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

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) shares rose after it reaffirmed its full-year earnings and sales outlook.
• Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) will have low double-digit EPS growth, predicts one analyst.
• AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) posted a decline in earnings but a small rise in sales, sending shares lower.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) posted better-than-expected Q2 earnings and higher revenue.
• CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) rallied to a new 52-week high after topping analysts' Q2 earnings expectations.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) reported better-than-expected Q3 results and raised its full-year guidance.

Much of the focus this week will no doubt be on the FOMC meeting on interest rates and the subsequent decision, as well as on the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, were the agenda will include bonuses for bank executives among other things.

Things will be fairly quiet again on the earnings front as the next earnings season has yet to ramp up. However, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters do have high hopes for a handful of companies that will release results this week.

The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM), a food manufacturer famous for its jelly and baking products, reported a great first quarter on Friday. Adjusted earnings per share increased 12% to 92 cents. According to Reuters, management was able to beat expectations by a whopping 12 cents.

This is quite impressive given the fact that an analyst quoted by Reuters believes that more people eating at home are helping to fuel Smucker's success. I say this because, if people are deciding to dine at home more often, they are most likely doing so because of the recession.

H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE: HNZ), a food company that shares space at the supermarket with products from Kraft Foods, Inc. (NYSE: KFT), ConAgra (NYSE: CAG), and Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), issued first-quarter data on Thursday. Even though the effect of currency translations continues to put a cloud over the top-line performance, management did end up beating earnings expectations.

Net sales came in flat, and net income was 67 cents per share. Analysts were expecting 5 cents less, according to Earnings.com. Shareholders should be happy about that. When I covered Heinz's last quarter, I noted that expectations were essentially beat by a penny.

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), one of the largest packaged foods companies in the world, is scheduled to discuss its second quarter 2009 results later today in a conference call at 4:00 PM ET. You can catch the webcast of the call at the company's website.

For the quarter in which Kraft declared a $0.29 per share quarterly dividend and welcomed a new member to its executive team, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the Northfield, Ill.-based company to report that per-share earnings fell four cents from a year ago to $0.54, though that is up from $0.45 per share in the first quarter. Revenue for the second quarter is expected to be 7.2% lower to $10.4 billion. Earnings topped estimates in four of the five past quarters, by as much as 15.3%.

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) beat earnings expectations but revenue was hurt by currency effects.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) strong Q1 results beat estimates but same-store sales fell.
• CKE Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: CKR) lower Q1 earnings and strong sales both topped expectations.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) higher Q4 earnings were in line with expectations, and shares slipped.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) Q4 results were higher, but it warned of continuing challenges.
• Hennes & Mauritz (OTC: HMRZF) reported strong Q2 numbers, though same-stores sales slipped.

The per-share profit compared very favorably to the 18 cents earned in last year's similar quarter. However, in terms of analyst expectations, the performance was relatively unimpressive. Earnings.com indicates that 41 cents is what the market was looking for.

This week brings a small flurry of end-of-the-calendar-quarter earnings reports. And for the most part, the expectations of the analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters aren't very high. Companies expected to report declining earnings in the most recently concluded quarter include America's Car-Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: CRMT), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL), Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. (NYSE: JTX), Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), and Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC).

Shares of Del Monte (NYSE: DLM) are up over 9% in early afternoon trading. And the volume is doing gangbusters business. The market is responding to the company's fourth-quarter results. The numbers did tell an overall fun story.

To begin with, revenues saw a big jump of 20%. As many news items have pointed out, price increases helped out. It should also be pointed out that the company's press release indicated that an extra week skewed things a bit. That's okay, though, it was still a good top-line performance. Earnings per share from continuing divisions came in at $0.35, which meant that Del Monte grew the bottom line by 75% (a couple elements affecting the perception of this profit expansion was a better tax situation linked to a positive change in California tax code and a $0.04 per-share transformation expense recorded in Q4 2008). Analysts said the company might earn $0.26 per share. That's a pleasant difference, isn't it?

Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) hasn't been a bad stock. Its recent performance is firmly in the green. Shares of Hormel have increased in value by 8% year-to-date. Over the last six months, the stock is up by roughly 16%.

Now we come to the food entity's second-quarter report, which was issued on Thursday. Do the numbers indicate that the stock will continue to trend higher? Or is now the time to sell?

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) said revenues and bookings both declined in the most recent quarter.
• Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported strong Q4 results in the wake of Circuit City's demise.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) sailed past analysts' Q1 projections, sending shares higher.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) Q3 results topped analysts expectations and drove shares higher.
• DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) swung to a larger-than-expected Q4 loss and revenue slipped.
• DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) reported a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss as same-store sales declined.

Analyst upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) to Neutral from Underweight based on lower input costs, stabilization in home, lower markdown dollars, and valuation.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) to Perform from Underperform as it believes Novellus' market share has stabilized and that the company is a potential acquisition target. The firm raised its price target to $20 from $9.
• Bernstein upgraded ConAgra (NYSE: CAG) to Market Perform from Underperform citing strength in grains and moderating input costs.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• China Housing (NASDAQ: CHLN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital.

Kraft (NYSE: KFT), a brand that shares the supermarket aisles with General Mills (NYSE: GIS), Kellogg (NYSE: K), Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) and ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG), was hammered on Wednesday.

The company's shares were down over 9% at the close of trading. Kraft's earnings release may have began with a headline that said earnings were strong for the year, but the market thought otherwise. And so did I.

Kraft (NYSE: KFT), whose supermarket colleagues include Kellogg (NYSE: K) and General Mills (NYSE: GIS), will be reporting Q4 results tomorrow. Analysts expect the foodstuffs company to report $0.44 per share. Unfortunately, Kraft did $0.44 per share in the year-ago period. So the market doesn't think Kraft will grow the bottom line.

Perhaps that will work in Kraft's favor. With expectations so low, management has the opportunity to surprise to the upside. The company has a decent record in beating Wall Street expectations. Kraft certainly has brands that people like. However, things are becoming more difficult for the consumer. Layoffs are everywhere, and job security has taken a sabbatical. Kraft needs to convince people to pay extra for a package of Kraft-branded cheese or a box of Nabisco Ritz crackers when there are less-expensive generic substitutes available.

Egg producer Cal-Maine Foods Inc. ( NASDAQ: CALM) reported on Monday that its fiscal second-quarter earnings fell 32% to $27.2 million, or $1.14 per share. Revenue rose 7% from a year ago to $238.3 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had on average expected a $1.26 per share profit. The company said sales to the institutional and food-service sector in the quarter ended Nov. 29 were slower while feed costs remained high. They added that those prices are likely to remain relatively high and volatile over the year ahead.

Shares fell Monday by $1.97, or 6.7%, and continued to fall in after-hours trading. The share price is still up 4.4% in the past three months, and about the same as it was a year ago.

Shares of rivals Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN), and ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) also declined on Monday.

Based in Jackson, Miss., Cal-Maine is one of the largest fresh shell egg producers in the U.S., selling its products to supermarkets in 29 states. It has a market cap of $588.4 million and its operations include breeding facilities, hatcheries, wholesale distribution centers, feed mills, shell-egg production facilities, pullet-growing facilities, and processing and packing facilities.