H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), a tax-preparation company whose colleagues include Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service (NYSE: JTX), was up in the after-hours session on Monday because the market approved of the company's Q4 earnings report. At one point, shares had gained almost 5.8%, and that was on top of 1.6% gain during the regular session. Volume was okay during the regular session, not overly spectacular.

H&R Block did pretty well considering revenues declined almost 3%. Earnings from continuing operations were flat at $2.09 per diluted share. This was enough to beat estimates of $2.05 per share according to this source.

Back in college, I took a tax course from H&R Block (NYSE: HRB). It was a great learning experience – and also meant I could earn some extra bucks (at least during the first quarter of the year).

Well, even though the web has become a competitive threat for tax preparers -- such as from Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) -- there is still lots of opportunity for the human touch. After all, the U.S. tax system always seems to get more complicated (especially lately). In fact, with the incoming Obama Administration, there are some new deductions and credits, so it's a good idea to have a pro help out.

Tax specialist H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), whose colleagues include Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) and Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX), prepared its Q2 earnings report for investors on Monday after the exchanges had closed. According to this article, the company met expectations for the bottom line. H&R Block saw a net loss of $0.40 per share from continuing operations. That was an improvement of two cents when compared to Q2 2007.

While the bottom line met expectations, the top line came in below what Wall Street was hoping for. The call was for a little over $397 million in sales revenue. H&R Block actually delivered $351.5 million. So, when you add it all together, you come up with something of a lukewarm quarter, in my opinion.

But you have to remember something about this business: tax season is coming up. So, even though we're talking about a loss right now, we should be talking about a profit once the fiscal year concludes. In fact, analysts are calling for H&R Block to earn around $1.63 per share. Management believes that somewhere between $1.60 and $1.70 per share is conceivable. That leaves room for a beat. And, at the stock's current price, H&R Block may be cheap.

Its location among the mid Atlantic states has made New Jersey a transportation hub, a manufacturing and commerce center, and a source of plenty of investment opportunities. Twenty-four Fortune 500 companies are headquartered there. And four companies from New Jersey made Fortune's 2007 list of the fastest growing companies in the U.S.: Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ: CTSH), Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG), inVentiv Health Inc. (NASDAQ: VTIV), and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. (NYSE: JTX).

Cognizant has been on Fortune's list of fastest growing companies for the past five years. This Teaneck-based member of the S&P 500 is a global IT services firm with clients in the health care, financial services, and manufacturing industries. Cognizant's three-year annual revenue growth rate was 56 percent; its three-year annual earnings per share growth rate was 55 percent. The consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is that Cognizant is a buy, and the company has beat Wall Street expectations for the past four quarters. The share price of $85.79 at close on Friday is up from the 52-week low of $67.60 in September. The price has risen since Cognizant announced a stock split and share repurchase program in September, and the Motley Fool has since dubbed Cognizant a hypergrowth stock.

Summit-based Celgene is a biopharmaceuticals firm involved in cancer treatment and stem cell research. Its three-year annual revenue growth rate was 48 percent; its three-year annual earnings per share growth rate was 33 percent. The consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is that Celgene is a buy. The share price reached a 52-week high of $72.91 on Friday. The Motley Fool recognized Celgene for its sustainable competitive advantage over its rivals, and Jim Cramer also likes Celgene.