Lehman Bros., (LEH: chart), added that stubbornly strong fixed income trading and near-record merger activity around the globe boosted its Q1 earnings to advance 24%. Tuesday, Goldman Sachs reported that its net income for the quarter advanced more than 60%, setting a record for any broker''s quarterly profit.

Sears Holdings, (SHLD: chart), full-line and specialty retail stores operator, reported that Q4 net income advanced to $4.03 a share, up vs. $3.09 a share in the year-ago period on revenue growth, beating analysts’ forecasts for earnings of $3.62 a share. In a SEC filing, the company announced that proforma revenue for the year shed 3.0%, as domestic comparable store sales were down 5.3% in the aggregate, with Sears Domestic comparable store sales decreasing 8.4% and Kmart comparable store sales decreasing 1.2%.

Charming Shoppes Inc, (CHRS: chart), clothing retailer, reported that Q4 net income surged to $19.2 million, or 15 cents a share, from $4.9 million on 36% net sales growth and 7% sames-store sales growth. The company beat analysts’ expectations of 14 cents a share. The company announced that performance followed higher sales and operating margin improvement at its Lane Bryant and Catherines Plus Sizes brands.

EchoStar Communications Corp, (DISH: chart), satellite-television operator, reported Q4 net income of 30 cents a share, up from 15 cents in the prior year. Total revenue came to $2.18 billion for Q4, up 12.8% from the same period the previous year. The company missed analysts’ projections of 35 cents a share. Net new subscribers added to EchoStar''s Dish Network totaled about 330,000 for Q4, pushing the customer base to 12.04 million. For 2005 as a whole, EchoStar said Dish Network added nearly 1.14 million subscribers.

Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc, (CNSL: chart), communications services provider, reported that Q4 net loss was narrower reaching $2.1 million, or 7 cents a share, from $10.6 million in the year-ago period, as revenue advanced 3.3%. The company missed analyst estimate for a profit of 15 cents a share. The company also added that its digital video service advanced considerably during Q4, which should be instrumental in boosting customer loyalty.

Ross Stores Inc, (ROST: chart), off-price retailer, reported that Q4 profit advanced 37% to 49 cents a share, from 35 cents a year earlier on 16% sales growth and 6% of same-store sales growth, in line with analysts’ expectations.