"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.

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.

Shares of discount retailer Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) have been soaring today after the company reported strong first quarter numbers, and raised its future guidance.

It is no secret that shoppers are looking for bargain deals these days, and that trend resulted in a 3% jump in same store sales for Ross, and a 15% jump in its first quarter earnings. The company's earnings came in at 72 cents per share, which was in line with analyst estimates, and its revenues were above what Wall Street was looking to see.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST) is a leading U.S. off-price retailer of name brand apparel, accessories, footwear and home fashions. The firm operates 888 Ross Dress for Less stores and 55 dd's Discounts locations, in 27 states and Guam. Target (NYSE: TGT) and Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) are major competitors.

The company pleased investors late last month, when it reported Q2 EPS of 54 cents and revenues of $1.64 billion. Analysts had been expecting 54 cents and $1.61 billion. Management also guided Q3 EPS to 42-44 cents (43 cent consensus) and Q4 EPS to 78-81 cents (80 cent consensus). CL King subsequently reiterated its "strong buy" rating on the shares and the firm was able to report August same store sales that topped the Wall Street view.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Google, Ross Stores and Novartis were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's "impressive" improvements in monetization in Q1, no signs of weakness from the economic downturn and upside potential from display, video and mobile.
  
• Lehman upgraded Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST) to Overweight from Equal Weight and believes the company's 2008 guidance of 8-9% sales growth and up to 20% bps in margin expansion will prove conservative.
  
• Morgan Stanley upped Novartis (NYSE: NVS) to Overweight from Underweight on valuation and expectations for positive news flow from the company's vaccine division.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• JP Morgan upgraded Bladex to Neutral from Underweight.
• William Blair raised Watsco (NYSE: WSO) to Outperform from Market Perform.
  
• SunTrust (NYSE: STI) was upgraded at Baird to Neutral from Underperform.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST) is a leading U.S. off-price retailer of name brand apparel, accessories, footwear and home fashions. The firm operates 854 Ross Dress for Less stores and 54 dd's Discounts locations, in 27 states and Guam. Target (NYSE: TGT) and Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) are major competitors.

The company pleased investors last week, when it announced March same-store sales figures that easily topped Wall Street estimates. Management also said it expected Q1 EPS of 56-58 cents, versus analyst consensus of 53 cents. The CEO attributed success to solid performances in the dress, shoe and home categories. JP Morgan subsequently upgraded the stock to "overweight" and CL King reiterated its "strong buy".

Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST) is a leading U.S. off-price retailer of name brand apparel, accessories, footwear and home fashions. The firm operates 841 Ross Dress for Less stores and 52 dd's Discounts locations, in 27 states and Guam. Target (NYSE: TGT) and Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) are major competitors.

The company pleased investors earlier in the month when it announced a December same-store sales gain of 3% (year over year). Analysts had been looking for a 1% improvement. Management also said it expected fourth-quarter EPS of 68-69 cents, versus the average Street estimate of 66 cents. The CEO attributed success to solid performances in the outerwear, dress and shoe businesses. The stock popped into a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern on the news. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: News Corp, Limelight Networks, Corning and Carmike Cinemas were today's noteworthy initiations:

• RBC Capital is positive on News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS) strategy of investing cash flow away from mature enterprises to fund high-growth initiatives such as Sky Italia and Fox Interactive Media. The firm initiated shares with an Outperform rating and $26 target.
  
• Kaufman Brothers rates Limelight Networks Inc (NASDAQ: LLNW) a Sell based on a significant increase in the competitive environment with Akamai discounting on large deals, Level 3 Communications Inc (NASDAQ: LVLT) introducing a competitive offering in November 2007, Korean major-CD Networks becoming aggressive, and new entrants becoming aggressive with their value propositions.
  
• Deutsche Bank initiated Corning Inc (NYSE: GLW) with a Buy rating and $31 target as they believe shares are fundamentally undervalued given the company's strong fundamentals and promising outlook.
  
• Carmike Cinemas Inc (NASDAQ: CKEC) was started at JP Morgan with an Overweight rating. The firm said the company is the most exposed to 3-D, which could lead to potential upside due to low margins and leverage capital structure.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• UBS started shares of St. Jude Medical Inc (NYSE: STJ) with a Sell rating and $43 target and shares of Medtronic Inc (NYSE: MDT) with a Buy rating and $64 target.
  
• Bear Stearns initiated shares of TJX Companies Inc (NYSE: TJX) and Ross Stores Inc (NASDAQ: ROST) with Peer Perform ratings.
  
• KeyBanc initiated shares of LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE: LHO) with a Hold rating.
  
• Caris started shares of Acme Packet Inc (NASDAQ: APKT) with an Above Average rating and $17 target.