ThinkPanmure reiterated its "buy" rating on Taleo (NASDAQ:TLEO) ahead of the company's analyst meeting, according to the AP.

Goldman Sachs upgraded International Paper (NYSE:IP) from "buy" to "neutral", according to Briefing.com. The news service also writes that Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from $185 to $210.

EMC Corp (NYSE:EMC) was cut to "neutral" at Bernstein, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Douglas A. McIntyre

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Acergy, Casey's General and Corinthian Colleges were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Citigroup downgraded shares of Acergy (NASDAQ: ACGY) to Sell from Hold as they see risk to the company's backlog and believes the recent share rally is not supported by business operations.
  
• Casey's General (NASDAQ: CASY) was downgraded at Friedman Billings to Underperform from Market Perform citing headwinds that include weak gas comps.
  
• Banc of America downgraded shares of Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) to Neutral from Buy as they believe the post-legislation lending overhang will limit further share upside until COCO can show its students can access federal funds with minimal disruption.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Bernstein cut EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Baird lowered Woodward Governor (NASDAQ: WGOV) to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Merrill downgraded Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) and Bemis (BMS) to Sell from Neutral.

EMC (NYSE:EMC) Cut To Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein, according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports that Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Raised to Overweight at Lehman.

Thomas Weisel initiates Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) as "overweight" according to Briefing.com. Friedman Billings has taken Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) off its "best picks" list.

Douglas A.McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

The markets got some extra relief today as weekly jobless claims only rose by 6,000 to 371,000. The Philly Fed also showed that manufacturing contracted slower than expected as output fell by 0.7% in April. Below are the unofficial closing prices for major index levels:

• DJIA 12,988.91 +90.53 +0.70%
• S&P500 1,423.28 +14.62 +1.04%
• NASDAQ 2,533.73 +37.03 +1.48%
• 10 Yr Bond(%) 3.8430% -0.0950
• 52-WEEK LOWS
• TOP ANALYST CALLS

China Architectural Engineering, Inc. (AMEX: RCH) enjoyed another massive day as its stock rose another 23% to $10.17 late in the day based on construction, architecture, and engineering needs that will be necessary in China after that earthquake.

Double-Take Software (NASDAQ: DBTK) products and services enable customers to protect and recover computer files. Its software helps users to reduce or eliminate data loss and recover applications, through automatic or manual means. Customers include law firms, financial institutions, hospitals, school districts and government entities. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are among the firm's strategic partners. EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) are major competitors.

The company surprised the Street last week, when it reported Q1 EPS of 13 cents and revenues of $23 million. Analysts had been looking for 11 cents and $22.2 million. Management also guided Q2 EPS to 15-16 cents (14 cent consensus), Q2 revenues to $24.4-$25 million ($24.44M consensus), FY08 EPS to 65-67 cents (65 cent consensus) and FY08 revenues to $101.7-$103.5 million ($102.29M consensus).

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

• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) profits rose 30%, easily beating analysts' expectations.
• AMETEK Inc. (NYSE: AME) beat Q1 estimates on global strength and recent acquisitions.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) easily beat Q2 expectations but offered a weak outlook.
• AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) posted strong Q1 results thanks to the popularity of the iPhone.
• Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) beat earnings and saw an upgrade from Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Q1 profit soared, and it raised its guidance.
• Cymer Inc. (NASDAQ: CYMI) beat Q1 estimates and announced a share million buyback program.
• Electronic Data Systems Inc. (NYSE: EDS) posted Q1 profits on cost cutting and new contracts.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) Q1 earnings fell on on acquisition-related charges.
• Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL) beat Q1 estimates on increased commercial aerospace sales.
• Huaneng Power ADS (NYSE: HNP) earnings plunged on coal prices, but the stock went higher.
• Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) narrowed its loss on higher sales of networking services.
• McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) Q1 profit plunged on product development and marketing costs.
• MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) missed analysts' estimates for the first quarter.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) beat earnings expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
• Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) profit soared in the first quarter on increase in subscriptions.
• Nintendo Co. (OTC: NTDOY) posted record results due to the popularity of the Wii system.

Before the bell: Earnings have soured mood again

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) said its first-quarter profit dipped 14% on acquisition-related charges, but it posted a 17% revenue gain to $3.47 billion that beat Wall Street forecasts. Excluding items, EMC's profit was $477.3 million, or 23 cents per share. Also, VMware (NYSE: VMW) reported a 5% profit rise on faster-than-forecast sales growth. The company is mostly held by EMC. EMC shares are up about 5.5% in premarket trading. VMW shares are up 13.75% in premarket trading.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM), spun off last month by Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) reported first-quarter earnings this morning, posting a 29% increase in profit to $1.87 billion, or 89 cents a share as new varieties of Marlboro cigarettes such as clove flavored ones as well as acquisitions spurred sales in Indonesia, Pakistan and Mexico. The weak dollar also helped boost the bottom line. Revenue climbed 18% to $15.6 billion. The results beat the 78 cents analysts were looking for. Altria reports quarterly results Thursday. While Altria now does all its business in the U.S. where smoking has been on the decline, cigarette companies tend to do well in a weak economy.

Last night we heard that eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is suing Craigslist for unfairly trying to dilute eBay's 28% stake in it by more than 10%. Craiglist today is firing back, saying the online auctioneer's actions are unethical and smelling of a hostile takeover.

Wal-Mart Tops Fortune 500 List
The retail giant is on top for the second year in a row, while AT&T moves up and GM slips. See who ranks where on the definitive list of America's largest companies and why.
FORTUNE 500 2008: Annual ranking of America's largest corporations from Fortune Magazine


Stocks: Where the Big Bucks Lurk
A closer look at S&P's list of stocks with big cash hoards and top analyst rankings show these 20 companies are sitting pretty. They include Apple, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Disney, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, J&J, Microsoft, Oracle, Paychex, P&G to name a few.
Cash-Rich Companies


Mom's New Battle: The Food Price Bulge
As American families face the double whammy of higher gas and food prices, moms nationwide are resorting to considerable ingenuity to stretch their monthly grocery budget. Beyond clipping coupons, families are embracing generic grocery brands, and making their own baby food and detergent.
Soaring food prices elicit creative solutions from moms - CNNmoney

Tech companies suffered in the big internet explosion in 2000. Part of the problem was that many of them did not have adequate cash reserves to make it through the storm. They are concerned that the 2008 recession will be deja vu all over again.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "As of late last month, the technology sector -- which already had been heavy on cash in the past few years -- held nearly $232 billion in cash and cash equivalents, up more than 6% from nearly $218 billion a year earlier, according to Standard & Poor's."

The move is mindless and completely unnecessary. Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY) now has $3.6 billion and EMC (NYSE: EMC) has $4.5 billion according to the S&P numbers. The idea of building assets on the balance sheet makes no sense because both companies make money and have forecast to make money for the rest of the year. EMC had operating income of over $1.7 billion last year.

Wall Street does not like to see "unused" cash sitting around making 2.5% interest. Companies that do not have announced M&A programs, big share buy-backs, or special dividends are going to be punished for balance sheets that are too good.

And they should be.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Blockbuster (NYSE:BBI) was cut to "neutral" at JPMorgan according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports that EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC) was cut to "hold" from "buy" at Citigroup.

Citigroup downgraded Emulux (NYSE:ELX) from "buy" to "sell" according to Briefing.com. The newswire also reports that Bear Stearns downgraded Affymetrix (NASDAQ:AFFX) to "underperform" from "out perform"

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: EMC Corp, Emulex, VCG Holding and Conexant were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Citigroup downgraded shares of EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) to hold from buy and Emulex (NYSE: ELX) to sell from buy and lowered its targets to $17 from $22 and to $12 from $20, respectively, to reflect their more cautious stance on the storage space after channel checks indicated a broadly softening demand environment, most notably for 'higher ticket' items.
  
• Merriman downgraded shares of VCG Holding (NASDAQ:VCGH) to neutral from buy following the Q4 miss, as they believe acquisitions could slow in the near-term. They prefer to move to the sidelines until the company's outlook improves.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Conexant (NASDAQ: CNXT) to perform from outperform as they believe the CEO departure could interrupt the company's turnaround.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Hercules Offshore (NASDAQ: HERO) was cut to hold from buy at Deutsche Bank.
  
• JP Morgan downgraded Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) to neutral from overweight.
  
• Affymetrix (NASDAQ: AFFX) was downgraded to underperform from peer perform at Bear.

5 Stocks Insiders Love
If corporate managers and directors are buying their company's stock, maybe you should, too. They include Boston Scientific, Hanesbrands, Dow Chemical, McMoRan Exploration and Synaptics.
Five Stocks Insiders Love - Kiplinger.com

Best Blue Chips for This Market
The best way to boost your long-term returns is to buy when prices are cheap - and here are 5 excellent bargains -- 3M, DuPont, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
The best blue chips for this market - CNNMoney.com

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that absent any catalyst beyond "cheap," the sector looks set to disappoint.

When people say "tech" on TV, it is almost always followed with "cheap," or "low valuation." To which I say, "So what?" AMD (NYSE: AMD) (Cramer's Take) looked cheap until last night. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) (Cramer's Take) looked cheap and there turned out to be no there there. Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) (Cramer's Take) looks cheap but all I hear are earnings cuts. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) (Cramer's Take) looks cheap, but who cares?

Lots of cheap out there.

Here's my question: where's the catalyst?

Shorts? Stronger growth in the second half? No, the only catalysts I look for in tech are product cycles, and other than Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) (Cramer's Take) (nice move there), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) (Cramer's Take) and maybe Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take), because we need a new phone there already, there are no new product cycles to speak of.

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) shares are rising today after the company announced yesterday evening it bought privately held software company Infra Corp. for an undisclosed amount. The company also made a $3.25 per share takeover offer for Iomega Corp. (NYSE: IOM) yesterday, but it was rejected. If you think that the company 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 EMC.

After hitting a one-year low of $12.74 in March, the stock hit a one-year high of $25.47 in October, but has moved lower since then. EMC opened this morning at $15.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $14.76 and a high of $15.04. As of 12:25, EMC is trading at $14.86, up $0.16 (1.0%). The chart for EMC looks neutral and steady while S&P gives EMC a very positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy rating.