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

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVID) sees strong Q1 results driven by Guitar Hero.
• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI) raised its Q2 earnings guidance ahead of its report.
• Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) strong Q4 and full-year results included a record quarterly revenue.
• Citigroup (NYSE: C) posted better-than-expected results despite a big loss on further write-downs.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) reported better-than-expected results and offered a soft outlook (see transcript).
• Fastenal Co. (NASDAQ: FAST) posted strong Q2 earnings despite the housing slump but lower revenues.
• Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) posted strong Q2 results on expansion in Mexico and China.
• Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) beat Q2 expectations despite profit and revenue declines.
• International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) easily topped Wall Street earnings expectations.
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) beat Q2 estimates and raised its full-year forecast (see transcript).
• Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) warned of lower Q2 earnings due to energy and distribution costs.
• Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) reported worse-than-expected Q2 results on further write downs.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) earnings surged but investors were put off by its full-year guidance.
• Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) reaffirmed its guidance following the Kimberly-Clark warnings.
• United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) beat Q2 estimates, lifting shares from a recent 52-week low.
• ValueClick Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) posted weak results and warned about the second half of the year.

For more highlights from this week, see: Google, Intel, JPMorgan, Coca-Cola, Nokia and others

The earnings crunch continues next week. Among companies scheduled to report are Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Texas Intruments (NYSE: TXN), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), Wachovia (NYSE: WB), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Hershey (NYSE: HSY), and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Some of the more notable downgrades today include Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), AstraZeneca plc (AZN), GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) and Motorola, Inc (MOT):

• Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to Neutral from Buy on integration issues, as the firm does not expect a sales recovery before Q3.

• JP Morgan cut both AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) to Underweight from Neutral on valuation.

• RBC downgraded Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) to Sector Perform from Outperform; following Motorola's pre-announcement, the firm expects shares to trade sideways for the balance of the year.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Bank Of America downgraded Aeropostale, Inc (NYSE: ARO) to Neutral from Buy with a $42 target based on valuation.

• RF Micro Devices, Inc (NASDAQ: RFMD) was cut to Sector Perform from Outperform at CIBC citing the risk from Motorola; the firm believes RFMD's story outside of Motorola remains strong and consistent but sees downside to FY08 targets given MOT's contribution to RFMD's top line.

• Raymond James downgraded Yamana Gold Inc (NYSE: AUY) to Outperform from Strong Buy. UBS also downgraded Yamana to Reduce from Neutral.

• Citigroup cut Allegheny Energy, Inc (NYSE: AYE) to Hold from Buy with a $53 target.

• Lehman downgraded International Rectifier Corp (NYSE: IRF) to Equal Weight from Overweight and a $40 target.

• Raytheon Co (NYSE: RTN) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman based on valuation.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Broadcom Corp (BRCM) and American Medical Systems Holdings (AMMD) were today's notable initiations.

• Merrill Lynch reinstated Broadcom Corp (NASDAQ: BRCM) with a Buy rating and $42 target to reflect the company's secular growth story.

• Thomas Weisel started American Medical Systems Holdings (NASDAQ: AMMD) with an Overweight rating and $16 target; the firm says American Medical is a leader in surgical urology and gynecology and sees upside from the company's full pipeline.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• NaviSite inc (NASDAQ: NAVI) was initiated with a Market Weight rating at Thomas Weisel.

• Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp (NYSE: MRX) was initiated with a Buy rating and $45 target at Jefferies.

• Soleil initiated Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: AMLN) with a Hold rating.

• DA Davidson started Allegheny Technologies Inc (NYSE: ATI) with a Buy rating.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

On today's STOP TRADING! segment on CNBC, Cramer said The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is a play. With Kroger at $29 after a B of A upgrade said it could beat for years to come. The case against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is so fabulous that everyone wants in. He commented that when Lee Scott is finally dethroned, this wouldn't necessarily happen, but now the store is not what it once was. Lee Scott was one of 24/7 Wall St.'s TOP CEO's THAT HAVE TO GO from December.

Cramer adores Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ATI). He said this one is in the sweet spot and it is positioned to work every single aspect of the economy and its metal will stand up to corrosive effects of ethanol.

If you want to know why Cramer was out Friday night, it looks like he fractured his foot.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

On tonight's episode of MAD MONEY on CNBC, host Jim Cramer discussed his stock of the year. It is up and still going higher.

Back on January 3 he picked Allegheny Tech (ATI) when it was at $36.05 and now it is up at $88. He picked it because of the titanium operations from aircraft expansions. He said if you have held this a long time it time to take half off the table, but you can still buy this stock if you haven't bought it yet.

You don't have to sell Allegheny or avoid it just because it has more than doubled. He thinks this is still worth owning because of stainless steel and titanium because they serve industries that are still strong.

The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) locked in $2.5 billion of the company's supply just last week. It is still cheap on forward multiples to any fund manager in the world.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Allegheny Tech (ATI) and Bell Microproducts (BELM) top today's minuscule upgrade list.

• Allegheny Technologies Inc (NYSE: ATI) was upgraded by Merrill Lynch to Buy from Neutral, citing expectations for continued earnings momentum from a strong demand in titanium.
• Robert W. Baird upgraded Bell Microproducts Inc (NASDAQ: BELM) to Outpeform from Neutral, citing citing strong European demand and improving hard drive datapoint at enterprise resellers and distributors.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Express Scripts Inc (NASDAQ: ESRX) was upgraded by Matrix USA to Buy from Hold based on high demand
• Longbow Research upgraded Rohm and Haas Co. (NYSE: ROH) to Buy from Neutral.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).