21.   The beer maker joined other brewery stocks that gained in the wake of Anheuser-Busch Cos. third quarter results that topped expectations.

22.   The earnings, which topped analysts expectations, were released after the stock market had closed.

23.   The government said new orders for factory goods topped expectations in March, but a separate report showed that the unemployed were still having trouble finding work.

24.   The provider of support services to the oil and gas industries topped earnings expectations, as business in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico was brisk.

25.   The profit topped expectations.

26.   The results easily topped expectations.

27.   The warning came after Integrated Process reported fiscal second-quarter profit that topped expectations.

28.   This week, IBM and Microsoft rallied when their profits topped expectations.

29.   U.S. stocks rose for a second day, led by Oracle Corp., on optimism that corporate profits will top expectations this year as the economy continues to expand.

30.   U.S. stocks were mixed as bellwether Motorola Inc. kicked off the third-quarter earnings reporting season by topping expectations.