"Benjamin Graham has been recognized for decades as the father of value investing; Warren Buffett was a student of Ben Graham at Columbia University and later worked for Mr. Graham for several years," notes J. Royden Ward.

The editor of the Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter explains, "We've combined Warren Buffett's and Ben Graham's investing criteria for choosing stocks and and found six high-quality companies.

"We believe that the six stocks that passed our screen each sell at sensible prices, offer reasonable appreciation potential, and provide solid dividends.

Earlier in the week, I exhibited a bearish tone on Ross Stores (ROST). I haven't had a change of heart necessarily, but I do have to concede that the company's latest earnings report, issued yesterday morning, was a good one.

According to Reuters, Q4 net profit increased 18% to $1.37 per share. While this number merely met Wall Street's projection, I enjoyed the growth rate. Furthermore, same-store sales experienced a healthy 4% expansion.

Ross Stores (RST), a retailer whose colleagues include Kohl's (KSS) and Wal-Mart (WMT), is set to report earnings for the fourth quarter on Thursday, March 17. Should investors give this one a look before the release?

Arguably, one probably should. According to Trey Thoelcke's fundamental review of the chain's current status, things appear to be going well. Same-store sales were robust during the month of November, rising 6%; in December, they increased 4%. More recently, comps in February went up a respectable 3%.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets again this week to review economic conditions and set monetary policy. On whether the Fed should end quantitative easing or extend it, Atlanta Fed chairman Dennis Lockhart recently said that the Fed should remain flexible given the rising energy prices, which could be a sign of coming inflation. Either at this meeting or the next, the Fed could signal that interest rates will rise as a hedge against inflation.

Inflation will also be the focus when the Department of Labor releases the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) this week. Back in January the core PPI (which excludes energy and food costs) had its biggest jump in two years, and the core CPI had its largest uptick in more than year, the second month in a row in which consumer prices jumped.

Every so often I update a previous story or provide some insight into my good and bad calls. Today the stimulus to do so is the fact that Apple Inc. (AAPL) reached a stock price of $300 per share sooner than I envisioned.

On February 3, 2010 I posted Apple $300 -- Not This Year! and clearly that is not the case, Steve or otherwise, with the stock closing Wednesday at $300.14. I could argue that I was 78.35% accurate since we made it this deep into 2010 before I was proved wrong by a matter of pennies, but alas, wrong is wrong and I was mistaken, 100% mistaken.

Last January I suggested that shares of Ross Stores (ROST) might be as much of a bargain as the merchandise it sells. That turned out to be true. The stock has outpaced the market considerably. At the time, it was trading at $45.20. Last week, on Sept. 3, Ross closed at $52.60 for a year-to-date gain of 16.37%.

Ross pays a small dividend yielding 1.12%. It is not high, but it exceeds what you're getting from money market accounts or CDs and, added to the stocks appreciating, it's a bonus.

After this nice gain, how do the metrics shape up today? Is it too late to make some money here?

Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo upgraded Gap (GPS) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation and expectations for EPS to grow in FY11. The firm thinks consensus estimates are achievable and has a $20 to $22 target valuation range for shares.
• BMO Capital upgraded Abercrombie (ANF) to outperform from market perform and has a $43 target on the stock. The firm believes Abercrombie's domestic business is turning and that the company is beginning to take share from competitors.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Codexis (CDXS) to overweight from neutral as it believes Shell's (RDS.A) biofuel commercialization plans and a potential carbon capture partnership present near-term catalysts for the stock. The firm upped its target for shares to $12 from $11.
• Tortoise Energy Capital (TYY) and Tortoise Energy (TYG) were upgraded to buy from hold at Wunderlich.
• Comerica (CMA) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Baird.
• Methanex (MEOH) was upgraded to strong buy from outperform at Raymond James.

"In our newsletter, we maintain numerous model portfolios based on the strategies of leading investors, such as Warren Buffett, Ben Graham and Peter Lynch," explains John Reese.

The editor of Validea asserts, "Our Kenneth Fisher-based Portfolio has shown a 7-year annualized return of 11.9%; this approach focuses on a metric Fisher pioneered: the price/sales ratio.

"While investors for decades relied heavily on the P/E ratio, Fisher found that earnings -- even the earnings of good companies -- can fluctuate greatly from year to year.

If I was making my 2010 picks list today, I might have found a spot for Ross Stores (ROST), the holding company for Ross Dress for Less. Analysts have a hold or market perform rating on the stock, but that is meaningless to me. What does have meaning is 20% sales growth in a dismal year, contributing to a PEG ratio of .75 and an under market P/E of 12.66 (averaging trailing and future figures).

These are very good numbers, however, in reviewing some of the data points with Raphael P., a helpful broker in the Pleasant Hill, CA Wells Fargo (WFC) office, I was reminded that different financial sites have varying numbers. They usually vary by small fractions, as did the Wells data compared to the Aol (AOL) Money and Finance site, so I would encourage investors to check multiple sources.

Analyst Upgrades

• FBR Capital upgraded MicroStrategy (MSTR) to outperform from market perform after channel checks indicated MicroStrategy 9 product cycle's continued to gain momentum in Q4. The firm raised its target price on shares to $120 from $87.
• Following a management meeting, Baird upgraded Woodward Governor (WGOV) to outperform from neutral based on long-term energy control growth opportunities and low Street expectations. The firm raised its target to $33 from $24.
• Citigroup upgraded Under Armour (UA) to hold from sell as it believes the company's initiatives in footwear will accelerate growth and share downside is limited at current levels. The firm raised its target on shares to $31 from $24.
• Procter & Gamble (PG) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Aflac (AFL) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Barclays.
• MGM Mirage (MGM) was raised to buy from neutral at Goldman.

The 2009 equity market recovery has led to an increase in Q ratios for the world's largest retailers. What does this mean? They're using their tangible assets effectively and have demonstrated the strength of intangible factors, such as brand and operational efficiency, to create shareholder value.

"Q" is the ratio of a public company's market capitalization to the market value of its tangible assets. So, a Q ratio of above one means that investors value the company's non-tangible assets -- e.g., brand, differentiation, innovation, customer experience and customer loyalty -- and see these factors as reasons to pay a higher price per share. A company with a Q ratio of below one can't generate a sufficient return on its physical assets. According to Deloitte, this could create an arbitrage opportunity, as it may be ripe for an acquisition.

Analyst Upgrades

• Kaufman Bros. upgraded Yahoo! (YHOO) to buy from hold after channel checks indicated display advertising is seeing continued improvement in pricing and demand. The firm finds the risk/reward profile on Yahoo! shares attractive at current levels and raised its price target on the stock to $20 from $19.
• Citigroup upgraded Edwards Lifesciences (EW) to buy from hold following the company's investor meeting as it believes new product launches will serve as catalysts in 2010. Citi raised its target on shares to $101 from $72.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded BWAY Holding (BWY) to buy from hold following the company's Q4 results and raised its target on shares to $22 from $17.
• Clearwire (CLWR) was upgraded to buy from sell at Soleil.
• Nokia (NOK) was raised to hold from sell at Societe Generale.
• NCR Corp. (NCR) was upgraded at JPMorgan to overweight from neutral.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says traders who focus on the negative will pounce on this poor report.

Thanks for nothing, Dell (DELL) (Cramer's Take)! Given that this market seems to care less about the good like NetApp (NTAP) (Cramer's Take), Ross Stores (ROST) (Cramer's Take) or Limited (LTD) (Cramer's Take) and is focused on the bad, like the semi-downgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, I am sure that Dell will be viewed as part and parcel with the downgrade.

I can't stand Dell. I actually slam it in Getting Back to Even, taking a chance that it would get its act together and make me look bad on the very quarter the book is released. Looks like that was a lot of worry for nothing.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes the issuance of new common stock in exchange for outstanding preferred and trust preferred stock is a net positive. The firm has a $3.50 target on the stock.
• Merriman upgraded Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) to Buy from Neutral as if finds the currrent valuation compelling and believes the company should directly benefit from improving IT budgets. The firm thinks fair value is in the $9.11-$11.13 range.
• Kaufman Bros. upgraded Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Buy from Hold after its proprietary survey indicated the company is well positioned longer term. The firm finds the valuation on shares attractive at current levels and raised its target price to $53 from $48.
• Taleo (NASDAQ: TLEO) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery.
• Boardwalk Pipeline (BWP) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Lloyds Banking (NYSE: LYG) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at RBS.

Last week we looked at expectations for some retail earnings. More shopping mall favorites are reporting second-quarter results this week, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for significant earnings growth from some of them.

Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO), the teen-focused retailer spun off from Macy's (NYSE: M) in 1998, is expected to post a second-quarter profit that is 44.6% higher than a year ago, or $0.56 per share. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be 19.7% higher, or $451.3 million. For the full year, the forecast so far is for $2.98 per share (+25.8%) on $2.2 billion (+14.6%). Earnings of the New York-based company have matched estimates in recent quarters. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 13.9%, which is better than the retail industry average and rival Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF). Aeropostale's earnings multiple is 12x, and this debt-free company's cash flow from operations swung into positive territory in the first quarter. The First Call consensus recommendation is to buy ARO; The Motley Fool identified it as a Wall Street favorite. Shares are down a couple of bucks from the 52-week high of $38.74 back in July, but are still 123.0% higher year to date.