Walgreen Company (WAG), a drugstore entity whose major competitors are CVS Caremark (CVS), Rite Aid (RAD), and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), reported second-quarter data earlier today; they weren't too thrilling, to be completely honest.

On a reported basis, net income increased three pennies to 68 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, earnings came out to 70 cents per share (this would be after adding back the two pennies dedicated to restructuring charges). Estimates called for 71 cents per share. Poor Walgreen just couldn't keep up with the analysts this time around.

I'm reiterating my buy ratings the nation's two premier drug store chains: CVS Caremark (CVS), first recommended on February 16, 2009, at a price of $27.30; and Walgreen (WAG), first recommended on February 17, 2009, at a price of $25.46. If you bought CVS in February, you're up 25%; WAG, up about 40%.

As expected, each has performed well on increased store traffic stemming from the H1N1 flu virus (trips to purchase hand sanitizers, other disinfecting items, and flu symptom comforts), which has offset reduced traffic for other drug store trips, due to the U.S. recession.

Walgreen (WAG), a drugstore chain that competes with CVS Caremark (CVS) and Rite Aid (RAD), issued fiscal Q1 numbers on Monday. The growth rates were impressive.

Total sales were up 9.5%. Net income increased almost 20% to 49 cents per diluted share. Operational cash flow was higher by over three times. According to our earnings preview, analysts were expecting 48 cents per share. Of course, since there were restructuring charges included in the above per-share profit stat (equal to 3 cents per share), the beat is better than it looks. This was indeed a good quarter.

Clorox (NYSE: CLX), a consumer-products business that counts Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) as related stocks, may have seen a sales drop of 1% in its fiscal first quarter, but that didn't stop it from posting a nice bottom-line growth rate. Clorox made $1.11 per share in Q1, and that represents a 23% increase. What a way to start a new corporate year!

According to Reuters, expectations were for 95 cents per share. That's a wonderful beat. Plus, sales volume went up 1%. Helping to drive things along was a healthy gross margin, as well as the dreaded H1N1 virus. Clorox has done well over the years associating its brand with sanitizing effectiveness, so when a pandemic rears its ugly head, the trademark is prepared to leverage such reputation to drive value.

One known consequence of the spread of the H1N1 flu? Possible, short-term school closures, as well as keeping under-the-weather kids out of school, to help contain the virus.

One little-known consequence? Traffic jams on the Internet, caused by all those school kids and adults out sick from work, logging on to the Web from home -- something that could overwhelm Internet networks, a Government Accountability Office study warns, and The Washington Post reported. To read the full GAO report, click here.

Today started out higher for stocks, but then the US Peso came into play. Shares have been the beneficiary of a weakening dollar, but then the currency bears started to cover the position. There is talk that some foreign central banks intervened to halt the rise of their own currencies, although whether or not that was the case may not be known.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,867.81 -104.37 (-1.05%)
S&P 500 1,066.98 -12.62 (-1.17%)
Nasdaq 2,141.85 -12.62 (-0.59%)

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Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB), a consumer products entity whose colleagues include Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), is up today on third-quarter results. At the time of this writing, my screen was showing shares of Kimberly-Clark higher by a little under 6%.

According to the corporate press release, sales declined 1.7%. Not a great start, but Kimberly-Clark highlighted a better metric: organic sales increased 3%, helped along by price increases. Luckily, sales volume didn't fare too badly; they were essentially flat.

Pigs at the Minnesota state fair have tested positive for the H1N1 "swine" flu virus in preliminary tests.

Confirmation tests are pending, but this could be bad news and cause panic within the pork industry. Pork belly futures and companies like Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), Tyson (NYSE: TSN), and Hormel (NYSE: HRL) are a few that could be affected.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX) was on the move Tuesday after inking letters of intent with three partners, who will take the lead on stockpiling, marketing, and distribution efforts for the company's influenza treatment in four countries. Marketing and distribution will be contingent upon local regulatory approval, but all three partners will immediately begin discussing stockpiling opportunities with the appropriate government officials.

Moksha8 Pharmaceuticals will be BioCryst's representative in Brazil and Mexico, which together account for 75% of the Latin American pharmaceutical market. Meanwhile, NT Pharma Co. is the company's Chinese partner, and Neopharm Group is taking the reins in Israel.

Even though eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe, some Americans and international consumers will still avoid pork, due to the H1N1 flu.

That would typically hurt protein food producers, but Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) has alternatives, namely chicken, which is a major reason I'm reiterating my Buy rating for Tyson Foods, first recommended on May 11, 2009, at a price of $12.35.

Early clinical trials are showing that the H1F1 flu vaccine is working with just one shot or dose, instead of two, The New York Times reported -- and that means vaccine supplies will go twice as far as predicted.

The significance? If the one-shot treatment holds, that means it should be possible to vaccinate all 159 million people in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's high risk groups: pregnant women, people under age 24 or caring for infants, people with high-risk medical conditions, and health care workers.

Pork producer Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) confessed Tuesday morning to a first-quarter loss of $107.7 million, or 75 cents per share, notably worse than its year-ago loss of just $13.2 million, or 10 cents per share. Excluding one-time charges, SFD would have swallowed a loss of 56 cents per share for the recently concluded quarter. Revenue for the period fell by more than 13% to $2.72 billion.

Both figures fell short of analysts' expectations, which called for a loss of 53 cents per share on $2.82 billion in revenue. Thanks to the twin factors of the recession and the still-spreading H1N1 virus -- a.k.a. the "swine flu" -- Chief Executive Larry Pope said, "I feel like the world has been against us for 12 months." (While H1N1 cannot be contracted by consuming pork products, the pork industry has suffered nevertheless by association.)

Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) surged higher out of the gate Thursday after scoring a U.S. patent for its pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccines, including those to shield against H1N1 (swine flu) and H5N1 (avian flu). Both treatments use Vical's patented Vaxfectin adjuvant, which helps to boost immunity.

While the H5N1 vaccine has completed early-stage human trials, the H1N1 vaccine has yet to be tested on human subjects. Positive results have been recorded from tests conducted on mice and rabbits, but VICL said earlier this year that it will require more funding to begin large-scale trials on humans.

Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY - option chain) shares are rising today after health insurer Unitedhealth Group (NYSE: UNH) announced that it would fully cover swine flu vaccinations, even for members that do not have immunizations typically covered. As one of the drugmakers that is producing a swine flu vaccine, SNY stands to benefit. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on SNY.

SNY opened this morning at $33.69. So far today the stock has hit a low of $33.63 and a high of $34.17. As of 11:45, SNY is trading at $33.89 up $1.02 (3.1%). The chart for SNY looks neutral and S&P gives SNY a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Carnival Corp (NYSE: CCL - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced this morning that it will resume stops at Mexican ports now that health officials have lifted advisories against non-essential travel to the nation.

CCL also said the H1N1 Influenza scare will likely reduce second-quarter earnings by 5 cents per share. While that isn't a good thing, investors often prefer to know how bad the news instead of having to guess. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CCL.

CCL opened this morning at $26.18. So far today the stock has hit a low of $25.81 and a high of $26.60. As of 11:35, CCL is trading at $26.41 up 1.41 (5.6%). The chart for CCL looks bearish and S&P gives CCL a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.