Analyst upgrades:

• Pali Capital upgraded Lazard (LAZ) to buy from neutral, citing a healthy restructuring environment, improving M&A and strength in the asset management segment. The firm has a $46 target on shares.
• Baird upgraded Scansource (SCSC) to outperform from neutral, citing strength in the channel business and growth drivers from improved telephony and security. The firm has a $30 target on shares.
• Citigroup upgraded Liberty Interactive (LINTA) to buy from hold, citing the company's QVC unit's return to growth. The firm raised its target on shares to $13.25 from $12.
• Hess Corp (HES) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Vulcan Materials (VMC) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Dillard's (DDS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI) posted lower fourth-quarter profits but record full-year sales.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) posted strong results and offered bullish guidance (see transcript).
• Concur Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CNQR) revenue soared and it offered revised guidance.
• Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) posted a bigger-than-expected loss for the fourth-quarter.
• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) beat earnings expectations but fell short of revenue estimates.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) beat estimates but shares were dragged down by VMware results.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) shocked investors and missed earnings expectations (see transcript).
• Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) beat estimates as revenue soared.
• Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) sidestepped the subprime mess and fourth-quarter earnings soared.
• MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) reported a $2.3 million loss due to mortgage write downs.
• Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) posted a $1.6 million loss and lowered its full-year guidance.
• Monster Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST) posted strong results despite weakness in North America.
• ScanSource Inc. (NASDAQ: SCSC) beat earnings estimates but matched revenue forecasts.
• Somanetics Corp. (NASDAQ: SMTS) beat estimates and offered revised guidance.
• Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) beat expectations on revenue growth from overseas.
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) reported a record loss for the fourth quarter due to the subprime crisis.
• VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) missed revenue forecasts, sending shares tumbling.
• Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) posted unimpressive results, but beat earnings expectations (see transcript).

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Exxon, Boeing, Halliburton, Sony, UPS, Honda, and others and McDonald's, Kraft, P&G, Verizon, MasterCard, 3M, and others.

ScanSource (NASDAQ: SCSC) is a distributor of specialty technical products for automatic identification/data capture, point of sale and communications applications. It provides such devices as bar code scanners, receipt/label printers, PC-based terminals, pole displays, call center equipment and electronic security products. The firm sells equipment from such manufacturers as Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

ScanSource pleased investors last week, when it reported fiscal Q2 EPS of 60 cents and revenues of $553.3 million. Analysts had been looking for 48 cents and $553.9 million. The CEO noted that growth was led by record results in the North American and International point of sale/bar code units. Management also guided Q3 revenues to $550-$570 million, versus the $549.94 million consensus estimate.

Passing through a store check-out line is no longer a simple matter of handing the clerk some cash and waiting for your change. Nowadays, the process involves an array of technical devices for identification, scanning, printing, data transmission and security evaluation. There is a Greenville, South Carolina firm that knows all the equipment and distributes systems to some 18,000 resellers.

ScanSource (NASDAQ: SCSC) is a distributor of specialty technical products for automatic identification/data capture, point of sale, and communications applications. It provides such devices as bar code scanners, receipt/label printers, PC-based terminals, pole displays, call center equipment and electronic security products. The firm sells equipment from such manufacturers as Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

ScanSource got the Street's attention earlier in the week, when it guided fiscal Q1 revenues to $546-$554 million. That range was up from prior guidance of $525-$545 million and topped the consensus Street estimate of $535.5 million. SCSC shares popped on the news and have begun defining a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Stocks frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with one "strong buy," one "buy," four "holds" and one "sell." Analysts see a 17% average annual growth rate, through the next five years. The SCSC P/E ratio (19.78), PEG ratio (1.13), Price to Sales ratio (0.42), Price to Book ratio (2.56), Sales Growth rate (21.47%) and Revenue per Employee ($2.01M) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutions hold about 95% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 600 SmallCap Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $25.22 and $34.14. A stop-loss of $27.75 looks good here. Note that the company is expected to report Q1 results on October 25, after the close.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

Getting through the check-out line these days is a complex process. Quite often, transactions involve technical devices for identification, scanning, printing, data transmission and security evaluation. There is an outfit in Greenville, South Carolina that specializes in the gear and distributes systems to some 18,000 resellers.

ScanSource (NASDAQ: SCSC) is a distributor of specialty technical products for automatic identification/data capture, point of sale, and communications applications. It provides such devices as bar code scanners, receipt/label printers, PC-based terminals, pole displays, call center equipment and electronic security units. The firm sells products from such manufacturers as Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Passing through a store check-out line is no longer a simple matter of dealing with a clerk and a cash register. These days, the process involves an amazing array of technical devices for identification, scanning, printing, data transmission and security evaluation. There is a Greenville, South Carolina firm that knows all the gear and distributes systems to some 18,000 resellers.

ScanSource Inc. (NASDAQ: SCSC) is a distributor of specialty technical products for automatic identification/data capture, point of sale and communications applications. It provides such devices as bar code scanners, receipt/label printers, PC-based terminals, pole displays, call center equipment and electronic security products. The firm sells equipment from such manufacturers as IBM (NYSE: IBM), NCR (NYSE: NCR), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA).

ScanSource got the Street's attention last week, when it issued upside guidance for fiscal third quarter revenues. Management said it was looking for $484-492 million, a range above the consensus Street estimate of $476.9 million.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sprint Nextel Corp and Gap were the most notable downgrades today.

• Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S) was downgraded by five firms after pre-announcing lowered guidance:
  

• CIBC and RBC Capital Markets downgraded Sprint Nextel to Sector Performer from Outperformer;
  
• Soliel Securities and Deutsche Bank cut Sprint Nextel to Sell from Hold
• Credit Suisse downgraded the telecom company to Neutral from Outperform.

• Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS) was downgraded by AG Edwards to Sell from Hold, and sees downside to $15 a share if the stock trades on fundamentals. The analyst doesn't see much upside in Gap even in the event of a private equity buyout.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Following its disappointing revenue guidance, Scansource Inc (NASDAQ: SCSC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair and to Neutral from Outperform at Baird.

• Garmin Ltd (NASDAQ: GRMN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch; they expect Garmin to lose 3% of market share in 2007 as competition brings new devices to market. Further, Merrill believes strong fourth quarter earnings are already priced into shares.

• Buckingham downgraded Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE: HET) to Accumulate from Strong Buy.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).