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

• Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings and revenue, sending shares higher.
• Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) reported better-than-expected Q3 numbers, sending shares higher.
• Bare Escentuals Inc. (NASDAQ: BARE) Q3 profit easily topped analysts' estimates, and shares surged.
• Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: COG) received an upgrade following the release of its Q3 numbers.
• Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) reported strong Q1 results, sending shares higher.
• E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) reported a smaller-than-expected net loss for Q3.
• Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) Q3 earnings topped estimates and revenue was up sequentially.

Analyst upgrades:

• Verizon (NYSE: VZ) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo, which believes Verizon wireline margins troughed in Q3 and that Street estimates have been reset to more achievable levels.
• Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at FBR Capital, which believes the company is gaining analog market share and shares are attractively valued at current levels. The firm maintains a $31 price target.
• Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) was upgraded at Wells Fargo to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm believes this year's run-up in the stock was primarily due to the company's spin-off of MSG, but the firm believes the stock can rise further based on fundamentals.
• Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan following the company's Q3 results due to valuation and its above-average growth. The firm raised its target to $51.50 from $47.
• RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) was upgraded to Hold from Underweight at KeyBanc, which said that its recovering sales trends were encouraging.
• Travelzoo (NASDAQ: TZOO) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush as it believes the divestiture of its Asian business coupled with growth in its Fly.com unit will drive 2010 growth. The firm raised its target to $17 from $13.

It's extremely tough to survive in the retail consumer electronics space, especially with competitors like Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). Yet, RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) continues to find ways push ahead.

Today, the company released its Q3 report. Revenues came in at $990 million, which was a nice beat on the Wall Street consensus (about $962 million). Net income was $37.4 million, or $0.30 per share, which compares to last year's earnings of $49.1 million, or $0.38 per share. Keep in mind that the company has increased spending on branding (for its new positioning as "The Shack," which appears to be getting traction).

Investor and trader Mishko Janusevich, he of decent-sized net worth fame, had a mantra that he used to repeat while outlining the top, new stock shorts that appeared that day, as determined by technical indicators.

He would stand next to the overhead projected stock chart at the front of the trading room, point to the stock chart and recite, "You see this stock? You see that it's dropped $8 in past two days? You think it can't drop any more? SELL THAT STOCK, it's dropping more!!"

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

• Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) reported strong Q2 earnings thought revenue fell but beat analysts' estimates.
• Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) beat Q2 earnings estimates but revenue suffered from currency effects.
• Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) reported a drop in Q2 revenue and a net loss on restructuring charges.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) posted a deeper-than-expected Q2 net loss as sales plunged.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) reported its lowest quarterly profit in years, well short of expectations.

Electronics retailer RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) sold off on Monday. The market wasn't impressed by the earnings beat that management delivered. According to Reuters, the 39 cents per share that RadioShack booked for the second quarter went 10 cents beyond analyst expectations.

That sounds pretty good on the surface. And, to be honest, I bet shares of RadioShack would have rallied had conditions been different. The major indexes have seen a lot of bullish action as we all know, and I think a fair amount of stocks now might run the risk of selling off on a decent bottom-line report just because of worries in the system. When you think about it, this rally has to end some time. And if you take a look at RadioShack's stock performance since early March, you have to wonder how much more buying interest is left at this point.

Lance Armstrong is in the midst of a comeback over in the Tour de France, but he is making news for reasons other than his exploits on his bicycle. Yesterday, Lance announced that he will return to the Tour de France in 2010 and will be riding for a new sponsor, RadioShack (NYSE: RSH).

The terms of the deal were not available, but it also includes rights to Lance as he participates in marathons and triathlons. On his website, Livestrong.com, Armstrong said, "RadioShack has agreed to partner with us on this venture and ensure that this partnership and this team stays alive for years to come." This means that Armstrong will be leaving Team Astana after this year's Tour, and will probably be taking a number of teammates with him. There will also be other sponsors named, with Nissan the most prevalent, and the rumored budget for the team is $20 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the parade of earnings declines to continue into the final week of February, with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN), Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M), DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA), Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE: RY), Del Monte Foods Co. (NASDAQ: DLM), Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), and H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) all expected to post lower earnings for the most recent quarter. Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS), and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) are expect to have swung to a loss.

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

• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) Q3 results were dragged down by charge-offs due to the recession.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) posted stronger-than-expected results due in part to iPhone sales.
• Boeing Inc. (NYSE: BA) posted a bigger-than-estimated earnings decline due in part to the strike.
• Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) reported Q1 earnings that were in line with Wall Street expectations.
• Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) Q3 results fell more than expected due to lower copper prices.
• Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) edged past estimates but felt the squeeze from exchange rates.
• McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI) reported dismal Q3 results as advertising revenues dry up.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted solid Q1 results but offered conservative guidance.
• New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) reported awful earnings and announced that it might cut its dividend.
• Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) topped profit estimates and maintained its guidance.
• RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) better-than-expected results were driven by sales of digital TV converters.
• Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) warned of a Q1 loss and acquisition-related charges.
• Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) missed estimates due to slowing mobile phone sales.
• United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings.
• Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) earnings tumbled in Q3 and it announced layoffs.

For more earnings highlights from this week, see Amazon, McDonald's, Mattel, Pfizer, AT&T, Sony and others.

Watch for upcoming quarterly reports from Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Estée Lauder (NYSE: EL) , US Steel (NYSE: X), Aetna (NYSE: AET), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Qwest (NYSE:Q), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Kellogg (NYSE: K), Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT), MetLife (NYSE: MET), Moody's (NYSE: MCO), Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), Avon (NYSE: AVP), CBS (NYSE: CBS), CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA), Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Washington Post (NYSE: WPO).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) reported earnings for the third quarter the other day, and according to the bullet points of this article, the electronics retailer beat analyst expectations by three pennies. Earnings came in at $0.39 per share. And I say, so what?

Why do I say this? Well, to be honest, RadioShack has never been my favorite retail investment idea. No, I've never had a problem at any of the company's locations, but seriously, how often do you hear people talk about RadioShack? I don't hear many people talk about the place, I can tell you that. Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) -- these are the retailers people think of first when they think of electronics, fair or not. At least, that's what I've been getting lately. And here's an interesting wrinkle to the earnings report. Sales were driven by those digital converter devices that many households will need to use their television sets once digital broadcasting begins in February 2009. Not that this is an original observation, but when I read that, I immediately thought to myself "well, where does RadioShack go from here?" The company is going to find it tough to stand out among the crowd in the next few months. Brand equity is really going to come into play. The brand equities of the aforementioned competitors will aid them in bringing traffic onto their sales floors. When it comes to a day like Black Friday, which is the kickoff to the holiday shopping season, I think consumers will be most excited about the deals they can get at a Wal-Mart or a Target and not the ones they can get at a RadioShack.

Sure, that might sound obvious, but it's one of the reasons why I wouldn't want to put money down on RadioShack. The company's stock is near a 52-week low, but it's not a buy. Management is trying to improve its standing in the eye of the electronics consumer, but it'll be a long time before that happens. Besides, the bigger stores simply have more to offer both in terms of shopping experience and one-stop buying. There theoretically will always be a place for a RadioShack. But there's not a place for it, at least at this time, in my portfolio.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of IberiaBank (NASDAQ: IBKC) to Market Perform from Underperform after the company announced that Pulaski has assumed the insured deposits of ANB Financial of Bentonville, Arkansas.
  
• KeyBanc upgraded Dynamic Materials (NASDAQ: BOOM) to Buy from Hold citing stability in base business, valuation, and the added benefit associated with a European competitor being acquired.
  
• Cowen raised Barr Pharma (NYSE: BRL) to Outperform from Neutral citing the recent pullback.

• Goldman added McGraw-Hill (NASDAQ: MHP) to its Conviction Buy List.
  
• RBC Capital raised RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) to Sector Perform from Underperform.
  
• Sirius Satellite (NASDAQ: SIRI) was upgraded at Merrill Lynch to Neutral from Sell.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

Going by ad campaigns alone, you would think that every person -- or, at least every cool person -- had abandoned their Windows PCs and hoisted themselves onto the Macintosh bandwagon. Not so. The truth is that PCs far outnumber Macs in the market. The big-business worlds of finance, law, medicine use predominantly PC, while the areas of video production, web design and art use Mac. These computers do most of the same things (play games and DVDs, word-process, create web pages, store and play music) but they are completely different operating systems. Even though Apple computers now include the Intel processor that makes it possible to use Windows-only applications, it can still be hard to compare products.

But what about the companies themselves? What does the Apple brand signify that the Dell brand does not? And vice versa.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL): Providing innovative products and a user-friendly interface, Apple has turned the whole computer thing into a fashion accessory. For someone who used Dell products for years and then switched to Mac, the difference is like night and day. A Mac is so easy to use. With a clean interface, a near-universal compatibility with external products and tools, these computers are a beautiful breeze. And now that Macs include Intel processors, one can switch back and forth between a Windows interface and a Mac interface, making previous incompatibilities (software, games, etc.) now perfectly compatible. And when it comes to customer service (see below) Apple really socks the house.

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

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) reported its fifth straight quarterly loss and lowered its outlook.
• Anadigics Inc. (NASDAQ: ANAD) beat Q1 expectations and raised its Q2 guidance.
• AuthenTec Inc. (NASDAQ: AUTH) Q1 revenues jumped 67% on new product offerings.
• CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) posted better-than-expected Q1 results and raised its dividend.
• Cognex Corp. (NASDAQ: CGNX) beat Q1 expectations and lifted its outlook.
• Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) posted soild Q1 results on high-speed internet/digital phone strength.
• DreamWorks Animation Inc. (NYSE: DWA) earnings and revenues soared in the first quarter.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) narrowed its Q1 loss but missed earnings estimates.
• IAC/InterActivCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) Q1 profits fell but met analsts' expectations.
• LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI) beat Q1 expectations and raised its guidance for the next quarter.
• NetSuite Inc. (NASDAQ: N) narrowed its loss on a surge in Q1 revenue.
• Omniture Inc. (NASDAQ: OMTR) Q1 revenue jumped 136% on acquisitions.
• RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) just beat low Q1 expectations on lower demand and narrower margins.
• SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) earnings for the first quarter fell short of analysts' expectations.