Last week's preview raised the question of whether consumers were turning to comfort foods in these uncertain times, specifically in terms of second quarter earnings of Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) and Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD). Campbell's strong earnings growth topped expectations, while Krispy Kreme narrowed its loss, though it fell short of estimates.

This coming week should bring reports from more food-related companies, from cereal maker General Mills and food packager CongAgra to grocery chain Kroger, to the parent companies of restaurants Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Carl's Jr., and Hardees. Also look for reports from tech-related companies such as Oracle, Adobe, and Palm, as well as from financials Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, and from economic bellwether FedEx.

Here's what analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are expecting from some of the companies reporting earnings this week, as compared to their results from the same period of last year:

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Schiff Nutrition, Siemens and Priceline.com were today's noteworthy initiations:

• B. Riley assumed Schiff Nutrition (NYSE:WNI) with a Buy rating and $7.75 target. The firm believes downside is limited given the company's balance sheet and cash flows and sees opportunity for market share gains.
  
• Morgan Stanley initiated Siemens (NYSE:SI) with an Overweight rating and is positive on the company's revenue diversification and planned headcount reductions.
  
• Stanford believes Priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN) is positioned to benefit as consumers shift to the Internet and the company's bargain prices to make travel plans. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $140 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Bank of America initiated Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS) with a Sell rating, Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) and KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC) with Buy ratings and Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) with a Neutral rating.
  
• ThinkPanmure assumed Smart Balance (NASDAQ:SMBL) with a Buy rating and $10 target.