DreamWorks Animation (DWA) has an animated film coming to the the multiplexes next week. It's called How to Train Your Dragon. I have no idea what it's about (aside from the fact that it obviously involves training dragons). But I do know that a marketing transaction with Walmart (WMT) is making headlines.

According to a press release, Walmart and DreamWorks Animation apparently have come up with a very tightly coordinated plan to promote the project. There will be special sections dedicated to Dragon inside the stores. More than 100 licensed items will be lining the shelves. And some sort of event featuring a Viking vessel in Times Square will see what it can do to get potential ticket buyers interested in the flick.

The video-game retailer rallied on the Q4 report (at the time of this writing, shares were 7% higher). Earnings were down: they came in at $1.29 per diluted share, a dime less than what was made in the previous year's similar quarter (this latter period included 5 cents of merger-related income, so take that into account). But expectations were slightly beaten: according to our earnings preview, the call was for $1.28 per share.

Analyst Upgrades

• FBR Capital upgraded Legg Mason (LM) to market perform from underperform, citing stabilizing outflows and an improved liquidity position.
• Walmart (WMT) was upgraded to buy from hold by Citigroup on expectations the company will regain market share from aggressive price cuts.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Kirkland's (KIRK) to overweight from neutral following the company's Q4 results.
• Greenbrier (GBX) was upgraded to buy from hold by KeyBanc as the company believes that railcar fundamentals have improved.
• Citigroup upgraded WM Morrison (MRWSY) to buy from sell.
• HSBC raised Millicom (MICC) to overweight from neutral.
• HealthSouth (HLS) was raised to outperform from market perform by Raymond James.

Ann Taylor (ANN). Now there's a stock that drives me crazy. If you check out previous articles I've written on the retailer (here's one from November 2009; here's another from August 2009), you'll notice that I didn't have a great handle on where the stock was heading. It's tough sometimes to figure out how the market will judge the fundamentals of a situation, even if the fundamentals seem especially clear.

Anyway, the company reported fourth-quarter numbers earlier today. On an adjusted basis, profit came to 5 cents per share. A year ago, investors had to deal with a loss of $1.03 per share. Analysts thought a loss of a penny per share was in the cards. That's got to be worth a bid, right?

The editor of The DRIP Investor -- and author of the just released The LIttle Book of Big Dividends -- explains, "For 2009 overall, more than 800 companies cut their dividend payments, according to S&P. That was nearly 200 more than in 2008 and more than seven times the number of cuts in 2007."

Children's Place (PLCE) closed up 5% on Wednesday. Volume? Not bad at all. An earnings report got the market interested in the stock. Should the rest of us be just as interested?

For the fourth quarter, income from continuing operations, on an adjusted basis, came in at $1.03 per diluted share. The growth was very strong; last year, the retailer only made 72 cents per diluted share from continuing operations, excluding items. According to our earnings preview, expectations were right on target.

Total sales, without the assistance of fuel transactions, went up 2%. Identical supermarket revenues increased 1.2%. Not too invigorating, certainly, but what about the bottom line? Don't search for comfort there, because per-share profit dropped substantially to 39 cents per diluted share from 53 cents per diluted share in the comparable frame.

PetSmart, Inc. (PETM), whose related competitors include Target Corporation (TGT) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), reported fourth-quarter earnings earlier in the week. Net income dropped by a penny to 61 cents per share. Total sales went up over 3%, and same-store sales increased 1.5%.

On the surface, Q4 doesn't make you want to rush out and buy the stock, does it? But the per-share profit beat expectations by five pennies, according to data at Earnings.com. Also, Reuters says that the outlook for the full fiscal year is shaping up to be a good one, in terms of both the bottom line and margin expansion. Now, what do you think?

Big Lots (BIG) surely satisfied its investors yesterday when it reported double-digit earnings growth. On an adjusted basis, net income from continuing operations jumped over 30% to $1.31 per share during the fourth quarter. Analysts couldn't keep up, because they were looking for $1.28 per share, according to Earnings.com.

Total sales went up 7%, but same-store revenue, the more vital metric, was higher by 5.1%. Cash flow from operating activities for both the quarter and the full fiscal year experienced significant increases. Gross margin expanded over both of those periods as well.

Same-store sales, without the effect of gasoline transactions and currency elements, rose 2% in the United States and 10% in the international territories. I wasn't too impressed by the U.S. comps back in December, and I'm not so impressed with them now, either.

Walmart (WMT) has created an initiative it's calling "Global.com" that will try to standardize the online and brick-and-mortar interactions customers have in the global markets where it operates.

Walmart Vice Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright said "now that we have a well-defined blueprint to continue to grow our online business, it's time to leverage our size and global footprint to take advantage of this evolving customer trend." Evolving customer trend? What is this, 2004? It's no longer a trend, Mr. Castro-Wright; it's an absolute customer requirement. Right now.

Earnings per share grew way over 20% to $1.40. According to our preview piece, that was three pennies higher than expectations. Granted, three pennies extra on income of $1.40 might not be that big a beat in percentage terms, but taking into account the high double-digit growth, I'd say the performance was still impressive. And if you want full confirmation of a job well done, same-store sales, the essential key to a chain's future prosperity, jumped 4.5%.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is again making a charge into becoming an even greener eco-company than it already is. The world's largest retailer has stipulated that it wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by 2015. The example Walmart gave to illustrate the point: its reduction efforts would be like taking more than 3.8 million cars off the road for an entire year.