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Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) reported first-quarter numbers earlier in the week. It wasn't an awesome report by any stretch of the imagination. On a reported basis, every important metric was down. Revenues down 23%. Earnings per share down 61%. On an adjusted basis, Dell did beat expectations by a penny, coming in at $0.24 per share.

Now, what should we make of this? Indeed, I'm in something of a tough position over Dell. I was pretty bearish on the stock back in November. I still feel bearish, to be honest. Who wouldn't? A one-penny beat in this case just doesn't encourage me. PC sales have been challenged, and as my colleague Jamie Dlugosch pointed out, Dell just can't be considered a best-of-breed company. When you think best-of-breed computer stocks these days, you probably will think of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) first.

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

• AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN) reported a smaller-than-expected Q1 loss as sales slumped.
• Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) smaller-than-expected Q1 net loss sent shares higher.
• Children's Place Retail Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) solid Q1 results were in line with expectations.
• Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) posted higher-than-expected Q1 results but same-store sales fell.
• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) lower Q1 earnings beat expectations and lower revenue was in line.

For NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP), yesterday was fairly eventful. Not only did the company announce its Q4 earnings but also a $1.5 billion deal to purchase rival storage maker, Data Domain (NASDAQ: DDUP). The transaction comes to $25 per share.

No doubt, NetApp needs to find growth, as CFOs tighten information technology (IT) budgets. Keep in mind that Q4 revenues fell 6.2% to $879.6 million.

Today was another one of those days where you were never really sure of the bias or tone of the market as it started strong, gave all the gains back, tried to rally, and then gave back all the gains and then some. There were too many moving parts not acting in unison.

The FOMC noted that it was going keep buying securities and there was no hint of higher rates, yet oil inventories fell again and sent commodity prices higher.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,424.91 -49.94 (-0.59%)
S&P 500 903.81 -4.32 (-0.48%)
Nasdaq 1,727.28 -7.26 (-0.42%)

Top Analyst Calls

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this deal is hugely important -- today is the last stand for the bears.

Today is make or break for the short-sellers, the SKFers, the bears on banks. I cannot stress how important the Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) deal is. The syndicate desk placed this stock with great hands, restricting flippers to one-fifth of their orders and giving mutual funds only about a quarter of what they wanted. Plus, given the stealth selling that BAC did ahead of this, the company seems done for now -- maybe forever -- although it can't give back TARP funds. However, it should be able to do bond financing that will put it in a good position to do so. And with the velocity of sales picking up at the same time as the new housing starts go down -- stunning figures there -- it is possible that we could see a reversal of some of Bank of America's soured loans while we see what happens with a big lender begins to get a major share of what can be a lucrative mortgage market. We might look back at BAC at $10 and say, "That was our last good chance to buy it," as there are many, many analysts set to reiterate their buys this morning.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) had a weak Q2. According to the earnings release that was issued on Tuesday after the close of trading, revenues declined 3% on an adjusted basis.

If you strip out currency effects, then you get a gain of 3% on the top line. Either way, I'm not excited. And here's something else that wasn't so thrilling. Earnings per share on an adjusted basis came in at 86 cents. Last year at this time, Hewlett-Packard generated 87 cents per share. Not a great comparison.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) will be reporting its second quarter results Tuesday afternoon. Will the world's largest computer manufacturer show strength in PC sales and market share gain in the laptop PC segment? We'll soon see.

Corporate spending on IT equipment has remained soft in 2009, something that will possibly hamper HP's results. Although, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) saw a profit uptick in its latest quarterly report while revenue fell, and HP continues selling the bulk of the world's laptop PCs to this day.

First it was Barron's on Monday saying Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), a provider of Linux open-source operating-system software, will likely be in play.

"What makes it strategically important is that it sells the dominant operating system (other than Windows) favored by big corporate users," Barron's Mark Veverka said. The possible interested parties? IBM (NYSE: IBM), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

Then, today, Jefferis analyst Katherine Egbert supported that argument, saying that it is "inevitable that Red Hat will be subsumed into a larger entity, probably IBM." Egbert reiterated her Buy rating and upped her price target to $21, from $18.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) reported Q2 numbers earlier in the week. They were dismal, to say the least. According to Jon Ogg's Closing Bell on Wednesday, the semiconductor business saw its top line reduced by 50%, and the adjusted loss came to 10 cents per share. Yes, yes, that met expectations. So what? The article also mentioned that the solar operation wasn't doing so hot.

Looking through the actual earnings release, I don't see a lot of things that would make a shareholder happy. Backlog was down. Applied Materials had to use cash to keep things going over the last six months (obviously investors would rather see cash generated from operations). And CEO Mike Splinter described the current climate as very tough in terms of customer demand.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) reported Q3 stats after the bell on Wednesday. How did the tech company that runs with the likes of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR), and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) fare? Very well, thank you.

Well, let me clarify that. Cisco saw a lot of declines in its numbers, but we all know what the most important thing to investors is: beating the Wall Street analysts. In this regard, Cisco's management did just fine. As I observed in my earnings preview piece, the call was for Cisco to do somewhere around 25 cents per share. Well, the company bested that figure by an awesome nickel on an adjusted basis.

Tech investors will be looking forward to seeing how Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) made out in the third quarter. The networking entity, whose colleagues include Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR), and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), will be reporting Q3 numbers on Wednesday, May 6, after the market closes. According to analysts, Cisco is not expected to grow the bottom line. The call is for 25 cents per share. If that figure is hit, then it will represent a drop of more than 30% on a year-over-year basis.

Here's the bright side, though. Cisco has beat the analysts at their game in recent times. Quite frankly, I think Cisco should be able to come ahead of estimates this week. I don't necessarily see why the trend will break. It's not like the stock has been telling the market that it will. Shares of Cisco have been doing well.

Taiwan's Acer, which is the world's third-largest PC maker, said that its Q1 results included a 31% profit decline as the recession continued to hit PC sales and PC makers were taking advantage of selling more PCs at the same time.

When Mark Hurd was hired as Hewlett-Packard Corporation's (NYSE: HPQ) CEO back in 2005, few predicted he would suavely make HP the world's largest computer maker by using swift cost-cutting, a relentless focus on operations, and a laser-focus on growing every possible facet of HP's business.

Is it time to establish a position in industry bellwether Hewlett-Packard? For investors who can tolerate moderate risk, indeed it is. Here's why:

After a projected slight revenue dip in F2009, analysts generally see revenue growth in the 4-6% range for F2010.

IBM (NYSE: IBM), whose colleagues include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), reported a very nice first quarter after the bell on Monday. To my way of thinking, at least. Wall Street was a little disappointed. In the after-hours session, shares were off well over 1%.

Don't look to earnings as the catalyst for the disappointment. IBM earned $1.70 per diluted share, and according to Reuters, that beat expectations by three pennies. The problem had to do with the top line. The same source said that the market was looking for $22.6 billion in net sales.

Unfortunately, IBM delivered only $21.7 billion in revenues. That represented an 11% drop if you don't exclude currency effects (excluding them gives you a decline of 4%, which sounds a lot better, certainly).