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Julia Boorstin covered an interesting topic over at CNBC.com the other day. The Supreme Court, by electing not to review a case involving Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), essentially said that cable companies such as Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) can pursue digital video recorder (DVR) storage on cable-system servers. By doing this, a perceived barrier to entry for subscribing to DVR has been eliminated: you don't have to deal with a clunky box. Cable should theoretically see an increase in customers who adopt DVR technology if remote storage is exploited.

Well, as Boorstin rightly points out, CBS (NYSE: CBS), Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC, General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC, and News Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NWS) Fox do need to worry. These DVR technologies basically translate to a drop in the economic value of advertising. Let's face it: who watches commercials when they don't have to?

Several times this year, I used Scribd to post my presentations on the web. It was extremely easy to use. Moreover, there were some helpful metrics (that is, the number of viewers), sharing tools and publishing options (such as PDFs, PowerPoints, etc).

Well, as should be no surprise, Scribd is getting lots of traction, attracting about 60 million unique visitors.

In fact, this week the website announced a deal with Simon & Schuster -- a division of CBS (NYSE: CBS) -- to sell roughly 5,000 digital e-books. Some of the authors include Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark.

Every few months, it seems, we get an article or two that says Disney (NYSE: DIS) might be a buy. TheStreet.com issued an upgrade on the stock based on several metrics. SmartMoney believes Disney might be a great company for the summertime.

When it comes to Disney, every investor has to be careful. Take every analytical article with a grain of salt. Why? Because even though the fundamentals might be good on the company from a valuation standpoint, Disney's stock has disappointed investors many times in the past. As a long-term shareholder, I know what I'm talking about. And many other pundits have made the same observation: Disney always seems to be cheap to someone at any given time.

Analyst upgrades:

• Baird upgraded URS Corp. (NYSE: URS) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to Outperform from Neutral based on momentum of new wins from stimulus funds and expectations for additional nuclear contracts.
• Jefferies upgraded EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) to Buy from Hold following the recent share weakness as it believes volumes have stopped declining and the June quarter is likely the bottom. The firm raised its target price to $18 from $11.
• RBC Capital upgraded Camden Property (NYSE: CPT) to Outperform from Sector Perform citing the company's improved financial capacity and portfolio position. The firm raised its target price to $34 from $23.
• CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.
• UDR (NYSE: UDR) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital and to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• Zale (NYSE: ZLC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merril.

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

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) Q1 results beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) shares surged after the it reported strong Q1 earnings.
• Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) just missed swinging to a loss due to to hefty investment losses.
• CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) surprised with a net loss in Q1 as revenue and cash flow declined.
• Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) shares fell after it reported disappointing results for the quarter.

CBS (NYSE: CBS) programmed its Q1 earnings report Thursday after the bell. If the report had been a pilot, it would have been canceled immediately.

Revenues slipped over 13% to around $3.2 billion. CBS said it lost 8 cents per share. Talk about a failure of a quarter. Last year at this time, CBS made 36 cents per share. True, the comparison was a difficult one, since a change in distribution strategy for the international placement of the CSI asset enhanced the previous year's results.

But let's not get hung up on difficult comparisons. CBS simply had a bad three months. A very bad three months indeed. Oh, and I should note that analysts thought CBS might earn 7 cents per share. That seems almost comical at this juncture.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), a media concern that competes with companies such as Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Disney (NYSE: DIS), CBS (NYSE: CBS), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, issued its Q3 report on Wednesday after the bell. The numbers weren't that great, but you know what? The stock rallied anyhow in the after-hours session, rising over 3%. That's typical of what's been happening: Stocks are going higher even on weak news. Maybe the bears truly are heading back to hibernation.

News Corp. revenues declined by 16%. In terms of earnings, we'll look at operating income since, in this particular case, the numbers involve a lot of gains. This metric dropped 46%. And cash flow from operations for the nine-month period plunged well over 50%.

Disney (NYSE: DIS), a media conglomerate that does battle with the likes of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, CBS (NYSE: CBS), and News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), changed things up this time around when it came to second-quarter earnings. When I reported on the company's first-quarter earnings, I observed that the Mouse missed expectations. Thankfully, Disney pulled itself together and went beyond the call of Wall Street.

Disney said it earned 43 cents per share on an adjusted basis when it issued its Q2 release on Tuesday after the bell. As I noted in my earnings preview, analysts were looking for 40 cents per share. While that's a nice beat, let's be realistic: Disney is still having a rough time. That 43 cents per-share figure represented a drop of 26% compared to the year-ago period.

If Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) first-quarter earnings were a sweeps program, it probably wouldn't achieve a high rating. That's because the plot of the press release's narrative centered on one depressing theme: decline.

Let's begin at the top. Sales decreased 8% (you're about to switch the channel already, I know). Operating income was down by 22%. And adjusted income decreased 34%. Income at the media division was down 9%, and the loss in the film department nearly doubled!

But, hey, profits beat estimates, at least. According to Bloomberg, Viacom was only supposed to do around 25 cents per share. In fact, shares of Viacom rallied over 5% in the after-hours session Thursday on the news.

CBS (NYSE: CBS - option chain) shares are rising this morning after YouTube, a subsidiary of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) unveiled its YouTube "Shows" page, which features licensed content from CBS and other media companies. Advertising revenue from the page will be shared with the content providers. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CBS.

CBS opened this morning at $5.59. So far today the stock has hit a low of $5.45 and a high of $6.20. As of 11:55, CBS is trading at $6.20, up 61 cents (10.9%). The chart for CBS looks bearish and S&P gives CBS a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

Analyst upgrades:

• Royal Bank of Scotland upgraded shares of Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's dividend yield.
  
• JMP Securities expects HFF Inc. (NYSE: HF) to benefit from increased U.S. commercial real estate sales and mortgage volumes. Shares were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm has a $5 target on shares.
  
• Oppenheimer upgraded Church & Dwight (NYSE: CHD) to Outperform from Perform as it believes Church & Dwight's value-oriented portfolio should continue to benefit from the consumer trade-down and that concerns over distribution are overblown. The firm set a $62 price on shares.
• Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
  
• Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• AMB Property (NYSE: AMB) was lifted to Neutral from Underperform at Banc of America/Merrill.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Phillips-Van Heusen (NYSE: PVH) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q1 results as it believes management is executing well in the current environment and that the company could meet the high end of guidance. The firm raised its price target to $24 from $19.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded Cliffs Natural (NYSE: CLF) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes capacity utilization has stabilized and CLF's valuation is attractive at current levels. The firm raised its price target to $27 from $23.
  
• Thomas Weisel believes demand at Microchip's industrial (NASDAQ: MCHP) customers has troughed and that market share loss concerns are unwarranted. The firm upgraded shares to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $27 from $19.
• CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
  
• U-Store It Trust (NYSE: YSI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• Ener1 (NASDAQ: HEV) was lifted at Banc of America/Merrill to Buy from Neutral.

The recession hasn't squashed the spirit of college athletes, it likely won't slow down the creation of office "bracket" pools, and it hasn't stemmed the tide of online ad revenue flowing into CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), which is nearing the end of its 11-year pact with the NCAA for March Madness broadcast rights. (The deal expires in 2013).

A week before the NCAA Tournament begins, CBS has already sold nearly all of its online ad inventory, according to The Wall Street Journal. Just 35 companies -- including Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) -- have bucked up for these streaming ads.

With all the gloom in the global economy, I got to wondering whether there is anything else going on in the world of business. I'm looking for growth because I think that's what will ultimately bring the economy out of the doldrums. Not surprisingly, that growth is coming from technology companies. In Growth Matters, I look at consumer technology companies that point the way to growth trends -- and in the process introduce services and products you may want to explore.

Do you like the idea of watching videos on your mobile? How about shooting your own videos and sharing them with friends? If that sounds good, Transpera may be the service for you. According to Transpera's CEO, Frank Barbieri, in January 2009, Transpera's "traffic increased to the highest day ever. It was up by a third [in the last week of the month]. Two years ago, I was sitting on the couch writing a business plan for mobile video at Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). I was talking with a private equity firm that suggested that video on the phone would create significant change, and new technology including 3G and new handsets would change the delivery of video."

Sumner Redstone, who is the de facto head of Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and CBS (NYSE: CBS), was supposed to be the media baron who could not keep his top management. Now Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), has joined the club. The president of his company, Peter Chernin, is leaving.

Murdoch may be gambling that he can keep his job for life and hand it to one of his children. Since he is 77 and none of his children may be qualified, that could be a bad gamble. At least Chernin could have kept the CEO's seat warm while one of Murdoch's offspring got some more on-the-job training.

The press has made the Chernin departure into a story about the earnings trouble at News Corp. In reality, its problems are not much worse than they are at most other big media companies. News Corp is burdened more than some of its peers because of its newspaper holdings. But, odds are that News Corp will make it out of the recession intact and in a position to take advantage of the eventual improvement in the ad markets.