Comcast (CMCSA) is the biggest U.S. cable provider with a nearly 21% market share of the U.S. pay-TV market. Comcast competes with satellite pay-TV providers like Dish Network (DISH) and DirecTV (DTV), cable companies like Time Warner Cable (TWC), and telecom operators like AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) in the pay-TV and broadband businesses.

Our price estimate for Comcast stands at $29.57, implying a roughly 20% premium to market share.

Comcast (CMCSA) is the biggest U.S. cable provider with nearly 21% of the U.S. pay-TV market share. Comcast competes with satellite pay-TV providers like Dish Network (DISH) and DirecTV (DTV), cable companies like Time Warner Cable (TWX), and telecom operators like AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) in the pay-TV and broadband businesses.

Analyst Upgrades

• Medicis (MRX) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray, to outperform from market perform at Bernstein, to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital and to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Wellpoint (WLP) to buy from neutral at Davenport.
• Humana (HUM) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Frontier Oil (FTO) to equal weight from underweight and Resources Connection (RECN) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

The past week's data-point-of-consequence for investors had to be investment decisions by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A).

Buffett ended positions in several stocks in the fourth quarter, including the Bank of America (BAC), Nike (NKE), Fiserv (FISV), Becton Dickinson (BDX), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Lowe's Co.s (LOW), Nalco (NLC) and Nestle (NSRGY), according to a filing, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Berkshire added to a holding of only one stock in the fourth quarter: Wells Fargo (WFC).

Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) reported earnings for the fourth quarter on Wednesday. Today, the company's shares hit a new 52-week high of $25.39 during the intraday session (there's still more than two hours left until the closing bell rings, so that high point could eventually change).

The 52-week low for the cable business is $15.55. The one-year chart tracks the positive momentum of the equity. Will the stock break out to new heights from this juncture?

CBS Corporation (CBS) issued its fourth-quarter report after the bell today. The results should make shareholders happy. Adjusted net income rose an incredible 77% to 46 cents per share, according to the press release. That number went beyond the estimate by two pennies as indicated by TheFly.

Considering how the stock has fared over the past twelve months, one would have expected a good earnings report. The 52-week low for the shares is $12.26 while the 52-week high is $22.25. The chart communicates a company backed by some solid momentum.

The shares of cable and communications giant Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), which I first wrote about on April 22, 2009, at a price of $14.05, have put in a decent rally this winter, rising to about $24. Now may be a good time to consider taking some profits if you're in near $14.

However, those investors who can tolerate the risk can maintain their full position with CMCSA and go for an even bigger gain, but keep in mind the journey to $30 probably will not be completed in 2011.

Based on what I was reading going into the weekend, I thought the multiplex was going to be an unexciting place. I was therefore rather surprised to see what I thought were relatively impressive numbers attached to the top films.

According to early estimates for domestic grosses at Box Office Mojo, Sony's (SNE) Just Go With It, starring Adam Sandler, is so far credited with a first-place showing; the movie is believed to have made about $31 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period. But Viacom's (VIA.B) Justin Bieber: Never Say Never product isn't giving up without a fight. At the time of writing, it was in second place with $30.3 million. Essentially, it's a tie.

We're well into the quarter now and the earnings reports continue to roll out.

This week, Dell (DELL) highlights a handful of results from tech companies. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for fourth-quarter earnings of 37 cents per share from the one of the world's top PC purveyors. That's up from 28 cents per share during the same period a year ago. Dell also is expected to report its revenue grew 5.5% year over year to $15.7 billion, for the three months that ended in January.

Peter Lynch always said you should be able to explain your reasons for investing in a company to a 5th grader. With that in mind, here's why you should buy Comcast Corporation (CMCSA): people love to watch TV.

Comcast seems to be making all of the right moves to get as much content as possible in front of as many eyes as possible. Recognizing that more and more people are consuming media on devices other than their televisions, Comcast has ramped up its efforts to distribute its content online -- through its new Xfinity platform -- and on mobile devices, like the iPad.

NBC Universal has been a disappointment for General Electric (GE). Will the company, after the transaction involving it, GE and Comcast (CMCSA) goes through (assuming it does), see an improvement in its future prospects? I sure hope so, but I have to say, if the new leaders simply engage the same old strategies as before, then I don't have a lot of confidence.

It's been reported that Jeff Zucker will be leaving. On the surface, one might, on an instinctual level, feel positive about the exit of the studio's CEO. As we all know, change can be good; reboots can oftentimes act as catalysts that transform an operation into a stronger entity.

Comcast (CMCSA) and Visa (V) reported earnings on Wednesday. Following is my brief take on each of them.

Comcast is a big name in cable, and it's waiting to close on a deal with General Electric (GE) involving the latter company's NBC Universal. It will be interesting to see if Comcast's management team can properly synergize with the studio.

Here's a very interesting item from Theflyonthewall concerning DreamWorks Animation (DWA). It appears that the cartoon concern possibly isn't so fond of being a standalone entity any longer. Instead, it might want to be purchased by another media player. Comcast (CMCSA) was mentioned as a potential suitor.

There's some confusion, however, over this topic; it's not clear whether Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, approached Comcast or Comcast approached Katzenberg.