OpenTable(OPEN) has come a long way since Chuck Templeton envisioned the idea in 1998 after observing the difficulty his wife faced while trying to book a dinner reservation by phone. Today, it is the leading provider of free and real-time online restaurant reservations for users looking to book reservations online as well as a reservation and guest management solution for restaurants. The company is comfortably ahead of its competitors like Urbanspoon, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp and UK-based companies liveRES Ltd and Livebookings Ltd. It also seems to have hit the right note with its decision to take Groupon head-on by selling third-party restaurants coupons through its website.

We currently maintain a $94.90 price estimate for OpenTable, which is about 10% below the stock's market price.

Analyst Upgrades

• Bristol-Myers (BMY) to hold from underperform at Jefferies.
• Pep Boys (PBY) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Tesla Motors (TSLA) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Emerson (EMR) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• ARM Holdings (ARMH) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• NetLogic (NETL) and Cavium Networks (CAVM) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Aimco (AIV) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Ceragon Networks (CRNT) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Analyst Upgrades

• Parker-Hannifin (PH) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• JDSU (JDSU) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Noble Corp. (NE) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Cerner (CERN) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Cintas (CTAS) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• American States Water (AWR) to buy from hold at Brean Murray.
• National Semiconductor (NSM) and Texas Instruments (TXN) to positive from neutral at Susquehanna.
• Lululemon (LULU) to buy from hold at ThinkEquity.
• DuPont Fabros (DFT) to top pick from outperform at RBC Capital.

Despite the broader markets trading down sharply today, OpenTable shares traded higher.

Initializing a position at this point could be very risky, as the stock tends to move in big swings. However, the strength being demonstrated is very impressive, and shareholders do have the potential to be considerably rewarded.

OpenTable (OPEN) is a free online restaurant reservation service, competing with companies like liveRES, Livebookings, Foodline.com and Urbanspoon -- which is owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), as well as Groupon and DinnerBroker.com that offer daily deals. The OpenTable online reservation service is free for diners, but restaurants are charged a reservation fee for each diner who reserves a table using the OpenTable system.

OpenTable acquired a competitor service called TopTable in October 2010 for $55 million. TopTable has a major presence in the U.K., which should boost OpenTable's international reservation revenues given the trend of diners increasingly using online reservation services.

We expect the number of diners seated through TopTable.com will rise steadily in the years ahead. While we anticipate that the number of diners will reach 10 million by the end of our forecast period, Trefis members predict more substantial growth towards 12 million.

OpenTable (OPEN) is the largest provider of free and real-time online restaurant reservations for diners in the U.S. It competes with Urbanspoon, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) and other UK-based companies like liveRES Ltd and Livebookings Ltd.

OpenTable's share price has grown nearly three-fold from a roughly $30 value following its IPO in May 2009. The stock's current market price stands around $85. The stock price actually breached $95 earlier this month, soon after the company declared better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter of 2010.

OpenTable (OPEN) is a leading provider of free and real-time online restaurant reservations, helping users looking to book reservations online and providing a reservation and guest management solution for restaurants. It also sells third-party restaurants coupons through its website. Its competitors include Urbanspoon, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), and UK-based companies liveRES Ltd and Livebookings Ltd.

We have a price estimate for OpenTable of $94.90, which is roughly in line with market price.

Analyst Upgrades

• General Electric (GE) and Barclays (BCS) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Warnaco (WRC) to outperform from market perform and Melco Crown (MPEL) to market perform from underperform at Wells Fargo.
• Parker-Hannifin (PH) and Emerson Electric (EMR) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• AMD (AMD) to buy from neutral at Nomura.
• Novellus (NVLS) and Sherwin-Williams (SHW) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• OpenTable (OPEN) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Skilled Healthcare (SKH) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Lear (LEA) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Adobe (ADBE) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded OpenTable (OPEN) to buy from hold, citing stronger than expected near-term trends and traction for the company's Spotlight offering. Citi upped its price target for shares to $70 from $46.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Werner (WERN) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation, the company's reduction in cost, and its above peer exposure to the pricing cycle.
• Goldman upgraded CarMax (KMX) to neutral from sell based on valuation and higher used car profitability. The firm has a $24 target on the stock.
• Apollo Group (APOL) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Nokia (NOK) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Zions Bancorp (ZION) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo believes Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) da Vinci procedures remain under penetrated and that consensus estimates are too low. The firm upgraded shares to outperform from market perform and raised its valuation range to $340 to $360.
• Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Westamerica (WABC) to buy from hold due to the company's FDIC-assisted acquisition of Sonoma Bank and what the firm sees as Westamerica's defensive nature. The firm set a $62 target on the stock.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Corning (GLW) to outperform from perform based on valuation and the belief that downward revisions have peaked. The firm has a $20 target on the stock.
• Quality Systems (QSII) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• OpenTable (OPEN) and Windstream (WIN) were upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• RBC Capital upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP) to outperform from sector perform with a $20 target. The firm thinks the units' valuation is compelling, while the company's proposed acquisition of assets is positive.
• Stifel upgraded First Horizon (FHN) to buy from hold based on valuation and its path towards normalized profitability. The firm has a $15 price target on the stock.
• KeyBanc upgraded Isle of Capri (ISLE) to buy from hold based on improved earnings growth and valuation. The firm has a $13 target on the stock.
• ATA Inc. (ATAI) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at Piper Jaffray.
• Buckeye Partners (BPL) was upgraded to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Sinopec (SNP) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at HSBC.

Last year, OpenTable (OPEN) was one of the hottest IPOs. Priced at $20, the stock price surged to $31.89 on its first day of trading.

Hype? Not really. The company has continued to grow, despite the sluggish economy.

Founded in 1998, OpenTable allows restaurants to manage their reservations, using cloud-computing technologies. Revenues come from installation fees, subscriptions and per-diner fees.

KaChing! KaChing!

It only makes sense to call a company a sound you like to hear. This is exactly what CEO and co-founder Andy Rachleff must have had in mind. His new company -- kaChing, of course -- is backed by Marc Andreesen (a name often associated with that sound) and Jeff Jordan, the CEO of OpenTable (NASDAQ: OPEN), two guys who usually do a solid job of backing winners. But, they've taken on a challenge by backing a company in the financial services industry.

IPO. Initial public offering. Or as they used to be known among the Wall Street cynics: "It's probably overpriced." Not any more. Nothing that is too expensive will fly these days. In fact, if it's not a bargain, don't bother to talk with the bankers. Investors want history, especially ones with increasing sales and profits.

The year 2009 has already produced more IPOs than all of 2008. Sound impressive? Here are the numbers: this year there have been seven. So there aren't a lot of companies going public right now, but still, there are some. And most of them are doing well.

For many tech companies, it's nearly impossible to raise capital -- at least at an attractive valuation. But, in the case of Facebook, life is different. As expected, the fast-growing social networking website was able to raise $200 million.

And the valuation? A cool $10 billion. Then again, keep in mind that Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) invested $240 million in Facebook in October 2007 at a whopping $15 billion valuation.