Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) to Buy from Neutral and raised their target to $22 from $16 citing the renegotiated royalty agreement with Samsung.
• Goldman also upgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) to Buy from Sell and raised their target to $27 from $11 citing strong operating leverage as RevPAR recovers.
• KeyBanc upgraded Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) to Hold from Underweight citing a recent improvement in freight demand.
• J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) was upgraded to buy from Underperform at Banc of America/Merrill.
• Savvis (NASDAQ: SVVS) was raised to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was upgraded at Citigroup to Buy from Hold.

Deere (NYSE: DE) will be reporting numbers for the second quarter on Wednesday, May 20. Analysts aren't looking for expansion of the bottom line. Considering what Deere makes, it isn't surprising. We're still in a recession, and purchases of heavy equipment will obviously remain in an ambiguous state.

So, Wall Street is figuring on somewhere around $1.08 per share. That compares to $1.74 per share in the year-ago period. Last quarter, Deere didn't do so well, with its bottom line declining precipitously to 48 cents per share. Analysts had wanted to see 63 cents per share.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer suggests watching certain staples for hints that the flight to riskier plays is losing steam.

Will the endless "beta" trade out of slow-moving, "safe" drugs and foods and into companies like Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) (Cramer's Take) ever end?

I think it won't end here, that's for certain, unless your staples stock goes to a 5% yield and the economy's macro data show a further breakdown. If we get some retail sales that are awful and some employment numbers that show a further trashing, then we are going to see a momentary blip up in stocks like Pepsi (NYSE: PEP) (Cramer's Take) and Clorox (NYSE: CLX) (Cramer's Take), but perhaps no more than that.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the noise obscures the evidence that things are getting better.

Lotta sideshows out there.

The Chrysler sideshow held court Thursday, a total distraction magnified by President Barack Obama's finger-pointing. Given how small Chrysler is and how irrelevant it might ultimately be to the economy, it's a shame because there were so many good earnings reports that you might have missed by paying attention to Chrysler.

And, yes, I wish that the president had been more elegant in his finger-pointing about why Chrysler had to file. Most of the big banks were pro-Obama. Only some banks and hedge funds held out -- we now know them as the non-TARP banks -- and to them I ask, "What the heck were you thinking?" I think they, not Obama, are a bigger problem and I bet they make out far worse than they would have if they had just agreed with Obama's plan.

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

• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported strong Q1 results easily beat expectations.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings, helped by home refinancing.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) reported its first quarterly loss since 1992 and cut its revenue outlook.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) posted Q1 earnings that were in line with expectations, but shares fell.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings despite a decline in sales.

Analyst upgrades:

• Merriman upgraded Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) to Buy from Neutral on expectations shares will react positively to the full IMPACT data release on April 28. The firm thinks Provenge could represent the first cancer immunotherapy approved in the U.S. and raised its valuation range on the stock to $33-$34 from $18-$19.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Andersons (NASDAQ: ANDE) as it believes the valuation is attractive, investor expectations are low, and the company's fertilizer and rail segments could recovery in FY10. The firm has a $19 target on shares. Goldman upgraded the auto sector to Neutral from Cautious and added Ford (NYSE: F) to its Conviction Buy list. The analyst does not believe Ford will have to declare bankruptcy and sees the company benefiting from Chrysler share declines and GM's (NYSE: GM) reduced product offerings. Ford's price target is $6
• Banc of America/Merrill upgraded U.S. Airways (NYSE: LCC) to Buy from Underperform.
• Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

Despite the notion that lawmakers are considering executive compensation pay caps for those companies which may invest in the $1 trillion PPIP, the markets did not turn against Pennsylvania Ave. There were not really any major economic data and shares bounced off lows after traders determined that the bar was being set very low.

Here are today's closing bell levels (unofficial close):

Dow 7,969.56 +127.83 (1.63%)
S&P 500 850.08 +17.69 (2.13%)
Nasdaq 1,643.85 +35.64 (2.22%)

TOP 10 ANALYST CALLS

Dow component Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) appears to be in for a rough day after reporting a first-quarter loss of 19 cents per share. This was the first quarterly loss for the earth mover since 1992. Moreover, a year ago, CAT earned $1.45 per share in the first quarter.

Excluding charges stemming from CAT's workforce reduction, the quarterly earnings would have totaled 39 cents per share -- far better than expectations. Quarterly sales dropped 22% to $9.22 billion, again topping the consensus estimate for $8.33 billion.

U.S. stock futures fell Tuesday morning following Monday's sharp sell-off. Investors are reacting to Monday evening's earnings and bracing for another wave of corporate earnings today, including five Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks. Monday's sell-off highlighted Wall Street's worries over earnings generally and the financial sector in particular.

Five Dow components are set to report earnings before the bell: Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), DuPont (NYSE: DD), Merck (NYSE: MRK) and United Technologies (NYSE: UTX).

If you already own the stock, Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) is a play that's likely to test the patience of most investors.

In general, analysts expect CAT to post lower earnings per share through the first half of 2009, then recover in the second half, as various international markets start to recover.

The market has been up all morning and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) has been down. The big cat has been crushed like so many other large industrial companies in the last 18 months, that it probably doesn't know what a good day is.

At the rate they have been slashing payroll and laying off workers in spurts, a good day might be when there is nothing to report.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer identifies the eight Dow components that will become too cheap not to buy.

When I arrived at my worst-case view that the Dow could reach 5320, my first reaction wasn't, "Look out below." It was more like, "Wait a second, how much I would like to buy these stocks at those levels?" Then I started thinking, "What do I do if it gets there and I am not in? Will it stay down there? Is it right to avoid a market that's cut by almost two-thirds in such a short period of time when some companies with really good earnings power might be selling at prices that we might never see again?"

But which ones?

AutoZone, Inc. (NSYE: AZO) was recently up $16.46 to $156.55 after reporting better than street expectations of its second quarter earnings. Stifel Nicolaus has a Hold rating on AZO. AZO call option volume of 10,973 contracts compared to put volume of 6,621 contracts. March option implied volatility of 52 was near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was recently down 18 cents to $22.04. CAT call option volume of 15,241 contracts compared to put volume of 20,112 contracts. CAT March option implied volatility was at 75, April at 72 and July at 64; above its 26-week average of 55, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

The world's largest maker of farm equipment is due to report earnings on February 18 and the outlook is generally bleak. All of the major drivers behind Deere's (NYSE: DE) formidable business appear to be headed into a tailspin. Global agricultural commodity prices have come down significantly from peaks in 2007 and 2008, leaving farmers with less money to spend.

The industrial equipment giant's brand is synonymous with big, bad earthmoving construction machinery. In fact, it's doubtful that any major construction project performed in America since the Great Depression hasn't been performed without the help of a "Cat."

Given the Obama administration's focus on shovel-ready infrastructure construction jobs as the answer to what's ailing our economy, it stands to reason that Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) equipment will once again be called upon to help rebuild and remodel America's crumbling roads, tunnels and bridges.

Think about this, every time you hear the words "shovel-ready jobs," you should think about the makers of the actual shovels. And there is no denying that Caterpillar makes the biggest and best shovels on the planet.

Take a look at all ten stocks to fall in love with again.

Jim Woods is a Senior Editor for OptionsZone.com.