Don't look now, but shares of Cirrus Logic, Inc. (CRUS) have rocketed 46% already in 2011. This stock's valuation suggests that the next 52-weeks may be a lot like the last 52 weeks for Cirrus Logic, when the shares jumped an unbelievable 238%.

Revenue growth at the semiconductor company, which is a supplier to Apple, Inc. (AAPL), has been stellar. In the company's latest quarter, CRUS reported that revenue was up 47% year over year.

A slight negative reading from Chicago business activity was at least better than the prior reading. An Ireland bailout came with very mixed fanfare as the help is there, but it weighed heavily on the banks. A large and wide insider trading crackdown is also sweeping across Wall Street and Main Street alike. Still, today felt like a success now because tech gains made for a mixed market at the close.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 11,178.58 -24.97 (-0.22%)
S&P 500 1,197.84 -1.89 (-0.16%)
Nasdaq 2,532.02 +13.90 (0.55%)

Top 15 Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

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.

Analyst Upgrades

• Canaccord believes growth in DigitalGlobe's (DGI) commercial business will be a catalyst for shares. The firm upgraded shares to buy from hold and has a $38 price target on the stock.
• Standpoint upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to accumulate from hold based on valuation. The firm has a $47 target on the stock.
• Morgan Keegan upgraded Open Text (OTEX) to outperform from market perform based on the company's strong FY2011 EPS outlook.
• Devon Energy (DVN) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Magna (MGA) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• EnCana (ECA) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.

Looking to make money in this market environment? Good luck! Hardly anyone has been making money over the last few months as the equity markets have been thrashing around violently. There are some company specific stories, however, that have been working quite well. For traders that don't mind embracing a healthy dose of risk, Cirrus Logic (CRUS) looks quite interesting as a momentum play.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (APC) to overweight from neutral on valuation as it views the recent pullback in shares as excessive. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $82 from $90.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Office Depot (ODP) to perform from underperform and upped its target for shares to $7 from $3 after raising its estimates for companies in the Office Products Retail space. The firm expects trends to accelerate for the sector due to moderating unemployment pressures. In conjunction with the upgrade, Opco raised its target for OfficeMax (OMX) to $26 from $21 and target for Staples (SPLS) to $30 from $28. Both stocks remain outperform rated.
• C.K. Cooper upgraded iRobot (IRBT) to buy from hold with a $30 price target following the company's analyst day.
• Seadrill (SDRL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vodafone (VOD) was upgraded to neutral from reduce at Nomura.

"It was interesting to watch the pundits react to the iPad recently; even though none of them had used or even really understood the product, it seemed as though no one liked it following its first introduction," notes tech expert Paul McWilliams in his just-released review of the new tech device from Apple (AAPL).

In his Next Inning newsletter, he explains, "Of course, this was similar to how the pundits first reacted to the iPod when it was released. As the pundits trashed the iPad following its release, I reminded readers about the iPod story and predicted we would see the pundits about face and the stock price run up ahead of the product release."

"We expect that 2010 will be better for technology stocks; even after a strong year in 2009, they still have a long way to go to compensate for the carnage of 2008," says Jim Oberweis, Jr.

The editor of The Oberweis Report explains, "In particular, bet on companies building the latest generation semiconductors or facilitating greater network bandwidth. In particular, we like new pick Cirrus Logic (CRUS).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: GFI Group, Wells Fargo and Cirrus Logic were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Goldman downgraded GFI Group Inc (NASDAQ: GFIG) to Neutral from Buy following the company's announcement that credit chief, Donal Fewer, left the company to go to a rival firm and that about two dozen brokers may defect to follow him.
• Oppenheimer cut Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) to Underperform from Perform as they believe the company is under-reserved by at least $4.5B and that there is significant room for multiple contraction.
• Cirrus Logic Inc (NASDAQ: CRUS) was downgraded at Jefferies to Hold from Buy on valuation, as they believe the risk/reward is no longer favorable at current levels.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Baird cut Ryder System Inc (NYSE: R) to Neutral from Outperform.
• Caterpillar Incorporated (NYSE: CAT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia and to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
• Goldman removed Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) from its Conviction Buy List.

Bank of America upgraded Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) to "buy" from "neutral" according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Citigroup downgraded PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) from "hold" to "sell."

Bank of America upgraded Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) to "buy" from "neutral," according to MarketWatch.

ADC Telecom (NASDAQ: ADCT) was raised to "buy" at Deutsche Bank, according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports that Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ: CRUS) was cut to "perform" from "outperform" at Oppenheimer.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Lehman, Cirrus Logic and Heinz were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they see an "extremely attractive entry point" at current levels. They believe the company's profitable quarter in a tough environment, the Fed's actions to provide liquidity and management's track record all provide downside protection.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded shares of Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ: CRUS) to Overweight from Market Weight as they believe Wolfson Microelectronics' contract bid loss with a major tier-1 customer signals potential share gain for CRUS in the portable media player segment. They raised their target to $8.00 from $5.50 on the news.
  
• Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein as they expect the company to post solid growth going forward.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• UBS raised DaVita (NYSE: DVA) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Goldman added Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) to its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Merrill upgraded US Steel (NYSE: X) to Buy from Neutral.