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

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) shares rose after it reaffirmed its full-year earnings and sales outlook.
• Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) will have low double-digit EPS growth, predicts one analyst.
• AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) posted a decline in earnings but a small rise in sales, sending shares lower.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) posted better-than-expected Q2 earnings and higher revenue.
• CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) rallied to a new 52-week high after topping analysts' Q2 earnings expectations.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) reported better-than-expected Q3 results and raised its full-year guidance.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Warner Chilcott (NASDAQ: WCRX) to Buy from Hold. The firm views Warner Chilcott's acquisition of P&G's (NYSE: PG) pharma business as a positive given its attractive product fit and purchase price.
• ThinkEquity upgraded Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to Buy from Source of Funds and raised its target to $550 from $400. Previously, the firm thought Google Street estimates were too high and that low single-digit growth in Q2 and Q3 would cause multiple contraction. They said their thesis played out fundamentally but they were wrong on the stock. Given Q2 has past, the analyst raised estimates above consensus and expects an in-line Q3 and for shares to outperform as the economic cycle turns.
• Bernstein upgraded Diageo (NYSE: DEO) to Outperform from Market Perform and views Diageo's valuation as attractive. The firm expects 2H09 results on August 27 to mark a bottom in weakening top-line trends.
• Costco (NASDAQ: COST) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at William Blair.
• Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Siemens (NYSE: SI) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.

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

• Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) strong Q2 results beat expectations due to rising same-store sales.
• Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) Q3 earnings topped low expectations and revenue declined.
• Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) posted better-than-expected Q3 results but shares fell on weaker margins.
• Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) CEO said its new advertising efforts will boost sales over the long run.
• Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) had a better-than-expected Q2 profit but same-store sales fell.
• BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. (NYSE: BJ) reported solid Q2 numbers and raised its full-year guidance.

Most investors got slammed last year, down 50% or more in their investments. Didn't matter if they owned stocks or real estate, they got hammered. Many have to start over. And if they're near retirement, it's scary. Years of patient investing wiped out, gains that were made over a long time disappeared frighteningly fast.

But now it's time to begin fresh, to rebuild. What's the safest way to regain some or all of the losses without suffering another wipeout?

While its rival Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) reported weak quarterly results today, Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) is scheduled to discuss its second quarter 2009 results tomorrow morning in a conference call at 9:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast on the company's website.

In that quarter, Home Depot declared a quarterly dividend of 22.5 cents per share, as well as shared its long-term priorities with analysts. The Atlanta-based home improvement chain is expected to report that earnings fell 16.9% from a year ago to $0.59 per share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. That's up from better-than-expected $0.35 per share in the first quarter, though. Revenue for the second quarter is expected to be 8.4% lower to $19.2 billion. Earnings have topped estimates in recent quarters, by as much as 10 cents per share.

On Thursday, Aug. 6, Speedway Motorsports (NYSE: TRK) crossed its Q2 earnings finish line. The company reported a profit of 82 cents per share in the second three months of the year, well above consensus Wall Street estimates for a profit of 79 cents per share.

Now, you might think that TRK took the trading day's checkered flag with a win after its strong earnings beat, but that wasn't the case. Despite a solid move higher in the shares in the first hour of Thursday trade, TRK shares finished the session down more than 5%.

Good news: profits are back. Bad news: it hurts like hell to get them.

With Q2 reports starting to come in, several high-profile companies have turned in positive results, and a few -- like Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), 3M (NYSE: MMM), and Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) -- have even upped the ante for the rest of the year.

Expectations were low, making the outcomes look surprisingly strong. According to a Thomson Reuters, a third of the biggest companies in the United States that have turned in their Q2 results, and 76% of them have beaten analyst expectations. Less than a fifth of them are losing money.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Lloyds Banking (NYSE: LYG) to Buy from Sell as it believes shares are attractively valued based on the company's earnings potential post recession.
• Susquehanna upgraded MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) to Positive from Neutral based on valuation and improving macro trends. The firm has a $29 target on the stock.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) to Buy from Neutral on valuation following the recent pullback.
• MetLife (NYSE: MET) and Torchmark (NYSE: TMK) were upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.
• Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

With the recession still in full swing these days, retailers continue to try and entice consumers into stores with discounts, special programs and new and improved gimmicks to ensure sales don't decline to drastically. So, in that sense, does it sound logical that some retailers are actually opening new stores? In some ways this may actually make sense, as long as you still to small, efficient and highly profitable.

OfficeMax, Inc. (NYSE: OMX), Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and others are opening concept stores with a very limited selection of items in some markets and areas where full-size stores would be a huge risk. Best Buy has it Best Buy Mobile concept stores filled with high-margin wireless accessories and commissioned wireless handset and contract sales, and OfficeMax is launching stores with a selection of extremely popular items in stores as small as 2,000 square feet.

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

• Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) beat profit expectations as revenue and same-store sales both increased.
• Aruba Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) received an analyst's upgrade following its Q3 report.
• Buckle Inc. (NYSE: BKE) reported better-than-expected Q1 expectations as revenue surged.
• Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) higher Q2 earnings beat expectations and sent shares upward.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings, sending shares higher.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL), a builder of luxury homes, issued some preliminary revenue results for its second quarter and six-month period. Now, there isn't a lot of surprising stuff here. Things are down, to be certain. What you possibly might be surprised by is the way the stock is trading. As I write this, shares of Toll Brothers have shed about 1% of their value. While that might sound logical because of the presented data, I do have to say that, to me at least, the fact that the shares haven't plunged on the news is almost an encouraging sign.