Analyst Upgrades

• Goodyear Tire (GT) to Overweight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Salix (SLXP) to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
• Euroseas (ESEA) to Outperform from Market Perform at FBR Capital.
• Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Hexcel (HXL) to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
• BB&T (BBT) and Triangle Capital (TCAP) to Buy from Neutral at Janney Capital.
• Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Affymax (AFFY) to Buy from Hold at Auriga.
• Vanguard Natural (VNR) and Tortoise Energy (TYY) to Outperform from Neutral at RW Baird.
• Protective Life (PL) to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Kroger (KR) isn't far off from its 52-week high. The stock closed Friday at a price of $23.60; the top quote for the year is $24.14. The range has been tight for the shares: the 52-week low is $19.08. Earlier in the week, the supermarket concern posted earnings for the fourth quarter. How were the results?

They weren't bad. According to Reuters, Q4 profit on an adjusted basis came in at 46 cents per share. This turned out to be two pennies ahead of Wall Street's overall estimate. Even better, identical-store sales excluding the effect of fuel transactions increased 3.8%. I'm sure those who own Safeway (SWY) might be a little jealous on the latter count since their company experienced a decline in this metric.

Ventas (VTR) and Nationwide Health Properties (NHP) announced Ventas will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Health Properties for a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7866 Ventas shares for each share of NHP common stock they own. Ventas overall option implied volatility of 22 is below its 26-week average of 28, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Kroger (KR) overall option implied volatility is at 25, according to Track Data, near its 26-week average, suggesting non-directional movement into expected Q4 results on March 3.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Analyst Upgrades

• Yingli Green (YGE) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• National Semiconductor (NSM) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• DuPont (DD) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Blackboard (BBBB) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Kindred Healthcare (KND) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Peabody Energy (BTU) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Savvis (SVVS) to buy from neutral and InterActiveCorp (IACI) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• Sapient (SAPE) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Kroger (KR) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Harman (HAR) to overweight from neutral and Deutsche Bank (DB) to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Savient (SVNT) to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• LabCorp (LH) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Optimer Pharm (OPTR) and Landstar System (LSTR) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Essex Property Trust (ESS) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Tyson Foods (TSN) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Host Hotels (HST) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• SPX Corp. (SPW) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.

On Tuesday morning, supermarket entity The Kroger Co. (KR) reported earnings for the second quarter. Today, at the time of this writing, shares were higher by just under 1% to $21.47. Volume wasn't so great, to be honest.

I last wrote about the company back in June, when the Q1 stats were released. The price of the stock at that time was $20.71. I guess this investment idea doesn't want to do a lot of work for its shareholders. The chart seems to indicate that institutions are content with playing the stock in sideways fashion, for now at least.

Last week, the Fed's Beige Book report confirmed that the economy continues to grow, but at a slower pace than in previous periods. This week will bring plenty of economic data to either support or contrast with the Fed's findings.

• Monday: Federal government budget balance for August
• Tuesday: Business inventory numbers from July, TIPP Economic Optimism Index for September, retail sales data from August
• Wednesday: Industrial production in August, Empire State Manufacturing Survey for September, Import Price Index for August
• Thursday: Producer Price Index for August, Philly Fed Survey for September, the Current Account Balance in the second quarter, jobless claims for last week
• Friday: preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, Consumer Price Index for August, real earnings data for August

Analyst Upgrades

• BofA/Merrill upgraded Eastman Chemical (EMN) to buy from neutral and raised its target to $82 from $80. The analyst upgraded shares based on valuation and expectations for strong earnings from fibers and performance chemicals.
• Bernstein upgraded Hershey (HSY) to market perform from underperform based on strong near-term category growth.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Actuant (ATU) to buy from neutral with a $25 price target following the company's Q3 results.
• Infinera (INFN) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• CTC Media (CTCM) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Williams (WMB) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.

Ostensible bellwether FedEx Corp. (FDX) is scheduled to step into the earnings spotlight this week. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expect this Memphis-based transportation and package delivery giant to report that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year ago to $1.32 per share.

FedEx's revenue for the three months that ended in May is expected to total $9.0 billion, which is 15.2% higher than the same period of last year. FedEx's per-share earnings have not fallen short of consensus estimates in the past four quarters. The First Call recommendation of 23 analysts is to buy FDX and has been for more than 90 days. Shares have retreated from April's 52-week high of $97.75 and closed last week at $80.63.

A couple of days ago, my colleague Jeff Reeves took a look at 7-Eleven's decision to enter into the beer game. Yes, 7-Eleven -- the sultan of Slurpees, the high priest of week-old hot dogs, the convenience king -- is going to throw its proverbial hat in the ring, looking for your beer bucks.

I did not know this, but 7-Eleven is the third-largest beer retailer in the United States. Perhaps my ignorance is born from the fact that there are no 7-Elevens in my hometown.

When Kroger (KR) CEO David Dillon says that his company can fight Walmart (WMT) on areas outside of price, one has to wonder what he's referring to. As Walmart has shown over the past 18 months (inside of a recession), most of middle-class America cares about one thing at retail: price.

What could Kroger do to compete better with the world's largest retailer, price aside?

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) will be bringing its hefty might to bear against the grocery competition in 2010 once again. The world's largest retailer vowed to help the U.S. consumer more by slashing prices over all its grocery product lines, which will put even more pressure on Target (TGT) and grocery-only chains like Kroger (KR) and Publix (PUSH), among others.

Over the next six weeks, the mega-retailer will cut food prices and start a new advertising campaign to promote the move. Grocery stocks, on the other hand, will be running for cover over the same period. This is, as expected, a move by Walmart to keep the customer foot traffic it recruited during the recession in 2009 who now may be returning to rival competitors for purchasing their wares.