Price ratio analysis shows there are some good valuation plays out there for value investors. Even after the stock market surged about 70%, investment valuations for U.S. companies remain some of the most attractive in about 20 years at the end of April. Profit forecasts for S&P 500 companies from consumer electronics icon Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to tech stock Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) to rail company CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) have climbed 9.3 percent on average in April.

The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) recently reported a 12% year-over-year decline in its print advertising business for Q1 of 2010 compared to same period last year, primarily as a result of the on-going macroeconomic declines in the broader ad market. Furthermore, the company is facing rising competitive pressure from News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) publication The Wall Street Journal, which is launching a NYC metro edition and aggressively luring new advertisers.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK), which competes with Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) in flash memory cards for consumer electronics, reported a strong improvement in flash memory gross margins for the first quarter of 2010.

Top Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) executive Mark Parker talked about his ambitious goal to boost global sales 40% by 2015 recently in a Wall Street Journal interview. If Nike can meet that goal, it will become yet another iconic American company like Domino's Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) and McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) that is putting emerging markets ahead of the U.S. on its priority list.

The CEO of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG), Steven Newman, will be testifying in front of the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources later this morning. But don't think RIG is the only stock in the hot seat. Newman names a number of other crude oil companies as responsible parties: Transocean was the offshore drilling contractor for BP plc (NYSE: BP); the mud sub-contractor was a joint venture between Smith International, Inc. (NYSE: SII) and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) which are in the process of merging; the casing sub-contractor was Weatherford International, Ltd. (NYSE: WFT); and the cementing sub-contractor was Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL).

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), which competes with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S), reported a sharp growth in consumer IP data revenues driven by increased adoption of its fiber optic network U-Verse. AT&T provides services like TV, digital voice and broadband through U-Verse, and the use of these services has increased IP data consumption.

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX), which competes with Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP) provides payroll processing and other HR services related to insurance, retirement and health benefits. Compared to its competitor ADP, a significant percentage of Paychex's client base consists of small and medium sized businesses (fewer than 50 employees).

The leaking well owned by BP plc (NYSE: BP) has now led to a cessation of new permits for drilling offshore the US, including Alaska. Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) has permits in the works to begin drilling exploration wells at its offshore leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The federal government had already postponed a planned lease sale offshore of Virginia.

Everyone knows that Oprah Winfrey is one of the wealthiest celebrities in the world, but is her name and face actually worth more than the brand of Internet search engine Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)?

Playboy Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: PLA) has already cut its staff and cut its office space ... but you know things are bad when Hef starts cutting back on the amount of skin his Bunnies are baring. According to industry reports, Playboy is planning on a mix of new sites aimed at tackling a tamer market -- and none of them involve nudity. According to Playboy insiders, the company is developing a "free, safe-for-work site" its calling TheSmokingJacket.com, as well as additional subscription content with a slightly tamer feel.

Exactly a month ago, a federal court ruled that the US Federal Communications Commission does not have the authority to regulate broadband Internet service providers. The ruling came in a lawsuit against the FCC brought by Comcast Corp. (NYSE: CMCSA) in response to an FCC order that Comcast disclose how it managed its network and develop a publicly available plan for new, non-discriminatory practices. Comcast's successful challenge was based on a reading of the FCC's mandate that excluded broadband from the commission's purview because it was not a "telecommunications service." Other broadband and cable providers such as Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) are also covered by the court's ruling.

Stocks have scorched higher in the past 13 months in a virtually unprecedented fashion -- barring some of the craziness this week, of course. From the March 2009 low to the recent rally high, a span of 277 trading days, the S&P 500 has risen 79%. According to analysts at Lowrys, that is the strongest rally of any new bull market since at least 1960.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) added only 423,000 subscribers in Q1 of 2010 compared to 1.1 million subscribers during the last quarter of 2009. We believe that Verizon will continue to gain share in the US mobile phone market, but will have to continue launching new smartphones in order to boost subscriber gains.

The Dow logged its worst intraday decline in history and closed down nearly 350 points. So where are we headed from here?

Wells Fargo Securities, a division of Well Fargo Corp. (NYSE: WFC) has apparently decided that the solar power industry is here to stay. The company has initiated coverage on six Chinese solar makers with no less than a 'Market Perform' rating on any. Three companies, Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL), ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL), and Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF) were all started at 'Outperform'. Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ), SunTech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (NYSE: YGE) were started at 'Market Perform'.

Engineering and construction firm Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) is the first of the world's three largest publicly traded construction firm to report earnings. Competitors Fluor Corp. (FLR) and McDermott International, Inc. (MDR) are scheduled to report next week.

Less than two weeks ago, Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) and CenturyTel, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) announced a merger that would result in CenturyTel owning 50.5% of the combined company for a deal valued at around $22 billion once Qwest's debt was included. Qwest shares jumped on the news, and CenturyTel shares fell. Both stocks are up today following their earnings announcements this morning.