Notorious insurance titan American International Group (AIG) is on the upswing today, after Moody's Investors Service reported late Monday that it expects AIG will be able to repay its government debt. The ratings agency observed that AIG has made progress with its restructuring plan, and the firm's latest quarterly earnings "show continued stabilization of the core insurance operations despite challenging market conditions."

The insurance issue has put many of its non-core assets up for sale during the past year to generate capital and pare its unwieldy size, but some of those plans have been iced by new CEO Robert Benmosche. Moody's likes the new chief's approach, with the firm observing, "We believe that the slower approach to restructuring could help AIG to generate more favorable values from its business portfolio than would be the case under rushed asset sales."

Shares of The Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) surged to a new 52-week high Friday morning, after the brewmaster reported a third-quarter profit of $10.4 million, or 72 cents per share, on revenue of $108.7 million. The company swung to a loss of 2 cents per share in the third quarter of 2008, but attributed its turnaround to strong shipments and decreased advertising expenses.

The results were better than analysts expected, with consensus estimates calling for Boston Beer to bank a profit of 39 cents per share on $107.5 million. Looking forward, Boston Beer now expects full-year earnings of $1.75 per share to $2.05 per share, a marked increased from its prior forecast for a 2009 profit of $1.40 per share to $1.70 per share.

Traders initially seemed thrilled with Wednesday's third-quarter earnings report from Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL), but the stock then backpedaled into the red. The retailer banked a quarterly profit of $7.8 million, or 28 cents per share, up from its year-ago net income of $5.5 million, or 20 cents per share. Revenue for the period surged 14% to $140.5 million. The results comfortably outpaced analysts' consensus estimates, which called for a profit of 24 cents per share on $137.1 million in revenue.

Looking ahead, Lumber Liquidators is forecasting full-year revenue of $535 million to $543 million, up from its previous guidance of $528 million to $538 million. Earnings for fiscal 2009 are expected to range between 90 cents and 95 cents per share, compared to the retailer's previous forecast of 85 cents to 91 cents per share. Wall Street, on average, is expecting full-year earnings of 90 cents per share on $537.1 million.

This morning, Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) reported that its second-quarter earnings checked in at $178 million. This profit comes out to $1.75 per diluted share compared to $1.58 per diluted share for the same quarter last year. For the first six months of fiscal 2010, RL saw net income drop a percentage point, to $254 million. Per-share income totaled $2.51 per share, which was equal to those from a year ago.

RL Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Lauren, noted that the results "confirm the resilience and vitality of our strategy and demonstrate the superb execution of our management team." The company noted that results have exceeded its expectations for the first half and upped its sales projections for the remainder of the year.

An article in Barron's suggests that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is on the verge of regaining some of its former mojo. The company recently offered a solid outlook for the remainder of the year, and it could garner new business after debuting two smartphones featuring Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system -- namely, the Droid and the Cliq.

The author cites analyst Ed Snyder of Charter Equity Research, who believes Motorola is on the cusp of "an extended upswing in handsets ... over the next several quarters." Snyder believes that the firm's ailing handset division could achieve break-even results as soon as the second quarter of 2010.

Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) surged right out of the gate Friday morning, as traders cheered the stem cell stock's narrower-than-expected quarterly loss. After Thursday's close, Geron reported a third-quarter loss of $15.2 million, or 17 cents per share, while revenue arrived at $494,000.

Operating expenses for the quarter fell on a year-over-year basis from $18.3 million to $16.9 million, while research and development costs dwindled from $14.2 million to $13.4 million.

A report in Thursday's The Wall Street Journal [subscription required] reveals that American International Group (NYSE: AIG) is actually reaping the benefits of its risky bets in the credit-default swap market.

AIG was forced to shell out billions to Wall Street banks amid last year's credit crisis, as the assets backed by the credit-default swaps plummeted in value. However, the market's reversal of fortune means that banking heavyweights, such as Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), are now returning collateral to the infamous insurance giant.

Before the opening bell sounds on Thursday, October 29, Cincinnati-based Dow component Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) will report fiscal first-quarter earnings. Analysts believe P&G will report earnings of 99 cents per share with sales of $19.83 billion.

These expected results are lower than those of a year ago, when the company saw earnings of $1.03 per share and revenue of $22 billion. P&G set expectations low for this quarter, as it announced early in the quarter that sales are expected to fall again. Is this truly the case or is it a smart business move?

Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE: IVN) was broadly lower Wednesday after mining giant Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) boosted its stake in the company from 9.9% to 19.7%. Rio Tinto raised its interest in Ivanhoe by purchasing 46.3 million common shares for $388 million. The proceeds will be used to help build and commission Ivanhoe's Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia.

Thanks to the capital infusion, Ivanhoe now has roughly $610 million in cash on its balance sheet. However, traders are hardly cheering the news -- perhaps because Rio Tinto snapped up the stock at a bargain price of $8.38 per share, representing a steep discount to Tuesday's closing price of $11.51.

LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) was broadly higher Tuesday after boosting its top-line guidance for the third quarter. The alternative energy issue now anticipates revenue of $270 million to $290 million for the period, compared to its earlier forecast for $240 million to $270 million. Analysts' consensus expectations call for third-quarter revenue of just $249.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

LDK added that it now expects wafer shipments for the third quarter to range between 310 megawatts (MW) and 330 MW, up from its previous view of 260 MW to 300 MW. Simultaneously, the firm dropped its forecast for module shipments -- instead of 10 MW to 20 MW, LDK is now looking for module shipments of 5 MW to 10 MW.

After the closing bell on Thursday, internet retailer Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) will step into the earnings spotlight. Experts believe that Amazon will report third-quarter earnings of 33 cents per share with revenue of $5.03 billion. Amazon forecast third-quarter revenue of $4.75 billion to $5.25 billion. In last year's third quarter, Amazon earned 27 cents per share with revenue of $4.26 billion.

With the economy struggling, what should we expect from Amazon? Reportedly, ThinkEquity saw traffic data that implies Amazon's unique visitors rose 23% in the latest quarter. If this is the case, the retailer's sales should have received a bit of a push in the quarter, which could lead to higher earnings. In fact, the ThinkEquity analyst (Ed Weller) told the Associated Press that he expects Amazon to report earnings of 35 cents per share on revenue of $5.13 billion.

The shares of Domino's Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) gapped sharply lower this morning, despite a stronger-than-expected third-quarter profit. Ahead of the bell, Domino's reported net income of $17.8 million, or 31 cents per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 6. Excluding a $14.3 million pretax gain, Domino's profit of 17 cents per share was two cents better than analysts expected.

However, revenue for the period tumbled 6.5% to $302.7 million, falling well short of consensus estimates for $308.9 million. Same-restaurant sales were flat in the U.S., although they were up 2.7% internationally. With top-line results softer than expected, the pizza chain cited lower interest expense and tighter cost controls for the robust bottom-line results.

Depomed Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO) opened Monday on a loss of nearly 50%, as traders panned the company's clinical trial results for Serada. The drug, which is intended to treat hot flashes related to menopause, met only one one of four co-primary goals in late-stage trials after 12 weeks.

Depomed was hoping to prove that Serada could help patients achieve a "statistically significant reduction in the frequency and severity of menopausal hot flashes." However, the company confessed that the placebo effect was unexpectedly high in clinical studies.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) has more than 3,500 stores that sell its inventory of toys, durable housewares, candy, seasonal goods, and so on for a $1. Its other stores, operating as Deal$, sell most of its inventory at $5 or less.

This deep-discount retailer is generally considered to be the leader of its class and is rated a "buy" (four stars) by S&P with a target of $59.

The stock executed a major long-term bullish breakout at around $45. Technically this breakout is major and targets the stock at over $65.

The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE: XHB) bottomed in March and made a direct run to the 200-day moving average by the end of April.

In mid-July, it executed a gold cross, which indicated that its long-term trend was about to change. By early August, it had broken the high of July, establishing an uptrend.

Since then it has been trading within a bull channel, but recently broke the 50-day moving average (blue line) suggesting that XHB will head for the support line and 200-day moving average at around $12.50.