Well, last week's Beige Book report and other indicators didn't in fact make it clear whether economic recovery is underway. So what do we have to look forward to this week?

There's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's testimony at the House Committee Hearing on the Financial Regulation Plan on Wednesday evening. Or how about the bankruptcy filings for the second quarter or Leading Indicators Index for May, scheduled to be released Monday afternoon and Thursday morning, respectively. Will they provide a clear signal about the direction of the economy? Probably not.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to Outperform from Market Perform due to valuation and the company's better balance sheet following capital raises. The firm raised its target on shares to $16.50.
  
• Merriman upgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ:BCSI) to Buy from Neutral to reflect stabilizing demand and merger synergies from the Packeteer acquisition.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Genomic Health (NASDAQ:GHDX) to Overweight from Market Weight based on valuation, a new colon cancer assay expected in 2010, and upside from new sales hires.
• Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• Great Plains Energy (NYSE:GXP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Ericsson (nASDAQ:ERIC) was upgraded at Societe Generale to Buy from Hold.

Last week's preview raised the question of whether consumers were turning to comfort foods in these uncertain times, specifically in terms of second quarter earnings of Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) and Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD). Campbell's strong earnings growth topped expectations, while Krispy Kreme narrowed its loss, though it fell short of estimates.

This coming week should bring reports from more food-related companies, from cereal maker General Mills and food packager CongAgra to grocery chain Kroger, to the parent companies of restaurants Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Carl's Jr., and Hardees. Also look for reports from tech-related companies such as Oracle, Adobe, and Palm, as well as from financials Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, and from economic bellwether FedEx.

Here's what analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are expecting from some of the companies reporting earnings this week, as compared to their results from the same period of last year:

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

• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) Q1 earnings tumbled while revenues rose.
• Casella Waste Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CWST) posted a narrower-than-expected Q4 loss.
• CKE Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: CKR) Q1 earnings increased but its revenue slipped.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) swung to a Q4 profit on strong sales at Olive Garden.
• Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) said it might not see Q2 profit growth on lower demand and shipping delays.
• General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) Q4 earnings declined but were in line with expectations.
• Gerber Scientific Inc. (NYSE: GRB) reported solid Q4 and full-year results that pleased investors.
• IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) beat Q2 expectations and posted record quarterly cash flow from operations.
• Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) stronger-than-expected Q3 results led to an analyst's upgrade.
• KB Home (NYSE: KBH) widened its Q2 loss due to weak sales and falling prices.
• Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) beat Q1 expectations as consumers sought discounts on food and gas.
• Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) beat Q3 earnings estimates but fell short of revenue estimates.
• Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) posted better-than-expected Q4 results boosted by international strength.
• Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) posted strong Q4 results that topped analysts' expectations (see transcript).

IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) provides documents, decision-support tools and related services to customers in a variety of technical fields. The firm's Energy division delivers oil and gas data on exploration, development, production, and transportation activities to energy producers and oil companies. Its Engineering division provides technical specifications and standards, regulations, parts data, design guides and other information to customers in the defense, aerospace, construction, energy, electronics and automotive industries. Customers include Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), Boeing (NYSE: BA) and DuPont (NYSE: DD).

The company surprised the Street last week, when it reported Q2 EPS of 46 cents and revenues of $207.2 million. Analysts had been expecting 44 cents and $200.5 million. According to the CFO, the underlying subscription-based business continued to perform very well, helping to generate top-line growth, margin expansion and a record quarterly cash flow from operations. As a result, the firm was able to re-pay money borrowed at the start of Q2 for three March acquisitions. Management also guided FY08 revenues to about $833.0-$846.7 million, versus consensus of $842.80 million.

The roots of IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) go back to 1959. At that time, the company provided catalog databases -- on microfilm -- for aerospace engineers. And, since then, the company has evolved with new technologies, such as CD-ROMs and the internet.

Now, IHS is a comprehensive data and analytics provider for industries like energy, engineering, military, and security. Moreover, the company continues to grow at a nice pace.

In Q2, IHS posted a 34% increase in revenues to $207.2 million (this was the first time the company exceeded $200 million). Net income was $23.3 million, or $0.37 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA was $53.3 million, up 49% over the past year.

IHS has also leveraged its platform with acquisitions. For example, the company recently closed four deals. Actually, since the beginning of 2007, IHS has acquired 14 companies. So, to deal with the complexities of the dealmaking, the company created two new positions: SVP-Acquisition Integration and SVP-Finance, Planning, and Analysis.

Going forward, IHS expects full-year revenue growth to range from 21% to 23%. And, yes, the cash flow is forecast to be robust, with adjusted EBITDA growth of 28% to 30%.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Most of us would be thrilled to invest in a stock that doubles our money, but it certainly isn't easy to find these stocks. According to data provider Capital IQ, in the last year only 1.4% of 6,700 stocks trading on the U.S. exchanges were able to double their price.

BusinessWeek started hunting some of these potentially great stocks by asking fund managers to choose those firms expected to provide 100% returns in the next few years. Of course, the resulting list is by no means a sure thing, since major factors such as the ongoing credit crisis and challenging market conditions could affect results in unpredictable ways.

But let's look at some of the strategies used when picking high-potential stocks.

Mary Lisanti, portfolio manager at the Adams Harkness Small Cap Growth Fund, focuses on young companies in the small-cap segment. She points to stocks like Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN) and Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN), saying that investors can have a big advantage when they recognize potential before the market does.

Investors/readers know that higher-profile companies obtain most of the business and financial world's headlines. Still, that's not to say that lower-profile means lower profits, and there's no better proof of this than IHS.

IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) publishes technical documents for clients in the energy, defense, aerospace, construction, electronics, and automotive sectors, and distributes documents in several formats (Internet, intranet, extranet, CD-ROM).

Analysts really like IHS's energy unit (53% of revenue) which provides data on exploration, development, production, and transportation activities. As one might sense in an oil-hungry world, energy data has taken on added importance with oil's rise in value. The Reuters FY 2008/FY 2009 EPS consensus estimates for IHS are $1.94 to $2.37.

Any firm doing business with a significant science & engineering component needs quick access to organized, up-to-the-minute technical information. There is an Englewood, Colorado outfit that provides that access to some of the biggest corporations in the world.

IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) provides documents, decision-support tools and related services to customers in a variety of technical fields. The firm's Energy division delivers oil and gas data on exploration, development, production, and transportation activities to energy producers and oil companies. Its Engineering division provides technical specifications and standards, regulations, parts data, design guides and other information to customers in the defense, aerospace, construction, energy, electronics and automotive industries. Customers include Boeing (NYSE: BA) and DuPont (NYSE: DD) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM).

The company surprised the Street last week, when it reported Q3 EPS of 43 cents and revenues of $183.4 million. Analysts had been expecting 36 cents and $174.9 million. Management also guided FY07 revenues to about $672-$683 million, versus consensus of $666.92 million. The share price popped on the news and then began consolidating the gain in a bullish "flag" pattern. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with two "strong buys," three "buys" and two "holds." Analysts see a 19% growth rate through the next year. The IHS Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (30.89), Sales Growth rate (31.07%), EPS Growth rate (48.28%) and Net Profit Margin (11.30%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutions hold about 66% of the outstanding shares. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $30.82 and $57.64. A stop-loss of $49.25 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

Quick access to organized technical information is essential to the success of any business with a significant scientific/engineering component. An Englewood, Colorado firm provides that access to some of the biggest corporations in the world.

IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) provides documents, decision-support tools and related services to customers in a variety of technical fields. The firm's Energy division delivers oil and gas data on exploration, development, production, and transportation activities to energy producers and oil companies. Its Engineering division provides technical specifications and standards, regulations, parts data, design guides and other information to customers in the defense, aerospace, construction, energy, electronics and automotive industries. Customers include Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), Boeing (NYSE: BA), DuPont (NYSE: DD), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), General Electric (NYSE: GE), General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT).

The company surprised the Street last month, when it reported Q2 EPS of 37 cents and revenues of $154.9 million. Analysts had been expecting 34 cents and $150 million. Management also guided 2007 revenues to about $660.9-671.9 million, versus consensus of $642.66 million.