Shares of Level 3 Communications (LVLT) have taken a turn for the worse, after the firm's fourth-quarter earnings report landed with a thud. The company confessed to a net loss of $52 million, or 3 cents per share, narrowed from its year-ago deficit of $182 million, or 11 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter declined to $921 million from $924 million.

The results actually surpassed Wall Street's consensus forecast, which called for a net loss of 10 cents per share on revenue of $920.1 million. However, traders seem none too pleased with Level 3's earnings performance, as the stock plummeted roughly 7% Wednesday morning. In particular, it seems the market may be taking issue with Level 3's warning that it expects free cash flow to be negative for fiscal 2011.

Blue-chip burger baron McDonald's (MCD) was in focus Monday morning after the company unveiled its fourth-quarter earnings. The fast-food chain reported net income of $1.24 billion, or $1.16 per share, slightly improved from its year-ago profit of $1.22 billion, or $1.11 per share. Revenue for the quarter climbed 4% to $6.21 billion.

The fourth-quarter results were more or less in line with Wall Street's expectations, but the same can't be said of its December sales. Global same-store sales rose 3.7% across the board, led by an 8.9% gain in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA). U.S. same-store sales increased 2.6% in December, while sales at restaurants open at least 13 months declined 0.5% in Europe.

Salesforce.com (CRM) is certainly enjoying a positive post-earnings reaction Friday. After unveiling its third-quarter results last night, the stock sailed to a new all-time high as a slew of brokerage firms rushed to raise their price targets on CRM.

Specifically, CRM swung to a third-quarter profit of $21.1 million, or 15 cents per share, while revenue increased 30% to $429.1 million. Excluding items, CRM earned 32 cents per share. By contrast, analysts were looking for a quarterly profit of just 31 cents per share on revenue of $410.5 million.

Chinese gaming concern Perfect World (PWRD) took the earnings stage last night, with the company unveiling a third-quarter profit of CNY213.7 million, or $31.9 million -- down 26% on a year-over-year basis. Excluding items, Perfect World earned CNY4.53 per share, or 68 cents, compared to Wall Street's forecast for 53 cents per share. Revenue for the period rose 12% to CNY658.2 million.

Despite Perfect World's respectable third-quarter performance, analysts seem less than thrilled with the firm's fourth-quarter outlook. Citigroup downgraded the stock to sell from buy, while Credit Suisse lowered its opinion to underperform from outperform.

Online jewelry retailer Blue Nile (NILE) took the earnings stage Friday morning, with the company reporting a third-quarter profit of $2.8 million, or 19 cents per share -- up 7.7% from its year-ago results. Net sales for the quarter added 0.8% to $67.5 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking for a third-quarter profit of 18 cents per share on $72.1 million in revenue.

For the current quarter, Blue Nile predicted a profit of 41 cents to 46 cents per share, with sales arriving between $106 million and $115 million. Analysts anticipate a fourth-quarter profit of 43 cents per share from Blue Nile.

Now that Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives, analysts at JPMorgan are taking a look at the election's potential impact on the stock market. In a research note this morning, JPMorgan cited alternative energy issue First Solar (FSLR) as one equity that could be damaged by the GOP's Congressional gains.

"Most of the downside is accounted for by the possibility of fiscally conservative measures, such as budget cuts and the reduction/elimination of certain subsidies," wrote JPMorgan in a note to clients.

After the close last night, Evergreen Solar (ESLR) announced that its third-quarter loss narrowed to $27.2 million, or 13 cents per share, from last year's deficit of $82.7 million, or 40 cents per share. Revenue for the period climbed to $86.5 million from $77.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

Despite the year-over-year improvement, ESLR's quarterly results fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were predicting a third-quarter loss of just 11 cents per share on $87.5 million in revenue.

Humble copier company Xerox (XRX) is suddenly the toast of Wall Street. In addition to a bullish Barron's feature earlier this week, the stock garnered a rush of attention from optimistic options players Thursday. Although the security has yet to establish a firm foothold in double-digit territory, it seems that hopes are running pretty high for Xerox.

On Thursday, call volume on XRX surged to 28 times the norm, with roughly 103,000 contracts crossing the tape. Most of the volume was focused on the January 2011 series of options, as one trader closed out a block of 35,000 January 7.50 calls and exchanged them for 35,000 contracts of the January 9 call. By rolling these calls up to a higher strike, the speculator is indicating that he expects additional upside from XRX during the intermediate term.

Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) is scheduled to take the earnings stage after Wednesday's closing bell, with Wall Street expecting the homebuilder to report a fiscal third-quarter loss of 52 cents per share. This would mark a notable improvement over Hovnanian's year-ago loss of $2.16 per share, but there's no guarantee the company can match analysts' expectations. During the past four quarters, Hovnanian has fallen short of consensus earnings estimates on two occasions.

Accordingly, speculators have been loading up on bearish bets as Hovnanian's quarterly report approaches. The International Securities Exchange (ISE) reports that traders have bought to open 4.64 puts for every call on HOV during the past 10 days, revealing a strong bias toward pessimistically oriented options.

Financial services firm State Street Corporation (STT) is slated to take its turn in the earnings spotlight tomorrow morning. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting STT to report a second-quarter profit of 93 cents per share, down from $1.04 per share in the year-ago period. The company has a formidable history on the earnings front, having exceeded analysts' per-share profit expectations in each of the past four reporting periods.

However, options players are bracing for a potential post-earnings pullback. During the past 10 days, speculators on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open 1.32 puts for every call on STT. This ratio ranks in the 81st percentile, indicating that traders are purchasing bearish bets over their bullish counterparts at a faster pace than usual.

Massey Energy (MEE) has received an unlikely reprieve from BP plc (BP), with the oil-spill offender recently taking the title of most-despised commodity company from MEE. But, while BP is currently being cranked through the wringer of the 24-hour news cycle, MEE continues to cope with the after-effects of the mine explosion that grabbed headlines earlier this spring.

As a result, the stock is still wallowing near the $30 level, where it has found a floor consistently for the past month. Although MEE has struggled in its attempts to climb higher from this technical basement, a few investors are still carrying a torch for the beaten-down stock. Just yesterday, one such trader initiated a long call spread on the security.

Hartford Financial Services (HIG) attracted unusually heavy put volume on Wednesday, with 1.7 times the expected number of puts crossing the tape. About 10,000 put options were traded on the insurance issue during the course of yesterday's session, compared to fewer than 8,000 calls that changed hands.

Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) points to a strongly bearish bias. On Wednesday, options traders on the ISE bought to open 2,554 puts on HIG, while only 339 calls were purchased. The equity's single-day ISE put/call volume ratio of 7.53 underscores a distinct preference for pessimistically oriented options.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) was the subject of a rosy write-up in Barron's over the weekend, with the financial publication noting that the company is well-positioned to benefit as "trends in the transportation industry are reaching an inflection point." In fact, portfolio manager Quoc Tran of Lateef Investment Management believes that "a stake in C.H. Robinson [is] the best way to enjoy a rebound in the transportation sector."

The stock enjoyed a modest boost Monday morning in the wake of the Barron's endorsement, with CHRW breaking out above short-term pressure from its 10-day and 20-day moving averages. The stock has added roughly 40% during the past year, capitalizing on support from its longer-term 10-month and 20-month trendlines.

YRC Worldwide (YRCW) is preparing to release its fourth-quarter results, with the company's earnings report scheduled to hit Wall Street before the market opens on Friday, Feb. 5. Analysts are expecting YRCW to swallow a loss of $1.74 per share, wider than the company's year-ago loss of $1.63 per share.

The transportation issue has fallen short of consensus earnings expectations in each of the previous four quarters, which may explain why bearish speculation is on the rise in the days leading up to YRCW's report.

A lot of people I talked with during the financial crisis thought that something seemed amiss as brokerages and credit-ratings services were issuing, what I liked to call, "happy thoughts" about the economy even though it sure seemed that we were headed over the falls in a thimble.

Among the upbeat outlooks were the ratings of complex debt securities, which quickly deteriorated and led to billions of dollars of investor losses. According to The Wall Street Journal and former Moody's analyst, Eric Kolchinsky, Moody's gave high ratings to complicated debt security in 2009 with knowledge that it would downgrade assets that backed the securities.