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.

Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL), a provider of solutions to the electronics industry, as well as a business that counts Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX) as a colleague, has been in an uptrend. If you check out a year-to-date chart for the company's stock, you'll understand what I mean. And frankly, I admit that I've been too bearish on this situation. When I pontificated on Jabil's Q3 results, I didn't think the company was a strong idea. Well, it's gone up since then.

So, what should we make of the Q4 results, which were reported Tuesday after the bell? Again, we see big declines. Net sales dropped 15%, and earnings per diluted share on an adjusted basis plunged to 16 cents from the 30 cents seen in the year-ago period.

Autumn has arrived and the quarter winds down this week. The Dow has been inching toward 10,000 for a while now, though it closed lower in the past three sessions. Can it make it to 10,000 for the start of the third quarter? If so, what will push it higher? If not, what will drag it down further?

• Monday is Yom Kippur, the most solemn of the Jewish holidays; trading likely will be lighter than usual. In the evening, the FDIC meets to discuss how to rebuild the Bank Deposit Insurance Fund.
• Tuesday, the Consumer Confidence Index for September is due and the SEC holds a public meeting to consider more short sale actions.

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) beat earnings expectations but revenue was hurt by currency effects.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) strong Q1 results beat estimates but same-store sales fell.
• CKE Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: CKR) lower Q1 earnings and strong sales both topped expectations.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) higher Q4 earnings were in line with expectations, and shares slipped.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) Q4 results were higher, but it warned of continuing challenges.
• Hennes & Mauritz (OTC: HMRZF) reported strong Q2 numbers, though same-stores sales slipped.

I was wrong about Jabil Circuit (NYSE JBL). When I wrote about the tech company's last earnings report, I said I wasn't a buyer. I should have been. The stock rose quite a bit after I presented my thoughts to the world. In fact, the stock closed up well over 7% on Tuesday, settling out to a price of $7.12 per share. Volume was extremely active.

Obviously, investors were setting themselves up ahead of the Q3 release. Jabil earned, on an adjusted basis, 4 cents per share. According to Reuters, the market was only counting on 2 cents per share.

This week brings a small flurry of end-of-the-calendar-quarter earnings reports. And for the most part, the expectations of the analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters aren't very high. Companies expected to report declining earnings in the most recently concluded quarter include America's Car-Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: CRMT), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL), Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. (NYSE: JTX), Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), and Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC).

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) said revenues and bookings both declined in the most recent quarter.
• Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported strong Q4 results in the wake of Circuit City's demise.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) sailed past analysts' Q1 projections, sending shares higher.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) Q3 results topped analysts expectations and drove shares higher.
• DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) swung to a larger-than-expected Q4 loss and revenue slipped.
• DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) reported a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss as same-store sales declined.

Electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL), a colleague of Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX), reported earnings for the second quarter on Tuesday after the market closed for the day.

The results didn't get me too excited, but the market did buy the stock in the after-hours session, sending the shares higher by well over 4%. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

On an adjusted basis, Jabil earned 13 cents per diluted share. That beat estimates by a penny. However, the bottom line dropped by 35%. Furthermore, the top line had shed over 5% during the quarter.

Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) is a leading electronics manufacturing services firm, providing comprehensive design, manufacturing and product management services to global electronics and technology companies. The firm works for original equipment makers in the automotive, storage, medical, networking, telecommunications, computer and consumer products industries. Top customers include Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK).

The company had good news for investors earlier in the week, when it reported fiscal Q3 EPS of 26 cents and revenues of $3.09 billion. Analysts had been looking for 20 cents and $3.08 billion. Management also guided Q4 EPS to 29-33 cents (29 cent consensus) and Q4 revenues to $3.2-$3.3 billion ($3.19B consensus). Credit Suisse subsequently reiterated its "neutral" rating on the stock, but RBC Capital Markets repeated an "outperform" recommendation and Needham said "buy" again.

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.

Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) is recently trading at $9.90 in pre-open trading, below its close of $11.38.

JBL lowered it fiscal-year guidance and forecast third-year quarter below analyst expectations.

Jefferies says: "The combination of a challenging economy, a slowdown in new program ramps and a reconfiguration of the consumer electronics business continues to keep us cautious on JBL."

JBL overall option implied volatility of 55 is above its 26-week average of 43 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Entropic Communications (NASDAQ: ENTR), which develops home networking semiconductors, tried to price its IPO at $9 to $11. But investors thought the valuation was too rich. So, the deal came out at $6 per share. In all, the company raised $41.3 million.

No doubt, Entropic is in a hot space -- helping deliver video and music to homes (through cable set-top boxes). According to a study from iSuppli, the global market for home networking silicon is forecast to grow from $1.1 billion in 2007 to $3.1 billion by 2011.

Entropic has 55 customers, which includes biggies like Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Jabil Circuit. The company also has key strategic investors, such as Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO).

And, for the first nine months of this year, revenues spiked from $24.9 million to $82.4 million.

The lead underwriters include Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH). You can find the prospectus at the SEC website. Also, for other recent IPO information, visit DealProfiles.com.

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

• Labopharm Inc. (NASDAQ: DDSS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch and to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink Swann after the 2nd approval letter from the FDA said Tramadol did not show efficacy. CIBC World Markets downgraded shares of Labopharm to Sector Performer from Outperformer and at Canaccord Adams to Sell from Hold.
• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch, which recommended investors take profits following the strong earnings reports. The firm does not believe the drivers behind the earnings upside are sustainable. Dell was also downgraded at Morgan Stanley, to Equal Weight from Overweight, based on valuation.
• The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman, as the firm believes the stock is range-bound for the next several months following the OMX acquisition announcement.

• Robert W Baird downgraded shares of DiamondRock Co. (NYSE: DRH) and Chesapeake Utilities Corp. (NYSE: CPK) to Neutral from Outperform on valuation.
• Bear Stearns downgraded shares of Emmis Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: EMMS) to Underperform from Peer Perform, as the firm does not believe the CEO will make another bid to take the company private.
• Matrix USA downgraded shares of Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) to Hold from Buy.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) Underweight from Equal Weight, citing growth concerns, and downgraded shares of Virgin Media Inc. (NASDAQ: VMED) to Equal Weight from Overweight, citing higher customer churn and weaker pricing power.
• Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) to Neutral from Buy.