High-risk play Lincoln National Corp.'s (NYSE: LNC) business model has stabilized, hence I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for the company's shares, first recommended on June 18, 2009 at a price of $15.92. If you bought LNC's shares in June, you're up an impressive 71%.

A combination of a $2.1 billion stock offering, participation in the TARP program, and a stock market rise that has improved the capital position of LNC's variable annuity guarantees, has brightened the skies for Lincoln.

Analyst upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuation and expectations the company will repay TARP without a capital raise. The firm raised its target to $34 from $26.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Ticketmaster (NASDAQ: TKTM) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $12 from $8 citing dynamic ticket pricing and the potential merger with Live Nation (NYSE: LYV).
• Citigroup upgraded Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) to Hold from Sell after channel checks indicated retail sales have improved since Q2. The firm raised its target on shares to $26 from $14.
• McDermott (NYSE: MDR) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
• General Electric (NYSE: GE) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the presumption remains that we're doing badly. I disagree and will place my bets.

As a bull who feels like he's "won" of late, I am about as sure of myself as a gambler who has just had a couple of blackjacks, meaning that I expect to be given a 16 any week now. That doesn't mean you can't play out of a 16, especially when the dealer's got something similar. It does mean you have to be at the table.

I use the analogy because there's something about the "hotness" of this market after the employment number that flies in the face of what could happen if the big gains in the economy truly are all government and not private sector, especially if you look at the charts, which reveal an overextended and expensive market. The charts say we're about to stall out, and it bothers me because they've said that all the way up. And it bothers me because literally everyone I respect in this business -- except Steve Leuthold -- has emerged with a consensus view that the economy without stimulation would be near collapse, and even with stimulation will collapse anyway because of all the debt taken down to stimulate.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to its Top Picks Live list following the company's investor day. Citi believes American Express' credit trends are improving and raised its price target on shares to $36 from $28.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Gardner Denver (NYSE: GDI) to Buy from Neutral after meeting with management to reflect expectations for EPS growth in 2010 and valuation. The firm has a $38 target on the stock.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Underperform and raised its target to $87 from $49 based on strong copper fundamentals.
• Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.
• Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ: ROCK) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
• Fortress (NYSE: FIG) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says if you wait for market conditions to reach perfection, you'll be waiting a long time.

You know what? I am going to wait until I am sure housing has turned before I buy the homebuilders like Lennar (NYSE: LEN) (Cramer's Take) and Pulte (NYSE: PHM) (Cramer's Take). I am going to wait until the foreclosures peak before I buy Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) (Cramer's Take).

I am going to wait until unemployment goes down before I buy 3M (NYSE: MMM) (Cramer's Take) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) (Cramer's Take) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) (Cramer's Take) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) (Cramer's Take).

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you'll miss some great opportunities if you blindly believe all the bad news.

You want a rebuke to the "never-ending woes of commercial and residential real estate mortgage bonds"? You get one every day in this market, and today is no different. Look at what is up big today: Genworth (NYSE: GNW) (Cramer's Take), Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) (Cramer's Take), Wyndham (NYSE: WYN) (Cramer's Take), Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) (Cramer's Take) and Zions (NASDAQ: ZION) (Cramer's Take). Each in its own way needs the residential or commercial real estate markets to be robust to thrive, and if the myriad articles I read about the horrible state of the mortgage bond market and the dim commercial real estate prospects were true, why would you be making money in Wyndham, a gigantic timeshare company? How could Regions and Zions be rallying? They are among the worst of the worst; unless you consider Genworth and Lincoln National, which are supposed to be roadkill because of all of their mortgage bonds.

A Buy rating has been generated in these circles for Lincoln Financial (NYSE: LNC), but there are qualifiers.

The value story? Lincoln, a financial management and life insurance company, appears to be stabilizing. Liquidity and capitalization concerns have been reduced as a result of Lincoln's recent 40-million-share, $15 per share offering. Further, chatter regarding a probable exercise of a greenshoe option of up to six million shares adds to the improving LNC story.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to Buy from Hold on a favorable risk/reward profile. The firm thinks sentiment is negative, estimate revisions have troughed, and compares ease in the second half of 2009. Jefferies upped its target price to $35 from $22.
• Citigroup upgraded Home Depot (NYSE: HD) to Buy from Hold on expectations for positive earnings surprises in 2009. The firm thinks home merchandise sales are picking up and consensus estimates could prove conservative. Citi raised its target price on the stock to $32 from $26.
• Bernstein upgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) to Market Perform from Underperform and raised their price target to $23 from $10 based on its credit agreement amendment and valuation.
• SunTrust (NYSE: STI) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman. Fiat (OTC: FIATY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.

Analyst upgrades:

• Banc of America/Merrill upgraded Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) to Buy from Underperform and raised its target to $17 from $10 citing expectations that the company will "qualify for and accept TARP funding."
  
• Credit Suisse upgraded AU Optronics (NYSE: AUO) to Outperform from Neutral as it believes inventory levels are low end demand is better than expected.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Shaw Group (NYSE: SGR) to Overweight from Neutral. The firm views the recent pullback in shares as a buying opportunity given the company's attractive nuke position and expected ramp in government spending.
• Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) was raised to Overweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
  
• Stryker (NYSE: SYK) was lifted to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says it's just not an investable way of thinking.

Why is it such a bad idea to buy stocks if the worst is over? Why is it considered so heretical? One reason could be that there's too much moralizing going on among the stock pickers and the pundits these days. Yesterday, for example, I heard so many people blasting the government for coming to the aid of the Hartfords (NYSE: HIG) (Cramer's Take) and Lincolns (NYSE: LNC) (Cramer's Take) and Principals (NYSE: PFG) (Cramer's Take) that you would have thought that people wanted these companies to fail.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that fundamentally, we have the same decent setup here.

Where are the sellers? How did they vanish? Were they really reacting to the hazards of a CEO being fired by the government?

I have to laugh about that analysis; as yesterday's outrage on flagship said, the government did us all a favor by getting rid of GM (NYSE: GM) (Cramer's Take) head Rick Wagoner -- perhaps the least competent CEO of a major American company -- and given the choices out there, that's a vicious benchmark.

Analyst upgrades:

• Argus upgraded CBRL Group (NASDAQ: CBRL) to Buy from Hold as it believes increased efficiency at Cracker Barrel will help to boost restaurant traffic and same-store sales. The firm has a $33 target on shares.
  
• Citigroup upgraded shares of Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) to Buy from Hold on expectations the company's blood-thinning drug Effient is on track for a Q2 U.S. launch. The firm raised its price target on shares to $41 from $36.
  
• Needham upgraded Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) to Buy from Hold after recent channel checks suggested Intel's PC OEM orders are tracking better than expected. The firm expects Intel to keep prices and product mix stable, enabling margins to recover in Q2. Needham has an $18 target on INTC shares.
• SEI Investments (NASDAQ: SEIC) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
  
• Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) was raised at Jefferies to Buy from Hold.
  
• Taleo (NASDAQ: TLEO) was lifted to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.

This whole bank bailout mess is getting ridiculous. The newest wrinkle is that insurance companies are getting approval to acquire banks so that they can get a chunk of the TARP bank bailout money. Why we are bailing out insurance companies is a mystery.

Nevertheless, banking regulators last month approved applications from Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG) and Lincoln National Corp Ind. (NYSE: LNC) to become savings and loan holding companies so they can get a bite of the TARP money. In addition, about a dozen insurers have applied for capital injection.

Insurance companies have been seeking federal funds to boost their coffers after large investment losses.

Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) used to have an advertisement offering consumers a piece of the rock (Gibraltar). Now Hank Paulson's $810 billion Troubled Asset Recovery Plan (TARP) has replaced Pru's rock. Insurance companies around the world are angling to buy a Savings & Loan (S&L) so they can apply for some of that money. So I think it's time to create a mutual fund that will be used to buy an S&L so that the average citizen can get some of that money as well.

Not only are U.S. insurance companies on the hunt for an S&L, there's a European insurer seeking some of our tax dollars as well. The U.S. insurers seeking an S&L include Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG), a life and property insurer that has been hit by investment losses, Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) and Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC). And the European insurer in question is Amsterdam's Aegon AG, which wants to buy Suburban Federal Savings Bank.

I've been too patient waiting for my share of the TARP. Here's an idea that will make it affordable for the average taxpayer to buy an S&L so we can apply for some of that money -- which is really our money -- as well. We should start a mutual fund and once it has collected enough cash, the fund could purchase a little S&L and then apply for some of that TARP money. With banks, insurance companies and automobile manufacturers getting their piece of the TARP, it's our turn now.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this trade has worked all week, but it's a shaky play on the fundamentals.

It's a stubborn market. We sit here and marvel that Barclays (NYSE: BCS) (Cramer's Take) or Mitsubishi (NYSE: MTU) (Cramer's Take) need to raise money when three weeks ago we thought they were going to inherit the earth because they didn't lose money. We liked them because we stubbornly believed they were better.

We thought that Prudential (NYSE: PRU) (Cramer's Take) was The Rock; now it is The Rock like the guy who makes a lot of movies -- not all of them good. Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) (Cramer's Take) was perceived to be much higher quality than MetLife (NYSE: MET) (Cramer's Take), but that's wrong. The idea that the Hartford (NYSE: HIG) (Cramer's Take) would be in trouble, as it has always been not in trouble, is amazing to us.

We stubbornly cling to the ones that we thought were good until we hear that they need a bailout. Then we turn on them like they were never good or like they are going to go bankrupt.