For those of you who, as calculated, took advantage of American Express' summer dip to scoop-up shares, you made the correct move. American Express (AXP), first discussed here on April 27, 2009 at a price of $27.28, appears to have put in a bottom at/near $36.

No less than six attempts to push AXP below $26 in the past six months have failed -- a bullish sign, from a technical standpoint.

Meanwhile, from a fundamental standpoint, AXP's story continues to improve. Look for AXP to post 2010 strong revenue growth of 10-12%, on a slowly improving U.S. economy, followed by a 5-8% rise in 2011.

If you are looking for clues telling you which stocks have a good chance of increasing in value, you might want consider watching what insiders are doing. After all, talk is cheap, but when insiders put their own money on the line, you should sit up and take note.

World Heart Corp (WHRT) topped the insider-buying charts for the week ending July 9th as insiders snapped up 2,341,920 shares of company stock at a market value of $4,999,999. During the past six months, insiders have increased their overall holdings in the company by -12.78% and now own 7.09% of WHRT stock.

American Express Co (AXP) was not far behind, with insiders buying 20,000 shares at a market value of $787,648. Insiders now own 0.18% of the company's stock after decreasing their overall holdings by 1.88% during the past six months.

The earnings crunch continues this week, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are anticipating lots of strong quarterly reports.

For example, year-over-year earnings growth from big oil Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), ExxonMobil (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) are expected to be in double digits. The same is true of many other energy and mining concerns reporting this week: Allegheny Technologies (ATI), Alliant Energy (LNT), Arch Coal (ACI), Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF), CMS Energy (CMS), CONSOL Energy (CNX), DPL (DPL), Hess Corp. (HES), Minerals Technologies (MTX), Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), PPL Corp. (PPL), Southwestern Energy (SWN), Total (TOT), Whiting Petroleum (WLL), Williams Companies (WMB) and Wisconsin Energy (WEC).

Shares of financial giant American Express (AXP) are trading lower in after hours trading despite a stronger than expected earnings report for its third quarter.

Going into this afternoon's earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see American Express announce earnings of $0.86 per share, while actual earnings came in above estimates at $0.90 per share.

Analyst Upgrades

• Soleil upgraded Baxter (BAX) to buy from hold on expectations the company will benefit from supply disruptions at privately-held plasma manufacturer Octapharma. The firm raised its price target for shares to $56 from $45.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Dolby (DLB) to buy from hold, citing valuation following the recent underperformance of shares. The firm upped its price target to $75 from $70.
• Bernstein upgraded Alexion (ALXN) to outperform from market perform based on increased Soliris forecasts for PNH and potential in aHUS. The firm also raised its price target to $75 from $60.
• Agrium (AGU) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Roche (RHHBY) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• BMO Capital upgraded Energizer (ENR) to outperform from market perform.

I found a rather interesting article on Bloomberg, one discussing the potential of smartphones to replace credit cards. Supposedly, both AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), and perhaps T-Mobile, may work with Discover Financial Services (DFS) and Barclays (BCS) in Atlanta and three other cities to test a system allowing consumers to pay with the "wave of a smartphone." This move would be the largest effort to attempt mobile payments in America and could serve to cut into credit card use.

Crone Consulting, a credit card consultant, noted that such a move could be a "game-changer" as far as credit cards are concerned. Think of how much such a move could cut into the market share for credit cards. According to the article, Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) handled 82% of U.S. consumer spending a year ago (that is $2.45 trillion). Now imagine that smartphone users have the ability to simply pass their phone over a reader in order to pay for their purchases.

For better or worse, the earnings crunch is on this week, with many companies scheduled to report their second quarter 2010 results. Here's a quick run down of what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting to see in the way of this week's earnings results, as well as a closer look at three of the week's biggest anticipated earnings gainers: American Express Co. (AXP), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Apple Inc. (AAPL).

Analysts expect the following companies to have more than doubled their earnings per share from a year ago.

(DFS), whose related companies include American Express (AXP), MasterCard (MA), and Visa (V), closed higher yesterday after releasing Q2 data. Of course, I should put the phrase "closed higher" into perspective. The stock ended the day at $14.08, which meant it rose 0.5%. Not exactly a spectacular end to the session, but it actually was doing better at other points during the intraday period.

According to this item, an improved profit picture in the latest report drove the buying. Card-sales volume went up while charge-offs went down. A great combination for the business.

According to a recent survey from the American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor, only about 60% of business owners are confident that they will get enough capital to grow. Yes, even with the federal stimulus plans and improved economy, small businesses are still feeling the credit squeeze.

What can be done? Well, it is important to realize that financial institutions are rethinking their credit policies. In fact, American Express has provided some helpful tips to deal with the new landscape (they should know, right?). Let's take a look:

Visa (V), which competes with American Express (AXP), Discover Financial Services (DFS), and MasterCard (MA), is probably one of the best long-term ideas out there, in my opinion. Credit and debit cards will always play a vital role in the financial culture, and Visa is a top brand in the space.

The equity's 52-week high stands at $97.19. It closed yesterday at $93.61, up a paltry 66 cents, or 0.7%. The stock wasn't rocking into the earnings report, which was released after the bell. And it's pulled back a little from the 52-week high. So what? The one-year chart looks attractive to my eye, and even if it didn't, this is one story I'm fully behind.

The skinny on American Express' (AXP) first quarter performance? An impressive besting of the First Call estimates -- the company earned 73 cents per share compared to the Thomson/Reuters First Call estimate of 64 cents per share -- and it's a performance that also bodes well for the economic recovery.

The reason? Customers spent 16% more in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, including a large 27% increase in international spending. The aforementioned suggests U.S. consumer confidence is improving -- something that's historically been bullish for U.S. GDP. The company earned 31 cents per share a year ago in the first quarter of 2009.

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

• Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) strong Q1 results beat earnings expectations, and yet shares sold off.
• American Express Co. (AXP) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, which lifted shares.
• Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares rose to a new all-time high after it said earnings surged 90% in its Q2.
• Coca-Cola Co. (KO) beat Q1 earnings estimates but weaker-than-expected revenue sent shares lower.
• eBay Inc. (EBAY) shares sold off after Q1 earnings were in line with expectations and guidance was weak.

I'm going to take a brief look at two earnings releases from the week. One involves a business backed by an iconic piece of financial plastic while the other concerns a company that is a dividend play based on brands such as Kleenex.

American Express (AXP), which competes with MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V), had a great Q1. Reuters says that the company made 73 cents per share, a number that is nine pennies ahead of analyst projections. The growth in net income was impressive, and it shows that the economy is performing a lot better than it once was.

In order to spur spending, Target Corporation (TGT) has long offered

discounts to consumers who signed up for its store-brand credit cards. And more often than not, those cards carried the Visa, Inc. (V) logo.

Well, not any more. This week, TGT announced it will no longer issue cards with the Visa logo and instead encourage shoppers to sign up for its own plastic "REDcard." It's a trend that could sap revenue away from credit card stocks V, Mastercard In (MA) and American Express (AXP).

Earnings season is in full swing, and this week will bring quarterly results from Amazon.com (AMZN), DeVry (DV), Freeport McMoRan (FCX), Hershey (HSY), Kimberley-Clark (KMB), Starbucks (SBUX), Union Pacific (UNP) and United Technologies (UTX), all of which, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, are expected to post double-digit earnings growth from the same period of last year (when most stocks were at their recessionary lows).

After strong showings last week by Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM), the earnings spotlight again will be on the tech and financial sectors. So, let's take a closer look at what's expected from impending results from Apple (AAPL), International Business Machines (IBM) and Western Digital (WDC), as well as Goldman Sachs (GS), American Express (AXP) and Morgan Stanley (MS).