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Shares of CBS (NYSE: CBS) are no longer rolling around in the pits of equity hell. Do you recall when they were trading around $3 per share? Nasty time it was. Amazingly, as I write this, CBS is hovering near a 52-week high. They are well over $12 in value.

Yet, when I look at the latest earnings report, I don't feel as upbeat as the market. According to the press release (the link goes to a .pdf file), revenues were flat for the third quarter and adjusted income dropped to 25 cents per share from the year-ago figure of 39 cents per share.

Shares of The Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) surged to a new 52-week high Friday morning, after the brewmaster reported a third-quarter profit of $10.4 million, or 72 cents per share, on revenue of $108.7 million. The company swung to a loss of 2 cents per share in the third quarter of 2008, but attributed its turnaround to strong shipments and decreased advertising expenses.

The results were better than analysts expected, with consensus estimates calling for Boston Beer to bank a profit of 39 cents per share on $107.5 million. Looking forward, Boston Beer now expects full-year earnings of $1.75 per share to $2.05 per share, a marked increased from its prior forecast for a 2009 profit of $1.40 per share to $1.70 per share.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) published third-quarter results on Thursday after the bell. I can't say I was wholly taken with them. I know the best is probably yet to come once the Christmas shopping season really gets under way, but I was a little disappointed that the company saw a decline in adjusted profit.

Excluding items, Activision Blizzard made 4 cents per share this quarter versus the 7 cents per share made in last year's similar period. Well, did I say I was a little disappointed? Make that a lot disappointed. After all, this is supposed to be the publisher with the best pipeline on the block, the one with the Guitar Hero franchise and a great portfolio of licensed intellectual properties.

World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE)'s stock jumped Thursday after the market took a look at the company's Q3 data. Overall revenues didn't see much of an increase, but earnings per share rose over 70% to 12 cents. Driving this incredible growth rate was a cut in gross costs. Analysts were betting on 10 cents in per-share profit, according to Earnings.com.

Did WWE deserve a pop of 7% during yesterday's trading session? Some of the excitement was certainly justified. It's obviously a positive thing to see management acting so diligently when it comes to costs. Of course, there was an increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses during the quarter, so there is still room for improvement (the nine-month table did show a decrease in this line, to be fair).

Shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) are trading up in after hours trading today after the company posted strong Q4 earnings numbers after the market close.

As we noted in our earnings preview, the company was expected to show earnings for the quarter of 21 cents per share on $2.39 billion in revenues. The actual numbers came in at 24 cents per share with revenues of $2.4 billion.

When you run across a stock with a 16% yield you at least have to check out the story. Prospect Capital Corp (NASDAQ: PSEC) is just such a company. Last week PSEC declared its 20th consecutive increased dividend.

In sharing my adventures and opinions in the investment world I try very hard to be candid without crossing the line into being a promoter. That said, I have been buying stock regularly over the last 12 months and buying on fear has paid off handsomely. As the market has catapulted upward since March the opportunities have diminished. However, I did add PSEC in the last month.

They are the masters of the game. Who are they? They are the traders at Goldman Sachs.

Why is Goldman Sachs Co. (NYSE: GS) the best? Take a look at the record. Goldman traders had one loss in the third quarter. They had a string of 36 $100 million days out of 65 trading days. These figures were down slightly when Goldman had 46 $100 million trades in the second quarter.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), the big media conglomerate that competes with Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, issued Q1 data on Wednesday after regular trading was over. Revenues declined 4%, but earnings per share went up 10% to 22 cents. According to Bloomberg, that was enough to beat analysts by four pennies.

That's pretty decent for the company, but there are a couple of spots in need of serious help. It goes without saying that the newspaper industry is having a rough time, so it's not so hard to understand why the news groups experienced a significant decline in operating income.

Following today's market close, technology giant Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) had its chance to impress Wall Street with its fiscal first quarter results, and the company did not disappoint.

Going into this afternoon's earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see the company show earnings of 31 cents per share, but the company surprised to the upside by posting actual earnings of 36 cents per share for its fiscal first quarter. For the same period last year the company had earnings of 42 cents per share.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) -- which includes A&W, Hawaiian Punch, Welch's, 7UP, Clamato, Margaritaville, and Yoo-Hoo among its diverse beverage offerings -- is scheduled to discuss its third-quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Thursday at 11:00 AM ET, hosted by CEO Larry Young and CFO John Stewart. You can catch the live webcast of the call and accompanying slide presentation on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in September, Dr Pepper launched an energy drink and reaffirmed its full-year guidance. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this Plano, Tex.-based bottler and distributor of nonalcoholic beverages to report that earnings for that period rose 8.2% from a year ago to $0.49 per share. However, revenue for the quarter is expected to be 4.2% lower to $1.4 billion.

Cable giant Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) posted Q3 numbers earlier today. It seems like the company is doing well with earnings growth and cash flow, even if revenues moved up a meager 3%.

Adjusted earnings per share grew over 20% to 28 cents per share. According to our earnings preview, the market was looking for 25 cents per share. Operating cash flow increased a little under 3%, but free cash flow went up almost 20%, aided by a smaller amount of capital expenditures compared to the previous year's similar quarter. I'm sure shareholders are more than satisfied with the growth rate of the green stuff over the past three months. Comcast saw excellent expansion of free cash over the last nine months, too.

No doubt, the internet is transforming the education market. After all, schools need to find ways to cut costs as well as improve instruction. And, the dominant player in providing digital solutions for education is Blackboard (NASDAQ: BBBB).

In Q3, the company posted an 18% increase in revenues to $98.4 million, with net income of $4.3 million or $0.13 per share. The big growth drivers came from professional services and managed hosting solutions (there are 834 such clients).

Traders initially seemed thrilled with Wednesday's third-quarter earnings report from Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL), but the stock then backpedaled into the red. The retailer banked a quarterly profit of $7.8 million, or 28 cents per share, up from its year-ago net income of $5.5 million, or 20 cents per share. Revenue for the period surged 14% to $140.5 million. The results comfortably outpaced analysts' consensus estimates, which called for a profit of 24 cents per share on $137.1 million in revenue.

Looking ahead, Lumber Liquidators is forecasting full-year revenue of $535 million to $543 million, up from its previous guidance of $528 million to $538 million. Earnings for fiscal 2009 are expected to range between 90 cents and 95 cents per share, compared to the retailer's previous forecast of 85 cents to 91 cents per share. Wall Street, on average, is expecting full-year earnings of 90 cents per share on $537.1 million.

Media giant Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) reported third-quarter earnings this morning and issued a stronger outlook. During the quarter, earnings dropped 38%, thanks to declines at its AOL division (parent of BloggingStocks) and publishing segments.

Excluding items, TWX's earnings checked in at 61 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate by 8 cents per share. Quarterly revenue slipped 6% to $7.1 billion, matching the consensus estimate. Looking ahead, TWX forecast adjusted earnings of at least $2.05 per share. This forecast is higher than the $1.98 per share the company issued earlier and the $2.02 per share that the Street expects.

Web.com's (NASDAQ: WWWW) small business customers have certainly suffered during the recession. Yet, the company has been able to deal with it. Then again, small businesses realize that they need a strong web presence, which is exactly Web.com's laser focus.

In Q3, the company posted revenues of $26.1 million, which was up a bit from the $25.5 million in the same period a year ago. Most of the revenue came from recurring subscriptions.