The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) published data for the third quarter earlier today. Can't say I was mightily impressed by the numbers. Sure, there was a profit increase, but the top line wasn't exciting, and the newspaper division, as you might have expected, experienced a sharp decline in sales.

Net revenues rose 2%. Earnings per share came in at $1.81. That was sharply higher than the $1.08 per share recorded in the comparable period. Yet, I think you have to be careful in terms of reading too much positive spin into the growth rate.

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

• AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and will increase capacity.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares soared after it reported very strong Q3 numbers.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported stellar Q4 results, driven by the popularity of Macs and iPhones.
• BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Q3 earnings soared, due in part to a tax benefit, and assets managed grew.
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) revenue surged sequentially but note the would be flat going forward.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) beat Q3 earnings expectations and shares rose though revenue slumped.

The folks in the news business are probably growing to hate Mondays. Gannett's (NYSE: GCI) profits are off by more than 50%, and the New York Times announced that it's chopping 100 jobs from the newsroom, along with an unspecified number elsewhere in the newspaper. Like Gannett, the New York Times cites declines in ad revenue as the reason for the decision. The company is hoping that employees will take voluntary buyouts where offered, but it is prepared to conduct a round of layoffs if necessary.

The newspaper, which is the flagship property of the New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), cut 100 newsroom positions last year, mostly through voluntary buyouts, before a "relatively small" round of layoffs. This year's 100-job cut is approximately 8% of the newsroom, but the paper will still have the largest in the United States. Approximately 1,150 reporters and editors will remain. Already, 100 jobs have been slashed on the business side, leaving it now staffed at 1,850.

Gannett (NYSE: GCI) lost more than half its third-quarter profits year-over-year, as the newspaper industry shows yet another sign of decline. A substantial drop in ad revenue was the primary reason for the plunge.

The newspaper giant was able to stay in the black because of aggressive cost cutting, a move that can work for only so long. For now, it's the most popular option available to the beleaguered industry, as evidenced by a New York Times (NYSE: NYT) announcement that it would slash another 100 positions from the newsroom, and more positions elsewhere.

McNews is being squeezed by two market downturns. So, if you think most newspapers have it bad, realize that it could be much worse.

Gannett's (NYSE: GCI) major national paper, USA Today, is getting ready to report a 17% drop in circulation – the largest it has ever sustained. The popular daily is fighting a battle on two fronts. It has to deal with a media slump and a travel recession. It's hard to pick two tougher industries in this economic climate.

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) lower Q4 earnings met analysts' expectations but the Q1 outlook was weak.
• Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: CALM) posted a Q1 net loss and said it will skip its dividend this quarter.
• Cephalon Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH) earnings prospects for 2010 resulted in an analyst's downgrade.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) Q1 earnings beat by a penny but revenue fell short of estimates.
• Gannett Inc. (NYSE: GCI) shares rose after it forecast Q3 earnings above Wall Street estimates.

"We're looking for profits in a sector of the economy that almost everyone has written off -- newspapers," says Glenn Rogers.

In Internet Wealth Builder, he explains, "I have been involved in the newspaper industry for good portion of my career; so it has been with great dismay that I've watched the industry crumble over the last few years." For contrary investors, he looks to New York Times (NYSE: NYT) and Gannett (NYSE: GCI).

"The Internet in general has siphoned off millions of dollars of advertising that used to belong to the newspaper industry.

Gannett (NYSE: GCI - option chain) shares rose Tuesday after the company forecast third-quarter EPS between 39 and 42 cents. Analysts had been expecting EPS of 28 cents in the coming period. Other newspaper stocks like the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) also traded significantly higher after Gannett's forecast. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on GCI.

GCI opened Tuesday at $11.85. So far the stock has hit a low of $11.27 and a high of $11.96. As of 11:10, GCI is trading at $11.65 up 1.67 (16.7%). The chart for GCI looks neutral and S&P gives GCI a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Gannett (NYSE: GCI), publisher of USA Today and other newspapers, as well as owner of many informational websites such as CareerBuilder.com, made some news of its own yesterday on Wall Street. After reporting second-quarter results, the stock had a great day. How great was Gannett's day? Shares closed higher by nearly 29%. Let me repeat that: 29%! And volume . . . it was way, way above the norm.

What in the world triggered this response by investors and/or traders? Gannett beat expectations. On an adjusted basis, the company made 46 cents per share. Earnings.com indicates that this performance is 10 cents better than analyst expected.

A ways back my father did some very interesting economic research into what happened to the price of drugs when a generic entered a market previously owned only by branded drugs. His findings? The entry of generics actually caused prices of brand prescriptions to rise as people who insisted on the branded prescription were willing to pay a higher price.

I was reminded of that research in reading today about the continuing decline in circulation of the big papers. The only one that managed a circulation gain was the Wall Street Journal. The hand wringing continues over this horrible state -- but this is a sign to the papers to make lemonade rather than lemons.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) started off the new earnings season with disappointing results that helped to stifle the recent rally. Was that enough of a sign of what's to come? No, probably not. But the earnings reports start to fly in earnest this week, which should provide a more detailed picture of the state of things.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate that some of the biggest names will prove to be holding their own. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is expected to post a profit of $4.91 per share, marginally higher than a year ago, and Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) expected $1.22 per share profit is slightly lower year over year. Even Mattel Inc.'s (NYSE: MAT) estimated loss of $0.13 per share is the same as in the year-ago period.

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

• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported strong Q3 results but warned of softness ahead.
• Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) beat earnings expectations and lifted its full-year forecast.
• AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Q3 results were worse than expected despite the iPhone's popularity.
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) beat expectations but lowered its revenue guidance.
• Dice Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DHX) reported solid Q3 results despite the financial crisis.
• E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) widened its Q3 net loss and revenues shrank.
• Gannett Inc. (NYSE: GCI) just missed earnings estimates as advertising revenues declined.
• Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) posted solid Q3 results that topped analysts' expectations.
• Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) missed Q3 earnings expectations despite popularity American Girl.
• McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) easily beat Q3 earnings estimates and lifted its dividends.
• Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) posted strong Q3 numbers but warned of slowing subscriber growth.
• Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) Q3 profits tripled due to cost cutting and sales of pain pill Lyrica.
• Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) topped earnings estimates, sending shares higher.
• Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) posted Q3 results that topped analysts' expectations.
• Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) slashed its earnings forecast on weakness in flat panel TVs and digital cameras.
• Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) reported better-than-expected Q3 results.
• 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) solid Q3 results topped Wall Street expectations and it offered full-year outlook.
• VMWare Inc. (NYSE: VMW) Q3 earnings surged on strong growth in services revenue.

For more earnings highlights from this week, see Apple, Boeing, Microsoft, Yahoo!, UPS, American Express and others.

Watch for upcoming quarterly reports from Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Estée Lauder (NYSE: EL) , US Steel (NYSE: X), Aetna (NYSE: AET), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Qwest (NYSE:Q), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Kellogg (NYSE: K), Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT), MetLife (NYSE: MET), Moody's (NYSE: MCO), Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), Avon (NYSE: AVP), CBS (NYSE: CBS), CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA), Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Washington Post (NYSE: WPO).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

We all know the Gannett (NYSE: GCI) company. It is a newspaper publisher that puts out the excellent USA Today, among others. As excellent as the USA Today might be, Gannett's stock is anything but. Gannett's Q3 earnings came in at $0.76 per share. The market was looking for a penny more. In addition, publishing ad revenue fell 18% while broadcast revenue posted an anemic gain of approximately 4%.

Gannett is positioned only for further financial pressure. The newspaper industry has had a tough time of it for years, trying to adjust to a digital age. Content on print just isn't seen in the same light as it was many years ago. Trying to get readers of newspapers to migrate to online counterparts can be very difficult. Once you're on the internet, there are a whole host of portals through which content can be filtered and accessed. Even if you were a devoted reader of USA Today before coming online, it is entirely possible that you'd ditch the brand for some other source of news, whether it be Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) or Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL. Sure, you might still find content at those sites from Gannett, but it nevertheless is a whole new competitive ballgame. And let's face it, the new generation of web-savvy youth consider print antiquated and perhaps even useless, harsh as that is to say.

Competition for ads is only going to become more intense. I'd imagine that revenues will most likely continue to be challenged for Gannett as advertisers pull back in the face of the economic storm. The 52-week high on the stock is $42.50. The 52-week low is $8.49. Friday's closing price was $9.47. No, it isn't a buy. And what's that yield I see? Are you kidding me? Almost 17%! In this case, the high yield is telling you to run far, far away from the shares. If I wanted exposure to print, I'd much rather go with a company that has a portfolio which includes better assets, such as News Corp. (NYSE: NWS). Print will always be with us. I enjoy print. But its growth prospects are questionable until new models are realized.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Back in the good 'ol days of say 2004, Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) was one of the few newspaper publishers Wall Street liked. Part of the reason was that many of the papers were in smaller cities such as Wilmington, Delaware, and Poughkeepsie, NY, where competition was not as great for advertisers. These days the publisher of USA Today is up the creek with the rest of the industry.

With its shares down more than 50% this year, it should come as no surprise that Gannett is joining the ranks of publishers that are laying off staff. According to a memo leaked to the unofficial Gannett blog, about 1,000 positions will be eliminated across Gannett's Community Publishing Division. Six hundred of those employees will lose their jobs, the memo says.

"Several GCI papers have already made recent job cuts, but at a higher rate: 5%," the blog says. "The division's dailies do not include USA Today, suggesting that any further reductions at Gannett's flagship could be on top of the 1,000 jobs eliminated."

Gannett investors -- who must be the few, the proud like The Marines -- must have been expecting the move. Shares of the publisher have soared 10% in the past month. About the only relief they are going to get is through a takeover by private equity companies. The publicly traded media companies have no interest in buying into an industry whose best days are behind it.

Minyanville's top dog, Todd Harrison, dares to ask in public what Wall Street types quietly consider in private. For more insight and ideas, visit www.Minyanville.com.

Yikes, Lehman downgrades Scripps (NYSE: SNI), Gannett (NYSE: GCI) pooped the bed. What the heck is happening to these paltry little rags?

Some thoughts:

• The internet is the single biggest deflationary force ever invented and the "information deflation" is in full force.
  
• Without a doubt, my bullish bent on the newspaper names was my single worst "call" of the year.
  
• The thesis was that portals will buy the papers to feed content into their pipes.
  
• That remains a viable option for some of the franchise properties, although it will seemingly happen -- if it happens -- from lower levels.
  
• I still own some GCI January calls but have quickly become lottery tickets.

R.P.

Position In GCI