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

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) reported its fifth straight quarterly loss and lowered its outlook.
• Anadigics Inc. (NASDAQ: ANAD) beat Q1 expectations and raised its Q2 guidance.
• AuthenTec Inc. (NASDAQ: AUTH) Q1 revenues jumped 67% on new product offerings.
• CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) posted better-than-expected Q1 results and raised its dividend.
• Cognex Corp. (NASDAQ: CGNX) beat Q1 expectations and lifted its outlook.
• Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) posted soild Q1 results on high-speed internet/digital phone strength.
• DreamWorks Animation Inc. (NYSE: DWA) earnings and revenues soared in the first quarter.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) narrowed its Q1 loss but missed earnings estimates.
• IAC/InterActivCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) Q1 profits fell but met analsts' expectations.
• LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI) beat Q1 expectations and raised its guidance for the next quarter.
• NetSuite Inc. (NASDAQ: N) narrowed its loss on a surge in Q1 revenue.
• Omniture Inc. (NASDAQ: OMTR) Q1 revenue jumped 136% on acquisitions.
• RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) just beat low Q1 expectations on lower demand and narrower margins.
• SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) earnings for the first quarter fell short of analysts' expectations.

For Omniture Inc. (NASDAQ: OMTR), there seems to be no recession. Instead, the company is growing as if we're in boom times.

According to its Q1 report, revenues surged 136% to $69.6 million. True, there were some key acquisitions – but the figure is still impressive.

Essentially, Omniture has a comprehensive offering of web analytics software (which is delivered via the web). Interestingly enough, the company's solutions may spur more demand in rough times. After all, Omniture helps improve the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing expenditures.

Early in the quarter, Omniture closed its acquisition of Visual Sciences, which pumped up the customer base by 1,400. And, according to the conference call, it sounds like the merger integration is moving smoothly.

Going into Q2, Omniture forecasts revenues of $73 million to $75 million, with adjusted earnings per share of 10 to 11 cents.

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 NOTEWORTHY:

• B. Riley upgraded shares of Quiksilver (NYSE: ZQK) to Buy from Neutral on valuation and to reflect the EPS catalyst and debt reduction associated with divesting Rossignol.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) to Outperform from Market Perform following the recent pullback, as they believe the company is in its best competitive position ever, which should drive increasing win rates and help restore pricing power.
  
• Banc of America upgraded shares of Crown Holdings (NYSE: CCK) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the company's international exposure and believes metal packaging companies should be better able to manage input inflation.

• UBS raised AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• Stephens raised its rating on Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) and JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Question: what does every e-commerce site need to enable it to sell more merchandise?

If you answered more giant Whoopi Goldberg ads, you're only half right.

What every Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY) needs is better metrics. Why?

Search engine marketing (or SEM) is about paying for traffic. By bidding on keywords, advertisers with Google or its competitors are paying to bring people to their websites. Once there, a website needs to convert traffic into sales. Not an easy thing to do and clearly, some traffic is more valuable than other traffic. The better Google gets at valuating the traffic and providing these metrics to their advertisers, the more profitable everyone becomes. Google makes more money because it optimizes the bidding on keywords by really valuating a click. Advertisers win because they have the tools to bid on the most profitable traffic. For an unbelievable treatise on why analytics are so important, check out Dave McClure's great work on the industry and why investors should take note (Warning: Dave uses some strong language).

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Merrill Lynch. CIBC believes the company is well-positioned to replace its Canadian success in the U.S. market and started shares with a Sector Outperformer rating and $39 target. The stock was started at Wachovia with a Market Perform rating on valuation.
• Citigroup finds Domino's Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) compelling for long-term investors given the company's solid cash flows, above-average margins, and international growth opportunity. The firm initiated shares with a Buy rating and $22 target.
• RBC Capital started shares of Kenexa Corporation (NASDAQ: KNXA) with a Sector Perform rating and $32 target, citing lack of visibility into the company's product roadmap.
• RBC initiated shares of Omniture Inc (NASDAQ: OMTR) with an Outperform rating and $33 target. The firm believes Omniture is well-positioned given cross selling opportunities, best in class products, strong secular trends, and expanding client roster.
• News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) was initiated with a Buy rating and added to Stifel's Select List. The firm believes the FOX TV Network, stations and FOX News can garner an incremental recurring 100% margin retransmission and affiliate fees totaling $1B by 2010, adding that its sum-of-the-parts model for News Corp captures the value of $8B of "hidden" assets, yielding a fair market value of $30-$31.

• CRT Capital initiated shares of Navistar (NASDAQ: NAVZ) with a Buy rating and $75 target.
• JP Morgan started shares of Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX) with an Overweight rating.
• Think Equity started shares of Whole Foods Market Inc (NASDAQ: WFMI) with an Accumulate rating and $51 target.

Quantifying the effectiveness of an advertising campaign can be tricky business. Regarding Web efforts along that line, there is an outfit in Orem, Utah that can put you in touch with reality.

Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) provides Internet analytical services to corporate customers. The company hosts an on-demand subscription service, enabling clients to understand the efficiency of marketing initiatives by storing and analyzing information generated through their Web sites. The firm also provides a range of professional services that complement its online offerings. These include implementation, best practices, consulting, customer support and user training. Omniture has some 2,500 customers, including Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC), eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), General Motors (NYSE: GM), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).

The company pleased investors late last month, when it announced Q2 EPS of three cents and revenues of $33.5 million. Analysts had been looking for a penny and $32.7 million. The CEO noted that the firm added a record number of new customers (300) in the quarter. Management also guided Q3 EPS to 4-5 cents (2 cent consensus), Q3 revenues to $36.1-$37.1 million ($36.3M consensus), FY07 EPS to 16-18 cents (9 cent consensus) and FY07 revenues to $141-$142 million ($139.3M consensus).

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• WestLB upgraded shares of DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX) to Buy from Add after the company raised the profit margin forecast for its Mercedes unit.

• Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) was upgraded by Piper Jaffray to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's strong revenue momentum and expanding margins.

• Wedbush upgraded Convergys (NYSE: CVG) to Hold from Sell on valuation.

• Citigroup raised shares of Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) to Buy from Hold on valuation...

• Bear Stearns upgraded shares of Ryder System (NYSE: R) to Outperform from Underperform.

• Lehman raised EnCana Corp (NYSE: ECA) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• USG Corp (NYSE: USG) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Buckingham.

• Morgan Keegan upgraded shares of Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• Citigroup raised Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE: CFR) to Hold from Sell.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Oppenheimer expects a seasonally stronger 2H07 out of Atheros Communications (NASDAQ: ATHR) given continued growth from 802.11n design wins and started shares with a Buy rating.

• AG Edwards believes Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) has plenty of room to gain additional market share and started shares with a Buy rating.

• Jefferies believes Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) is positioned to benefit from the rapid growth of Web analytics, but has near-term valuation concerns, and started shares with a Hold rating.

• Deutsche Bank started TriZetto (NASDAQ: TZIX) with a Buy rating, citing the company's diversified product mix and opportunities to drive adoption rate of consumer-driven health plans for their Buy rating...

• The Banc of America assumed the entertainment sector with a Market Weight rating and assumed coverage of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and News Corp (NYSE: NWS.A) with Buy ratings and a $25 target and $26 target, respectively, as well as The Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) and Viacom (NYSE: VIA.B) with Neutral ratings and a $37 target and $43 target, respectively.

• JP Morgan started Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) with a Neutral rating.

Noting that it's always harder to swim upstream, trader Bill Martin looks into groups set to benefit from "rising tides" in the year ahead." Martin, the original found of the Raging Bull website, now features his stock advice in his FindProfit newsletter.

In his latest issue he looks at themes for "nimble investors in the year ahead," including a trio of tech trends - emissions control, print-on-demand, and web analytics.

New Emission Technology:

Martin explains, "Thanks to new government regulations that kicked-in in early 2007, and with additional rules on tap for 2010, the opportunities around automobile and truck emission technologies continue to grow."

His top picks include Tenneco (NYSE: TEN), which he says, "Should be a prime beneficiary, as it has already locked up a number of valuable design wins that are going to market this year and next."

His other top pick is Corning (NYSE: GLW), which is best known for its LCD glass and fiber businesses. Martin notes, "Corning is set to ramp its Environmental Technologies business, thanks to its innovations in diesel emission technologies. We believe that this upside is not priced into GLW stock, and thus we would be interested in accumulating the stock on weakness.

Print On-Demand Technology:

"Enabled by brisk advances in printing technologies, the world of large-scale printing is poised to rapidly change," observes Martin. He notes that it is now becoming more cost competitive for companies and consumers to print exactly what they need when they need it, rather than the inefficient and wasteful process of warehousing thousands of varying forms, brochures, stationery, etc.

He notes, "This is a tectonic shift for the printing industry that will drive consolidation among providers, while rewarding companies that jump out in front with the latest technologies." His picks to play this trend are Cenveo (NYSE: CVO) as well as VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT).

Web Analytics:

"With online advertising, e-commerce, and other Internet businesses becoming increasingly sophisticated," notes Martin, "and with ever-larger dollars at stake, businesses are spending big bucks to track the behaviors of their website visitors, the efficiency of their marketing dollars, and to see how the online channel relates to their other markets."

One early big winner, he notes is Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR), which he says, "has grabbed the lead in this nascent market." Another beneficiary of this trend is the number-two player in the industry, WebSideStory (NASDAQ: WSSI). He adds, "We believe that the rising tide of web analytics is going to benefit more than just Omniture, and have also added WebSideStory to our buy list."

Steven Halpern is the editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, a free daily website which features the latest stock picks from the nation's leading financial newsletters.