Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and lululemon athletica (LULU)

Sometimes a kind word or slap on the back can make your whole day. Such was the case for Alcatel-Lucent (ALU - Analyst Report) on Monday, as a major brokerage firm upgraded its investment rating on the company.

Shares for ALU climbed 8.8% today, which made this telecom equipment company the top-performing Zacks #1 Rank for the session.

It's kind of odd to see a company the size of ALU as the #1 Top Performer for a day. Usually, those spaces are reserved for much smaller names. But this more than $12 billion company pulled it off on Monday. In addition, shares moved past 65 million, compared to the daily average of around 42.4 million.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2011 is currently 26 cents per share, which is actually a penny lower than 30 days ago. However, the outlook is more than 44% better than 2 months ago. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2012 is 39 cents, marking a sharp gain of as much as 70% in 60 days.

Presently, analysts are expecting earnings per share to improve by 50% in 2012 over 2011, which is a nice vote of confidence for the future.

ALU's fourth-quarter performance from last month included earnings per share of 19 cents, which was ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a nickel, or more than 35%. Revenue jumped 23%.

The company seemed very encouraged for the future. CEO Ben Verwaayen stated: "I am energized by the progress we have made over the past 2 years."

"Looking to 2011, we feel confident to grow faster than our addressable market and aim at a significant increase in profitability with an adjusted operating margin above 5% of 2011 sales," Mr. Verwaayen concluded.

ALU builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data communications solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. The company is part of the communications components industry. There are 2 other names from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List: Numerex Corp. (NMRX - Snapshot Report) and ZST Digital Networks, Inc. (ZSTN).

Who knew that yoga-inspired athletic apparel would be such a big business?

lululemon athletica (LULU - Snapshot Report) did. The company performed quite well during the recession, and is now expecting upwards of $900 million in revenue for fiscal 2011. That's almost a billion dollars for yoga-inspired clothes!

Today, LULU finished the session right behind ALU as one of the top-performing Zacks #1 Rank companies. It gained approximately 8.43% during one of those nothing-to-write-home-about days in the market. Volume was a stone's throw from 6 million shares, compared to the daily average of a little more than 2.2 million.

lululemon athletica is not stranger to the Top Performers List. It was last featured on Feb 4.

The company has been the beneficiary of some sharp upward movements in earnings estimates over the past 30 days. Take a look at this chart:

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this fiscal year, ending January 2012, is currently $2.04 per share, which is up 10.3% in the past month as 15 estimates out of 17 moved higher. That's a very impressive amount of agreement among analysts.

Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for next fiscal year, ending January 2013, has advanced 11.6% in 30 days to $2.51 per share. In this case, nine estimates out of 18 were revised higher. Furthermore, the consensus for next fiscal year suggests year-over-year profit improvement of as much as 23%.

Earlier this month, lululemon athletica sparked all that upward momentum with a solid fiscal fourth quarter performance. Earnings per share of 64 cents topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by more than 12%. LULU has an impressive streak of quarterly earnings surprises going on. In fact, this deserves its own chart as well:

Also in the quarter, net revenue surged 53% to $245.4 million from $160.6 million last year. Same-store sales were up 28% on a constant dollar basis.

LULU sees fiscal first quarter earnings per share of 36 cents to 38 cents with net revenue between $175 million and $180 million. As for all of fiscal 2011, the company expects earnings per share of $1.90 to $2 with revenue between $885 million and $900 million.

LULU is part of the retail-apparel/shoe industry. There are 2 other names from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List: Ascena Retail Group, Inc. (ASNA - Snapshot Report) and Stage Stores, Inc. (SSI - Snapshot Report).

Read the full analyst report on NMRX

Read the full analyst report on ALU

Read the full analyst report on ASNA

Read the full analyst report on SSI

Read the full analyst report on ZSTN

Read the full analyst report on LULU