Option investors are pushing call option prices higher in the Information & Delivery Services industry and are pushing put option prices higher in the Telecom Services - Domestic industry today.

Any time the volatility skews above 1.00, it is an indication that calls are more expensive than puts. Typically, when calls are more expensive than puts, it means the demand for calls is greater than the demand for puts because investors believe the stock is going to rise in the future and they want to take advantage of that movement by buying calls.

The opposite is also true. Any time a volatility skews below 1.00, it is an indication that puts are more expensive than calls.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (APC) to overweight from neutral on valuation as it views the recent pullback in shares as excessive. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $82 from $90.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Office Depot (ODP) to perform from underperform and upped its target for shares to $7 from $3 after raising its estimates for companies in the Office Products Retail space. The firm expects trends to accelerate for the sector due to moderating unemployment pressures. In conjunction with the upgrade, Opco raised its target for OfficeMax (OMX) to $26 from $21 and target for Staples (SPLS) to $30 from $28. Both stocks remain outperform rated.
• C.K. Cooper upgraded iRobot (IRBT) to buy from hold with a $30 price target following the company's analyst day.
• Seadrill (SDRL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vodafone (VOD) was upgraded to neutral from reduce at Nomura.

"Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet is a disciple of the teachings of Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, who made their fortunes by buying businesses that were selling for less than the value of their working capital (current assets minus current liabilities," notes Vita Nelson.

The editor of The Moneypaper explains, "The pair developed a Net Current Asset Value (NCAV) model to determine if a company was worth its market price. Their formula subtracts all liabilities, including short-term debt and preferred stock, from a company's current asset balance"

Analyst Upgrades

• Janney Montgomery upgraded Dreamworks (DWA) to buy from neutral on valuation and believes Dragon will be a major hit. The firm has a $45 target on the stock.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Gildan Activewear (GIL) to market weight from underweight, citing expectations for increased market shares in the U.S. screen print channel. The firm raised its target to $17 from $12.
• P.F. Chang's (PFCB) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• PEPCO Holdings (POM) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Arris (ARRS) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's better than expected Q3 results and improved volume outlook. Deutsche raised its target on shares to $100 from $72.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $11 from $7 and said they expect Motorola to benefit from several upcoming catalysts that include new Android-based smartphone products and they believe the handset division could break even by year end of 2010.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC) and Cinemark (NYSE: CNK) to Buy from Neutral on expectations both companies will benefit from a strong box office in Q4. The firm has a $14 price target on Regal shares and a $13.50 target on Cinemark shares.
• Marshall & llsley (NYSE: MI) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
• F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
• William Blair upgraded Lindsay Corporation (NYSE: LNN) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades:

• Piper upgraded shares of Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) to Buy from Neutral following the company's negative Q3 pre-announcement as it believes the launch of Pre will drive longer term profitability. Piper raised its target price on shares to $10 from $4.
  
• Jefferies upgraded Monotype Imaging (NASDAQ: TYPE) to Buy from Hold as it believes the valuation is compelling at current levels and the company's debt is manageable. Despite upgrading, Jefferies lowered its target price to $4 from $6.
  
• Citigroup raised Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) to Hold from Sell as it believes the company's productions cuts and lower dividends are positive.
• Celanese (NYSE: CE) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and added to the firm's Conviction Buy List.
  
• Aegon (NYSE: AEG) was lifted at UBS to Neutral from Sell.
  
• Sun Healthcare (NASDAQ: SUNH) was upgraded at Stephens to Overweight from Equal Weight.

Selling prevailed again today. We got more news on who the new cabinet members would be under Obama; we have an auto bailout in the works in D.C.; and the EU cut rates. Even the Bank of England came in with a rate cut much larger than expected at 150 basis-points. The economic numbers were again dismal, which is something we just have to get used to.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,696.19 -4.85%
NASDAQ: 1,608.70 -4.34%
S&P 500: 905 -5.01%

52-week lows
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) dropped the ball that it was cutting its guidance for 2008. The trends we saw in early August appear to be coming to a crashing halt. This stock was down 21% at $26.60 right before the close.

Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM) did fairly well considering the company priced a secondary offering at $16.50 per share for 14 million shares. Shares were down only 2.6% at $17.12 right before the close.