Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) pleased Wall Street this morning with an upwardly revised 2009 forecast. Thanks to a strong third-quarter performance from its Jennie-O turkey unit, along with solid results in its refrigerated foods and grocery products divisions, Hormel now expects fiscal 2009 earnings of $2.36 to $2.42 per share.

"We also benefited from better investment performance in our rabbi trust," commented Chairman, President, and CEO Jeffrey M. Ettinger in a company release.

Upscale menswear firm Perry Ellis International (NASDAQ: PERY) is the latest firm to hit Wall Street with a bleak outlook on retail sales. This morning, the company unveiled its preliminary third-quarter results and dramatically slashed its earnings guidance for fiscal 2009. Chairman and CEO George Feldenkreis warned, "Our retail partners are expecting an extremely promotional Christmas season, but at this point, we have no visibility on what the Thanksgiving weekend and the Christmas season will bring."

In the third quarter, PERY anticipates diluted earnings per share of 30 to 33 cents per share, compared to 55 cents in the same quarter of 2007. Revenue for the period is expected to decline 2% from last year to $222.8 million. The final results will be released on November 20, ahead of the opening bell.

Looking ahead to 2009, the clothing concern trimmed its fiscal-year earnings guidance from $1.67 to $1.72 per fully diluted share to a range between 90 cents and $1.10 per fully diluted share. The updated forecast accounts for one-time expenses of 10 to 15 cents per share related to a strategic review of the company's brands and businesses. Revenue for 2009 is now projected to fall between $875 million and $900 million, down from a prior forecast of $910 million to $925 million.

Feldenkreis noted that the formal review process should help make PERY "a stronger and more nimble company when the economy turns around."

In light of today's slashed forecast and uncertain outlook from Perry Ellis, the stock could be hit with downgrades or price-target cuts. Zacks reports that 3 out of 5 analysts following the shares maintain a bullish Strong Buy opinion, while Thomson Financial pegs the average 12-month price target at $16.40. This consensus estimate implies an expected upside of 211% from PERY's closing price on Wednesday -- leaving ample opportunity for potential downward revisions.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.

Computer maker Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is set to reveal Q3 earnings this Thursday. As such -- and for the first time since taking over the CEO post this past January -- CEO and company founder Michael Dell will be judged on his ability to get his company back on sales and profit tracks. Those tracks will be compared to the astounding success Mark Hurd has had while leading competitor Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) to greater profits, sales and operational efficiency during all of 2007.

Although prior quarters have been under Michael Dell's watch as well, the accounting scandal that rocked the company for nearly two years is pretty much over (although internally the SEC probe still lingers) and the company really has had several quarters now to implement rebound strategies and make the company grow again. Dell re-entered the retail space this summer to augment its direct-only sales model and make it more competitive with Hewlett-Packard, and a resurgent Acer in the consumer category. Additionally, it's made a stab into colored laptop products for the trend-conscious consumer crowd.

Dell's Q3 numbers are expected to land at an earnings figure of $0.35 per share, which would be a lift from the $0.30 EPS figure from the year-ago quarter. Expected revenue stands at $15.34 billion for the quarter as well, compared to $14.38 billion in 2006. Can Dell match (or beat) those expectations?

Most likely, yes. In the meantime, Hewlett-Packard won't stand still and will continue to slap Dell all around with growth rates in the mid-double figures, according to the company's guidance. Dell may grow slowly but surely, but its main competitor is still going for the jugular -- and winning.

Comic book publisher and super-hero film maker Marvel Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: MVL) recently posted big numbers for 3Q 2007, based primarily on the success of Spider-Man 3. The webslinger's numbers are large enough to cause Marvel CEO Morton Handel to raise FY 2007 guidance from EPS $1.30-$1.55 to $1.60-$1.65. FY 2008 is forecast to be just under EPS 2007 range with the 2008 release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk video games.

Bear in mind these numbers were generated before the Hollywood writers' strike. Now all bets are off given the strike's unknown duration. Marvel has a number of projects in various stages of development. Both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk movies are in the final stages of completion and are set to be released before the beginning of summer 2008. Production of TV series for Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man will be delayed, as will the Punisher 2 movie. Investors should enjoy the profits while they can.

Marvel is in the process of shifting away from producing its own toys to licensing Hasbro to produce them. This is a good strategy as more toys, including Curious George toys, are being recalled due to possible lead contamination. This shift has caused a $10 million drop in revenue in 3Q 2007, but this decline was more than covered by a doubling of net sales, to $66 million, in the licensing segment. The rise is driven primarily by Spider-Man 3. While other publishers struggle to turn a profit, comic books are still good sellers. Net sales increased 13% to $35 million, based on World War Hulk and Stephen King's Dark Towers.

Ever wonder how your local construction company can afford those big earthmovers and cranes it uses all over town? The odds are it does not own them at all. It rents. A leader in sales and rental of the heavy equipment is headquartered in Baton Rouge.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ: HEES) provides heavy construction and industrial equipment, dealing in industrial lift trucks, aerial platforms, cranes and earthmovers. It rents and sells new and used equipment and also provides repair and maintenance services. Customers include construction contractors, manufacturers, public utilities, municipalities, maintenance contractors and other large industrial concerns. The firm serves nearly 28,000 U.S. accounts.

H&E surprised the Street last week, when it reported Q3 EPS of 53 cents and revenues of $270.6 million. Analysts had been expecting 45 cents and $243.3 million. Management also guided FY07 revenues to $0.995-$1.0 billion ($944.12M consensus) and announced a $100 million stock repurchase program. The CEO noted that a recent mid-Atlantic acquisition was expected to generate" significant growth opportunities." HEES shares broke through 30-day/50-day moving average resistance on the news and has now begun to form a bullish "pennant" consolidation pattern. Prices frequently exit pennants moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with one "strong buy," three "buys" and one "hold." Analysts see a 17% growth rate, through the next year. The HEES P/E ratio (10.61), Price to Sales ratio (0.78), Price to Book ratio (2.55), Price to Cash Flow ratio (4.36), Sales Growth rate (32.58%), EPS Growth rate (17.78%), Return on Assets (7.94%), Return on Investment (12.87%) and Return on Equity (27.32%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 50% of the outstanding shares. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $15 and $30.59. A stop-loss of $16.70 looks good here.

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

Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM), is recently down $3.71 to $20.51. WM call option volume of 48,936 contracts compares to put volume of 102,451 contracts. WM November 20 straddle is trading at $3.25. WM December option implied volatility of 87 is above its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, suggesting traders are purchasing puts to hedge against further downside risk.

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

In breaking after-market-close results, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)'s third-quarter earnings were up 47% with a 5.1% increase in sales to $22.62 billion; a huge bit of good news for Big Blue.

On the other side of the coin was Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT). Oh, how the mighty mobile company has fallen. Third quarter 2006 earnings for Motorola were down 45%, to 39 cents a share, although you could barely tell from the rosy picture painted by the earnings release; full of optimism about sales at $10.7 billion, up 17% from Q3 2005. We're waiting to see how investors react.

Update: investors were thrilled with IBM and sent stock up after hours to $91.32 from a close of $86.95. Motorola was terrible news and investors sent the stock tumbling to $22.90 from its already-lower close of $24.85.