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

• BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. (NYSE: BJ) beat fourth-quarter estimates on lower costs and strong sales.
• Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) first-quarter profit doubled on strong sales, lifting the sector.
• Clean Harbors Inc. (NASDAQ: CLHB) trounced expectations as it completes acquisitions.
• Del Monte Foods Co. (NYSE: DLM) beat estimates on cost cutting and raised its guidance.
• HSBC Holdings PLC ADS (NYSE: HBC) profit soared in 2007, beating analysts' expectations.
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) lowered its first quarter earnings forecast, citing weak chip prices.
• LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: LF) narrowed its losses for the fourth quarter and full year.
• LKQ Corp. (NASDAQ: LKQX) beat fourth-quarter estimates and raised its guidance.
• Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY) widened its losses in both the fourth quarter and full year.
• Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) reported a solid fourth quarter and increased its annual dividend.
• TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) posted a smaller-than-expected fourth-quarter loss due to licensing deals.
• Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMP) fourth-quarter and full-year losses widened.
• Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS) beat earnings expectations but matched revenue estimates.

Also, Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) struggles to maintain profitability against competitor Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ). See Timothy Sykes's take on Warren Buffett's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) shareholders. And Zac Bissonnette is interested in where earnings actually come from.

Upcoming results to watch for include Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), Boston Beer Co. (NYSE: SAM), J. Crew Group Inc. (NYSE: JCG), Jones Soda Co. (NASDAQ: JSDA), Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), and Men's Wearhouse Inc. (NYSE: MW).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

J.Crew Group, Inc. (NYSE: JCG) announced that one of its major shareholders would sell roughly 9 million shares of its common stock at $37.81 per share. The reason? Its private equity investor, Texas Pacific Group, is continuing to cash-out its position. The sale will not directly benefit J. Crew.

No doubt, J. Crew has had a strong performance lately, with same-store sales growth of 8.5% during the Christmas season.

All in all, it's been a smart deal for Texas Pacific Group, which apparently has made about a 7X return on its investment. (This is according to a story in TheDeal.com [subscription].) It certainly helped that J. Crew hired Millard Drexler, who once served as the CEO of Gap (NYSE: GPS).

But this deal was not a quick flip for Texas Pacific Group. It took a lot of work and was a nine year process.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

The New York Times has an excellent article on the growing allure of private equity for CEOs. Basically, top-notch corporate executives are seeing more opportunity for huge paydays running companies that have been bought out.

That was the case with David Calhoun, who was the vice chairman of GE. Last year, he took the post as CEO of VNU, which went private in a $11.1 billion transaction.

Why this shift toward privately owned companies? First of all, the regulations for running a public company are much more rigorous because of Sarbanes-Oxley. Also, a privately-run business has the advantage of not dealing with the quarter-by-quarter demands of Wall Street.

But probably the biggest reason is money. Keep in mind that a CEO can get about 5% to 10% of the equity in a company that is backed by private equity. And as the debt is paid down, the equity percentage will also increase.

In other words, there could be some massive paydays. Who knows, it may even make Home Depot's former CEO Robert L. Nardelli's pay package of $210 million look like chump change.

For example, Millard S. Drexler came on board J. Crew after its buyout. Because of its recent IPO, he now has a nest egg of more than $300 million.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.