CSX's report shows steady improvement on the cost side and it continues to benefit from the strong yield environment that all the rails are seeing. However, the vast majority of the upside in the quarter was driven by gains on sales and we don't expect estimates to rise as fast for CSX as some of the other rails.

The semiconductor industry continues to show signs of improvement in a healthier global economic environment. As the market for computing, consumer communications and Internet-related products continues to grow, we believe Applied Materials, with our technology leadership and global infrastructure, will have an excellent opportunity to capitalize on this growth.

They've been executing their business far better than their peers in a tough environment.

Materially higher than expected revenue growth and better than expected cost side performance drove the upside in what we view as a high quality, clean quarter.

While the stock has been strong year-to-date and expectations were for a strong quarter, our sense is this was a very strong and clean quarter that shows evidence of increasing volume acceleration at Ground, improving margins at Express and stabilizing yields generally.

(Forward) continues to operate its business flawlessly and each quarter management seems to improve upon its previous record quarter for profitability. Still, given what feels like increased competitive headwinds... we believe caution is warranted.