The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) beat estimates and said the 787 Dreamliner was on schedule.
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) fourth-quarter profits fell on rising fuel costs.
• Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) profits fell due to rising costs of raw materials.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) posted the largest annual and quarterly profit ever by a U.S. company.
• Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) beat earnings expectations due to strong international growth.
• Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) posted record earnings for the third quarter on demand for fuel efficiency.
• JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) posted a narrower-than-expected loss.
• Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ: NSANY) posted strong results due in part to U.S. sales of the Rogue.
• Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) fourth-quarter profit surged, leading to its best yearly results ever.
• Paraexel International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) beat estimates and offered revised guidance.
• Ratheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) posted strong fourth-quarter results and offered optimistic guidance.
• RightNow Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RNOW) posted a loss, though revenues were up.
• Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) posted solid results on TV sales and the game division's return to the black.
• Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) posted solid results despite the housing slump due to strength overseas.
• United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) met earnings estimates due to a pension-related charge.
• US Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) fourth-quarter and full-year profits declined on acquisition costs and job cuts.
• Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) beat expectations despite a profit decline of 49%.

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others and McDonald's, Kraft, P&G, Verizon, MasterCard, 3M and others.

Among the companies reporting on Tuesday were JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI).

JetBlue reported a narrower-than-expected loss in the fourth quarter, and its first full-year profit in three years. It also announced that it's negotiating a deal with investor Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

JetBlue lost $4 million, or 2 cents a share, in the quarter ending December 31. It posted a profit of $17 million, or 10 cents a share, in the same quarter of 2006. An increase in traffic and operational improvements helped offset rising fuel costs. Revenue rose 16.6% to $739 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected a loss of 5 cents a share on revenue of $731 million.

For the full year, JetBlue earned $18 million, or 10 cents a share, versus a loss of $1 million, break-even on a per-share basis, in 2006. Revenue jumped 20.2 percent to $2.84 billion. Wall Street had expected a 2007 profit of 7 cents per share on revenue of $2.83 billion.

Shares surged 20.24%, or $1.00, to close at $5.94. Shares had fallen to a 52-week low of $4.30 last week.

Readers of this space know that the preference here is for large cap companies, with demonstrated business models, and favorable long-term factors, that have the resources to ride-out short-term economic downturns, including recessions.

And in this category a railroad stock represent a prudent addition to a portfolio, for investors who can tolerate moderate risk.

Pick a railroad. Virtually any railroad. Odds are, you will do fine, long-term, as the nation continues to re-discover the valuable asset - - the national treasury, really - - of its railroads. (More on that latter topic, in a future blog.)

Here are the railroad plays, ranked by risk, with the top stock, BNI, being the lowest risk. A stop/loss, if one were to buy the stock, is also listed:

To say the bears on Wall Street have gained some momentum in late November 2007 would be an understatement.

The consensus now argues that U.S. GDP growth has slowed substantially, with growth likely to remain sub-par through at least June 2008, and the Dow's 1,400-point drop in about a month reflecting that consensus.

Nearly every sector looks vulnerable. Still, some sectors are faring reasonably well. The rails are one, and among the rails, Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) is worth an evaluation.

For nearly 30 years, the rails -- long neglected in the United States -- were considered passé. Then the globalization era dawned, along with its exports and demand for agricultural products and coal. Add intermodal shipments and a price of oil that's basically risen for ten years and the results is - the rails are back.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A) chair Warren Buffett is in a position to help companies like Ambac Financial Group Inc (NYSE: ABK) and MBIA Inc (NYSE: MBI), possibly providing relief amid the credit market turmoil; sources speculate the company could also get into the bond-insurance business.
• Retailer Kohl's Corporation (NYSE: KSS) is today expected to announce an exclusive multi-year active wear licensing partnership with Fila Luxembourg S.a.r.l., a part of Fila Korea, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• According to a senior executive at Telefonica SA (NYSE: TEF), the company's efforts to obtain exclusive control of Vivo have stalled, the Financial Times reported.
• CEOs of CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX), Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI) told the Financial Times that if any of the new four bills to regulate rates, that are currently being debated in congress, becomes law, accelerating investment in U.S. railroads' capacity could come to a halt.

OTHER PAPERS:

• News Corp's (NYSE: NWS.A) Rupert Murdoch said the company plans to replace nearly one million paid subscribers of the online Wall Street Journal with 10-15 million "who wouldn't pay a thing." Murdoch's long-term plan is to penetrate developing markets, The Australian reported.

It's a simple riddle and the answer is simple also. You'll probably kick yourself if you didn't think of it.

Riddle: Why would Warren Buffett want to play with trains?

Answer: Because he sees money in them.

Burlington Northern & Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI), Union Pacific Railroad (NYSE: UNP)

I'll keep this short and sweet because I just got off a twelve-hour shift and I have about six hours to sleep before I get back up and start all over again. Don't pity me, those are just the facts. If I don't average 50 hours a week, the credit union will come and swipe the Chevy truck off of my driveway!

Here are some of the things that I think Warren Buffett likes about the trains:

1.) Railroads are currently in a mildly depressed state business wise yet they are presenting very strong projections for the mid to long term.

2.) I believe that the American Railroad Association and members of the current Congress have a mutually held belief that railroads may expect to be well treated by government through the next presidential administration.

3.) Continuing upward pressure of fuel costs make rail transport increasingly more competitive with the trucking fleet and shall prompt more wholesale purchasing within our own continent.

4.) The rail industry has recently reported its safest year in history and it may expect reduced liability costs both within its own workforce and involving contact with the public sector.

I like trains also. As proof of that you may check out my past blog posts regarding them. While it is true that I didn't come right out and tell you to invest in the railroads, I did hope that you'd look into them.

Association of American Railroads welcomes the 110th Congress

Burlington Northern explores some explosive options for avalance control

The economy is firm but changing: Listen to the railroads.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) -- implied volatility low; suggests less Risk as Buffett buys. BNI, an operator of 32,000 railroad route miles, is recently up $6.05 to $88.71. Form 4 filed with the SEC.gov revealed Warren Buffett holding company BRK purchased 1,646,900 shares worth $133.967,245 on 4/4/07-4/5/07. BNI May option implied volatility of 24 is below its 52-week average of 27 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) -- April 25 & May 25 calls trading on renewed & unconfirmed Chatter. FL, a footwear & apparel operator of 3,950 retail stores, is recently up $.28 to $23.85 on renewed & unconfirmed takeover chatter. FL April 25 calls have traded 62 times on transaction volume of 1,716 contracts, above its open interest of 1,300 contracts. FL May option implied volatility of 31 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting slightly higher price risks.

The Volatility Index for S&P 500 Options (VIX) is up .04 to 13.27.

Option volume leaders today are: Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) and Research in Motion, Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM).

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.