Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Lennar (NYSE: LEN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company's near-term liquidity profile is improved following the $400M debt issuance. The firm raised its target price to $12 from $11.
• Jefferies upgraded Rowan Companies (NYSE: RDC) to Buy from Hold as it believes jack-up drillers will continue to outperform deepwater names. The firm raised its target price to $27 from $20.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded First Financial (NASDAQ: FFIN) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect more positive loan data for the Texas banks. The firm raised its target price on shares to $44 from $38.
• MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
• Brinker (NYSE: EAT) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Under Armour (NYSE: UA - option chain) shares are soaring higher today after the company reported a first-quarter profit of $3.96 million, or 8 cents per share. Analysts were expecting a profit of only 3 cents per share. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on UA.

UA opened this morning at $23.94. So far today the stock has hit a low of $22.79 and a high of $25.34. As of 11:25, UA is trading at $24.00, up 2.30 (10.0%). The chart for UA looks bullish and S&P gives UA a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

It has become customary to receive "swag" when there is a big event. The Emmys, the Oscars, the MTV Awards, they all give away what is called a "swag bag" -- now Under Armour (NYSE: UA) is getting in on the action.

First off, swag is defined as promotional merchandise that is given away to garner a following for a product. I'm not quite sure when this practice came to pass, but it is now an accepted practice to give away your stuff to celebs. I'm not going to get into how wrong it is for Brad and Angelina to get free stuff just for showing up on a red carpet, but this practice has infiltrated the sports world, too.

Perhaps this is a post-season tilt that the Cubbies may actually be able to win. Sorry Chicago, but this blogger is a dyed-in-the-wool Cincinnati Reds fan ... and I love to take cheap shots at the competition whenever I can.

You see, the Cubs are suing Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) for breach of contract (check out SportsOneSource Media for the heads up). The UA logo is emblazoned on the left-center and right-center field doors embedded in the iconic ivy walls of Wrigley Field.

If you were depressed about more than 500,000 jobs being destroyed and over a 6.7% unemployment number, it seems that technical trading buyers came in to your rescue today. Home delinquencies rose in every single market but that is expected by now. The late day rally came on strong and bailed out the bulls today. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA 8,635.42 +259.18 (3.09%)
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Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is expected to win control over Merrill Lynch as today is the shareholder vote on the merger. Shares rose over 7% to $15.35 on the news.

Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) shares are falling after the company reported a first-quarter profit of $2.9 million, or 6 cents per share, beating analyst forecasts of 3 cents per share. However, the company also lowered its 2008 profit forecast to between $103.5 million to $104.5 million, from a previous estimate of $108.5 million to $110.5 million, which is giving investors reasons to worry. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on UA.

After hitting a one-year high of $73.40 in August, the stock hit a one-year low of $25.32 in January. This morning, UA opened at $34.54. So far today the stock has hit a low of $33.80 and a high of $36.87. As of 11:55, UA is trading at $34.89, down $3.69 (-9.6%). The chart for UA looks neutral and deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock its highest 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a June bear-call credit spread above the $45 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in seven weeks as long as UA is below $45 at June expiration. Under Armour would have to rise by more than 29% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

"Under Armour (NYSE: UA) and VMware (NYSE: VMW) both have the potential for a short squeeze in coming months," says Paul Tracy in StreetAuthority Market Advisor.

"VMware is a market leader in software virtualization. Companies typically do not use the full computing power of their servers, and when not in use, that server sits idle.

"Virtualization technology allows IT managers to use that underutilized capacity -- running software across the organization's entire base of servers. Thus, virtualization is a key cost-cutting technology.

"VMware has a short interest ratio of 11.7 and a freely traded float of just 50 million shares. If all those shorts try to cover, the stock looks likely to be in short supply. Meanwhile, trading at 36 times 2009 earnings estimates with a long-term growth rate of 45%, VMW doesn't look overpriced.

"Under Armour (NYSE: UA) makes clothing (along with sports equipment) targeting the athletic and outdoor-oriented market. Specifically, the company makes clothes designed to wick moisture away from the skin and keep the wearer at a comfortable temperature, regardless of weather conditions.

"Meanwhile, the stock has seen strong earnings growth despite the slowdown in consumer spending -- earnings surged 42% in the fourth quarter. And management recently announced its looking for revenues to reach $765-775 million in 2008, representing around a 27% increase over 2007 levels.

"With a forward P/E of 23 and a long-term growth rate of 25%, UA looks inexpensive. With a float of less than 32 million shares and a short interest ratio approaching 12, Under Armour looks like a prime short-squeeze candidate."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: K-12 Inc., ChinaEdu and Cardtronics were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Baird is positive on K-12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN)'s leadership position and growing market opportunity for expansion. The firm started shares with an Outperform rating and $26 target. Shares were also initiated at Morgan Stanley with an Equal Weight rating and at Credit Suisse with an Outperform rating.
• Bear initiated ChinaEdu (NASDAQ: CEDU) with an Outperform rating and $11.20 target and said demand for post-secondary education in is outstripping the capacity of land based universities and that CEDU will benefit from the governments strategy to raise education levels. Piper, which started shares with a Buy rating and $10 target, believes the online higher education market is still in the relatively early stages as online student enrollments represent less than one-fourth of total university enrollments.
• William Blair believes Cardtronics (NASDAQ: CATM) has a highly attractive opportunity to increase the number of ATM sites it operates. The firm assumed coverage with an Outperform rating.

Other initiataions:

• MedAssets (NASDAQ: MDAS) was initiated with an Overweight rating and $24 target at Lehman, at Deutsche Bank with a Buy rating and $25 target and at Wachovia with a Market Perform rating.
• Jefferies initiated VanceInfo (NYSE: VIT) with a Buy rating and $11 target.
• Susquehanna initiated Under Armour (NYSE: UA) with a Neutral rating.

Under Armour (NYSE: UA) is recently trading at $29.90 in pre-open trading, below its close of $37.06.

UA anticipates full year 2007 net revenues to increase approximately 40% to an estimated $605 million.

Stephens Inc says: "Despite UA's pre-announced out-performance in 4Q07, the now anticipated weight of the 1H08 marketing spend to launch the new UA footwear line is obviously putting additional discount on the stock."

UA February option implied volatility of 100 is above its 26-week average of 55 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

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

Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) has been falling for the past week after disclosures of insider trading. Chairman and CEO Kevin Plan sold 1.5 million shares last week for almost $90 million. Two of Under Armour's senior vice presidents, Kip Fulks and Scott Plank, also sold 15,000 shares and 850,000 shares respectively last week. Total insider sales over the past month have reached $130.6 M. The insider sell-off causes concern for shareholders despite UA's positive earnings report last month. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on UA.

After hitting a one-year high of $73.40 in August, the stock has declined over the past three months. This morning, UA opened at $48.20. So far today the stock has hit a low of $45.00 and a high of $48.20. As of 11:15, UA is trading at $46.78, down $1.82 (-3.7%). The chart for UA looks are bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a January bear-call credit spread above the $65 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. This particular trade will make a 4.2% return in less than 3 months as long as UA is below $65 at January expiration. Under Armour would have to rise by more than 49% before we would start to lose money.

UA has never been above $65 for more than a few days at a time and has shown resistance around $60 recently. This trade could be risky if the holiday season turns out to be a big one for retail, but that looks to be an overly optimistic view at this point. Plus, this position could be protected by strong resistance UA has formed around $64, where the stock topped in late October.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in UA.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: FreeSeas, Nektar, Altus Pharmaceuticals and AbitibiBowater were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Cantor initiated shares of FreeSeas (NASDAQ: FREE) with a Buy rating and $10 target, as they expect the company to benefit from the continued strength in the dry bulk market.
  
• JP Morgan resumed coverage of Nektar (NASDAQ: NKTR) with an Overweight rating, as they view weakness from the discontinuation of Exubera as a buying opportunity given the company's base royalty business and pipeline opportunities.
  
• Altus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALTU) was initiated with a Buy rating and $19 target at Jefferies. The firm expects news flow from the company's two lead products over the next 6-12 months that should act as catalysts.
  
• AbitibiBowater (NYSE: ABH) was initiated with a Sell rating and $18 target at Banc of America, as they are cautious on newsprint trends; the firm recommends reducing existing positions.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Caris initiated Collective Brands (NYSE: PSS) with an Average rating and $18 target and Under Armour (NYSE: UA) with an Above Average rating.
  
• Stifel started shares of Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) with a Hold rating.
  
• PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) was initiated with a Sell rating at Goldman.

Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH), a single-family homebuilder based in Atlanta, will record a pretax charge of $230 million in the fourth quarter and suspend its quarterly dividend to reduce costs. BZH December option implied volatility of 98 is above its 26-week average of 86 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risks.

Under Armour (NYSE: UA) Chairman and Chief Executive Kevin Plank on Nov. 5 reported selling $76 million in company shares. Plank continues to own 12.5 million of class b shares. Dow Jones reported of two other executives selling shares, Senior Vice President Scott Plank selling $45 million and Senior VP Kip Fulks selling $8.8 million. UA has a market cap of $2.4 billion. UA November option implied volatility is at 65, December is at 54, above its 26-week average of 48 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: GPC Biotech, Akamai, Qwest, Shutterfly and LDK Solar were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• GPC Biotech (NASDAQ: GPCB) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman, to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank and to Underweight from Overweight at Lehman after the company's phase III trial of satraplatin to treat prostate cancer did not meet its primary endpoint.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) to Hold from Buy on valuation following the recent rally as they believe concerns around slowing growth, margins and capital efficiency will limit upside.
  
• Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) was downgraded to Sector Performer from Outperformer at CIBC and to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan following the company's disappointing Q3 results.
  
• Jefferies downgraded shares of Shutterfly (NASDAQ: SFLY) following the better-than-expected Q3 results due to valuation.
  
• Piper downgraded shares of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) to Market Perform from Outperform, as they expect higher blended poly cost for the company due to tightening scrap poly supply and increased competition.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Maxwell Technologies (NASDAQ: MXWL) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
  
• UBS downgraded Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL) to Sell from Neutral.
  
• Merrill downgraded CommScope (NYSE: CTV) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Under Armour (NYSE: UA) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.
  
• RBC Capital downgraded Beckman Coulter (NYSE: BEC) to Sector Perform from Outperform.

Under Armour (NYSE: UA) is seeing shares trade down after earnings this morning. It wasn't the actual EPS number, but the revenues.

The sportswear maker posted EPS of $0.40 and revenues of $186.9 million; First Call estimates were $0.34 EPS on $190.95 million revenues. Under Armour now expects revenue between $590 million and $600 million for 2007, compared with an earlier expectation for between $580 million and $590 million and consensus is already $596 million.

Gross margin for the third quarter of 2007 remained steady at 50.6% compared to 50.6% in the prior year. Another set of issues here were a doubling of inventories to $151.8 million with a simultaneous marketing boost to 12 to 13 percent instead of a prior 10 to 12 percent of revenue forecast. Higher marketing costs may pay off, but the higher inventories are rarely a welcome wagon for investors in high growth apparel trend stocks.

We did get some preliminary 2008 targets today. Under Armour said 2008 revenue and income from operations will come in ahead of prior goals of reaching long-term growth of between 20 to 25 percent.