Analyst upgrades:

• Verizon (NYSE: VZ) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo, which believes Verizon wireline margins troughed in Q3 and that Street estimates have been reset to more achievable levels.
• Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at FBR Capital, which believes the company is gaining analog market share and shares are attractively valued at current levels. The firm maintains a $31 price target.
• Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) was upgraded at Wells Fargo to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm believes this year's run-up in the stock was primarily due to the company's spin-off of MSG, but the firm believes the stock can rise further based on fundamentals.
• Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan following the company's Q3 results due to valuation and its above-average growth. The firm raised its target to $51.50 from $47.
• RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) was upgraded to Hold from Underweight at KeyBanc, which said that its recovering sales trends were encouraging.
• Travelzoo (NASDAQ: TZOO) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush as it believes the divestiture of its Asian business coupled with growth in its Fly.com unit will drive 2010 growth. The firm raised its target to $17 from $13.

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) lower Q4 earnings met analysts' expectations but the Q1 outlook was weak.
• Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: CALM) posted a Q1 net loss and said it will skip its dividend this quarter.
• Cephalon Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH) earnings prospects for 2010 resulted in an analyst's downgrade.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) Q1 earnings beat by a penny but revenue fell short of estimates.
• Gannett Inc. (NYSE: GCI) shares rose after it forecast Q3 earnings above Wall Street estimates.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI - option chain) stock traded lower Wednesday after the company, which includes Red Lobster and the Olive Garden, reported Q1 earnings Tuesday of $94.3 million. That is equal to 67 cents per share, which beat analysts' forecasts by a penny. However, Darden's net sales came in at $1.73 billion, missing analysts' forecasts of $1.78 billion by almost 3%. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on DRI.

DRI opened at $33.53 Wednesday. In morning trading the stock hit a high of $33.58 and a low of $32.51. As of 11:15, DRI was trading at $32.86, down $3.32 (-9.2%). The chart for DRI looks bearish and S&P gives DRI a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

From TheStreet.com Network

• Jobs, Unemployment Take Center Stage: Coming Week
• Decidedly Bearish: A Peek at the Week

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says a good shakeout on Monday would prepare us for a "fulcrum day" on Tuesday.

Could have been worse. With Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) (Cramer's Take) never lifting -- which was, by the way, wrong after a certain point -- and oil not rallying, you had no place to go. Last week we lost tech, banks, and oil. You can't even go up with just two of them, so to lose all three was dreadful.

I said last week that the calendar just didn't favor the bulls. The propensity to want to lock in gains ahead of the last weekend in September -- the one that is ended by the Yom Kippur holiday, which will always have thin trading -- is just too great.

Plus, don't forget that every month that is supposed to be bad gets tons of play for being bad: October! Ooooooo, scary! You know that's going to happen again.

Autumn has arrived and the quarter winds down this week. The Dow has been inching toward 10,000 for a while now, though it closed lower in the past three sessions. Can it make it to 10,000 for the start of the third quarter? If so, what will push it higher? If not, what will drag it down further?

• Monday is Yom Kippur, the most solemn of the Jewish holidays; trading likely will be lighter than usual. In the evening, the FDIC meets to discuss how to rebuild the Bank Deposit Insurance Fund.
• Tuesday, the Consumer Confidence Index for September is due and the SEC holds a public meeting to consider more short sale actions.

• Citigroup upgraded Sunoco Logistics (NYSE: SXL) to Buy from Hold on valuation and raised its target on shares to $60 from $56.50. The firm sees better value in Sunoco Logistics than Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP), which it downgraded to Hold.
  
• BofA/Merrill believes Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) offers the most potential upside in the larget cap defense sector. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral and has a $62 target on the stock.
  
• Roth Capital upgraded Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to Buy from Hold based on seasonality, multiple product cycles, and valuation. Roth's target remains $15.
• Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale.
  
• EnerNOC (NASDAQ: ENOC) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at RW Baird.
  
• American Express (NYSE: AXP) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
  

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) beat earnings expectations but revenue was hurt by currency effects.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) strong Q1 results beat estimates but same-store sales fell.
• CKE Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: CKR) lower Q1 earnings and strong sales both topped expectations.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) higher Q4 earnings were in line with expectations, and shares slipped.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) Q4 results were higher, but it warned of continuing challenges.
• Hennes & Mauritz (OTC: HMRZF) reported strong Q2 numbers, though same-stores sales slipped.

This week brings a small flurry of end-of-the-calendar-quarter earnings reports. And for the most part, the expectations of the analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters aren't very high. Companies expected to report declining earnings in the most recently concluded quarter include America's Car-Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: CRMT), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL), Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. (NYSE: JTX), Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), and Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC).

Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) is a large player in the casual dining space. Names in its stable include Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn Steakhouse.

With that diversification of offerings, DRI held up better than some in the restaurant space. As such, the recovery from the bottom has meant doubles instead of the triples or more.

DRI currently trades at around $34 per share -- which is cheap in my book. I would be a buyer of growth despite the gains in the near term. I rate DRI an A or Strong Buy.

Up next: Restaurant stock #3: Landry's Restaurants (LNY).

The current recession has touched all sectors. The rules of the game have been changed, and nobody is safe. The paradigm is shifting.

One of the consequences of the current state is a new-found appreciation for savings in the U.S. A consumer who does not spend is bad news for the retail sector, and it is bad news for an economy dependent on consumer spending.

The one glimmer of hope comes from the restaurant space. When it became clear that this recession would be long and deep, consumers clamped wallets shut. Dining out in this environment was an easy luxury to cut.

From TheStreet.com Network

• Does Mark-to-Market Matter That Much?
• Leadership Matters: 'Less Worse' Ain't Bad

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says if you don't want to wait for a pullback, look abroad for the next leg or find values at home.

What do you do when everyone knows we have come up too far, too fast; no one knows who is actually buying; and we are going into earnings season?

What do you do when the animal spirits are taking up the market and yet other than a handful companies -- Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) (Cramer's Take), Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) (Cramer's Take), Corning (NYSE: GLW) (Cramer's Take), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) (Cramer's Take) and Taiwan Semi (NYSE: TSM) (Cramer's Take) -- almost all companies that have spoken during the "off-season" earnings reports have been dismal?

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

• Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) reported better-than-expected Q1 results due to cost cutting.
• Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) received several upgrades ahead of its Q4 report on the demise of Circuit City.
• Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) crushed analyst's expectations for Q4 as same-store sales rose.
• China Direct Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: CDII) Q4 earnings prospects resulted in an analyst's dowgrade.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) posted better-than-expected Q3 earnings and lifted its 2009 guidance.
• Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) was downgraded after it lowered its guidance.
• FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) fell short of Q3 earnings and revenue expectations due to economic conditions.