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

• Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) lowered its 2009 earnings guidance, initially sending the share price lower.
• Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) reported a bigger-than-expected Q2 net loss as revenues sank.
• Collective Brands Inc. (NYSE: PSS) saw Q1 earnings and sales decline, but beat Wall Street estimates.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) earnings prospects led Goldman Sachs analysts to increase its forecasts.
• Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) weak Q1 results topped estimates and it offered guidance that pleased investors.

Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN), a business that sells various networking and software products for fiber-optic and broadband technologies, and whose colleagues include Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), reported late Thursday a difficult second quarter. Revenues declined by 40%. For the bottom line, Ciena said it lost 25 cents per share on an adjusted basis. Last year at this time, Ciena made an adjusted 40 cents per share. And in terms of expectations, the company was only supposed to lose 9 cents per share. Guess there wasn't a chance of that, huh?

The U.S. recession has hit just about every sector fairly hard, save health care; internet services have certainly not been immune.

Still, Wall Street has been known to overdo it somewhat on the downside, particularly when a growth play runs into a recession, and that's why Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) is worth a review.

Ciena supplies communications networking equipment, software and services to communications service providers, cable operators, governments and enterprises. The company specializes in helping organizations transition from old-world architectures to high-bandwidth services. Hence, CIEN is largely a broadband play, and now that it looks like better days are up ahead for the U.S. economy in a quarter or two, firms will begin to make the investments they need to stay competitive in a decidedly broadband world. The First Call F2009/F2010 EPS estimates for CIEN are a loss of 21 cents and a profit of 15 cents.

The old adage to new investors has always been to invest in something that you use or believe in. Right now, you're probably reading this online and there's a good chance you got online through a broadband connection, so why not invest in the companies that continue to supply equipment for the growth of the broadband revolution?

The exchange-traded fund (ETF) Broadband HOLDRs (NYSE: BDH) is a great way to invest in the broadband industry without having to select one company. BDH consists of about 22 companies that develop, manufacture and market products and services that facilitate the transmission of data, video and voice more quickly and efficiently than traditional telephone line communications.

Even as the holiday season ramps up and the calendar quarter begins to wind down, earnings reports continue to dribble in. Among the companies scheduled to release quarterly results this coming week, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting BWAY Holding Co. (NYSE: BWY), Powell Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: POWL), and Esterline Technologies Corp. (NYSE: ESL) to be among the biggest earnings gainers.

Atlanta-based packaging and container producer BWAY is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter profits that are 65.6% higher than in the same period of last year, or $0.32 per share on revenues of $265.2 million (+4.9%). BWAY topped estimates in the previous two quarters -- by 44.9% in the third quarter. Those results sent shares to a new 52-week high. But shares have fallen 62.7% in the past three months, and they are now trading near a multiyear low of $4.11 per share.

Houston-based energy equipment maker Powell is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter profits that are 62.7% higher than a year ago, or $0.59 per share. Revenues are forecast to be 14.2% higher, or $171.8 million. Powell beat expectations in the past three quarters -- by 20.2% in the third quarter. The share price has fallen 47.7% in the past three months, and the consensus recommendation is to buy POWL.

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

• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) earnings prospects may have encouraged the machinist union to strike.
• Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) Q3 results and weak guidance led shares to a new 52-week low.
• Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) lowered its Q3 earnings guidance below previous and analysts' forecasts.
• Dollar Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: DLLR) beat Q4 estimates and posted record 2008 results.
• Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) was downgraded because it could miss Q3 earnings expectations.
• Esterline Technologies (NYSE: ESL) topped Q3 expectations due to robust aerospace and defense markets.
• Joy Global Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYG) posted strong Q3 results due to a sharp increase in orders.
• Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) backed away somewhat from its previous 2008 earnings guidance.
• Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) earnings prospects for the next several quarters led to an analyst downgrade.
• MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) mid quarter update warned of declining demand for chips.
• Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) was upgraded following a strong Q3 report.
• New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) ongoing losses haven't diminished Rupert Murdoch's interest in it.
• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) warned that it would miss earnings estimates due in part to weak sales.
• Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: SNDA) better-than-expected Q2 led to an analyst upgrade.
• Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) Q2 earnings slipped while revenues rose, beating expectations.
• Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) Q3 results soared but cut its Q4 guidance.
• Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) was upgraded on its prospects for beating expectations.
• Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) warned that earnings for Q3 and Q4 would be lower than estimates.
• Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) posted better-than-expected Q2 results and offered full-year guidance.
• Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) reported its fourth straight quarterly loss, but it was smaller than expected.

Also, Jim Cramer discusses a decline in earnings resulting from a collapse of oil and oil services.

Upcoming quarterly reports include Korn/Ferry (NYSE: KFY), Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY), Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD), and Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

UBS downgraded SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) to Neutral from Buy, according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Citigroup upgraded Qwest (NYSE:Q) to Buy from Hold and Morgan Keegan upgraded Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) was raised to Neutral at HSBC, according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial site also reports that American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) was cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

In this series, we take a look at the 25 stocks on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) that have turned in the worst performance during the past decade -- what went wrong, and what happens next.

Among telecom stocks that got smacked during the past decade, Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) took the hardest hit -- at least, among those companies that still exist in the same incarnation. Yes, that comment was directed at you, Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU).

Other telecom losers on our roster include Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q), JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU), and Tellabs, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB) -- the latter of which also plays a key role in the forthcoming Ciena saga.

What went wrong? At number 3 on our list of SPX laggards, CIEN lost 90% of its value in the decade that ended June 30, 2008. The stock peaked at a split-adjusted $1,057 in October 2000, a zenith that marked the top of a steep ascent. The equity's ensuing plunge would be just as dramatic.

ADC Telecommunications (NASDAQ: ADCT) provides infrastructure equipment used by wireline, wireless, cable, broadcast and enterprise networks. Its systems connect high-speed Internet, data, video and voice services to residential, business and mobile subscribers. The firm also provides network management software and integration services. Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) are on the company's customer list.

The firm surprised the Street last week, when it reported Q2 EPS of 39 cents and revenues of $403.4 million. Analysts had been looking for 30 cents and $384.8 million. Management also guided Q3 revenues to about $403.4 million ($395.70 million consensus), FY08 EPS to $1.25-$1.33 ($1.21 consensus) and FY08 revenues to $1.52-$1.54 billion ($1.5B consensus). Friedman Billings, Robert W. Baird, UBS and Deutsche Securities subsequently reiterated "buy" ratings on the shares. Lehman Brothers reiterated its "equal weight". All five firms boosted their price targets to the $18.50-$20.00 range.

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

• Bob Evans Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: BOBE) posted stronger-than-expected Q4 earnings.
• Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) beat earnings expectations, but share prices slipped anyway.
• Daktronics Inc. (NASDAQ: DAKT) Q4 results beat expectations and it raised its revenue outlook.
• Diageo (NYSE: DEO) is recession-proof and should deliver solid results, predicts one adviser.
• Donaldson Company Inc. (NYSE: DCI) beat Q3 expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
• Ensco International Inc. (NYSE: ESV) was upgraded because of its earnings growth potential.
• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) earnings prospects don't impress Jim Cramer.
• Netezza Corp. (NYSE: NZ) beat Q1 expectations and offered full-year revenue guidance.
• Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT) earnings are "set to soar" says one analyst, due to rising demand and prices.
• Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) lowered its Q2 and full-year forecasts, sending shares down.
• Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) beat Q2 estimates on Grand Theft Auto IV demand.
• Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) beat Q1 estimates but shares fell on the disappointing Q2 outlook.
• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was upgraded due to its earnings outlook and increased productivity.

See also: Earnings highlights: Toll Bros., National Semiconductor, Dr Pepper, Guess and others

Also, continued real estate losses are expected to hurt the quarterly reports of banks such as like Wachovia (NYSE: WB), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), and National City (NYSE: NCC). And Steven Mallas wonders why Playboy (NYSE: PLA) shares have tanked since its last earnings report.

Upcoming results to watch for include Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD), Pall Corp. (NYSE: PLL), Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY), Korn Ferry (NYSE: KFY), and Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ: CASY).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) is scheduled to release Q4 after the close of trading on June 5.

RBC Capital Markets has a price target of $18 on NSM.

NSM June option implied volatility is at 46; July is at 40 above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN) closed at $29.97 Monday. CIEN is scheduled to report Q2 EPS on June 5.

Bank of America has Neutral rating with a $32 price target on CIEN.

CIEN June option implied volatility of 65 and July option implied volatility of 57 is above its 26-week average of 55 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com