Analyst Upgrades

• BB&T (BBT) and Aflac (AFL) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Kodiak Oil & Gas (KOG) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Zhongpin (HOGS) to neutral from reduce at Global Hunter.
• Marathon Oil (MRO), Noble Energy (NBL) and Manulife Financial (MFC) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Comerica (CMA) to buy from neutral at Rochdale.

BB&T (BBT - option chain) shares are rising today after the Wall Street Journal reported that Sterling Bancshares (SBIB) has put itself up for sale. The Journal listed BBT as one of the banks interested in acquiring Sterling. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BBT.

BBT opened this morning at $26.83. So far today the stock has hit a low of $26.80 and a high of $27.90. As of 12:15, BBT is trading at $27.87 up $1.00 (3.7%). The chart for BBT looks bullish and S&P gives BBT a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Analyst Upgrades

• Exxon Mobil (XOM) and BB&T (BBT) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• D.R. Horton (DHI) upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Meritage Homes (MTH), Old Dominion Freight (ODFL) and Heartland Payment (HPY) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Toll Brothers (TOL) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Hershey (HSY) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• UnitedHealth (UNH), Cigna (CI) and Allscripts (MDRX) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Nationwide Health (NHP) to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Reynolds American (RAI) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Adtran (ADTN), PG&E (PCG) and Wisconsin Energy (WEC) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Upgrades

• Oracle (ORCL) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Accenture (ACN) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Advanced Energy (AEIS) and Applied Materials (AMAT) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Spreadtrum (SPRD) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Healthcare Realty Trust (HR) and Tortoise Energy Capital (TYY) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Global Payments (GPN) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• CBS (CBS) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Sonic (SONC) to outperform from neutral at Cowen.

Analyst Upgrades

• Ryder (R) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• HCP (HCP) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Hertz Global (HTZ) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Lincoln National (LNC) to buy from neutral and T. Rowe Price (TROW) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Protective Life (PL) and Janus Capital (JNS) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Newell Rubbermaid (NWL) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• National Instruments (NATI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Team Health (TMH) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst Upgrades

• Oppenheimer upgraded Teva (TEVA) to outperform from perform. The firm expects the company to generate strong 2H10 earnings and thinks the competition created by Novartis's (NVS) Gilenia will be limited.
• Citigroup upgraded Celanese (CE) to buy from hold, citing valuation and the company's move to add assets in China, as well as possible takeover interest.
• Needham raised Stereotaxis (STXS) to buy from hold as the firm thinks that strong clinical data recently announced by the company could result in faster adoption rates of its robotic surgery.
• BMO Capital upgraded Smurfit-Stone Container (SSCC) given strength in the containerboard market.
• Melco Crown (MPEL) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Goldman Sachs raised Temple-Inland (TIN) to buy from neutral.
• Barclays upgraded Lloyds Banking (LYG) to equal weight from underweight.

US Bancorp (USB) closed at $20.95. USB September put option implied volatility is at 32. December is at 39, above its 26-week average of 32, according to Track Data, suggesting larger December price movement.

BB&T (BBT) closed at $22.27. BBT September put option implied volatility is at 33. December is at 39 versus its 26-week average of 34, according to Track Data, suggesting larger December price movement.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) led off the coming parade of earnings from the big banks when it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter and full-year earnings, though its revenue fell short of estimates.

Plenty more earnings from the financial sector are due out this week. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate fourth-quarter earnings growth from American Express Co. (AXP), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), Hudson City Bancorp Inc. (HCBK), SLM Corp. (SLM) and US Bancorp (USB).

The Street.com's Jim Cramer says that he's making it his mission in 2010 to call out people in the media who provide no value.

Have you ever noticed that with every good housing report there are endless caveats:

1. Prices are still down year over year.

2. The home tax credit of $8,000 moved the house, and that will go away.

3. Home mortgages are artificially low because of the Fed.

4. Banks have more foreclosures on their balance sheets than before.

5. Foreclosures continue to occur.

6. Everything will slip back to imbalance when the credit goes away.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Q3 earnings beat by a penny but sales fell short of expectations; shares fell.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) reported a Q3 net loss and plunging revenue but also raised $4 billion in cash.
• BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) topped Q3 earnings expectations but said bad-loan provisions nearly doubled.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) missed estimates and posted a Q3 loss due to delays for a couple of jet products.
• Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) shares rose after it reported better-than-expected Q3 numbers.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) posted a better-than-expected Q3 profit but sales fell short, and shares fell.

BB&T (NYSE: BBT - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company reported third-quarter earnings this morning, posting a profit of $152 million or 23 cents per share. While this beat the expected profit of 22 cents per share, the stock is declining in early trading as investors appear concerned about BBT's $709 million in bad loan provisions during the quarter, which is nearly double the total of the year-ago period. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BBT.

This morning, BBT opened at $27.38. So far today the stock has hit a high of $27.45 and a low of $26.79. As of 11:30, BBT is trading at $26.95, down $1.30 (-4.6%). The chart for BBT looks bullish and S&P gives BBT a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says even stocks without exposure to that country will probably be on sale today.

If China has pulled back 20%, do we have to pull back 20%, even though they were up 80% and we are up 9%? Are we so in lock step now that when China catches a cold, we are the ones with pneumonia?

I don't think so. It's such an easy story to stretch out, though you can see that our Freeports (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take) and our Exxons (NYSE: XOM) (Cramer's Take) can get hammered.

BB&T (NYSE: BBT - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced that their deal to acquire Colonial BancGroup will not hurt BB&T's earnings due to a loss-sharing agreement with the FDIC. According to reports, the worst that could happen for BBT is a loss on $500M. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BBT.

BBT opened this morning at $27.11. So far today the stock has hit a low of $27.47 and a high of $26.89. As of 11:20, BBT is trading at $27.47 up $1.04 (3.9%). The chart for BBT looks neutral and S&P gives BBT a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Earlier today, Colonial BancGroup (NYSE: CNB) fell nearly 12% to 41 cents per share before trading was halted pending a news announcement. As it turns out, the troubled bank is being taken into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), while BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) will acquire all of CNB's branches and deposits.

The announcement comes on the heels of a report in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) that a federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order to freeze $1 billion of Colonial BancGroup's assets. The decision comes after Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) filed suit against CNB, seeking to protect its rights as trustee to $1 billion of loans received from Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE). U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan ruled in Bank of America's favor, citing his concern that Colonial "is on the brink of collapse."

This morning, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected announce that some banks will be allowed to repay the money lent to them under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Some of the banks expected to receive approval are Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), State Street (NYSE: STT) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB). All of these banks have expressed interest in repaying the government.

What is interesting is that there will be yet another Czar joining the White House, a "Repayment Czar," (what is the deal with the media's fascination with Russian royalty?) or as the administration will call the position, the "Special Master for Compensation."