Analyst Upgrades

• Cree (CREE) and Rubicon Technology (RBCN) to buy from neutral at Merriman.
• Children's Place (PLCE) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Copano Energy (CPNO) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Motorola Mobility (MMI) to neutral from reduce at Nomura.
• Parker-Hannifin (PH) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Akamai (AKAM), ShoreTel (SHOR), AMB Property (AMB) and ProLogis (PLD) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Shares of retailer American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) traded sharply higher Wednesday morning after the company posted stronger-than-expected fourth quarter results before the market open.

Going into the earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see the Pittsburgh-based company report earnings of $0.43 per share, but the company beat by a penny with earnings of $0.44. During the same period last year the company had earnings of $0.38 per share.

So, the unemployment rate sank below 9% in February, but investors didn't seem to be impressed by that. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all fell on Friday over concerns about how the ongoing unrest in the Middle East might affect energy prices, and thus the economic recovery.

Will this coming week's economic calendar offer anything likely to bring excitement to the markets? Here's what's on tap:

• Monday: Consumer credit numbers for January
• Tuesday: Weekly chain store sales, TIPP Economic Optimism Index

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) was not in vogue on Friday. The stock closed down just under 4% to $14.46 on significant volume.

I've been previously bullish on the stock, as I mentioned in an article back in November, but, with the current price action, I've obviously become cautious. The 52-week low for the shares is $11.35 and the 52-week high is $19.64. The following chart plainly shows both the shorter-term and the longer-term pullback from the yearly high that the company is undergoing.

Analyst Upgrades

• SuperValu (SVU) to buy from hold at Hapoalim.
• Constellation Energy (CEG) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Doral Financial (DRL) to neutral from sell and ABB (ABB) to buy from neutral at Sterne Agee.

Analyst Downgrades

• American Eagle (AEO) to neutral from buy at SunTrust.
• Tenet Healthcare (THC) to market perform from outperform at Wells Fargo.

Analyst Upgrades

• InterMune (ITMN) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merill.
• Halliburton (HAL), Cloud Peak Energy (CLD), Patriot Coal (PCX) and Consol Energy (CNX) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Post Properties (PPS) to equal weight from underweight at Barclays.
• Airgas (ARG) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Hologic (HOLX) to top pick from sector perform and Sunesis Pharma (SNSS) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.

Analyst Upgrades

• Deere (DE) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• American Eagle (AEO) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• FedEx (FDX) and Shaw (SJR) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Superior Energy (SPN) and Rowan Cos. (RDC) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Tesoro (TSO) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Mechel (MTL) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• SunPower (SPWRA), LDK Solar (LDK) and First Solar (FSLR) to buy from hold at ThinkEquity.

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) isn't doing much. At the time of this writing, it was down a penny to $16.28. That's off from the 52-week high of $19.64, but significantly above the 52-week low of $11.35. The one-year chart shows how the shares have experienced a rebound as of late.

Yesterday morning, the chain released its Q3 earnings report. According to BusinessWeek, adjusted income from continuing operations of 29 cents per share met the overall projection. Shareholders always want to see a beat, so the performance was somewhat disappointing from that angle.

Aeropostale (ARO), a mall chain with colleagues like American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) and Gap (GPS), reported same-store sales for the month of September this week. They seemed relatively decent to me, even though they didn't measure up to the previous year's performance.

Last month, the company saw a 3% expansion in the metric, according to the press release. By comparison, same-store sales rose 19% in September 2009. Hey, don't fret about it. You're not going to generate growth like that all the time; it just doesn't happen. A 3% increase is fine considering the economy. On a year-to-date basis, comps are higher by 4% versus a gain of 12% in last year's similar frame.

If you are looking for clues telling you which stocks have a good chance of increasing in value, you might want consider watching what insiders are doing. After all, talk is cheap, but when insiders put their own money on the line, you should sit up and take note.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) topped the insider-buying charts for the week ending July 9th as insiders snapped up 500,000 shares of company stock at a market value of $6,790,000. During the past six months, insiders have increased their overall holdings in the company by 3.91% and now own 8.30% of AEO stock.

Analyst Upgrades

• Hudson Square upgraded Take-Two (TTWO) to buy from hold, citing the better-than-expected Q3 report and increased guidance.
• Keybanc upgraded The Buckle (BKE) to hold from underweight given the potential for a special dividend in the near term.
• Stifel Nicolaus upgraded K-Sea Transportation (KSP) to hold from sell, citing KA First Reserve's $100M equity investment.
• Gold Fields (GFI) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• James Hardie NV (JHX) was upgraded to neutral from reduce at Nomura.

I have always felt that for all the blabbing we do -- or blogging, in my case -- we should try as best we can to be accountable for our good and bad calls. This report is long overdue, but I will post it anyway since all of my past year's picks and results have been made public.

The market was very harsh in the early part of 2009, filling investors fear and trepidation, and sinking to a March 9, 2009 bottom. Perhaps some of the bleeding has stopped, but the economy has not healed as bears and bulls seem to carry the day, or every other day.