I'm always looking for a catalyst that is going to take Disney (NYSE: DIS) to the next level. The stock hasn't been a great performer over time. Just today, the Mouse issued a press release detailing its latest merchandising plans.

Merchandising falls under the consumer products division. Now, one would expect that this segment would always be rocking considering the brand equity inherent in all of Disney's intellectual properties. Well, let's remind ourselves of how the segment did during the last earnings report. In the second quarter, operating income for consumer products dipped 24%. For the six-month period, operating income was down by 13%. Double-digit declines: nobody likes them. Management commentary about the division specifically stated that lower royalty revenue from merchandise helped to drive the performance. As can be seen, Disney needs some good ideas and strategies to return this segment to growth.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) might not have the best growth rates going these days, but truth be told, I thought the company's Q3 report was acceptable given everything that is going on.

Yes, sales declined by 8%, driven by currency effects. Organic sales, however, increased 1%. Earnings per share increased 2% to 84 cents. This beat Wall Street forecasts by four pennies according to this source.

Energizer (NYSE: ENR), the famous battery company that competes with Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), reported Q2 earnings earlier today. According to this source, the results beat expectations on an adjusted basis. Energizer earned $1.12 per share. Analysts thought the business would do three pennies less.

Revenues, however, didn't fare so well. They fell 7%. Not only did the economy affect sales, but the dreaded currency-translation phantom that has been haunting the top lines of all businesses that are exposed to international transactions made its dreaded appearance on Energizer's earnings report. A conservative stance on the part of retailers and their inventory levels was also mentioned as a negative driver for sales in the release.

WD-40 (NASDAQ: WDFC), whose consumer-product colleagues include Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Clorox (NYSE: CLX), issued its second-quarter report on Wednesday after the market closed. The numbers were a bit rusty (yes, the bad pun was on purpose!).

First, we have a big net-sales drop of over 20%. Then, we have a 50% decline in net income, with earnings coming in at 25 cents per share. And finally, we see that the 25-cent per-share number missed estimates by two pennies according to this source. Management blamed the bad results in part on the weak global economy and on currency translations.

Shareholders of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) received some not-so-cool news on Wednesday. The consumer-products business was subjected to a downgrade courtesy of Linda Bolton Weiser of Caris & Co. The analyst changed the designation on Colgate-Palmolive from "Buy" to "Above Average." The effects of currency translations is what she's worried about. She believes that they could be a drag on earnings.

If you're a long-term shareholder, I probably wouldn't worry too much about this downgrade. The stock didn't react much to the news, dropping only modestly at the end of the trading session on Wednesday (it was down like 0.3%). Obviously Colgate-Palmolive, like Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Clorox (NYSE: CLX), and Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB), has great potential as a core investment because of its brand portfolio.

"While I've watched video game maker Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) for many years, I've never felt it was cheap," says growth stock specialist Nate Pile.

In his Nate's Notes, he now says, "I am thrilled to see the stock price finally experience the sort of pullback that justifies a buy rating; indeed, I wasn't interested at $50 four months ago, but at $17 today, I can't help but get excited."

"Over the years, Electronic Arts has amassed an impressive library of titles. In particular, you may be familiar with the entire Sims collection, as well as the company's extensive lineup of sports games (including Madden NFL and Tiger Woods PGA Tour, for example).

"In addition, Spore is a recently introduced hit, and some other titles you may be familiar with (or at least seen in TV commercials) include Need For Speed, Medal of Honor, and Rock Band.

Consumer-products company Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB), whose colleagues include The Procter & Gamble Compay (NYSE: PG) and Energizer Holdings (NYSE: ENR), reported earnings for the fourth quarter, and they weren't great, at least to me. Sales decreased over 3%, and earnings per share were $1.01 on an adjusted basis, which represented a dive of 9%. According to Stocks in the News, that missed estimates by the proverbial penny. Another weak showing was cash from operations, which fell by 1%. Not disastrous, maybe, and certainly understandable, but disappointing, nevertheless.

One thing to keep in mind is that the swings in the value of the dollar affected net sales. Organic growth actually expanded by 5% in the quarter. Kimberly-Clark doesn't expect much to happen in 2009. Management's headline in the release states that adjusted earnings should be between $4 and $4.20 per share next year. This year, earnings were $4.14 per share. Also to keep in mind is that management is watching pension expenses.

WD-40 (NASDAQ: WDFC) reported earnings for the first quarter on Wednesday after the bell, and even though the consumer-products company went beyond what Wall Street was expecting of it, the stock was traded down nonetheless. Of course, it was a pretty bad day on Wednesday for the markets anyway, so some of it was due to that, I suppose. But the major element bringing WD-40 down was its oily outlook.

WD-40 beat the analysts by five cents with a bottom line equal to $0.46 per share. That's a great performance, but management reduced its guidance for the fiscal year. Previously, WD-40 thought it would do somewhere between $1.65 and $1.85 per share for 2009. Now, the range is between $1.60 and $1.75 per share. The market wasn't heartened by that news. Shares of WD-40 declined by over 2% this morning. And that was on top of a 4% decline Wendesday (again, though, it was a down day on Wall Street overall).

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) is a blue-chip Dow component, but that doesn't mean it can't have a challenging quarter or two (or three or four or five, depending on how bad the recession gets).

According to this article, P&G believes its top-line sales revenue won't be as good as previously expected. This is due, in part, to how the dollar has been trading as of late against foreign currencies. However, fear not, shareholders, because earnings per share should be fine and remain the same. Management believes that Q2 will see somewhere between $1.58 and $1.63 per share, and it is looking for the fiscal year to fall between $4.28 and $4.38 per share.

The question is, will management turn out to be correct? If the recession continues to worsen, can this guidance be trusted? Quite honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if estimates were trimmed later on. P&G will see intense competition from generic brands, you can bet on that. But I can't say that P&G shareholders should care that much. After all, P&G, like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Kraft Foods, Inc. (NYSE: KFT), and PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), is a consumer-products business that has a strong footprint on the supermarket shelves. It pays a solid dividend, and it's a great core holding suitable for dollar-cost-averaging. This is why one holds a P&G: to take advantage of the times when the stock may be down because of challenging times. You improve your cost basis, and go for a high effective dividend yield over time.

If you're trading P&G, you may want to be careful. For those not trading, I think P&G can still be counted on as being a relatively safe entity to hold. The company is a great generator of cash flow, and you can rest assured that management will be watching its costs and expenses carefully. Sometimes that's not enough, especially in these times of uncertainty, but patient players should remain just that... patient.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Well, it looks like Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) put me and my earnings preview to shame. The company delivered a great second quarter. The company, whose colleagues include Kraft (NYSE: KFT), Kellogg (NYSE: K), and Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), grew its bottom line by over 22% on a per-share basis. Heinz scored $0.87 per diluted share in profit, enough to wallop the analyst community's estimate of $0.76 per share.

Heinz made sure to hedge itself in terms of currency effects. That helped drive the quarter. The company's strong brand portfolio delivered, on an overall basis, almost 6% in organic sales growth. Management was able to leverage the equity of its product line to enact favorable pricing measures. And one of my favorite parts of an earnings report is the statement of cash flows. Cash from operations rose almost 10%, and operating free cash flow by the company's calculation (Heinz adds back disposals of capital property/equipment) increased almost 9%. It would, of course, be nice to see the growth rate of cash flow be closer to the growth rate of earnings, but at least cash generation is trending upward.

Gotta tell you, though, it looks like the market could care less about Heinz and its nifty numbers. As I write this, the stock is down 0.8%. I would have figured on a little more excitement considering that today was something of a calm day in the markets at large. Apparently Wall Street doesn't feel a lot of confidence concerning Heinz and its ability to keep up the good work. All I can say is that no stock should be considered defensive, even Heinz. We're playing by a different rule book, one that was written by a crazy lunatic. It seems like every stock is a gamble. If you have extreme patience and can tie up money for a long, long time, Heinz is not a bad bet at its current dividend yield. Otherwise, you may want to hoard cash.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Heinz (NYSE: HNZ), whose supermarket colleagues include Kraft (NYSE: KFT), Kellogg (NYSE: K), General Mills (NYSE: GIS), and Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), will be reporting second-quarter numbers on Friday, November 21. According to AOL Finance, the call is for approximately $0.76 in terms of earnings per share. That would represent about 7% of bottom-line growth. That wouldn't be too bad in this market.

Whether or not Heinz can beat the estimates, it's hard to say. My opinion? I wouldn't be betting on such an outcome. If I were a shareholder of the ketchup company, I would just hope that management at least meets expectations. I doubt that anything in the report will make me say that Heinz is now a perfect defensive stock. Literally nothing is defensive; best thing you can do in this market is hedge yourself by shorting some of it via an instrument like the ProShares Ultrashort (NYSE: DXD) ETF.

Heinz wasn't too far off from its 52-week low at the close on Wednesday. Considering that consumer-products companies may have a tough time competing with generic brands on price points, it's going to be difficult to see how the outlook for Heinz will be anything but cautious at best. Investors will be tracking the changes in volumes and how currency affects profits. And then there's the gross margin. With energy prices down, that should in theory help the metric, or at least I imagine that would be the case.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), which competes with Clorox (NYSE: CLX), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB), and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL), will be reporting earnings for the fiscal first quarter on Wednesday. The data will be scrutinized carefully to see if P&G might be a viable idea in these tumultuous times. Of course, P&G is a great long-term investment for a core portfolio of buy-and-hold stocks, but there will be plenty of investors on Wall Street looking to gauge the company's potential as a defensive trade.

According to Earnings.com, P&G should earn about $0.98 per share. At least, that's the goal that analysts have set for management. If P&G hits that number, then it will have achieved a modest growth rate of around 6%. I expect P&G to beat expectations by a penny or two, given its recent history. The company usually is pretty good about that. Also, free cash flow should be more than acceptable to investors. Management watches cash-flow generation carefully (as it should), and traditionally makes that a priority. Naturally, it wants to balance the needs of long-term growth along with the need to deliver a proper flow of cash. So far, things have worked out over time on that count.

The big question now is: What about the future outlook? What the company says about this subject will probably end up driving the stock's reaction. The global marketplace is headed for a slowdown. Consumers are tightening their belts. Will they reach for generic brands and ignore the brand equity of the products in P&G's vast portfolio? P&G is going to have become aggressive about promoting its stuff. The company will want to make sure that people still feel their getting value for their dollar. That dollar, after all, goes farther with a generic equivalent. From my viewpoint, I think there is still value to be had from name brands. Even during a recession, I'll buy better quality items. Just yesterday I happened to pick up one of P&G's family members -- Bounty paper towels. It was on sale, but I'm sure there was a generic lurking around the corner that was cheaper. I didn't even bother looking for it. Sure, I do buy some generics, but I don't necessarily become obsessed with them.

P&G wasn't that far from the 52-week low at Monday's close. I wouldn't be setting up an earnings trade ahead of it because of all the uncertainty, but holders of the stock should fare reasonably well come the middle of the week (P&G did fine the last time).

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Consumer-products company Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) was the latest company to see its stock placed on the chopping block. That's been happening a lot these days. The shares tumbled over 7% on Wednesday and closed at $57.22. While 7% is bad enough, it actually feels worse to say that the stock lost $4.45 per share on the session. When it comes to businesses that sell popular brands to consumers, shedding $4 per share is just awful. Especially for a stock that should be a defensive name, a proverbial port in the even more proverbial storm.

Kimberly-Clark posted an adjusted profit of $1.02 per share Wednesday morning, which was a penny better than analyst expectations. The article also states that the company is suffering from a shifting exchange-rate environment and competition from private-label products. That latter point is really going to be a problem for businesses such as Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Clorox (NYSE: CLX), and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL). At some point, many will probably reach for generic items as opposed to name-brand counterparts.

This doesn't mean that companies who use big brands as their main ammunition for long-term growth should be avoided. Indeed, a company that can figure out how to strike a prosperous balance between the premium it can charge for its name products and the willingness of consumers to pay it will oftentimes do well in tough markets. Kraft (NYSE: KFT) had success with this during the previous quarter. Price increases were able to power results. Kimberly-Clark is going to be severely challenged in terms of maintaining margins and keeping up a proper level of marketing spending. Everyone's going after the consumer's wallet these days, so breaking out from the pack is a requisite undertaking.

Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) has issued a recall for some of it's popular Vaio laptops today due to an overheating problem that some consumers have encountered with their machines.

So far, the company has received 209 reports of the popular machines overheating on users, and in 7 instances, users received minor burns as a result of the overheating laptops.

The computers in question involve 19 models in the Vaio TZ series that were produced between the months of May 2007 and July 2008. According to Sony, the problem is a result of some improper wire connections in the hinge between the laptop body and the the monitor that appears to be wearing out and causing short circuits in the machines.

Of the seven injuries that have been reported, five were reported in Japan, and one in both the United States as well as Italy.

The recalled machines are located all over the globe, with around 373,000 of the computers being sold in 48 different countries. The remaining 67,000 recalled machines were sold in Japan.

If you think that your computer may be a part of this recall, you should definitely contact Sony to find out.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Food manufacturer Kraft (NYSE: KFT) is backing away from some previous earnings guidance. CEO Irene Rosenfeld said that 2008 net income should be, at the very least, $1.88 per share. This is $0.04 less than the original expectation of $1.92 per share. For 2009, the CEO thinks Kraft will deliver a minimum of $2 per share. Analysts were looking for $2.06 per share.

Should those who own shares of Kraft immediately put an order in to dump the stock? Well, shareholders know what is best for them and their specific situations, but if you want my opinion, I don't think Kraft is a sell.

For starters, that $1.88 per share figure represents an adjustment related to the sale of the Post cereal asset. It therefore doesn't bother me too much. And as for the 2009 estimate, Kraft's $2-per-share guidance includes a $0.03 charge for the Post-cereal exit and monies devoted to cost savings. Analyst estimates for the most part don't factor adjustments into their bottom-line figures. So, this guidance doesn't really frighten me.

What I think is more telling is the issue of margins. Consumer-products companies such as Hershey (NYSE: HSY), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Kellogg (NYSE: K) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) all have margins on their corporate minds. From what I can tell, Kraft has been pretty successful at protecting itself from inflation by utilizing price increases.