Analyst Upgrades

• Netflix (NFLX) and Zions Bancorp (ZION) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Akamai (AKAM) to buy from neutral at Merriman.
• CSX (CSX) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Nordstrom (JWN) to buy from neutral, WellCare (WCG) to conviction buy from buy and Humana (HUM) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• E-Commerce China Dangdang (DANG) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• VMware (VMW) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Celanese (CE) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Upgrades

• Micron (MU) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Baker Hughes (BHI) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• PDL BioPharma (PDLI) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Fluor (FLR) and Rush Enterprises (RUSHA) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Camden Property (CPT) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Pinnacle Financial (PNFP) to buy from hold at Wunderlich.
• Linear Technology (LLTC) to neutral from reduce at Nomura.
• Hologic (HOLX) and Illumina (ILMN) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• F5 Networks (FFIV) to buy from neutral at Gleacher.

Analyst Upgrades

• Amgen (AMGN) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Goodrich Petroleum (GDP) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Tutor Perini (TPC) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Covidien (COV) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Sara Lee (SLE) and Comcast (CMCSA) to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
• Research In Motion (RIMM) to outperform from sector perform at FBN Securities.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Mosaic (MOS) to buy from hold and raised its price target to $78 from $64 citing improving ag fundamentals and the potential for BHP (BHP) to issue a higher bid for Potash (POT), which Citi feels would bode well for Mosaic.
• Cowen upgraded VMware (VMW) to outperform from neutral, citing recent share weakness and the company's significant growth opportunity.
• Citigroup upgraded CareFusion (CFN) with a $29 price target, citing valuation and the potential for margin expansion.
• Pfizer (PFE) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• Juniper (JNPR) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Stryker (SYK) was upgraded to buy from gradually accumulate at Soleil.

"With the uber-ambitious Ellison and Hurd now paired, I think the safe bet is we're going so see Oracle (ORCL) make some major moves (yes, probably more than one major acquisition)," suggests tech sector expert Paul McWilliams.

The editor of Next Inning explains, "After all, even without Hurd at his side, Oracle founder, Larry Ellison has been an aggressive buyer and now with Hurd on board I think the appetite could become ravenous.

"I think its probably a good idea to start thinking about what Oracle might do next.

Analyst Upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Smurfit-Stone (SSCC) to buy from hold after raising its estimates for containerboard names and upped its target for shares to $28 from $22. The firm also raised its price target for International Paper (IP) to $38 from $32, for Packaging Corp. (PKG) to $33 from $28, for Temple-Inland (TIN) to $31 from $28, for Greif (GEF) to $67 from $65, and for Rock-Tenn (RKT) to $70 from $65. All stocks are buy rated.
• ThinkEquity upgraded VMware (VMW) to buy from hold and has a $90 price target on the stock. The firm expects VMware to benefit from increased virtual infrastructure adoption and improving vSphere solutions.
• Needham upgraded Cavium Networks (CAVM) to strong buy from buy, citing the recent pullback in shares following Cisco's (CSCO) cautious commentary. The firm has a $37 target on the stock.
• Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• MedAssets (MDAS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Brookfield Properties (BPO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.

Analyst Upgrades

• Collins Stewart upgraded BP (BP) to buy from hold after the company canceled its dividend payments and agreed to put $20 billion in a claims escrow fund.
• Credit Suisse upgraded First Solar (FSLR) to outperform from neutral and raised its target to $150 from $110.20. The firm raised estimates given expectations for strong demand and lower costs and believes pricing upside for Q2/Q3 is not reflected in valuation.
• Argus upgraded EMC (EMC) to buy from hold, citing valuation and notes that the company's VMware (VMW) stake is undervalued.
• Rio Tinto (RTP) was upgraded to buy from hold at Societe Generale.
• Sunoco (SUN) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• UBS (UBS) was upgraded to outperform from underperform at Macquarie.

Analyst upgrades

• UBS upgraded CF Industries (CF) to neutral from sell. The firm cites valuation for the upgrade. In addition, UBS raised its price target on shares to $84 from $81.
• Baird upgraded Johnson Controls (JCI) to outperform from neutral and raised its price target to $42 from $33. The upgrade was based on improving margins, China growth, and upside from a cyclical recovery.
• Barrington upgraded G&K Services (GKSR) to outperform from market perform ahead of the company's Q3 results to reflect optimism regarding the company's operational turnaround. The firm set a $35 price target for shares.
• LaSalle Hotel (LHO) was upgraded to top pick from outperform at RBC Capital.
• Zimmer (ZMH) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Thermo Fisher (TMO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) lower Q1 earnings were better than expected but it lowered its full-year outlook.
• McDonald's Corp. (MCD) solid Q1 numbers were driven by its value menu, McCafe, and strength overseas.
• Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) topped Q1 earnings expectations and cash from operations rose, but shares declined.
• Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shares were lifted after its strong Q1 earnings beat consensus estimates.
• PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) fell short of Q1 revenue estimates but beat earnings per share expectations by a penny.

VMware (VMW) is known for its virtualization technologies, which make it easier to get more power from existing information technology (IT) resources. Yet, the company has been building on this platform by adding security and even cloud-computing capabilities.

It has certainly helped to continue the growth -- and make shareholders happy. So far this year, VMware's shares have gone from $43.50 to $60. In light of the recent quarterly report, the good times are likely to continue.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) better-than-expected Q4 numbers due to strong holiday sales of media products.
• BlackRock Inc. (BLK) reported strong Q4 results and doubled assets under management due to an acquisition.
• Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) shares fell despite better-than-expected Q4 earnings as guidance fell short of the Street view.
• DeVry Inc. (DV) reported better-than-expected Q2 numbers due to increasing enrollments, which lifted shares.
• EMC Corp. (EMC) reported strong Q4 results that beat the Street view and offered full-year guidance.
• General Dynamics Corp. (GD) Q4 results fell short of expectations and its guidance was less than estimates.

For the past year, it's been busy for VMware (VMW), which is a top provider of infrastructure software. The company released two major products -- vSphere and View 4 -- and acquired SpringSource and Zimbra. There was also a strong focus on cost cutting as free cash flows came in at $840 million, up 39%.

As for Q4, VMware continued to show traction. Revenues spiked 18% to $608.2 million and net income was $56.4 million, or $0.14 per share. When making some adjustments, earnings came to $0.31 per share, which beat the consensus of $0.26 per share.

Analyst Upgrades

• Jefferies upgraded Citrix Systems (CTXS) to buy from hold and raised its target to $48 from $43, citing VMware's (VMW) strong Q4 report and survey results that indicate continued strength for Citrix.
• Citigroup upgraded Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN) to buy from hold on confidence the company's LAR drug will be approved following the approval of Novo Nordisk's (NVO) Victoza. Citi raised its target price for Amylin shares to $27 from $4.
• Baird upgraded Texas Instruments (TXN) to outperform from neutral and raised its target to $30 from $28. The firm believes it is too early to take profits in Texas Instruments and notes that checks continue to indicate a continued recovery in end-demand.
• Lexmark (LXK) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Salix (SLXP) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Plexus (PLXS) was lifted to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

U.S. stock futures declined Tuesday morning as global growth concerns hit markets following S&P downgrade of Japan's outlook and reports of further tightening in China that could hamper growth. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, amid several economic indicators due out.

U.S. stocks rose Monday as bargain hunters jumped in. But trading was light as Wall Street awaited news from later in the week regarding the confirmation of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the State of the Union address and bank regulatory developments. Meanwhile, the earnings season continues to give mixed results, not fully convincing investors a recovery is underway.

The conventional wisdom is that virtualization software company VMWare Inc. (VMW) should be sold after a decent gain 2009, due to a likely, tepid recovery in IT spending in 2010.

However, VMW's software designed to increase efficiency and optimize performance is tough to argue against in an economy in which cost-cutting will mean almost as much as top-line growth, hence I'm reiterating my buy rating for the company, first recommended on June 5, 2009 at a price of $32.59. If you bought VMW in June, you're up about 25%.