voters on Saturday. LSE shares are easing after the failed bid.

Vodafone Group (NYSE:VOD) beat rivals as it won its $11.1 billion bid for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, India's fourth-biggest cellphone firm. VOD shares are climbing 2.8% in pr-market trading.

Tribune Co. (NYSE:TRB) seems to be changing tactics and instead of opting for putting itself on the market, may now go for a restructuring plan, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Shares in Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY) jumped while Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) stock fell on Monday after a report on Saturday's story in the Times of London that SNY and BMY stopped the talks for SNY to buy BMY. BMY is down 1.8% in pre-market.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Blackstone Group is expected to buy Pinnacle Foods Corp., owner of Duncan Hines cake mix and Mrs. Paul's frozen fish, for about $1.2 billion.

Over the weekend, it was announced that Indian aluminum and copper producer Hindalco Industries Ltd. plans to pay $3.6 billion to take over Canadian aluminum producer Novelis Inc. (NYSE:NVL).