Analyst Upgrades

• Intel (INTC) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight and Autodesk (ADSK) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Citigroup upgraded Blackrock (BLK) to buy from hold.
• 99c Only Stores (NDN) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• PetSmart (PETM) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Ruth's Hospitality (RUTH) and Morton's Restaurant (MRT) to overweight from neutral.
• BioMed Realty (BMR) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Piedmont (PDM) to market perform from underperform.

One of the most prominent quarterly reports scheduled this week, as the quarter winds down, comes from Walgreen (WAG). Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for the drugstore chain operator to report Tuesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings were about the same as a year ago, or 45 cents per share. Note, though, that Walgreen fell short of earnings expectations in the previous two quarters.

During the three months that ended in August, Deerefield, Ill.-based Walgreen launched a social responsibility website and boosted its dividend. Revenue for that period is expected to total $16.8 billion, which is a 7.3% increase from the same period of last year. And for the full year, analysts forecast EPS of $2.12 (+4.7%) on revenue of $67.4 billion (+6.4%).

Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL), a provider of solutions to the electronics industry, as well as a business that counts Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX) as a colleague, has been in an uptrend. If you check out a year-to-date chart for the company's stock, you'll understand what I mean. And frankly, I admit that I've been too bearish on this situation. When I pontificated on Jabil's Q3 results, I didn't think the company was a strong idea. Well, it's gone up since then.

So, what should we make of the Q4 results, which were reported Tuesday after the bell? Again, we see big declines. Net sales dropped 15%, and earnings per diluted share on an adjusted basis plunged to 16 cents from the 30 cents seen in the year-ago period.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says those going overboard on the negative are finding their theories don't work.

It's time to talk about what did and what didn't happen when people came back from summer vacation.

First, what didn't happen. We didn't get a lot of selling by firms that were up a lot. We didn't get a September lock-in of gains -- too many funds behind the market, I imagine, too many funds where it would be too costly to get out. They didn't go away in September like they were supposed to.

Second, we didn't get the preannouncements that should have happened if the economy was already starting to wind down and nobody was buying anything. Housing didn't slow down after a California tax credit went away.

Electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL), a colleague of Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX), reported earnings for the second quarter on Tuesday after the market closed for the day.

The results didn't get me too excited, but the market did buy the stock in the after-hours session, sending the shares higher by well over 4%. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

On an adjusted basis, Jabil earned 13 cents per diluted share. That beat estimates by a penny. However, the bottom line dropped by 35%. Furthermore, the top line had shed over 5% during the quarter.

"If you are looking for maximum rebound potential, you have to go lower down on the quality spectrum; it is typically the lower quality and lower priced stocks that will have the largest gains when the market rebounds," says turnaround expert George Putnam.

In his industry-leading service focused on distressed companies, The Turnround Letter, he looks at a package of 10 stocks recently trading below $5 per share while also offering "bundles of cash."

Here's his review:

Wall Street's optimism in last week's preview about the earnings of tech stocks wasn't misplaced, as there were many more positive surprises than negative ones among the stocks we looked at. This week will bring plenty more data for investors in and watchers of the sector to mull over. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), for example, are expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial to post modest earnings gains from a year ago, to $1.11 per share (on $8.1 billion in sales), $0.72 per share (on $31.3 billion in sales), and $0.47 per share (on $14.8 billion in sales) respectively. All three of these companies ended the week closer to their 52-week lows than highs, and analysts on average consider them each a buy.

Here's a look at some of the week's biggest expected earnings gainers and decliners in the sector:

• Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU): $1.25 per share (+44.0%) on revenues of $134.7 million (+103.2%)
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM): $0.44 per share (+38.6%) on revenues of $1.3 billion (+33.8%)
• QLogic Corp. (NASDAQ: QLGC): $0.31 per share (+29.0%) on revenues of $170.0 million (+21.2%)
• FLIR Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR): $0.32 per share (+28.1%) on revenues of $275.2 million (+44.0%)
• Juniper Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR): $0.30 per share (+26.7%) on revenues of $927.4 million (+26.2%)
• Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT): $0.75 per share (+17.3%) on revenues of $391.6 million (+11.1%)
• Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX): $0.29 per share (+17.2%) on revenues of $8.7 billion (+57.3%)
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC): $0.19 per share (+10.5%) on revenues of $3.7 billion (+12.9%)

Cowen & Co kept its "outperform" on Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX) after the company offered an upbeat forecast according to the AP.

Merrill Lynch downgraded Blackstone (NYSE: BX) from "buy" to "neutral," according to Briefing.com. According to the news service Wachovia downgraded CBS (NYSE: CBS) from "outperform" to "market perform."

BP plc (NYSE: BP) was raised to "outperform" at Credit Suisse according to a report from 24/7 Wall St.

Douglas A. McIntyre

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

Rochester, New York-based Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) was founded in 1892, and is well known for its wide range of photographic film products; it remains to this day the largest supplier of photographic films in the world. The company played a vital role in the invention and development of the motion picture industry, setting the standard of 35 mm film.

But times change. In 1999, Kodak entered into the consumer inkjet photo printers market in a joint venture with manufacturer Lexmark (NYSE: LXK). In 2004, Kodak announced it would stop producing traditional film cameras, beginning a multiyear struggle to refocus on digital photography and printing. Some of the results of that effort include the Kodak Smart Picture Frame, into which digital files are downloadable via a network connection. The Kodak Gallery is a website where users can upload photos into albums, print them out, and create mouse pads, calendars, and the like. And in 2006 Kodak announced that Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX) would manufacture and help design its digital cameras. Kodak also has long-term plans to sell ink jet printers and flat-panel displays.

The earnings crunch rolls on, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Activision Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) earnings soared on popularity of Guitar Hero and other game franchises.
• Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) beat earnings expectations and offered revised guidance.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) beat estimates despite lower profits due to restructuring costs.
• Chattem Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTT) beat estimates and raised its guidance.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) met estimates but a weak forecast raised concerns.
• Dionex Corp. (NASDAQ: DNEX) beat estimates on strength in petrochemical and food/beverage markets.
• Electronic Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: EDS) earnings fell, helping to raise concerns about tech stocks.
• Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) beat estimates and affirmed its outlook.
• Gannett Inc. (NYSE: GCI) missed fourth-quarter earnings estimates on lower ad revenue.
• Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) missed expectations due to rising construction costs.
• MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) forecast it would beat earnings expectations by as much as 10 cents a share.
• Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) beat revenue estimates and raised its guidance.
• RealNetworks Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK) warned it would miss first-quarter and full-year expectations.
• Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) posted disappointing results that included cancelled game franchises.
• Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) met estimates and announced restructuring plans (see transcript).
• Unilever (NYSE: UL) fourth-quarter net income tanked on a sell-off of its European frozen food business.
• Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) posted better-than-expected results on gains in TV and theme parks.

Flextronics International (NASDAQ: FLEX) provides design, engineering, manufacturing, distribution and warehousing services to original equipment manufacturers in the automotive, computing, consumer digital, industrial, infrastructure, medical instrumentation and telecommunications industries. Products include printed circuit boards, electromechanical components, electronic subsystems, and complete systems. The company operates from facilities in 35 countries. Customers include Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

The firm pleased investors last week, when it reported fiscal Q3 EPS of 30 cents and revenues of $9.1 billion. Analysts had been expecting 26 cents and $8.6 billion. Management also guided Q4 EPS to 22-24 cents (23 cent consensus) and Q4 revenues to $7.5-$7.9 billion ($7.77B consensus).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Celgene (CELG), Flextronics (FLEX), TradeStation (TRAD) and Assisted Living Concepts (ALC) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Jefferies is positive on Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) over the longer term given the company's robust earnings growth potential and strong cash flow prospects, and started shares with a Buy.

• Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX) was assumed with a Buy rating at Banc of America, who called the proposed acquisition of Solectron (SLR) a positive.

• Friedman Billings believes TradeStation's (NASDAQ: TRAD) unique platform differentiates it from the competition and gives it a sustained advantage, starting shares with an Outperform.

• Ferris Baker Watts initiated Assisted Living (NYSE: ALC) with a Buy rating, calling shares attractive...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Banc of America assumed Benchmark Electronics (NYSE: BHE) and Flextronics with Buy ratings as well as Celestica (CLS, target $6), Plexus (NASDAQ: PLXS), Solectron, Sanmina-SCI Corp (NASDAQ: SANM) with Neutral ratings.

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

Jabil Circuit Inc (NYSE: JBL) has been down in the dumps lately, down 17% over the last year, while competitor Flextronics International (NASDAQ: FLEX) has profited, up over 7%. But that may be about to change for Jabil -- after 3 consecutive bad quarters, it has given investors reason for optimism, posting better-than expected third quarter earnings results.

Wall Street certainly noticed, as Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets and BMO Capital all upgraded Jabil to Outperform this morning.

Still, technically speaking, the primary overhead resistance for Jabil to break out of this long-term downtrend is at $25.65, which is still a ways from the stock's current price of $23.42 -- which includes this morning's 10% move to the upside. So far so good for Jabil, but a long-term change in investor sentiment and momentum will only be seen if it breaks above the resistance. Keep and eye out and see if it keeps heading up.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE: AAP), Solectron Corporation (NYSE: SLR), Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE: RCL) and were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Advance Auto Parts to Neutral from Underweight citing increased confidence in the company's turnaround efforts.
• Solectron was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse to reflect the company's acquisition by Flextronics International (NASDAQ: FLEX).
• Carnival was upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform and Royal Caribbean was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• BHP Billiton Ltd (NYSE: BHP) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup on valuation and their expectations for higher commodity prices.
• Matrix USA upgraded shares of Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) to Hold from Strong Sell, as the firm believes growing demand for new products is driving positive fundamental trends.
• Lehman upgraded Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) to Overweight from Equal Weight, citing the potential for an accretive acquisition of buyback.

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

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that the Bancroft family, which controls 64% of Dow Jones & Company Inc's (NYSE: DJ) voting power, said that it would meet with News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) to discuss its $5B bid for the company, but would also consider other bidders and options.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is attacking their sluggish performance by focusing on their bottler network in 200 countries, a move executives believe is important to the company's long-term health.
• Cadbury Schweppes ADS (NYSE: CSG) may soon announce a cost-cutting exercise worth nearly GBP300M that could feature closure of factories and job cuts, the Financial Times reported.
• Barron's Online's "Inside Scoop" column reported that Michael E. Marks, the chairman of Flextronics International Ltd (NASDAQ: FLEX), a director at SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) and a new director of Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW), has made a $1M investment in Sun, the largest by an insider since August 2004.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT), which has been on an "expansion craze" for decades, has decided to make a gradual slowdown in U.S. store expansion, and may embark on an initiative to return to more basic apparel offerings and an emphasis on low prices, the New York Post reported.