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

• Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) Q1 earnings rose 20%, driven by cash-strapped bargain hunters.
• Borders Group Inc. (NYSE: BGP) narrowed its loss in the first quarter though same-store sales fell.
• Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) Q3 profits climbed 32%, beating analysts' estimates.
• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) posted solid Q1 results that beat analysts' expectations (see the transcript).
• DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) Q1 earnings declined, hurt by weak same-store sales.
• H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) better-than-expected Q4 results sent the stock to a 52-week high.
• Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: IART) beat Q4 estimates and offered Q1 guidance.
• J. Crew Group Inc. (NYSE: JCG) lowered its full-year forecast, leading to analyst downgrades.
• Joy Global Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYG) Q2 results beat expectations, and it raised its full-year guidance.
• Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) posted record Q4 revenues but a bigger-than-expected loss.
• Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL) Q1 profits beat estimates and led to analyst upgrades.
• Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) beat Q4 estimates and offered full-year guidance.
• Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) swung to a profit that was in line with analysts estimates.
• Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) Q1 revenues surged on new customers and demand in Asia.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: SanDisk (SNDK), Indevus Pharmaceuticals (IDEV), Integra LifeSciences (IART) and Level 3 Communications (LVLT) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Cowen, as the firm believes it could face challenges in Q4 NAND flash memory demand given supply.

• Rodman & Renshaw initiated shares of Indevus (NASDAQ: IDEV) with a Market Outperform rating and $10 target. The firm believes Indevus Nebibo and Sanctura XR upcoming events provide an attractive entry point.

• Morgan Stanley initiated shares of Integra LifeSciences (NASDAQ: IART) with an Equal Weight rating and $55 target, citing competitive risks from larger competitors.

• Shares of Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) were initiated at Raymond James with an Underperform rating, as the firm believes estimates will be difficult to achieve given high debt levels and free cash flow.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Cowen initiated shares of STEC Inc (NASDAQ: STEC) and Spansion (NASDAQ: SPSN) with Neutral ratings and shares of Silicon Motion Technology Corp (NASDAQ: SIMO) with an Outperform rating.

• Pacific Crest initiated shares of Universal Electronics (NASDAQ: UEIC) with a Sector Perform rating on valuation.

• Merrill Lynch started shares of FirstFed Financial (NYSE: FED) with a Sell rating.

• Goldman Sachs started shares of Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) with a Buy rating and $50 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).