Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's better than expected Q3 results and improved volume outlook. Deutsche raised its target on shares to $100 from $72.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $11 from $7 and said they expect Motorola to benefit from several upcoming catalysts that include new Android-based smartphone products and they believe the handset division could break even by year end of 2010.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC) and Cinemark (NYSE: CNK) to Buy from Neutral on expectations both companies will benefit from a strong box office in Q4. The firm has a $14 price target on Regal shares and a $13.50 target on Cinemark shares.
• Marshall & llsley (NYSE: MI) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
• F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
• William Blair upgraded Lindsay Corporation (NYSE: LNN) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst Upgrades

• McAdams Wright expects Dendreon's (NASDAQ: DNDN) near-term momentum to continue but has long-term concerns that Street estimates are too high. The firm upgraded shares to Hold from Sell.
• JPMorgan upgraded Ameristar Casinos (NASDAQ: ASCA) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect valuation, potential catalysts from Colorado's easing gaming regulations, and the company's strong free cash flow. The firm raised its target on shares to $24 from $20.
• Citigroup upgraded Valspar (NYSE: VAL) to Hold from Sell after channel checks indicated paint demand is shifting to big-box retailers, the company's primary sales channel. The firm raised its target on shares to $22 from $19.
• Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
• Spectra Energy (NYSE: SEP) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.

Analyst upgrades:

• Oppenheimer upgraded FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN) to Outperform from Perform on expectations the stock will outperform in the second half of 2009 due to easier comparisons and a "deeper and longer" restructuring cycle. The firm has a $62 target on shares.
• Citigroup upgraded Cigna (NYSE:CI) to Hold from Sell to reflect reduced balance sheet risk following the company's capital raise and the potential for a PBM sale. The firm raised its target price to $23 from $13.
• Goldman expects Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE:CCE) to benefit from favorable soda demand and lower commodity costs. The firm upgraded shares to Conviction Buy from Buy and has a $20 target on the stock.
• Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America/Merrill.
• CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) was upgraded at JP Morgan to Neutral from Underweight.
• Allegiant (NASDAQ:ALGT) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
  

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) to Buy from Hold on expectations expanding OEM partnerships, new products and entry into new markets will drive long-term growth. The firm's channel checks indicate the first phase of an IBM (NYSE: IBM) deal for ethernet products will be announced next week. Jefferies raised its target price on the stock to $6 from $3.50.
  
• JMP Securities upgraded Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) to Market Perform from Underperform citing the potential settlement with Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). The firm said Broadcom has far more to gain than Qualcomm has to lose.
  
• Citigroup upgraded Air Products (NYSE: APD) and Praxair (NYSE: PX) to Buy from Hold on expectations that an improvement in customer operating rates will benefit gas companies. The firm raised its target price on Air Products to $70 from $55 and on Praxair to $79 from $63.
  
• Royal Bank of Scotland upgraded BP Plc (NYSE: BP) to Buy from Hold to reflect its dividend yield at current levels.
• Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was raised to Outperform from Underperform at RBC Capital.
  
• T. Rowe Price (NYSE: TROW) was upgraded at Sandler O'Neill to Hold from Sell.
  
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was lifted to Neutral from Underperform at Banc of America/Merrill.

Analyst upgrades:

• RBC Capital believes software stock fundamentals have bottomed and that the next several quarters should see reduced earnings risk, easier comps, stimulus spending benefits, and lower FX headwinds. The firm upgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Taleo (NASDAQ: TLEO), Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) to Outperform from Sector Perform.
  
• Rodman & Renshaw upgraded Provectus (OTC: PVCT) to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm has increased conviction in the success of the company's ongoing trial of PV-10 in melanoma.
  
• Citigroup upgraded shares of American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Hold from Sell as it believes the risk/reward is balanced at current levels and that there are signs of potential credit market stabilization. The firm raised its price target on shares to $16 from $9.
• Brinker (NYSE: EAT) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
  
• PG&E (NYSE: PCG) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  
• Federal-Mogul (NASDAQ: FDML) was lifted to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Coca-Cola, Novo Nordisk and Equinix were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Bear Stearns upgraded The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) to Outperform from Peer Perform, as they expect it to post solid earnings short-term with potential upside, and over the long-term due to its upgraded business model.
• Bernstein raised its rating on Novo Nordisk AS (NYSE: NVO) to Outperform from Market Perform, as they believe consensus estimates do not reflect the company's growth potential.
• Merriman upgraded shares of Equinix Inc (NASDAQ: EQIX) to Buy from Neutral on valuation following the recent sell-off. The firm expects strong Q4 results.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• BG Group Plc (OTC: BRGYY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• PetSmart Inc (NASDAQ: PETM) was raised to Buy from Neutral by Goldman Sachs.
  
• Bear upgraded Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ: URBN) to Peer Perform from Underperform.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Linc Energy, Equinix and Smith & Wesson were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Merriman initiated Linc Energy (OTC: LNCGY) with a Buy rating and believes the company is well-positioned to become a large producer of ultra-clean, high quality diesel fuel, at extremely high margins.
  
• Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) was assumed with a Buy rating and $120 target at Deutsche Bank. The firm thinks the company continues to benefit from favorable industry dynamics as customer demand continues to outstrip supply of new co-location space industry-wide.
  
• Susquehanna is positive on Smith & Wesson's (NASDAQ: SWHC) leading market position in the handgun market and top line growth. The firm started shares with a Positive rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• ComScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) was reinstated with an Outperform rating at Credit Suisse.
• UBS initiated Willbros Group (NYSE: WG) with a Buy rating and $4 target.
  
• Lazard started BladeLogic (NASDAQ: BLOG) with a Hold rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: GlaxoSmithKline, Equinix and Convergys were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Societe Generale believes consensus estimates are underestimating the quality of GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE: GSK) base business. The firm started shares with a Buy rating.
  
• Merriman believes Equinix's (NASDAQ: EQIX) data center footprint leaves it highly exposed to changing market dynamics, including virtualization, and initiated shares with a Neutral rating. They see limited upside over the next 12 months.
  
• Convergys (NYSE: CVG) was reinstated with a Hold rating and $19 target at Kaufman Bros, as they are not confident in the company's 2008 new signings outlook and is concerned that the current restructuring and headcount cuts will prove disruptive over the medium term.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) was initiated with a Buy rating and $360 target at UBS.
  
• Wachovia resumed coverage of News Corp (NYSE: NWS) with a Market Perform rating.
  
• Baird initiated Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) with a Neutral rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: AeroVironment, American Oriental and Intel were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Suntrust initiated AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) with a Buy rating and $32 target and expects AVAV's market leadership in unmanned aerial systems and increased effort in the high altitude to drive strong organic growth.
• Jefferies believes American Oriental (NYSE: AOB) is capable of making sizable acquisitions given its strong cash position and finds the valuation attractive at current levels. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $20 target.
• Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $30 target at Baird on valuation.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Wachovia.
• Goldman started Quest Diagnostics (NASDAQ: DGX) with a Sell rating and $55 target, LabCorp (NASDAQ: LH) with a Neutral rating and $77 target and Pinnacle Entertainment (NASDAQ: PNK) with a Buy rating and $35 target.

While gold and commodities around the world enjoy one heck of a bull market, the performance of technology stocks is steadily improving.

Last night, Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) once again reported solid results, although margin improvement was a little light and the software giant got a big boost from positive currency movement. Oracle's solid results follow a boost in outlook from Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC). Also, with EMC Corporation's (NYSE: EMC) offering of VMware Inc (NYSE: VMW) being a huge success, equity offerings for the tech sector are also picking up, with Equinix Inc (NASDAQ: EQIX), the data-center company, completing a secondary this week. Improved IPO and secondary markets for tech stocks have usually meant good things for tech in general.

Also, just the general tone in technology is pickup up as both Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) are remaining very active in the acquisition market as the two search-engine giants scoop more web-centric applications and Web 2.0 products.

While CNBC and Bloomberg focus on the booming commodities market, do not forget technology is beginning a very nice bull market.

Wall Street's equity market marches into Fall with a full schedule this week, with three IPOs and eight Secondaries on the docket.

Those deals tentatively scheduled to price include:

IPOs:

Seanergy Maritime (SRG), a 20M-share IPO for this blank check financing company. Maxim is the lead manager. Filing price: $10.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Ford Motor Co, Advanced Micro Devices, Brocade, Netflix and Equinix were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Bear Stearns believes Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) could also benefit from similar deal to General Motors Corporation's (NYSE: GM) potential VEBA healthcare restructuring with the UAW. The firm upgraded Ford shares to Outperform from Peer Perform.
  
• Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan. The firm expects AMD's Barcelona server chip will help close the gap vs. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC).
  
• Citigroup upgraded shares of Brocade Communications Systems (NASDAQ: BRCD) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to their Global Tech Conviction List on expectations for market share gains and margin upside in 2008.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded shares of Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Overweight from Market Weight, citing reduced pressure from competitor Blockbuster Inc (NYSE: BBI), which could lead to upside in subscribers.
  
• Needham upgraded shares of Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) to Buy from Hold to reflect improving fundamentals and potential upside from the IXEurope acquisition.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• UBS upgraded shares of Sun Healthcare Group (NASDAQ: SUNH) and CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Susquehanna raised Tween Brands Inc (NYSE: TWB) to Positive from Neutral.
  
• FTN Midwest upgraded Hudson City Bancorp (NASDAQ: HCBK) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Bebe Stores (NASDAQ: BEBE) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Polo Ralph Lauren (RL), Alcan (AL), Alcoa (AA) and Conn's, Inc (CONN) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Piper Jaffray. The firm feels the risk/reward is balanced at current levels given the near-term risks from increased investment and exposure to inconsistent U.S. wholesale markets.

• Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of Alcan (NYSE: AL) and Alcoa (NYSE: AA) with Neutral ratings and a $101 target and $48 target, respectively.

• Morgan Joseph is positive on Conn's Inc's (NASDAQ: CONN) strong track record of growth, new store growth and easy comps, and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $34 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Merriman initiated shares of Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) with a Buy rating.

• Stifel initiated shares of Pharmerica (NASDAQ: PMC) with a Hold rating on valuation.

• Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) and SAVVIS, Inc (NASDAQ: SVVS) were initiated at CIBC World Markets with Sector Performer ratings.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Savvis Inc (NASDAQ: SVVS) announced transaction with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) yesterday is another clear sign that the datacenter business is here to stay.

Savvis announced that Microsoft would assume leases for 300,000 square feet of datacenter space in Santa Clara that Savvis controls, the heartland of Silicon Valley. In return, Savvis receives $200 million. Microsoft gets greater control of more datacenter space and Savvis gets rid of below-market-rate leases that were signed when the industry was in the dump.

We began blogging that investors should jump into Savvis in April 2006 when the stock was selling for $26. Today, the stock is at $50, just shy of 100% profit. The datacenter industry was a boom-bust posterchild sector for Internet 1.0. Many of these companies went into or flirted with bankruptcy.

However, while the two largest stand-alone datacenter companies, Savvis along with Equinix Inc (NASDAQ: EQIX), have done considerably well since we started blogging about their merits as investments over one year ago, these stocks are still underfollowed and underknown. The fundamentals of this industry continue to improve and the barriers to entry continue to expand.

Stay with both Savvis and Equinix, and if you do not own them, I'd suggest buying them and putting them away. These are difficult assets to build and maintain and companies such as Microsoft, Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Level 3 Communications Inc (NASDAQ: LVLT) want to own more of them.

As this earnings period begins to wind down, with most of the juggernauts already having reported, we begin to see reports from some smaller, lesser known companies, along with reports from former high-fliers like Gateway Inc (NYSE: GTW) and Overstock.com Inc (NASDAQ: OSTK).

Monday February 5

• Overstock.com to report Q4 earnings, conference call at 11am.
• PDUFA date for Watson Pharmaceutical Inc's (NYSE: WPI) Actoplus XR for non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

Tuesday February 6

• Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) to hold Analyst Day at 12pm. Credit Suisse First Boston believes Nike will announce the rollout of a specialty retail store concept at the meeting.

Wednesday February 7

• Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 5:30pm. Kaufman Brothers notes that the company's last overhang was removed in the middle of January and it sees a $93 price target on the stock.
• PDUFA Date for Roche Holding's (OTC: RHHBY) Cera for chronic renal disease.

Thursday February 8

• Monthly sales reports reports due from Abercrombie & Fitch Co (NYSE: ANF), Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD), Nordstrom, Inc (NYSE: JWN) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT).
• Gateway to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 5:30pm.

Friday February 9

• Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) to hold Investor Meeting at 9am with presentations from its CEO and CFO.