Analyst Upgrades

• Bunge (BG) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Textron (TXT) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• CSX (CSX) to buy from neutral and Pulte Group (PHM) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Aol (AOL) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Kohlberg Capital (KCAP) to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Owens Corning (OC) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Jefferies (JEF) to buy from neutral at Ticonderoga.
• Harris (HRS) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.

Aol (AOL) competes with Yahoo! (YHOO), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook in the display advertising business (as well as being the parent of Bloggingstocks). The average monthly unique visitors on Aol sites declined from around 123 million in 2008 to 111 million in 2010, as the company cut back or shut down a few of its European operations. The sale of business divisions like Bebo and ICQ in 2010 also contributed to the decline in unique visitors.

Though Aol sold a few of its business divisions, it also made several acquisitions, like Patch.com, StudioNow, TechCrunch, 5Min Media, Thing Labs and Pictela last year. These acquisitions suggest Aol's increasing focus on content production (articles and videos) and syndication, in order to attract more visitors to its sites and generate more advertising revenues. Aol's recent acquisition of Huffington Post is another step in this direction.

Yahoo (YHOO), which competes with Google (GOOG) and AOL (AOL) in the search business, is seeing a relatively stable profit margin of 42% since 2008 by our estimates, and we expect the margin to rise slightly over the coming years as Yahoo benefits from its partnership with Microsoft (MSFT). In 2009, Yahoo and Microsoft signed a deal whereby Yahoo will not only use Microsoft's search technology on its websites but will also keep a majority of the ad revenues. Yahoo is also making efforts to control costs by cutting its workforce, which should improve profitability in the short term.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo (WFC) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Adobe (ADBE) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Vail Resorts (MTN) and Goldcorp (GG) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• OmniVision (OVTI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Penn Virginia (PVA) to hold from sell at Canaccord.
• Hub Group (HUBG) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.

When they say tech is hot, it's hot. Aol (AOL) bought About.me just four days after it began its public debut. The terms were undisclosed.

About.me allows users to create a profile from all of their social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedln -- like an online business card. It has a built in dashboard to track social networking interactions and influence.

Analyst Upgrades

• Walgreen (WAG) and Triumph Group (TGI) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Focus Media (FMCN) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Home Depot (HD) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Arbitron (ARB) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Waddell & Reed (WDR) and Legg Mason (LM) to overweight from equal weight, and Janus Capital (JNS) to overweight from underweight, at Barclays.
• Central Euro Media (CETV) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• GenOn Energy (GEN) and Ntelos (NTLS) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Cooper Tire (CTB) to buy from neutral and Goodyear Tire (GT) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• Intel (INTC) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight and Autodesk (ADSK) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Citigroup upgraded Blackrock (BLK) to buy from hold.
• 99c Only Stores (NDN) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• PetSmart (PETM) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Ruth's Hospitality (RUTH) and Morton's Restaurant (MRT) to overweight from neutral.
• BioMed Realty (BMR) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Piedmont (PDM) to market perform from underperform.

Last week's column gave five questions for investors to ask before they buy or sell a stock. Here are five more to help start any research. They'll help save a lot of time and more important, money and loss of sleep.

6. What is Price to Book? This measures the price you pay compared to the amount of equity that's in the company. Equity is all the money investors have put in plus all the profits. When you can find a company that is selling for a Price to Book of less than 1, it means you are buying the equity in the firm for less than it's worth. It's like buying $1 for less than a dollar. Hard to find these stocks? Not now in the Financial sector. Look at Bank of America (BAC). It's Price to Book is 0.54. That means you're paying 54 cents for every $1 of equity. Of course, investors think there could be many more charges against that equity before the bank stabilizes, but if they're wrong, an investor might be picking up a real bargain here. Other examples: JPMorgan Chase (JPM) at 0.89; Citibank (C) at 0.74.

Yahoo (YHOO) released third-quarter numbers after the bell on Tuesday, and they didn't do anything for the stock. Shares closed the regular session down 2.7% to $15.49. During the extended-hours period, I saw a quote go by of $15.53. That's right, the equity gained a measly four cents. Traders most certainly weren't applauding that performance.

Very recently, I wrote a bearish piece on the web portal. Since then, the stock has risen. Also, the company has been surrounded by some interesting speculation as of late regarding a potential takeover, with one theoretical scenario involving the owner of BloggingStocks, Aol (AOL).

Analyst Upgrades

• Merriman upgraded Penn National (PENN) to buy from neutral, citing the company's strong balance sheet and management team. The firm also raised its target range for shares to $34 to $37.60.
• BMO Capital upgraded Cooper Companies (COO) to outperform from market perform and raised its price target to $55 from $46. The firm sees upside to Street estimates and increased visibility.
• Argus upgraded Watson Pharma (WPI) to buy from hold based on valuation.
• Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Allstate (ALL) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Weingarten Realty (WRI) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• HSBC upgraded Massey Energy (MEE) to overweight from neutral based on improved 2011 pricing power given industry supply-side discipline. Despite the upgrade, the firm cuts its price target to $40 from $54.
• Needham upgraded Blue Coat Systems (BCSI) to buy from hold following yesterday's announcement that Michael J. Borman has been named the new CEO. The firm has a $27 price target on the stock.
• Citigroup upgraded Teekay Offshore Partners (TOO) to buy from hold after the company announced shuttle tanker contracts to reflect improved operating performance. The firm raised its target for shares to $26 from $15.
• Prosperity Bancshares (PRSP) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Ceradyne (CRDN) was upgraded to buy from hold at Benchmark Co.
• CTC Media (CTCM) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

The Motorola, Inc. (MOT) story is a complicated one. There are a number of catalysts, however, which could make the shares a bargain at current levels.

In early 2011, the company is expected to be broken up into two distinct entities. Motorola Mobility, which will include the mobile devices business, and Motorola Solutions, which will consist of the networks and enterprise mobility businesses.

• Citigroup assumed coverage of Boeing (BA) and upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold due to its positive view on the aerospace cycle and valuation. The firm raised its target for shares to $80 from $73.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Motorola (MOT) to Overweight from Underweight citing expectations for higher handset margins driven by Android. The analyst raised Android unit shipping estimates and earnings estimates. The firm raised its price target on shares to $9.75 from $8.75.
• Susquehanna upgraded SINA Corporation (SINA) to Positive from Neutral and has a $50 target on the stock. The firm said Sina'a Twitter like service called 'Sina Weibo' has seen exponential growth and will crate huge value for the company.
• AOL (AOL) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
• Frontier Communications (FTR) was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital and to Buy from Hold at Hudson Square.
• Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.