"Rising demand and constrained supplies are a recipe for higher agricultural prices," notes Elliott Gue.

The contributing editor to Personal Finance explains, "The big winners are commercial farmers and companies whose products enhance crop yields. And one company equipped for growth in this market is Deere & Co. (DE), a new addition to the our model Growth Portfolio.

"For nearly 175 years, Deere has manufactured a wide range agricultural equipment, including tractors, combines, harvesters and sprayers.

Spring has officially begun, and now may be the time to consider some investments that could add a little "spring" to your portfolio.

Topping the list are companies like Lowe's (LOW) and Home Depot (HD). They stand to benefit from the nicer weather as people head outdoors to work on the garden, plant new beds, maintain the lawn, and take care of home improvements.

Back in November, I was cautious on Deere & Company (DE). Yes, you read that correctly: I was cautious on Deere back in November. When it was trading around the $76 level. Let's see, at what price is the stock trading today? At a little after noon, it's exchanging hands for about $95.

As is painfully obvious, my thinking that Deere may have been overvalued late last year has turned out to be rather wrong. As a matter of fact, the one-year chart is defining an attractive uptrend. It's a really fine example of compelling price action.

Deere (DE) shares trended higher as corn has rallied to a 30-month high. Overall option implied volatility of 29 is below its 26-week average of 33, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

ARM Holdings (ARMH) closed down 4.8% after rallying sharply over the past seven weeks. January call option implied volatility is at 75, February is at 67, above its 26-week average of 46, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

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

Analyst Upgrades

• NYSE Euronex (NYX) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• General Dynamics (GD) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Deere (DE), Parker-Hannifin (PH) and ExlService (EXLS) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Aflac (AFL) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Wynn Resorts (WYNN) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Amdocs (DOX) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Juniper (JNPR) to buy from hold at ThinkEquity.
• Rudolph Tech (RTEC) and KLA-Tencor (KLAC) to perform from underperform at Oppenheimer.
• Hershey (HSY) and Pinnacle Entertainment (PNK) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Micron (MU) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.

Leave it to our representatives in Washington to make a compromise that ignores most of their previously stated beliefs -- of only a few days ago. This just reinforces again the old joke "How do you know when a politician is lying?..."

Monday the Obama administration and congressional Republicans came to an agreement to extend both unemployment benefits by 13 months, and the Bush-era tax cuts for all by two years. What happened to the Republican and Democratic noise about fiscal responsibility and reducing the debt?

A few days ago Republicans were not going to vote for an extension of the unemployment funding if there was not an associated revenue offset to pay for it. That's gone, so the deficit is going up. The Democrats claimed they would not back an extension of the tax cuts for people that earned over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for joint returns claiming this would add $900 billion toward debt reduction. That's gone so the deficit is going up.

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.

At the time of this writing, Deere & Company (DE) was down 0.6% to $75.87. Earlier Wednesday, the farm-equipment concern issued its Q4 report. You can't call the market overjoyed by the news, but at the same time, this isn't a huge drop. Volume, however, was on the strong side.

According to the Associated Press, Deere made $1.07 per share. This statistic was much better than the loss of 53 cents per share that was booked in the year-ago period (it should be noted, though, that, as the actual press release indicates, last year's adjusted fourth-quarter income was 23 cents per share). Wall Street was interested in seeing at least 95 cents per share.

Deere (DE) is expected to report Q4 EPS on Nov. 24. December 80 and 85 calls are active on total call volume of 3,697 contracts, compared to 1,590 puts. December call option implied volatility is at 34 and January is at 33; compared to its 26-week average of 34, according to Track Data, suggesting nondirectional price movement.

La-Z-Boy (LZB) is expected to report Q2 EPS on Nov. 23. Overall option implied volatility of 68 is near its 26-week average, according to Track Data, suggesting nondirectional price movement.

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

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.

Among the quarterly results scheduled for this holiday-shortened week, investors may be thankful for the earnings results from Tyson Foods (TSN). The Arkansas-based poultry and meat producer reported on its sustainability efforts and also was named McDonalds' (MCD) supplier of the year during its fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings for that period to have doubled from a year ago to 56 cents per share.

Tyson is also expected to post revenue of $7.8 billion for the three months that ended in September, which is 7.4% more than in the same period of fiscal 2009. And the consensus estimate for the full year calls for earnings of $2.08 per share (+87.0%) and revenue of $28.7 billion (+7.3%). Tyson's earnings have been better than expected in recent quarters, beating consensus estimates by as much as 24 cents per share.

Analyst Upgrades

• DuPont (DD) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• UBS upgraded Deere (DE) to buy from neutral and AGCO (AGCO) to neutral from sell.
• Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Thoratec (THOR) and DTE Energy (DTE) were upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• NICE Systems (NICE) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at HSBC.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Copa Holdings (CPA) to buy from hold.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Nu Skin (NUS) to buy from neutral.
• Continental Resources (CLR) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.

As is often the case, growth and recovery in America begins at ground level. Current upbeat news from regional food producers is signaling good news for many companies, including Deere & Company (DE). While developing industrial bases such as China and India have taken on the lion's share of mid to heavy manufacturing duties, they are also developing increased needs to feed hungry work forces. Indeed, they are also developing the capital to feed those needs.

The spin-off from this morphing consumption dynamic is a surge of growth in America's agricultural and food production sectors. Indications are that the increased demands being put upon American agricultural output is fueling an increased demand for heavy weight farm tractors and is requiring food processing facility expansions. "Sales of 100-horsepower tractors, which cost about $75,000 to $100,000 each, were up 27 percent last month over the same month last year, said Charlie O'Brien, vice president of agricultural services for The Association of Equipment Manufacturers, in an Associated Press interview.

Companies on a shopping spree either feel their growth is confined or they are feeling flush. In the case of Caterpiller (CAT), which reported that it is going to buy Bucyrus for $8.6 billion, it is the latter. The company has had a terrific year in which it has seen a 76% increase in it's growth. This rapid increase in business has pushed the PEG ratio down to a low 0.86 with the stock trading near its 52- week high.

From what I can gather, the deal between CAT and Bucyrus has merit. Does that mean this is a good time to buy Caterpillar stock? I don't think so. More often than not, stocks trading near their highs will present better entry points with greater value to the more patient investor.

"Commodity prices are surging. But rather than recommending a pure commodity play, I'm intrigued by Deere & Co. (DE), the world's largest manufacturer of lawn and farm equipment," says Dr. Melvin Pasternak.

The editor of Trade of the Week explains, "The stock not only benefits from strong commodity prices, but also more profits for farmers. And with farmers seeing fatter profits from their crops, many are taking the money and putting it into new farm equipment.

"According to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, September sales of row-crop tractors increased by +46.9% from August, while four-wheel drive tractor sales rose +20.5%.