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.

The 67,000+ employees of Benton Harbor, MI-based Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) finally have something to cheer about this morning.

Whirlpool (WHR), which sells Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air and its own brand, earned $164 million, or $2.13 per share, for the quarter ended March 31. It earned $68 million, or 91 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected $1.33 per share, a better-than-expected delivery of $.80 cents on analysts’ earnings estimates for WHR.

Revenue rose 20 percent to $4.27 billion from $3.57 billion, topping estimates of $3.79 billion. Whirlpool beat revenue estimates by a whopping 480 million!

International sales were a major catalyst for such a successful quarterly earnings report. Latin American sales jumped 65 percent. Whirlpool anticipates appliance shipments to Brazil (see: Bright Signs of an Early Carnival) will grow about 10 percent in 2010, compared with a prior outlook for a 5% to 10% rise.

Whirlpool now predicts a 2010 profit between $8 and $8.50 per share. Its prior guidance was for earnings in a range of $6.50 to $7 per share. Analysts expect a profit of $7.08 per share for the year.

Disclosure: No positions in the companies mentioned.

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American Express (NYSE: AXP) — Credit Card Holders Spent Less & Borrowed Less

Earnings Info: Reported a 21 percent decline in earnings in the quarter versus the year ago period.

Sales dropped 16% from a year ago.

Sales and earnings managed to slightly beat the analysts’ consensus of estimates.

CFO Daniel Henry said, “We need to be cautious about the impact of higher unemployment levels…It’s still too early to say that all the economic challenges are behind us.”

Comment: American Express (NYSE: AMEX) suggested signs that the decline in spending could be stabilizing and the rise in loan losses easing. We’ll need a few more quarterly calls to determine if stability is here to stay or if volatility is slowly creeping back.

Honeywell (NYSE: HON) — Not Yet Cruising from the Cockpit

Earnings Info: For the third quarter, Honeywell (NYSE: HON) said it earned 80 cents a share compared to 97 cents a share in the year-ago period. Earnings beat the consensus of analysts’ estimates.

Sales fell 17% from a year ago. Honeywell missed the consensus sales estimates by analysts.

“We do expect to see top-line declines moderating as we move into the fourth quarter,” Chief Financial Officer Dave Anderson told investors on the earnings call. “We’re obviously continuing to plan on the basis of tough economic conditions.”

Comment: The Aerospace Manufacturing Beast continues to cut the fat in order to create a healthier company modeling efficiency in today’s challenging economic climate.

Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) — Taking Analysts for a Whirl

Earnings Info: Earnings dropped 47% from a year ago, but Whirlpool managed to beat the analyst consensus estimates.

Sales for the quarter dropped 8 percent, yet still topped consensus earnings estimates.

“We continue to see demand levels in the United States stabilizing, albeit at lower levels,” CEO Jeff M. Fettig told investors on the earnings call.

Comment: Aggressive cost-cutting measures are creating a leaner machine at Whirlpool Headquarters to fend off the waning demand for home appliances.

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