Over 30% of the companies reporting this earnings season have missed on revenue expectations, just about the same percentage of companies that reported for all of the first quarter this year. It’s important to look at both top-line (i.e. revenues) and bottom-line (i.e. earnings) during your earnings season assessment.

On the other side of the coin, only 20% of companies so far have missed earnings expectations. As a fluctuating environment plays out, here are two positive company stories from this morning:

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH):

Earnings: Q2 profits of $.99 vs. $.75 consensus and $.73 in Q2 last year.

Revenue: Increased 7% Year-over-Year at $23.26 Billion vs. $22.97 Billion consensus.

Raised Guidance: Analysts from FactSet were expecting full-year profits of $3.34 per share and UNH executives confidently upped their guidance to between $3.40-$3.60 per share for the full-year.

Comment: Shares of UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) are down around 1% following the company’s earnings release, trading at $30.59 per share.

As you can see above, UNH shares are trading above both its 200-day and 50-day price moving averages, a very healthy sign of technical support for the current share price. Today’s report was strong, with a view of better-than-expected guidance for the full-year. If UNH shares can clear the recent double top formation around $31.80, we could see an upside breakout on the company delivering better numbers going forward. Remain nimble if you are looking to enter a position soon.

Whirlpool Corp. (WHR): Cautious Optimism

Earnings: Q2 profits of $2.64 vs. $2.13 consensus and $1.04 in Q2 last year.

Revenue: Increased 8.8% Year-over-Year at $4.53 Billion vs. $4.48 Billion consensus.

Raised Guidance: Whirlpool now expects to deliver between $9-9.50 per share in profits compared to a previous estimate of between $8-8.50 per share.

Chairman and CEO Jeff M. Fettig said, “We expect the global economic environment will remain fragile, although we do expect demand to be positive, albeit at a slower rate than the first half of the year.”

Comment: Shares of Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) sold off around 2% today following the company’s earnings release, trading at $88.60.

After today’s earnings report, WHR is trading above its 200-day price moving average, but below its 50-day price moving average. With such a strong report out of WHR today, look for a cautious uptrend to possibly form based on the upside profit guidance for 2010. If Whirlpool can break back above $90 per share in the near-term, the company might add some upside safety to your portfolio with a roughly 2% dividend too.

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Disclosure: No holdings in UNH or WHR.

Now that the Los Angeles Lakers are in the NBA Finals, we’ve applied our Wall St. Cheat Sheet investing framework to a few popular companies:

1. News Corp. (NYSE: NWSA)

Inspiration fuels innovation. What better place to be for inspiration than Hollywood’s favorite playground for the LA Lakers tonight. 20th Century FOX (NYSE: NWSA) producers will have the creative excitement juices flowing during Game 1.

News Corp.’s stock is up 30%+ year-over-year and was up as high as 60% in April. Here are some of the most important elements of our Wall St. Cheat Sheet Investing Framework applicable to News Corp., the C-H-E-A-T:

Catalyst: The Summer lineup for movies is fast approaching. 20th Century FOX kicks off this weekend with MarmaDuke starring Owen Wilson. Remember The A-Team, well the weekend Liam Neeson and Jessica Biel bring back the old school favorite. On June 25th, Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise star in an action comedy called Knight and Day. Following July 4th weekend, Adrien Brody, Topher Grace and Laurence Fishbourne team up for a potential 20th Century FOX blockbuster called Predators. And lastly, we’re still excited about the much anticipated Sept. 24th release of Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.

High Quality Product Line: With a rich heritage of delivering box office shattering results, 20th Century FOX blew away every movie release in its history with the world wide 3-D phenomenon Avatar. Our sources told us Avatar was the primary reason for the Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps delay.

Equity/Debt: NWSA has over $8 Billion in cash and over $13 Billion in Debt, but generating $32 Billion in Revenue. So long as they continue to drive revenues, we do not see NWSA’s ability to pay off their debts as a major concern.

A-Level Management: Rupert Murdoch founded this company with a family recipe, and he has treated the business like his family with James Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch and Roger Ailes. We love when family values are applied to the company’s organizational structure. News Corp.’s family has grown to include Wall St Journal, FOX, FOX Business, Marketwatch, Dow Jones and more.

Technicals: Below is a chart of NWSA. As you can see, even with the recent April pullback, the uptrend is still intact above the rising 200-day moving price average on a 1-year chart:

2. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)

Los Angeles is home to JNJ brand leader, Neutrogena. The glamorous side of Hollywood would not remain so pimple-free without the help of Neutrogena. In 1994, JNJ acquired Neutrogena for $924.1 million. Today, Neutrogena sales are in excess of the JNJ acquisition cost, over $1 Billion strong.

Support: Consumer staples continue to be a safe haven for investors and traders charting their ‘Titanic’ boats during the current choppy waters. During this phase of the economic recovery, dividend paying stocks are an attractive investment to institutions and mutual funds. JNJ pays a 3.7% annual dividend.

Honest Accounting: JNJ has not had any accounting fraud issues.

Earnings: JNJ has beat earnings the past four consecutive quarters by between $.02-$.07 per share. On a trailing 12 month basis, JNJ has yielded $4.66 per share with a 12.82 P/E ratio.

Ethics: Insider fraud is not evident at JNJ and the stature of JNJ’s corporate policies are of the highest ethics.

Trend: JNJ’s stock price is gradually ticking higher, despite the recent pullback. We would like to see JNJ recapture its 200-day moving price average as an extra dose of confidence for long-term support.

3. Disney (NYSE: DIS)

Disney’s ABC is the exclusive television network hosting the 2010 NBA Finals. Disney’s headquarters are located in Los Angeles “burb” Burbank, CA.

Catalysts: Disney recorded Hollywood history recently with Iron Man 2 via their recent Marvel acquisition. Also, Alice in Wonderland’s 3-D extravaganza was a huge success for DIS and will continue to generate strong revenue with dvd and merchandise sales going forward.

Technicals: DIS is trading above its 200-day moving price average and right below its 50-day moving price average. Look to the 50-day moving price average as a line of resistance or support:

Disclosure: No positions in the companies mentioned.

If you are interested in detailed entry and exit plans for low risk-high reward stocks which meet our proprietary standards, click here for a free trial to our Wall St. Cheat Sheet Premium newsletter written by the Hoffman Brothers.

Call me a skeptic, but this is probably the absolute worst time to roll out legislation requiring citizens to carry a National ID card. The general populous is already up in arms over government’s bailouts, the debased dollar, and an increasing role in health care. I think we will see civil disobedience on a Thoreau scale if the government attempts to force people to carry a National ID card. At the moment, the economy doesn’t need mass protesting and striking.

Whether you are a conspiracy theorist or not, there’s something insanely intrusive about a card which has the potential to track our every move. Although the government can get a warrant to track us via our cell phones, a card gives them a loophole. Furthermore, the slippery slope toward other ID systems (e.g., implants, etc) is wide open for the very long term. L-1 Identity Solutions (ID) may love to ride the market opportunity on the back of the controversial Arizona immigration law, but I don’t want to go there.

What are your thoughts on the National ID card? Let us know in the comments below …

The health care debate is a national embarrassment. Rather than each side pitting their best cases and evidence against the other, we look like a national episode of Jerry Springer.

Ideally, we could use this opportunity to show the world why democracy is great. Media outlets could feature calm discussions and debates between intelligent experts (rather than evidence-less PR whores and spinster television anchors). So, in a moment of make-believe, this week’s Pens & Swords debate features two very intelligent people discussing both sides of the health care debate: [column width="47%" padding="6%"]Wendell Potter asserts:

The Case for Public Health Care

[/column] [column width="47%" padding="0"]Robert Laszewski rebuts:

The Case Against Public Health Care

[/column] [end_columns]

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Want to see more blood spill by Pens & Swords? Try this post:

Barry Ritholtz and Felix Salmon Debate How to Save Newspapers