Thursday afternoon, Novell (NOVL) reported a fiscal second-quarter profit of 6 cents per share ($19.9 million) -- up from five cents per share ($15.6 million) a year earlier. Adjusted earnings checked in at seven cents per share, matching the consensus estimate. Quarterly revenue of $204 million also matched the Street's expectations. The firm's CFO Dana Russell noted that fiscal second-quarter revenues were in line with expectations and that profits were at the high end of the forecast range.

In a world where one line of data can mean the difference between success or ruin for individuals, companies, or even entire countries, the validity and security of sensitive data has increasingly become of paramount concern. A raft of cyber-security companies are answering these important issues with solutions for everything from email privacy to network breach protection. One such company, and a stand out in its field, is Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC).

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Cemex (NYSE: CX) to Buy from Hold on decreased dilution risk following the company's successful refinancing and raised its target on shares to $15 from $11.20.
• Rochdale upgraded Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $65. The firm is positive on Wal-Mart's defensive characteristics, cyclical upside, and competitive position.
• JPMorgan upgraded Gartner Group (NYSE: IT) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect stabilization in IT industry spending and the stock's attractive valuation. The firm has a $23 price target on the stock.
• Cavium Networks (NASDAQ: CAVM) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Borg-Warner (NYSE: BWA) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Nanometrics (NASDAQ: NANO) was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.