Analyst Upgrades

• Expedia (EXPE) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Weatherford (WFT) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• MDC Holdings (MDC) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• AutoNavi (AMAP) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Ciena (CIEN) and Nvidia (NVDA) to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Canadian Pacific (CP) to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
• First Midwest (FMBI) and Quiksilver (ZQK) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Sonic (SONC) to neutral from negative at Susquehanna.
• MIPS Technologies (MIPS) to buy from hold at Benchmark Co.
• Arrow Electronics (ARW) and Avnet (AVT) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

U.S. stock futures are higher Monday morning as crude oil futures surged above $106 per barrel. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 37 points to 12,191 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index climbed 4.80 points to 1,325.10. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 12.75 points to 2,372.50.

Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today: STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.61%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.79%.

Analyst Upgrades

• SINA (SINA) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Texas Instruments (TXN), ON Semiconductor (ONNN), Xilinx (XLNX) and Valassis (VCI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Salesforce.com (CRM) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Peet's Coffee (PEET) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Invesco Mortgage (IVR) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• BTU International (BTUI) to buy from hold at Wunderlich.
• Coca-Cola Femsa (KOF) to overweight from neutral at HSBC.
• Chipotle (CMG) to market perform from underperform at Morgan Keegan.

Analyst Upgrades

• Chesapeake (CHK) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Biogen (BIIB) and Regeneron (REGN) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Caribou Coffee (CBOU) to outperform from neutral and Encore Energy (ENP) to neutral from underperform at RW Baird.
• Fluor (FLR) to market perform from underperform at BMO Capital.
• Hornbeck Offshore (HOS) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Saks (SKS) and Zale (ZLC) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• Home Depot (HD) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Delta Air Lines (DAL) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Heico (HEI) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• MB Financial (MBFI) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Quest Diagnostics (DGX) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Oshkosh (OSK) to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Volterra (VLTR) and Silicon Laboratories (SLAB) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Ascena Retail Group (ASNA) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Cytec Industries (CYT) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst upgrades:

• Verizon (VZ) to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• CSX (CSX) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• AK Steel (AKS) to overweight from neutral, as well as Lorillard (LO) and Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) to neutral from underweight, at JPMorgan.
• Marathon Oil (MRO) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Corning (GLW) to buy from outperform at CLSA.
• Quest Diagnostics (DGX) to buy from hold at Jefferies and to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Salesforce.com (CRM) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Baker Hughes (BHI) to buy from hold at Weeden and to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate (STX) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

As noted in September, broadband/bandwidth play Ciena's (CIEN) pop back above the key, 50-day moving average was a good omen, and the stock has since rocketed up to about $21, taking out psychological resistance at $20.

Ciena, first discussed here on May 19, 2009, at a price of $11.27, remains on track to post a roughly 50% increase in revenue in FY2011, after a likely 80% to 90% increase in FY2010, aided by revenue from its $521 million acquisition of Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networking business in March.

Ciena (CIEN), an expert in network technology, is rocking. With roughly two hours to go before the end of the trading session, the company's stock was up well over 14% to $18.26. Volume was strong.

Initially, one may have thought that the fiscal Q4 earnings report wasn't so hot. Bloomberg says that, on an adjusted basis, the company lost 18 cents per share. Not only was that worse than what was booked last year, but it was three pennies below expectations. The top line, however, beat the estimates (net sales reflected contributions involving operations purchased from Nortel Networks Corp.). Reuters indicates that the first quarter may be a relatively good one, so the market appears to be responding to that, as well.

Analyst Upgrades

• SanDisk (SNDK) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• JPMorgan resumed Potash (POT) at overweight, up from neutral.
• Ariba (ARBA) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Cirrus Logic (CRUS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Tesoro (TSO) to overweight from equal weight.
• Solarfun Power (SOLF) was upgraded to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Barclays upgraded Ciena (CIEN) to overweight from equal weight.
• Optimer Pharm (OPTR) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Argo Group (AGII) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Green Mountain (GMCR) to buy from underperform and Southern Company (SO) to neutral from underperform.

It's been a tumultuous summer for the stock of broadband/bandwidth play Ciena Corp (CIEN), first discussed here on May 19, 2009, at a price of $11.27. Here's hoping you held on to your shares.

The reason? After staging an impressive rally in the first half of 2010 -- one where the stock roughly doubled from about $10.40 to $19.60, the shares swooned this summer, and gave back almost the entire gain, falling to about $11.55.

Sony (SNE) closed at $36.75. SNE April put option implied volatility is at 29, July is at 30, and October is at 31; below its 26-week average of 34, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Goldman Sachs (GS) closed at $169.84. March put option implied volatility is at 31, April is at 32, versus its six-month average of 33, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Three stocks with IV rise on March 5; Ciena (CIEN) +11%, Palm (PALM) +9%, Best Buy (BBY) +2%, according to IVolatility.

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

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

• AutoZone Inc. (AZO) reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings, as well as sales and gross margin growth.
• Big Lots Inc. (BIG) beat Q4 earnings expectations, raised its guidance, and lifted its share repurchase program.
• Carmike Cinemas Inc. (CKEC) swung to better-than-expected profit in Q4 and reported strong sales growth.
• Ciena Corp. (CIEN) reported a bigger-than-expected Q1 net loss and some revenue growth, and offered guidance.
• DISH Network Corp. (DISH) posted a year-over-year increase in Q4 revenue but also a decline in per-share earnings.