Analyst Upgrades

• Goodrich (GR) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Ford (F) to neutral from underperform and CenterPoint Energy (CNP) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Dollar Financial (DLLR) and Edwards Lifesciences (EW) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Alterra Capital (ALTE) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) and P.F. Chang's (PFCB) to buy from neutral, as well as SunTrust (STI) to neutral from sell, at Janney Capital.
• Arch Capital (ACGL), Axis Capital (AXS), PartnerRe (PRE), Everest Re (RE) and Transatlantic (TRH) to buy from hold, as well as W. R. Berkley (WRB) to hold from sell, at Citigroup.
• Optimer Pharm (OPTR) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Calls

• Medtronic (MDT) to buy from neutral and 1-800-Flowers.com (FLWS) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• CarMax (KMX) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Points International (PTSEF) to buy from neutral at Merriman.
• Nokia (NOK) to market perform from underperform at Morgan Keegan.
• Amdocs (DOX) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Western Alliance (WAL) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Carbo Ceramics (CRR) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Rackspace (RAX) to buy from hold at Benchmark Co.
• Brinker (EAT) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Upgrades

• State Street (STT) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Roth Capital upgraded Intel (INTC), Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Nvidia (NVDA) to buy from neutral.
• Bebe Stores (BEBE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery.
• W&T Offshore (WTI) was upgraded to buy from accumulate at Global Hunter.
• Citigroup upgraded International Rectifier (IRF) and Timberland (TBL) to hold from sell.
• Watson Pharma (WPI) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Atmel (ATML) was upgraded to strong buy from buy at Needham.
• Ashford Hospitality (AHT) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Oppenheimer upgraded MetroPCS (PCS) to outperform from perform.

With borrowing costs at their lowest levels since 2004, reinsurers are loading up on corporate debt in part to fund stock buybacks. The latest tally, according to Bloomberg News, is $1.34 billion in additional borrowing, with Endurance Specialty Holdings (ENH), a Bermuda-based company, recently selling $85 million in bonds. Other recent transactions include Axis Capital Holdings (AXS) and PartnerRe (PRE) each issuing $500 million in bonds and RenaissanceRe (RNR) adding $250 million to the count.

For Palm (NASDAQ: PALM), the future is really about one product: the Pre smartphone. And based on the latest quarterly report, it looks like things are going fairly well (the device was launched in June).

In fiscal Q1, Palm sustained a net loss of $161.1 million, or $1.17 per share. However, if you exclude certain items, the result was a loss of $13.6 million, or $0.10. This was much better than the Street's consensus of $0.24.

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) closed at $14.61. PALM is expected to report quarterly Q1 EPS on September 17. PALM September option implied volatility is at 81, November call volatility is at 69, puts are at 76; below its six-month average of 81, according to Track Data, suggesting less price movement after EPS.

Rangold Resources (NASDAQ: GOLD) closed at $68.30. Gold is recently up 1.04% to $1007.10 according to Bloomberg. GOLD September and October option implied volatility of 51 is below its 26-week average of 58 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) saw a solid Q1 period, but corporate customer additions dropped while consumer customer additions soared (well, that was the implication anyway). Although the BlackBerry line of devices is selling quite well, RIM announced that it may not be able to meet Q2 targets of $0.98 EPS and $3.61 billion in sales.

RIM executives referenced a quarter that ends August 29 of $0.94 to $1.03 EPS and $3.45 billion to $3.7 billion in sales. It's leaving the possibility that the spending it's seeing to develop the "spectacular" road map ahead -- combined with intense competition with the iPhone and the newer Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Pre -- may cause a dip in the current quarter.

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) closed at $12.06. Sprint announced pricing and nationwide availability for the Palm Pre phone on June 6. PALM June call option implied volatility is at 79, puts are at 85; below its 26-week average of 99, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Sprint (NYSE: S) closed at $5.32. S June option implied volatility of 77 is below a level of 93 from May 4 and below its 26-week average of 117, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

While Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are locked in their battle for smartphone supremacy, a new entry into the market has grabbed headlines.

Palm's (NASDAQ: PALM) brand new touch-screen smartphone -- the Pre -- was the surprise event at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Among other things, the Pre uses the Palm's Web OS, which supposedly can consolidate data from multiple Web sources.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas was last week. In past years, just the anticipation of the world's largest electronics trade show was enough move technology stocks higher.

That was not the case this year, though, as investors grapple with a weak economy, frozen credit, plunging home values and rising unemployment. Just paying the bills and keeping one's head above water seems to be the order of the day. The market sold off hard last week, and not even the CES could pull it out of its funk. Still, there were some bright spots.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) gave its investors a taste of the old days as its shares soared 34% after its new touch-screen phone and mobile operating system garnered admiration from analysts and attendees at the CES.

• Bear Stears upgraded the ocean shippers sector to Market Weight from Market Underweight, citing higher day rates in the dry bulk market. The firm sees potential upside for dry bulk firms Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ: EGLE), Quintana Maritime Limited (NASDAQ: QMAR) and Ultrapetrol Ltd (NASDAQ: ULTR).
  
• Bernstein raised shares of Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) to Outperform from Market Perform and expects a rebound in West Coast refining margins.
  
• ING upgraded shares of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) to Buy from Hold on valuation and the possibility the company may exit businesses.
  
• MGI Pharma (NASDAQ: MOGN) was upgraded at JP Morgan to Overweight from Neutral, citing expectations for a strong Q3, Aloxi re-acceleration, Dacogen growth, and Auqavan opportunity.

• UBS upgraded shares of Agnico-Eagle (NYSE: AEM) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Banc of America upgraded Everest RE Group (NYSE: RE) and PartnerRe (NYSE: PRE) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Calamos Asset Management (NASDAQ: CLMS) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.