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.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) reported its third quarter figures this morning, and while the company managed to post better than expected earnings, its revenues were lower than analysts had expected.

Going into this morning's earnings report analysts had estimated J&J would earn $1.13 per share in the third quarter. The company was able to put up better than expected earnings results, saying it earned $1.20 per share in the quarter. But revenues disappointed. Analysts had forecast the company's revenues would be $15.22 billion in the quarter, but actual revenues were below estimates at $15.08 billion.

One of my wonderful friends, Ms. P, asked me for some guidance on how she might allocate $50,000 currently earning peanuts in a money market account. Though she is decades from becoming a grandmother, after a brief discussion about her financial parameters, it became clear to me that she was looking for a "granny fund."

In reality, my recommendations would be suitable, and perhaps desirable, for many passive investors as well.

The $50,000 is a portion of money Ms. P has set aside to purchase a home, which might happen in six months, but could also be pushed out further, depending on the economy and her situation. Basically, she wants to cover all her bases because she might need the money at any time and does not want to be caught short, while at the same time she would like to generate some revenue without taking any big risks.

I'm reiterating my Buy rating for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), first recommended on May 20, 2009 at a price of $55.87.

The value proposition with Johnson & Johnson 'isn't rocket science', as they say, even though the business model does involve a considerable amount of science.

Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), a manufacturer of a whole host of medical devices involved with the management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, released its Q1 data on Tuesday. Revenues increased 6%, and adjusted earnings per share came in at 79 cents (some of the adjustments were related to restructuring and litigation issues).

The company was able to grow the adjusted-per-share bottom line by 10%. In addition, according to Reuters, Medtronic beat estimates by a penny. Shareholders should keep in mind, however, that the quarter benefited from an extra week.

Money market accounts and certificates of deposit are safe, but they provide very little return on your investment. This fact, and the invigorated stock market, provoked one of my bankers, Dobrinka, at the local Santa Monica Wells Fargo branch, to ask for advice on how I would invest $25,000 if I was just starting out.

This is a common question although the starting point in terms of cash varies. It certainly makes a difference how old the person is, their general knowledge about investing and finance, and the particulars of their financial statement.

Here is what I suggested sticking to regular themes I have written about before and broadly speaking would be a conservative approach emphasizing safety, diversity, liquidity, dividends and the potential for growth far exceeding cash in the mattress or in a money market account. I also think that it is important for beginners to educate themselves so my suggestions include an educational aspect.

Pharmaceutical company Merck (NYSE: MRK), whose colleagues include Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), issued its Q2 numbers earlier in the week. Quite frankly, I found them to be boring. Of course, maybe boring isn't too bad these days, right? It's a lot better than an exciting ride on a profit-decline express.

Well, actually, Merck did see a decline in its bottom-line profit, but it wasn't an outrageously awful drop or anything like that. Merck made an adjusted 83 cents per share compared to an adjusted 86 cents per share in the comparable period. Three less pennies isn't the worst thing in the world on a relative basis. Plus, revenues increased 3% if you exclude currency effects (including them gives a decrease of 3%).

Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX), an expert in medical devices and a colleague of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), reported earnings for the second quarter on Monday after the closing bell. Wall Street liked the results. Shares of the company were bid higher by 5.8% in the after-hours session.

Net sales increased 7%. On an adjusted basis, Boston Scientific made 20 cents per share. According to Earnings.com, the business was supposed to bring in only 13 cents per share. Thus, management did a superb job of beating the analysts at their precious game. Unfortunately, Boston Scientific made the same amount of adjusted profit in the year-ago period, so there wasn't any growth on the bottom line.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), a company that counts Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) as colleagues, will report results for the second quarter on Tuesday, July 14. JNJ is expected to post a bit of a profit decline. Last year's Q2, according to Earnings.com, saw the health-care business earn $1.18 per share. This time around, analysts are thinking that JNJ will do somewhere around $1.11 per share.

Will JNJ beat the analysts? It's quite possible, since the company has a good record on this count. As a matter of fact, JNJ beat predictions by four cents back in April. Sales, however, came in a little weak. Interestingly enough, the market didn't really care too much about the earnings performance on that day. Shares had rallied a bit in pre-market trading, but they closed slightly down by the end of the regular session. I found a similar situation back in January.

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.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), a pharmaceutical entity whose colleagues include Merck (NYSE: MRK), Novartis (NYSE: NVS), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), will be reporting first-quarter earnings Tuesday. As one has come to expect, the market believes that the company will be experiencing a decline in bottom-line income. The call is for 49 cents per share versus 61 cents per share in the year-ago period.

That's a drop of 20%. That might not sound so hot, but the good news is that Pfizer has a solid recent track record when it comes to beating earnings expectations. So shareholders might be justified in feeling confident about that aspect of the game.

The plight of the US and global economy, and how it touches everyone, has most people believing we are in for a long drawn out period of sluggish growth, and that a lot of pain is still to come. For most companies and individuals this means they can not obtain enough liquidity, reduce debt or increase their net cash positions fast enough.

Despite the stimulus package, despite $75 billion mortgage relief, and despite the markets holding in around the old key support levels from November, today was one of those days where you could have flipped a coin to give a verdict on how the day felt. The FOMC minutes were effectively a further economic warning and industrial production and capacity utilization were again a further disappointment. Ditto on weak housing.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 7,555.63 +3.03 (0.04%)
S&P 500 788.41 -0.76 (-0.10%)
Nasdaq 1,467.97 -2.69 (-0.18%)

Late last year my colleague Joseph Lazzaro posted a story about NYU's 'Dr. Doom' Roubini: Stocks may fall another 20% during recession. That has to make one take pause when considering an investment in the stock market today, even after a major drop retesting November lows this week. On the other hand, Warren Buffett went out of his way to encourage the investing public and money managers alike that it was safe to go back into the market.

However, today it has been widely reported that Buffett sold off half of his holdings in Johnson & Johnson and trimmed his stake in Procter & Gamble.

In reading recent stories that Warren Buffett continues to increase his stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) -- now standing at 22.4% -- I started to wonder if some day the name might be changed to "Berkshire" Northern Santa Fe RR?

'My pal Warren' is no doubt looking long term, and for most of the past two years has been up on Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.A) BNI investment. However that is not the case today as his most recent purchase at $75.00 per share (not bought in the open market) is under water; the shares closed at $66.04, down 12%. He is losing even more on his average purchase price.