In my columns, I usually focus on new technologies that can help boost your business. But sometimes the old-fashioned approaches can still work quite well.

Yes, this includes mailers.

OK, it's true that people still throw away much of their mail (and, it even looks like the U.S. Postal Service will cut back on its deliveries). But if a mailer is done right, you can get a nice return on your investment.

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

• Apple Inc. (AAPL) posted its highest quarterly revenue ever, easily beating estimates, as iPhone sales doubled.
• Boeing Co. (BA) swung to a larger-than-expected Q4 profit but guidance fell short of analysts' estimates.
• Chevron Corp. (CVX) fell short of analysts' earnings estimates for Q4, sending shares lower.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) shares rose after optimistic statements by the CEO ahead of Q2 results.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) shares surged after it beat Q4 expectations by a wide margin and cash flow improved.
• Ford Motor Co. (F) reported its first annual profit in four years due to cost-cutting and improved market share.
• Halliburton Co. (HAL) reported lower Q4 earnings but beat estimates by a penny, and revenue also fell.

Over the years, VistaPrint (VPRT) has built a highly efficient platform to help small businesses with print products, including business cards, brochures, holiday cards and even signage. In fact, the company estimates that its market size is staggering $50 billion.

Well, VistaPrint keeps getting a bigger piece of this opportunity. In the latest quarter, the company grew revenues by 40% to $194.6 million and net income came to $26.9 million, up 45% over the past year. Cash flow from operations were $57.9 million.

In an episode of The Office, Michael Scott wasn't impressed with his company's move towards technology. He thought the old-school approaches still worked, such as giving gift baskets away to former customers. Of course, it was a disaster. These customers left because of a lack of technology, as well as high prices.

As with any comedy, there was truth to both sides. Actually, we can get sucked into too much technology. And yes, customer gifts can be a good idea. After all, it costs much more money to acquire customers than than to keep them.

Vistaprint (VPRT - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced this morning despite terminating a membership program that it still expects Q2 adjusted EPS of 55 to 60 cents on revenue of $167 to $175 million, roughly in line with analysts' forecasts of 59 cents and $175.05 million, respectively. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on VPRT.

VPRT opened this morning at $55.15. So far today the stock has hit a low of $54.87 and a high of $56.00. As of 11:55, VPRT is trading at $55.88 up $2.78 (5.2%). The chart for VPRT looks neutral and S&P gives VPRT a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Vistaprint (VPRT) to buy from hold on valuation following the recent pullback in shares. The firm also raised its price target on the stock to $62 from $55.
• Fox-Pitt upgraded Eaton Vance (EV) to outperform from in line citing strong fundamentals. The firm raised its target to $36 from $34.
• Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Hospitality Properties (HPT) to buy from hold citing valuation and expected cash dividend in 2010. The firm has a $22 target on the stock.
• The Advisory Board (ABCO) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at First Analysis.
• Technip (TKPPY) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Jefferies upgraded Energy XXI (EXXI) to hold from underperform and raised its target to $2 from $1.

Nike's (NYSE: NKE) "swoosh" logo is incredibly powerful and captures the essense of the company. Interestingly enough, back in 1971 Carolyn Davidson designed the logo for a mere $35 (for more stories about logos, check out the LogoBlog).

So of course, your company's logo is critical -- in terms of branding, getting customers, and presenting the right image. And, the good news is that there are many affordable options to get a top-notch one.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to Outperform from Market Perform due to valuation and the company's better balance sheet following capital raises. The firm raised its target on shares to $16.50.
  
• Merriman upgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ:BCSI) to Buy from Neutral to reflect stabilizing demand and merger synergies from the Packeteer acquisition.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Genomic Health (NASDAQ:GHDX) to Overweight from Market Weight based on valuation, a new colon cancer assay expected in 2010, and upside from new sales hires.
• Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• Great Plains Energy (NYSE:GXP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Ericsson (nASDAQ:ERIC) was upgraded at Societe Generale to Buy from Hold.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Mueller Water, ASM International and Kensey Nash were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Baird upgraded shares of Mueller Water (NYSE: MWA) to Outperform from Neutral following recent channel checks, as they believe the company has seen a cyclical trough in earnings and downside is limited at current levels. The company's target was raised to $12 from $9.
  
• Jefferies upgraded shares of ASM International (NASDAQ: ASMI) to Buy from Hold as they believe a break-up is likely following bids for the company's front-end business.
  
• Susquehanna said Kensey Nash's (NASDAQ: KNSY) sale of its endovascular products division was the best outcome and will allow the company to focus on being a pure-play OEM biomaterials platform company. Shares were upgraded to Positive from Neutral.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman added Vistaprint (NASDAQ: VPRT) to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• UBS upgraded Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) is today expected to increase its sales and profit projections for the next two years, as it reports results of its fiscal year ended April 30. The Wall Street Journal reported that sales are to grow 6% or higher from 4%, while earnings per share growth for the next two years is projected to grow between 8% and 11% from the earlier projection of 7% to 9%.
• It appears that Vistaprint Limited (NASDAQ: VPRT), a graphic design services and printed products company, counts on referral fees from pop up rewards programs on it website for a certain amount of its revenue and profit and also relies on the referral of its customers to outside firms offering rewards programs, which turns out to be a monthly fee for services such as discounts on movies and amusement parks, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street". Some believe the stock, whose shares have plummeted over concerns of slowing revenue and slimmer gross margins, may be trading too high for its own good.
• According to people familiar with their plans, the Financial Times reported that the CEOs of UAL Corporation's (NASDAQ: UAUA) United Airlines and US Airways Group (NYSE: LCC) will today meet to discuss the carriers' potential merger agreement.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Independent reported that for the second time this month, Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS) revised lower its calculation of analysts' consensus for its full-year profit, cutting its 2008 figure by nearly 8% to GBP5.876B pre-tax; Barclays cut the calculation 15% two weeks ago.

[Update: Find more from Timothy Sykes here, and more stocks to buy here.]

Each quarter brings a new batch of earnings plays, so which ones should you trade?

I've had my fair share of successful calls, but I've also been burned badly before. One time, I put in a solid week's worth of research (pdf) to pick Vasco Data Systems (NASDAQ: VDSI) right before earnings, and what happened, they totally blew it. A 30% drop. It still stings. This is just the latest reminder that you can't trust companies, analysts or really anyone on Wall Street.

So far, in this latest round, Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC), Mastercard (NYSE: MA), VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT) and Concur Technologies (NASDAQ: CNQR) have performed well while Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Accuray (NASDAQ: ARAY), Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) [editor's note - this was written prior to today's news], VMware (NYSE: VMW), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) have all bombed.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) all had very solid quarters, but where did it get investors? Nowhere -- all three stocks are flat since then.

Update: See the latest posts about stocks to buy from BloggingStocks.

After nailing the top in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and warning investors this would be a painful year, I've been getting hundreds of emails from people asking me what to do next? As if suddenly after two correct predictions, I'm Nostradamus or David Blaine!

Make no mistake, I'm neither a forecaster nor a magician, I'm just a trader who bases his decisions around these key elements: a distrust of everyone and every company on Wall Street (made easier by the likes of MBIA (NYSE: MBI), E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) and Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC); a respect, bordering on religion, for charts and a quick trigger finger if the charts turn against me. I know people want longer term predictions, but I believe those to be 100% guessing games and potentially hazard to your investment health. Pregnant women should avoid them at all costs. Just kidding, it's fine for some people, but I like to make my predictions and cash out, so I can enjoy stress-free weekends if you catch my drift.

So, here's what I see right now: two weeks in and we're already halfway to my 10%-down market prediction, and Apple is down 15% (take that you stereotypical cheerleaders, go date some football players)! The markets are definitely rolling over, and while it's usually a long, drawn-out process, the charts seem to have little concern for what's normal as all the major indices have formed perfect head-and-shoulders patterns (a very bearish sign) and investors are rightfully freaking out.

Email marketing can be quite effective. According to a report from the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing returned $51.58 in sales for each dollar spent. This compares to $17.07 for newspaper ads and $15.64 for direct mail.

The good news is that there are cost-effective email marketing tools, such as from Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT).

But what are some useful strategies? Well, I had a chance to talk to Trynka Shineman, the senior vice president of North American marketing for VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT). Let's take a look:

Getting Action: Try to cross-sell customers, such as through an order confirmation email. You can provide a special price and a link to a splash page to a relevant product offer.

"It's also important to create a sense of urgency," said Shineman. "Customers need to know not only that they are receiving something targeted to them, but a date encourages them to act quickly versus delaying the decision."

MOST NOTEWORTHY: International Paper, Autodesk, Oracle and Vistaprint were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of International Paper (NYSE: IP) to Buy from Hold on valuation and their belief that recent declines in the dollar will support pulp, paper and paperboard prices going forward.
  
• Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies after their proprietary survey yielded positive data points going into Q3. They also raised their estimates due to currency. Broadpoint raised its rating on Oracle to Buy from Neutral on valuation following the recent underperformance.
  
• Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was also upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC, as they believe the company's growing product portfolio, improving margins and successful acquisition strategy should continue to drive double-digit EPS gains.
  
• William Blair added Vistaprint (NASDAQ: VPRT) to its Current Better Values List. The firm believes the company has a large market opportunity and expects its business momentum to continue. They view the recent weakness as a buying opportunity.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Merrill Lynch upgraded Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• UBS upgraded Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ: EGLE) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Affiliated Managers Group (NYSE: AMG) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
  
• Banc of America upgraded Andersons (NASDAQ: ANDE) to Buy from Neutral.

The NEXT stock in my on-going series of the 25 Top Stocks for the NEXT 25 Years is VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT). VistaPrint completed its initial public offering (IPO) in October 2005. It has comfortably achieved or exceeded every quarter since the IPO. The company has a current market capitalization of $1.7 billion and was founded in 1995. The company has posted 27 consecutive up quarters, the last 6 quarters as a public entity.

VistaPrint provides graphic design services and customized print products to consumers and small-to-medium size business world-wide. Among its many products VistaPrint offers business cards, brochures, calendars, folded cards, envelopes, presentation folders, newsletters, etc. The customer can choose from various templates and graphic designs for logos and the other printed products. Customers also have access to over 70,000 stock photographs and illustrations to choose from.

The beauty of VistaPrint's business is that it has captured more than seven million customers to date from over 110 countries.The strength of this customer base is diverse and geographically scattered. VistaPrint aggressively markets its services and products in several on-line web sites. The long-term key is to grow the existing base and obviously capture a greater number of new customers, while marketing to the existing list for add-on sales.