News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) shares moved up $0.44, or 1.78%, to $25.14 today after the company posted strong revenues supported by movie sales and MySpace. The company reported that MySpace’s sales had tripled from a year earlier as the company said profit margins should conservatively top 20% in fiscal 2008. President Peter Chernin also told analysts on a conference call that the company believes the segment would “over-deliver” on the $500 million in annual revenues projected three months ago. Meanwhile, operating profits in News Corp’s television business fell from $183 million to $112 million, hurt by both MyNetworkTV and Fox Broadcasting, where profits dropped 36%. The company did, however, experience great success in the hit movie “Borat” and expects the return of hit television series “24” and “American Idol” to boost future revenues in future quarters. Murdoch also said today that his company will launch their long awaited cable business news service this fall, built to rival CNBC. Combined, these factors make NWS a stock that is definitely worth watching - even if it has already moved over 50% this year.

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EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) shares moved up $1.06, or 7.79%, to $14.66 in early trading today after the company announced that it would spin off 10% of its VMWare unit. EMC acquired VMWare in 2004 for $625 million in cash and reported revenues of $709 million in 2006, up 83% year over year. EMC said it would retain ownership in the remaining 90% of VMWare and doesn't intend on divesting its share of the company. According to David Goulden, CFO, EMC plans to file a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in late March or early April for the planned IPO, and the shares could be available for sale sometime in the second quarter.

This is definitely a situation to keep a close eye on as spin offs can present great opportunities for investment. VMWare has posted very solid growth over the last three years that it has been held by EMC, and continues to outperform the market. It is also worth noting that statistically spin offs have outperformed the overall market by a wide margin during their first year. This is primarily attributable to the fact that spin offs are often companies that benefit from standing alone due to a lack of synergies with their parent company. Moreover, there is occasionally an opportunity to pick up spin off shares at a discount as parent company shareholders occasionally sell their stakes in a spin off immediately after receiving it. Combined, these factors make EMC a stock worth watching as their summer spin off approaches.

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Earlier this week, American Real Estate Partners, an affiliate of activist investor Carl Icahn made a $2.43 billion, or $36 a share, offer for Lear (NYSE:LEA). However, the company would not comment on what news is pending, or when it might be released. Lear shares were trading at $40.06, before they halted today after the company wouldn't release further information about the buyout. Lear shares surged 12% on the news that day, indicating that some investors expected either Icahn would raise his offer or another company might enter the bidding. Icahn's offer represented a 3.8% premium to Lear shares' closing price the day before the offer became known. However, the stock had climbed some 60% since Icahn disclosed in October he had increased his stake in the company to 16% of its shares outstanding.

Crude oil futures jumped more than $2 this afternoon, after a fire forced Occidental Petroleum to declare force majeure at one of the largest gas and oil fields in California. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, March crude settled up $2.00, or 3.5%, at $59.71 a barrel, the highest settlement price of the year.

U.S. movie theater advertiser National CineMedia opened up 21% in its market debut, a day after pricing above a forecast range. The centennial, Colorado-based company raised $798 million with a 38 million share initial public offering that sold for $21 a share compared with an $18 to $20 forecast.

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) expects to report a 19% drop in home-building revenue. The company said preliminary results showed that home-building revenue fell to $1.09 billion in its fiscal Q1. The value of the contracts Toll signed during the quarter fell 34% to $749 million, and the backlog of homes on order and waiting construction fell 30% to $4.15 billion.

Eastman Kodak (NYSE:EK) expects to complete their three-year restructuring program by the end of 2007, including additional job cuts, that will help it sustain profitability. Kodak is aiming for gross profit margins of 28% to 29%, with earnings from operations at 8% to 9% of revenue in 2009. Kodak expects total restructuring costs of $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion from the program, with job cuts of 28,000 to 30,000 positions. As of the Q4, Kodak had eliminated 23,400 jobs under the plan.

Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) is expected to see earnings fall 21% to $0.75 a share on sales of $5.36 billion. In the year-ago period, the company reported a profit of $0.94 a share on revenue of $5.87 billion.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) said that its Q1 earnings more than doubled from a year ago. Shares of Disney rose as much as 2.5% in after-hours trading Wednesday. Disney reported quarterly earnings of $0.50 a share, easily surpassing expectations. The company was expected to post fiscal Q1 earnings of $0.39 a share, up from $0.35 last year. Disney said net income rose to $1.7 billion, or $0.79 a share, from $734 million, or $0.37 a share in last year's Q1. Revenue rose 10% to $9.7 billion, topping the consensus of $9.5 billion.

PepsiCo's (NYSE:PEP) Q4 earnings rose 61%, fueled in part by strong sales gains at its international and Frito-Lay businesses. The company also raised its 2007 earnings forecast. The company's net income in the quarter ended Dec. 30 rose to $1.78 billion, or $1.06 a share, up from $1.11 billion, or $0.65 a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 2.8% to $10.38 billion from $10.01 billion a year ago. In the latest quarter, PepsiCo earned $0.72 a share, compared with earnings of $0.65 a year ago.

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), Europe's biggest drug maker, reported a 16% rise in annual profit. However, the company expects that 2007 growth will slow as it awaits pipeline renewal. Q4 profits before tax was $2.2 billion, up from $2.08 billion in the same three months ending December in 2005. Q4 sales rose to $7.79 billion from $7.66 billion, helped by strong U.S. demand.

Waste Management (NYSE:WMI), the nation's largest garbage hauler, reported that its Q4 earnings fell 15% from a year ago, when the company had heavy business from hurricane cleanups and one extra work day. Revenue in the most recent quarter fell to $3.28 billion from $3.37 billion a year ago.

Tribune (NYSE:TRB), which has been fielding offers for its newspaper and broadcastiong operations, experienced a Q4 profit surge of 81%, benefiting from multiple gains and higher revenue. Net income after paying preferred dividends jumped to $239.1 million or $0.99 a share, from $132.3 million, or $0.43 a share, during the same period a year ago. The company earned $0.68 a share in the latest period, higher than the consensus of $0.61.