3M Company (MMM) is in the news today because of an investor meeting. Here's one bullet point from TheFly. The gathering brought my mind back to the stock. How is it looking these days?

Well, it's pulled back from the 52-week high. At the time of this writing, shares were fetching a price of $88.68. The top point for the year is currently set at $94.16; the low point is $67.98, so thankfully we're nowhere near that depressing level. (Could the bearishness become so bad that we eventually get close to that price? Don't even think it!).

Analyst Upgrades

• Molycorp (MCP) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Humana (HUM), HealthSpring (HS) and UnitedHealth (UNH) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Williams Cos. (WMB) to conviction buy from neutral and UBS (UBS) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• China Kanghui (KH) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Armstrong World (AWI) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Time Warner (TWX) to buy from hold at Benchmark Co.
• Calpine (CPN) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• 3M Company (MMM) to neutral from underperform and Kirby (KEX) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

The shares of 3M Company (MMM), first discussed here on April 20, 2009, at a price of $51.97, have meandered during the past three months, but I still like the business model at this stage. Here's why.

3M's 2011 revenue will likely increase 12% to 14%, after a 15% rise in 2010, propelled higher by strength in all business lines: industrial, health care, display and graphics, consumer/office, electronics/communications, and safety/security. Further, 3M's demonstrated innovation prowess and commitment to research/development make it a formidable industrial giant.

Analyst Upgrades

• Diamond Offshore (DO) to conviction buy from sell and Baker Hughes (BHI) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Frontier Communications (FTR) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Syntel (SYNT) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo, to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank and to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC) and Fiserv (FISV) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• 3M (MMM) to neutral from underweight and Tyco (TYC) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Collective Brands (PSS) and Nordstrom (JWN) to overweight from equal weight, as well as Foot Locker (FL) to equal weight from underweight, at Morgan Stanley.
• Amazon.com (AMZN) to buy from hold at Lazard Capital.
• Yamana Gold (AUY) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

Beckman Coulter (BEC), a top medical diagnostic instruments company, has been public over 20 years. But it looks like its days of independence may soon be over. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Beckman is in the process of selling itself. So far in today's trading, the shares are up 27% to $72.57, with the market cap at about $5 billion.

Beckman's products span many categories like biomedical testing and lab automation. The installed base is roughly 200,000. In fact, a large portion of the revenues come from recurring sources (such as refilling supplies for the machines). In other words, Beckman has sturdy cash flow stream.

Analyst Upgrades

• Red Hat (RHT) and American Public (APEI) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• KBR (KBR) and Foster Wheeler (FWLT) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Bio-Rad (BIO) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Oceaneering (OII) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• ASM International (ASMI) and Avid Technology (AVID) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Dominion Resources (D) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Nationwide Health Properties (NHP) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vivus (VVUS) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Intersil (ISIL) to buy from hold at Canaccord.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup assumed coverage of Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and upgraded shares to buy from hold with a $52 price target. Citi cites valuation and the company's successful execution for the rating change.
• UBS upgraded Rowan Companies (RDC) to buy from neutral based on better-than-expected dayrates in the high specification jack-up market. The firm raised its price target to $42 from $28.
• UBS also upgraded NetLogic (NETL) to buy from neutral and keeps a $33.50 target on the stock. The firm upgraded shares based on valuation and solid long-term outlook.
• AvalonBay (AVB) and BRE Properties (BRE) were upgraded to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.
• Covance (CVD) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Reynolds American (RAI) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

M & A. That's mergers and acquisitions. They're all over the financial pages. Intel (INTC) is buying Infineon's wireless division for $1.4 billion so the chip manufacturer can diversify beyond computers. HP (HPQ) or Dell (DELL) will end up with 3PAR, a cloud-computing company, at a cost of $2 billion or more. Carl Icahn, the billionaire financier, is making a hostile tender bid for Lions Gate (LGF), the film and television producer. 3M (MMM) is buying Attenti Holdings, an Israeli maker of remote monitoring technology used to track people, for $230 million. Exelon (EXC) is picking up a division of Deere (DE), a renewable energy unit, for about $900 million so it can enter the wind-power segment. Sanofi-Aventis (SNYNF) is trying to buy Genzyme (GENZ) but the board won't accept the bid of $18.5 billion. The board is open to better numbers. There are many more.

Is all this good for investors? Or is there some bad in there?

"For much of the market's rally since March 2009, the best-performing stocks were those that tilted toward the risky side. That is about to change," says Chuck Carlson.

The editor of The DRIP Investor explains, "Quality stocks -- larger companies with consistent track records, strong finances, industry leadership positions, and stable and growing dividends -- should lead the market going forward.

"Quality stocks now offer good relative value versus more aggressive stocks, and I suspect investors will be more focused on a value over the next 12 to 24 months.

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

• Coinstar Inc. (CSTR) shares surged following stronger-than-expected Q1 earnings driven by DVD rentals.
• Humana Inc. (HUM) shares traded lower despite the report of better-than-expected earnings for Q1.
• IMAX Corp. (IMAX) reported strong Q1 results that easily topped consensus estimates, but shares declined.
• Kellogg Co. (K) topped Q1 earnings expectations and announced a share buyback program.
• Office Depot Inc. (ODP) Q1 earnings fell short of consensus estimates and same-store sales declined.

Let's have a quick look at two Dow components. One is famous for its chemical products, while the other is known for its iconic sticky stationery.

Chemical manufacturer E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (DD) was, at the time of this writing, down $1.16, or 2.8%, to $39.79. A disappointment, to be sure, since the stock has been doing so well over the last twelve months. The following chart shows the upward bias, and one might have expected a decent trading day after the first-quarter earnings were released.

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

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings and declared an annual dividend.
• Allstate Corp. (ALL) swung to better-than-expected Q4 earnings and also swung to a full-year profit.
• Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD) shares tumbled after it posted disappointing earnings tied to costs.
• The Cheesecake Factory Inc. (CAKE) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings but sales were flat.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) earnings numbers for Q4 resulted in upgrades from two analysts.
• CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) higher Q4 earnings matched the expectations of analysts, and shares rose.

Analyst Upgrades

• Oppenheimer upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to outperform from perform as it finds the risk/reward on shares attractive and believes the company's Q4 results and easing comparisons could serve as positive catalysts. The firm set a $46 price target on shares.
• Bernstein upgraded 3M Company (MMM) to outperform from market perform based on expectations the company will continue to beat and raise guidance and that the organic growth rate will continue to improve. The firm raised its target to $99 from $90.
• Roth Capital expects Nvidia (NVDA) to benefit from its new GPU platform Fermi in Q1, resulting in a PC business recovery. Additionally, the firm, which upgraded shares to buy from hold and has a $21 target, expects Nvidia to offset Intel (INTC) declines by selling low-end GPUs compatible with Intel's Pinetrail and Westmere platforms.
• Syngenta (SYT) was upgraded to buy from hold at Collins Stewart.
• Cameron (CAM) was raised to overweight from neutral at HSBC.
• Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) was lifted to outperform from neutral at Baird.