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

• Astec Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTE) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) fourth-quarter profit fails to offset the full-year loss.
• China Techfaith Wireless Communication Technology (NASDAQ: CNTF) beat analysts' expectations.
• Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) met analysts' estimates, buoyed by higher fuel prices.
• FTI Consulting Inc. (NYSE: FCN) beat expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
• H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) narrowed its loss due to higher sales and smaller subprime losses.
• Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. (NYSE: JTX) missed estimates as third-quarter profits declined sharply.
• LifeCell Corp. (NASDAQ: LIFC) beat fourth-quarter estimates and offered full-year guidance.
• Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL) lowered its first-quarter forecast , sending shares lower.
• Porsche AG (OTC: PSEPF) profit soared on strong sales of its Cayenne.
• S1 Corp. (NASDAQ: SONE) beat expectations and offered full-year guidance.
• Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) fourth-quarter profit nearly doubled, but full-year profit declined.
• Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN) beat expectations on strength in same-store sales.
• Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) reports strong same-store sales ahead of its quarterly results.

Also, see Timothy Sykes's take on Warren Buffett's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) shareholders. Zac Bissonnette is interested in where earnings actually come from. And Saks, Costco, and other retailers saw stronger February same-store sales despite recession concerns, but JC Penney Co. (NYSE: JCP) didn't feel the love.

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.

Earnings highlights: Blockbuster, Costco, H&R Block, Walgreen, Saks and others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Thomas Wiesel initiated coverage of the Medical Devices Industry:
• Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) was initiated with an Underweight rating, expecting shares to Underperform peers due to reductions in estimates, risks to the stent business and valuation.
  
• Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) was initiated with an Overweight rating, saying attractively valued as they believe the growth in underlying markets may be more robust than the current sentiment suggests.
  
• St. Jude Medical (NYSE: SJT) was initiated with an Overweight rating, saying shares offer exposure to attractive drivers, a management team with the best track record in the segment, and a potential acquisition candidate.
  

• Stephens believes the recent weakness in Bankrate (NASDAQ: RATE) due to "turmoil" in the market has created an attractive entry point, starting shares with an Overweight rating.

• Morgan Stanley assumed coverage of AXA (NYSE: AXA) with an Overweight rating, citing an attractive risk/reward and strong free cash flow...

• S1 Corp (NASDAQ: SONE) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Avondale.

• Needham started Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) with a Buy rating.

• Credit Suisse initiated AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) with a Neutral rating.

• Jefferies started Molex (NASDAQ: MOLX) with a Hold rating.

Analyst initiations: AXA, BSCI, BSX, and MDT originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jim Cramer may deserve a lot of praise, but in our analysis consistency is not one of his strong points. Tonight on MAD MONEY he looked into his crystal ball and showed us the future. Before seeing the future, though, he had to take us to the past ... not far, naturally. Just back to Monday morning, and pretend you owned Open Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:OPEN). If you did own OPEN, you would have been up $7 on the buyout.

What is he finding in his crystal ball? No, it's not Dorothy and her little dog, too. It's "THE NEXT OPEN."

He says the next OPEN is S1 Corporation (NASDAQ:SONE). He said that Carlyle and another private equity group is buying OPEN,and they may sell some off and keep some. Private equity firms, he says, are the buyers of last resort these days. Not only that, but they tend to parrot one another. If you were a private equity firm, and you were looking for something like OPEN, you would find SONE. SONE offers solutions instead of just software, and three-quarters of the company's business is recurring.

He also wanted to go over the fundamentals. SONE dropped the ball with no growth in 2005, and he thinks they are back on track in 2006. Cramer said if you start adding this in after a couple days it will work. He said they also have some tax credits that will keep it from paying out too much in taxes.

SONE closed down 0.8% today, but shares have now jumped more than 15% to $5.80 in after-hours trading.

So much for Cramer's attitude of "We don't want to buy stocks just because they could be buyout candidates."

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St. LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Cramer says S1 is private equity bait originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.