Lennar (NYSE: LEN), whose colleagues include Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) and D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI), reported earnings for the second quarter on Thursday. Since it is a homebuilder, you can expect that it would be a tough one to look at in many respects. There was a revenue decline of over 20%. And there was no profit. Lennar said it lost 76 cents per diluted share.

According to Michael Fowlkes and his earnings preview, Lennar did not satisfy Wall Street's outlook. Analysts were expecting a loss somewhere closer to 63 cents per share. That didn't stop the stock from going up, though. Lennar closed higher yesterday by over 17%. Volume was likewise incredible. Apparently, the market was focusing on the revenue beat.

Kroger (NYSE: KR), a supermarket chain that competes with Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Costco (NASDAQ: COST), and Supervalu (NYSE: SVU), issued its Q1 earnings report today. Not much came of it, though. The stock, as of this writing, isn't doing much in afternoon trading. Too bad for shareholders, because the bottom line beat the analysts.

According to the earnings preview from Michael Fowlkes, Kroger was expected to deliver around 61 cents per share. Well, Kroger earned 66 cents per share. The number improved last year's performance by 8 cents. Revenues were essentially flat. Same-store sales increased a little over 3%. When you think about it, Kroger did pretty well.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) reported earnings after the bell on Wednesday. Today, shares are up almost 10% on active volume in early afternoon trading as I write this. What does the market see in the numbers that is making it so happy?

Well, it's difficult to say precisely. As we all know, Starbucks has been having its problems, and data in Q2 indicate that the status quo essentially remains. Sales: down almost 8%. Operating income: down 77%. Adjusted earnings per share: down two pennies to $0.16. Cash from operations: down 6%. Same-store sales: down 8%. See what I mean? I hate using the word "down" so many times.

I was looking at The Hollywood Reporter the other day and came across an item about Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) and an innocent little DVD deal it made that involved some animated product, including old episodes of the cartoon version of Transformers. That reminded me that the Transformers sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is due out at the end of June. That further reminded me that it might be time to take a look at the stock of Mattel's (NYSE: MAT) archrival.

Hasbro had a rough time last Christmas. When I covered the toy maker's earnings in February, I noted that they experienced a significant drop and that they missed analyst expectations. But I also noted something else: the company's shares rallied on the bad earnings release. That gave me pause. Could this be an interesting indication about Hasbro's future? Was the stock a buy?

Nike (NYSE: NKE) will be reporting numbers for the second quarter on Wednesday, December 17. What should investors be expecting from the famous sneaker company?

Well, according to this earnings source, Wall Street thinks that Nike can deliver somewhere around $0.79 per share. If management hits this number, then we're talking growth of about 11%. Not the most exciting growth rate ever seen, but shareholders learn to appreciate low double-digit growth expansion in bad economic times. And judging by recent history, it seems like a good bet that Nike will, at the very least, meet expectations. The company has beaten the analysts on a pretty consistent basis, so even if the global recession has caught up to Nike, I'd have to assume that they'll at least deliver what's expected of the business (my guess is that we'll see a beat). Back in September, Michael Fowlkes wrote about Nike's beat in Q1.

Shareholders will be looking for clues as to how Nike is handling the tough climate. Margins will be looked at, and the effect of currency exchange rates will be scrutinized. The big question will center on what happens next. Will consumers still want to spend good money on expensive footwear? Nike does have great brand equity, as I noted back in the summer, but you pay up for its products. How attractive can that be with job cuts dominating the news flow? Shareholders should also see how many shares of stock management saw fit to take out of the float. That will indicate a level of confidence in its current business model.