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

• Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) beat profit expectations as revenue and same-store sales both increased.
• Aruba Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) received an analyst's upgrade following its Q3 report.
• Buckle Inc. (NYSE: BKE) reported better-than-expected Q1 expectations as revenue surged.
• Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) higher Q2 earnings beat expectations and sent shares upward.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings, sending shares higher.

Lenovo cut 450 jobs in China. A month ago, it announced larger layoffs. As demand for PCs cascades it appears hard for the Asian company to keep up by increasing cost cuts.

The news about Lenovo may be particularly bad for Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). According to the AP, "Lenovo says it has been hit harder than competitors by the global slowdown because of its reliance on corporate customers, who have cut spending more sharply than consumers." Dell's base of buyers is also tilted toward corporations, which increases the chances that it may miss earnings in the next quarter and give guidance below what Wall Street expects.

While Lenovo is facing cutbacks and sluggish sales, the company right ahead of it in global PC sales -- Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) -- is going through some of the same motions. Not only has CEO Michael Dell changed the top management last week, it will continue shedding jobs. As of this morning, the PC maker announced that it would lay off 1,900 workers in Ireland at its main plant there and shift production to Poland instead.

So, U.S. workers are not the only ones feeling the unemployment pinch. In addition to moving all production work to Poland for the EMEA region, Dell will also move parts of the previous Irish production to third-party manufacturers -- something that outgoing operations chief Mike Cannon was an expert at.

Dell's about-to-be former Limerick, Ireland facility was opened in 1990 and employed 4,500 people at its peak. With swings in the global economy and the PC market, though, it's now going away. Dell's status as Ireland's largest single exporter may be at stake after the Limerick facility is closed, but that's not entirely clear yet. The PC maker will continue to operate its sales and marketing division in Dublin as well as keeping open its Global Innovation Solutions Center in Limerick.

Lenovo is, by most measures, the third largest PC company in the world. Several years ago, it took over IBM's(NYSE: IBM) personal computer business, giving it a foothold in the U.S.

Last night, Lenovo said its business is falling to pieces. Coming a day after a warning from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), a grim picture of the industry is beginning to emerge. The most likely company to bear a heavy burden is Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), which is already facing challenges to its sales and global market share.

According to the FT, "Along with other computer makers, Lenovo is suffering from a plunge in demand for PCs. Lenovo, however, is particularly hard hit because of its reliance on the corporate segment, where companies are cutting IT spending aggressively." Dell also relies on the corporate market for a large piece of its sales.

Lenovo also said it would cut 11% of its staff.

Dell's shares are already down to $11 from a 52-week high of $26. If it reports awful earnings and guides down for 2009, that share price would easily drop below its 52-week floor of $8.72. By the way, if Dell had to cut 10% of its workers, over 8,000 people would be out of jobs.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Retail sales:

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) surprised when it said that December same-store sales rose 1.7% excluding fuel. This was lower than the average estimate of an increase of 2.8% in a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters. WMT also cut its forecast for fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations due to higher expenses and lower-than-expected sales at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart International. WMT shares were down over 8% in premarket trading.
  
• Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) reported that for December, same-store sales fell 4%, and total sales fell 2% from the year-earlier month. Comparable sales fell 2% in the U.S. and 11% internationally. This was below analyst estimates of a 3.7% decline. COST shares were down 1.8% in premarket trading.
  
• Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) reported that December domestic same-store sales fell 7.3%, with Kmart sales down 1.1% and Sears domestic sales falling 12.8%. Sears also gave revenue and earnings estimates, higher than what analyst estimated. SHLD shares soared over 10% in premarket trading.
  
• Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) said that comparable sales in the 8 weeks to Dec. 28 fell 24.2%. Total sales declined 22.6%. The company also said fourth-quarter earnings will likely be at the lower end of the range, much lower than the average estimate. WSM shares were 1.7% higher in premarket trading.
  

Job cuts:

• EMC (NYSE: EMC), the data-storage firm, announced 2,400 job cuts, or about 6% of its workforce. EMC also cut the salaries of top executives. Its preliminary results, though, were inline with estimates. EMC shares rose 4.2% in premarket trading.
  
• Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) said it is closing its main plant in Ireland, cutting 1,900 jobs as it is moving production to Poland. Dell shares were down 1.4% in premarket trading.
  
• Lenovo Group warned it expects a loss for its latest quarter and said it will lay off 2,500, or 11%, of its workforce worldwide. Shares plunged over 25% in Hong Kong.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) lost the crown of being the premier PC company to Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) years ago. Now Asia companies like Lenovo and Acer are after its No.2 position. And, they are having some success.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Dell Inc. is preparing management changes that are expected to shake up an executive team that Chief Executive Michael Dell brought in as part of his turnaround plan for the big computer maker." The head of global operations and the chief of marketing will both be moved out of their jobs.

Dell has already done a lot of restructuring, laying off thousand of workers. Its stock is off almost 80% this year, compared to less than 30% for HP. Surprisingly, Dell's shares have done as well as Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) over the same period.

Most commentators will say that Micheal Dell is the problem and that the board should replace him, but that dodges the complexity of Dell's situation. It operates in world where PCs are often a commodities, sold on price as much as function. The new Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) operation system that runs them, Vista, is unpopular. Apple appears to have taken much of the high end of the market with its Mac.

Dell also faces a harsh economy which has already begun to erode its sales. One of the reasons Apple's stock is down so much is that it faces the same negative forces.

For the time being, it looks like even Dell cannot fix Dell. And, its situation in the broader marketplace is such that no one else can either.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Investors tend to forget that some of the world largest PC companies are based in China, lead by Lenovo and Acer. The two companies run behind Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) in global market share. But, that may be changing in a way that the two US companies will find unpleasant.

Research firm Gartner looked at PC sales around the world during the third quarter. According to Reuters, "Overall, worldwide PC shipments rose 15 percent from last year to 80.6 million units." To no one's surprise, growth in the US was slower, up 4.6%.

HP's global market share was 18.4% and Dell's was 13.6%. Acer rose to 12.5% making it the most improved of the three compared with last year.

Acer's secret is that it is selling netbooks, small PCs which usually cost under $500. Analysts have questioned whether consumers would want these because smartphones have many of the same functions. Acer has taken the gamble of ramping up production, a potentially risky move if the customers were not out there. The decision is giving them a chance to steal a march on the larger rivals.

The Acer move may say as much about what is wrong with US PC companies as its says about what is right at Acer. There are many people, especially in emerging markets, who are not likely to be able to spend $1,000 on a computer. And, the mobility of the US PC user is improving with the success of WiFi and 3G.

Dell and HP should be concerned every time they see someone walking down the street with a netbook. It has probably been sold to them by a competitor.

Douglas A McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

JP Morgan downgraded big China-based PC maker Lenovo. According to Reuters, the brokerage cut Lenovo "to neutral from overweight due to a near-term slowdown in revenue growth from weak China demand and a slower ramp-up of the U.S. consumer business."

That is not exactly good news for U.S. PC companies Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) that already appear to be losing market share to the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Mac. China is a critical market to both companies, and any sign of further stress in the U.S. market does not leave them many regions to make up for faltering demand.

Wall Street is already concerned that a recession in the U.S. and slowing economies abroad will hammer the PC market. Like most American companies, HP and Dell thought they could always rely on the rapidly expanding markets in Asia.

It turns out that the best laid plans are not working out.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

PC manufacturers never let a moment pass up where they can seemingly one-up the competition by using meaningless marketing claims. The "World's Fastest" and "World's Most Secure" taglines are so hokey that it's amazing we all don't buy PCs at the local flea market. So, when Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) recently said that it made the "World's Most Secure Notebooks." Chinese competitor Lenovo had a problem with that. What exactly does that claim mean, anyway?

This isn't the first time for a meaningless claim to be used in PC land. Sure, one of Dell's systems may be the "World Most Secure" in a certain environment with a certain arrangement of software, but to use that implied moniker to describe your entire product line is ridiculous. Apparently, consumers and business decision makers believe these pitches of manufacturers. The funny thing is that it makes sense for all PC manufacturers to use illegitimate claims. Why? Because the PC industry is a commodity one. What else is there to differentiate products?

No matter how much PC company CEOs harp on "we're better at this, we're better at that," it doesn't matter. Almost all PCs are like a gallon of milk; you choose one and you move on. Service options after the sale are the differentiators, not the hardware that was most likely made by one of a handful of Asian contract manufacturers anyway. Even the high-and-mighty Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been accused of using claims that sound too good to be true, such as "the world's fastest, most powerful personal computer" -- to which Dell promptly complained.

Remember Goldstar, the inexpensive color televisions brand popular in the 1970s and '80s? Those televisions were manufactured by a South Korean firm called Lucky Goldstar, founded after WWII to make appliances and chemicals. Today, that company is known as LG, one of the largest conglomerates in the world, famous for its high quality phones and plasma televisions. And soon it may be the owner of General Electric's (NYSE: GE) appliance business.

GE announced two weeks ago that it might sell its appliance unit. BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal are reporting today that LG is watching the GE situation very carefully. GE wants to exit the appliance business due to intense price competition from manufacturers in Asia. The New York Times speculated that the transaction would be similar to IBM's sale of its computer brand to Lenovo a few years ago. The purchaser would have a few years to continue using the GE badge before going solo with its own brand.

Based in Kentucky with 13,000 employees, the appliance division is one of GE's oldest and a real piece of Americana. Founded in 1907, it invented a number of everyday products, including the room air-conditioner and the toaster oven. However, it suffers from low growth rates and contributed 'only' $7 billion to GE's revenue last year, out of $173 billion total. Analysts think it could bring in $5 billion in a sale.

GE has plenty of high growth businesses in transport, medical imaging and energy, so selling its appliance business makes sense in some calculations. But I don't know -- somehow buying a refrigerator or microwave won't be the same. Yet another chunk of American manufacturing muscle is being shipped overseas, and I wonder what the country will do when virtually all of its basic production capacity sits in other countries.

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

• Activision Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) beat Q4 expectations and raised its fiscal 2009 guidance.
• Air France-KLM swung to a loss in the fourth quarter and warned of tough times ahead.
• BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) Q1 earnings soared, beating expectations, and it raised its forecast.
• Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) beat Q1 estimates on robust demand and favorable exchange rates.
• Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) Q1 profit declined, hurt by an impairment charge and nearly flat sales.
• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) beat Q1 earnings estimates by managing costs and inventory.
• Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) Q1 earnings tumbled on a one-time charge and the housing slump.
• Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) beat Q3 expectations and announced a share buyback program.
• Lenovo Group Ltd. (OTC: LNVGY) Q4 earnings more than doubled on strong global distribution.
• Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) reported a so-so first quater in line with Wall Street expectations.
• NetEase.com Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) Q1 earnings declined due to increased tax burden.
• Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) missed Q1 earnings estimates but beat revenue expectations.
• Solarfun Power Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: SOLF) Q1 revenue surged 529% from the previous quarter.
• Suntech Power Holdings Co. (NYSE: STP) Q1 revenues soared and earnings more than doubled.

Additional earnings highlights:
Hewlett-Packard, Target, Barnes & Noble, Campbell, Staples and others
Ford, Hormel, Limited Brands, Intuitive Surgical, PetSmart and others

Upcoming results to watch for include Borders (NYSE: BGP), Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL), TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), Costco (NASDAQ: COST), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), HJ Heinz (NYSE: HNZ), Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD), Lions Gate (NYSE: LGF), and Tiffany (NYSE: TIF).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Lenovo Group Ltd. (OTC: LNVGY), which purchased IBM Corp.'s (NYSE: IBM) personal computer assets years ago, reported an outstanding financial quarter of this week. The Chinese company saw dramatic shipment increases into emerging markets as well as the Americas (even with weak demand in the U.S.). Shipments grew the fastest in the European region, with a 30% growth rate from the year-ago period.

Lenovo is behind Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE: HPQ), Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and Taiwan's Acer in terms of global PC sales, but don't tell it that. The company's fourth-quarter profit more than doubled to $140 million from the $60 million year-ago quarterly figure. In the PC industry, that's a jump extraordinaire. Although the PC industry's growth rose 15% in the company's latest quarter, Lenovo topped that with an overall growth figure of 21%.

This is even more startling considering that Lenovo exports quite a bit to the U.S., which is in the midst of a consumer and business spending slowdown. This is where it comes in handy to have your sales dispersed in such a way that one region of the world doesn't make or break your company. This is the fruits Lenovo is enjoying at the moment, as it has a very evenly distributed sales mix in every global region. Meanwhile, 60% of Dell's 2007 sales came from the Americas only -- and we wonder why the company's sales have faltered.

Usually, when sovereign funds put money into a company it is simply a financial investment. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) may have unlocked something more. According to The Wall Street Journal: "Dell said it is in talks with a government-owned entity in Dubai about establishing a joint venture to further increase the personal-computer maker's sales in the Middle East." In other words, the computer company will get value well beyond cash.

For Dell, it is a brilliant move that shows government funds can do more than just write checks. The PC market in the Middle East is large and growing very rapidly.

The US company may have found a template for improving its market share around the world through forming joint ventures with local pools of capital. Dell's growth in many markets has been hurt by the improvement of share by Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), and the rise of big computer companies Lenovo and Acer out of China. All of these companies need to improve their business in growing markets, like the Middle East and Asia, if they want their earnings to move up.

If the Dell venture in Dubai works, it would be wise to look to sovereign funds in Russia, China, and Singapore for similar deals. Dell's market share in many of these regions is in trouble. Who better than the locals to help them?

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24wallst.com.

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

• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) reported a slip in profits and warned of slow growth in 2008.
• Alberto-Culver (NYSE: ACV) returned to profitability after a spin-off and restructuring.
• Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT) beat expectations and offered a revised forecast.
• Black & Decker Corp. (NYSE: BDK) beat expectations but lowered its outlook due to the housing slump.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) fell short of earnings estimates, sending shares lower.
• Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) responded to disappointing results by announcing price increases.
• Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) fourth-quarter profit fell on higher costs for raw materials.
• Lenovo Group Ltd. (OTC: LNVGY) nearly tripled quarterly earnings on strong demand for PCs in Asia.
• MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) beat expectations, even after excluding a one-time investment gain.
• McCormick & Co. (NYSE: MKC) posted solid results on strength in international markets.
• McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) beat expectations, but reported flat same-store sales in December.
• Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) reported strong second-quarter results on strength in emerging markets.
• SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) reported a profit but missed revenue expectations.
• Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) missed estimates and lowered expectations for the next quarter.
• 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) beat expectations despite a decline in profits.
• Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) profits fell and it announced a plan to raise prices.
• Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) met earnings estimates but fell short of revenue expectations.

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others and Exxon, Boeing, Halliburton, Sony, UPS, Honda and others.

Big China PC company Lenovo did something that Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) won't. According to Reuters, it "beat expectations by nearly tripling quarterly earnings, riding strong demand for PCs in Asia."

Lenovo would like to get into the business of selling more PCs in the US, but it may be lucky that it does not have too much exposure here. The company gets about 40% of its revenue from China.

The news is a reminder that US PC companies may have a hard time this year. While they sell PCs overseas, they do not have a dominant position in the world's most populated country. In the US and Europe they are up against a resurgent Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and products from Taiwan PC company Acer.

Lenovo may do well this year. US PC companies are another matter.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.