Analyst Upgrades

• Brinker (EAT) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Starbucks (SBUX) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Paccar (PCAR) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• CA Technologies (CA) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• PPL Corp. (PPL) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• ConocoPhillips (COP) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• First Defiance (FDEF) to outperform from market perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• MasTec (MTZ) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Amdocs (DOX) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Dollar Tree (DLTR) to neutral from underweight and $48 price target.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Time Warner Cable (TWC) to outperform from neutral and raised its price target to $70 from $59, citing growth in wireline HST demand.
• Needham upgraded NetScout (NTCT) to buy from hold with a $29 price target, citing channel checks that indicate industry spending on network monitoring software may be improving.
• Nstar (NST) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) was upgraded to hold from sell at Societe Generale.
• Air France-KLM (AFLYY) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.

If you've been watching earnings this past week, or if you read last week's Week in Preview, then this coming week may leave you feeling a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog's Day. That is, again analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect earnings declines to be more frequent and deeper than earnings gains.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), IAC Interactivecorp (NASDAQ: IACI), Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO), Elizabeth Arden Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN), Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN), Diebold Inc. (NYSE: DBD), Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC), United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL), ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT), and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) are scheduled to report quarterly results this week, and they're all expected to report double-digit declines in earnings.

But again this week, let's take a look who Wall Street feels may have done well in the past quarter.

Rival home improvement chains Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) and Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) are scheduled to report quarterly results this week. Not surprisingly, given the ongoing housing slump, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial on average expect both companies to post earnings lower than in the same period a year ago. For Home Depot, that's 61 cents per share, down 20.8%, and for Lowe's, 56 cents per share, down 16.4%. Meanwhile, cabinet maker American Woodmark Corp. (NASDAQ: AMWD), for whom Home Depot and Lowe's are major distributors, is also expected to report lower earnings: 11 cents per share, down 67.6%.

The presidential campaigns have prompted much discussion of energy policy and alternative energy sources. Some solar-energy-related concerns are scheduled to report this week, and expectations seem to be high. Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) is expected to report 81 cents per share earnings, up 67.9%; ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) is expected to post earnings of 32 cents per share, up 62.5%; and Suntech Power Holdings Co. (NYSE: STP) is expected to have earnings of 32 cents per share, up 21.9%. Even China Sunergy Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: CSUN) is expected to have swung to a profit of 3 cents per share, from a per-share loss of 14 cents a year ago.

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

• Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Q2 profits declined on a glut of flash memory chips.
• Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI) beat Q3 expectations and offered full-year guidance.
• Barclay's (NYSE: BCS) reported a big Q1 loss on credit-related write-downs.
• Constant Contact Inc. (NASDAQ: CTCT) saw big increases in Q1 revenues and in its customer base.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Q2 profits rose on international demand, but results just missed estimates.
• Fluor Corp.'s (NYSE: FLR) strong Q1 results are a signal for the energy sector, says Jim Cramer.
• Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) Q1 loss widened on the housing slump, but not as much as forecast.
• IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: IMB) narrowed its loss but predicted it wouldn't see a profit in 2008.
• LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) Q1 earnings topped forecasts and it raised its outlook.
• MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) reported a larger-than-expected Q1 loss due to write-downs.
• Mindray Medical International Ltd. (NYSE: MR) beat Q1 expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
• Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) Q2 earnings were in line with analysts' expectations.
• ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ONNN) beat Q1 expectations and raised its Q2 revenue forecast.
• RealNetworks Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK) beat Q1 estimates and announced share buybacks and a spin off.
• Salary.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SLRY) missed Q1 forecasts, leading to analysts' downgrades.
• Sykes Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: SYKE) beat Q1 estimates and raised its Q2 and full-year forecast.
• Syniverse Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SVR) beat Q1 expectations on strength in "messaging and mobil data."
• Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) warned of lower Q2 profits and more "challenging times" ahead.
• Website Pros Inc. (NASDAQ: WSPI) reported flat earnings despite soaring revenues and operating income.

Although short selling -- the practice of selling borrowed shares with the hope of repaying the loan by buying back the shares at a lower price -- goes against the American belief that stocks always go up, I have long been fascinated with it. My plan for my new blog series, Short Stories, is to discuss what works, what doesn't, and what some of the leading lights in shorting stocks think about its opportunities and threats. I will describe possible short trades and I'll seek your comments and questions for story ideas. I won't be offering any investment advice and I won't trade on any of the posts I write.

Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. (Other OTC: BFTH) is in poor financial health. But there are some very smart investors who believe Bally will survive -- Stevie Cohen didn't build a 32,000 square foot Greenwich, CT mansion on money losing bets. On the other hand, 4.5 million Bally shares are sold short -- 11% of Bally's shares outstanding -- this makes me wonder what Cohen sees that I don't.

Bally generated $1 billion in sales and lost $19 million in the last twelve months during which time its stock tumbled 60% to $2.59 -- yielding a stock market capitalization -- shares times stock price -- of $107 million. A quick look at its balance sheet reveals a sobering reality -- Bally's liabilities are greater than its assets by $1.4 billion -- and Bally has had a negative net worth since 2003.

This raises a fundamental question -- how has Bally been able to stave off bankruptcy for so long? Thanks to an electric jolt to its economic heart from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) in the form of a $284 million loan -- Bally came back to life after a sudden cardiac arrest with its announcement that it would not be able to make a payment due next April. Can Bally keep its heart beating long enough to make its stock a buy?