Shares of sports shoes and apparel giant Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading up over 5% after hours today, following strong earnings for its fiscal first quarter.

As I noted in my earnings preview earlier this week, Wall Street was looking for 92 cents earnings per share for Nike's first fiscal quarter. The company surprised to the upside with a reported EPS of $1.03 a share. While this is down year-over-year from the $1.12 EPS it reported last year in the first quarter, it was still a good quarter considering the current economic environment.

Revenues grew nicely for Nike in the quarter, up a very respectable 17% to $5.4 billion. This also came in above analyst estimates of $5.19 billion.

One aspect of the company's overall business I discussed in the preview was that last quarter the company was able to overcome weak U.S. sales numbers by posting strong growth in international markets. This quarter, too, a weak U.S. dollar has helped boost sales in India and Asia, in particular China, where the recent summer Olympic games were held.

As we discussed in our earnings preview yesterday, hotel manager Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) reported its second quarter numbers this morning, and as we expected, we were given some more troublesome news from the company.

First the good news. While analysts had been expecting to see the company show earnings of 49 cents a share, the company was actually able to come in higher, with 51 cents per share. However, despite showing 2 cents better than expected, this still represents an 11% drop in earnings from continuing operations.

With so much uncertainty around the company going into this morning's earnings report, you may assume that beating its number by 2 cents would have the stock moving higher in premarket trading. Well, you would be wrong. The stock is actually trading down a little more than 6% following the news.

Shares of Sears Holding Corp. (NYSE: SHLD) have been taking a beating in today's action after a dismal third quarter earnings report this morning. At one point shares had dipped as much as 16%, but with an hour left to go in the session shares have moved slightly higher, only showing a 12% drop as shares are trading down $14 to $101.56.

If you ask me, the stock is doing better than it probably should, considering just how poor this morning's report was. Analysts had been expecting to see the retailer show net income of 53 cents per share for its third quarter. The actual net income? ONE PENNY! It is not often that you see such a miss.

During 2007 the company showed earnings of 80 cents for its third quarter, and today's report represents the largest year over year drop in income since Sears and K-Mart merged back in 2005, and the first consecutive quarter earnings decline.

As I noted in the earnings preview earlier this week, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was going to be under pressure from narrowing margins, and that is exactly what happened, pushing its third quarter profit down by 10%.

Analysts had expected to see the world's largest oil company to show earnings of $1.75 per share for the quarter, but with the tighter margins, Exxon's earnings were only able to come in at $1.70 per share. Net income was $9.41 billion. This is down from $10.49 billion, or $1.77 per share during the third quarter last year.

Rising oil prices are typically considered to be a blessing for big oil companies, but the opposite side of the equation is that they result in tighter refining margins, and that is exactly what happened to Exxon Mobil this time around. Also adding to the company's decline were gasoline prices, which fell by around 6% during the quarter.

This is only the first time since 2002 that the company has posted two consecutive quarters of profit declines. In the premarket, early morning traders are pushing the stock down 1.6% in reaction to today's earnings news.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Fowlkes owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that include holdings in XOM.

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Shares of printer maker Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) have been taking a hit today after the company reported its third quarter earnings this morning. The stock has traded down 7.8 percent in early morning trading.

The company blamed the weak quarter on poor printer sales, which contributed to a 47% decline in quarterly profit for the quarter. Lexmark sold fewer printers in the quarter than it had anticipated, with laser printer shipments dropping 7 percent.

Net income was reported to be $45.2 million, or 48 cents for the quarter. This is well below the $85.6 million, or 85 cents that the company reported during the same period last year. Revenue was down 3 percent to $1.195 billion.

Lexmark also discussed a restructuring plan that it estimates will cost around $90 million between now and the end of 2008.

Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the company expects to see revenue in the low-single-digit range, with earnings of 42 cents per share.

[Photo: cpchannel]

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

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Yesterday, when we previewed this morning's earnings release from Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) we guessed that we would be seeing some strong earnings this morning, and the company did not disappoint us. Deere reported that third quarter earnings rose by 23%, mainly on the back of strong international sales.

Analysts had been expecting to see the company report $1.99 per share, but will be pleased to see the actual earnings for its fiscal third quarter coming in at $2.37 a share.

In early morning premarket trading shares of DE have moved up 1.6%, gaining $1.91 to $119.00.

Looking ahead, the company estimates that it will see equipment sales rise 16% in the fourth quarter and 7% for the full year. The company will be holding its earnings conference call later this morning, starting at 10:00 AM EDT, and we will be covering the call in its entirety.

So, be sure to check back later this morning for up to the minute details on this mornings call.

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

A couple of months ago, I mentioned that while a Coach (NYSE: COH) handbag can be quite the splurge, shares of the luxury-goods retailer could potentially be a prudent investment. Since this posting, the stock has gained nearly 15%, hitting a new all-time high in Monday's session.

This morning, the company said its third-quarter net income surged 38 percent, to $150 million, or 40 cents per share. Revenue increased 30 percent to $625.3 million. Both of these figures surpassed analysts' expectations of 38 cents per share and $617.6 million, respectively.

Peeking in on sales, direct-to-consumer sales rose 29 percent to $481 million, while same-store sales expanded 20 percent. The newly introduced Coach fragrance accounted for three percent of retail sales during the latest reporting period. No word on what percentage of COH sales came from various car trunks in Manhattan.