"Our goal is helping investors grow their capital and income base from which to derive cash for their current and future needs," notes dividend expert Kelley Wright.

The editor of Investment Quality Trends explains, "To that end we believe that high-quality stocks purchased at historically low-price-to-high-yield offers the best potential for downside protection and upside appreciation. Our Timely Ten list represents our current top ideas.

Analyst Upgrades

• Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Nvidia (NVDA) to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), Leap Wireless (LEAP) and MetroPCS (PCS) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Illumina (ILMN) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Sun Bancorp (SNBC) to neutral from sell at Janney Capital.
• American Tower (AMT), SBA Communications (SBAC) and Freeport McMoRan (FCX) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.

The shares of dependable AT&T (T), which I first wrote about here on February 11, 2009, at a price of $25.89, have meandered near $28 for the past six months, save one probe of the $30 level. But the business model is still preferred at this juncture. Here's why.

AT&T's proposed acquisition of 34-million-subscriber T-Mobile USA for $34 billion will face intense regulatory scrutiny, and I think there's a better than 50% chance the deal will be negated on market concentration grounds.

AT&T (T) recently announced its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile in a cash and stock offer valued at roughly $39 billion. This is a significant announcement given the size of the two companies and since there was speculation that Sprint (S) might look to acquire T-Mobile. Sprint's shares were down 14% on this news. AT&T's move pits it firmly against Verizon (VZ) as both operators continue to build out their 4G networks.

Our price estimate for AT&T's stock stands at $35.80 which is around 40% ahead of the market price.

A great three day rally went from news and excitement to what was really just a dull quiet day for the market as a whole. Earnings and analysts drove some shares but the news of a downed airplane in Libya and more unrest growing in the Middle East region just failed to make markets move so much.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 12,018.63 -17.90 (-0.15%)
S&P 500 1,293.77 -4.61 (-0.36%)
Nasdaq 2,683.87 -8.22 (-0.31%)

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

Yesterday's announcement of the AT&T (T) and T-Mobile deal gives both companies a clear "win" in the telecommunications sector. Who are the "losers"?

The tower companies have experienced downward pressure today, with American Tower (AMT) currently trading down over 8%, SBA Communications (SBAC) currently down over 10%, and Crown Castle International (CCI) currently hovering down almost 5%.

A relief rally recovery is how you would describe Monday. The no-fly zone success of Libya over the weekend and the 'no more bad news' out of Japan were the two major contributors today. The US even announced that it would begin selling off the Treasury's $142 billion mortgage-backed securities portfolio.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels today:

Dow Jones 12,036.53 +178.01 (1.50%)
S&P 500 1,298.38 +19.18 (1.50%)
Nasdaq 2,692.09 +48.42 (1.83%)

Top Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

Pay-by-phone technology may be making big moves with Google Inc. (GOOG).

According to rumors, Google plans to begin testing its new mobile phone-based payment service in New York and San Francisco in the next four months. The system, developed by VeriFone Systems (PAY), will allow mobile phones equipped with near-field-communication (NFC) technology to simply tap the phone against the register to complete the transaction.

Tomorrow is a big day for Verizon (VZ) customers who have been waiting to get their chance to join the iPhone revolution, and we now learn that Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) will also be carrying the Verizon iPhone 4 at 600 retail stores across the nation.

As of today, when you visit Apple's (AAPL) website you are given the option to order an iPhone for use on either AT&T (T) or Verizon, with the price being the same for either option.

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

• Dominion (D) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Corinthian Colleges (COCO) to outperform from underperform at RBC Capital.
• Canadian National (CNI) to sector outperformer from sector performer at CIBC.
• DragonWave (DRWI) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Infosys (INFY) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• SL Green Realty (SLG), Lexington Realty (LXP) and Taubman Centers (TCO) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sunstone Hotel (SHO) to buy from neutral and Extra Space Storage (EXR) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.

Analyst Upgrades

• Verizon (VZ), FEMSA (FMX), Vornado (VNO), Duke Realty (DRE) and AvalonBay (AVB) to buy from neutral, as well as Carnival (CCL) to conviction buy from buy, at Goldman.
• Symantec (SYMC) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Copano Energy (CPNO), DCP Midstream (DPM) and Inergy (NRGY) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• SYNNEX (SNX) to strong buy from buy at Needham.
• Eli Lilly (LLY) to hold from sell at Hapoalim.
• World Wrestling (WWE) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.