WW Grainger (NYSE: GWW - option chain) shares are moving higher today after the company reported a first-quarter profit of $96.38 million, or $1.25 per share, beating analysts' projections of $1.07 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 GWW.

GWW opened this morning at $80.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $79.73 and a high of $86.06. As of 11:25, GWW is trading at $82.48, up $5.24 (6.8%). The chart for GWW looks neutral and S&P gives GWW a 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Monday, May 12

• Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 8:00am.
• W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE: GWW) to hold sales conference call at 8:00am.
• XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) to report quarterly earnings; the conference call is at 10:00am for XM and at 4:30pm for Sirius.

Tuesday, May 13

• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 7:30am.
• Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL) to report preliminary Q2 results and outlook at 2pm.
• Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.

Wednesday, May 14

• FCC Open Commission Meeting at 9:30am.
• SEC Open Commission Meeting at 10:00am.
• Macy's, Inc. (NYSE: M) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 10:30am.
• Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.

Monday September 10

• Illinois District Court: Merck & Co Inc (NYSE: MRK) Vioxx trial to start.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) to webcast the launch of the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor.

Tuesday September 11

• Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke to speak at Bundesbank Conference in Berlin.
• Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE: LGF) to hold shareholder meeting at 10am.

Wednesday September 12

• Brady Corporation (NYSE: BRC) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 10am.
• Select Comfort Corporation (NASDAQ: SCSS) to hold Q3 Business Update conference call at 4pm.

Thursday September 13

• Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) to hold shareholder meeting at 11:30am.

Friday September 14

• W.W. Grainger Inc (NYSE: GWW) to hold August sales conference call at 8am.
• Isle of Capri Casinos Inc (NASDAQ: ISLE) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 9am.
• Interlink Electronics Inc (OTC: LINK) to hold a conference call to discuss asset sale at 1pm.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sirius Satellite (SIRI), Harley-Davidson (HOG), and New York Times (NYT) top today's list of downgrades.

• UBS downgraded Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) to Market Perform from Outperform. The firm cited the end of its paired trade opportunity with XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), aggressive fourth-quarter subscriber forecasts and weakening consumer interest for satellite radio products.
• Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy on valuation at A.G. Edwards. The motorcycle giant was also downgraded to Neutral from Outperform by Robert W. Baird on valuation and the potential for slower seasonal fourth-quarter growth.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) to Underweight from Equal Weight on valuation.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Ferris Baker Watts downgraded Powerwave Tech Inc. (NASDAQ:PWAV) to Neutral from Buy on valuation.
• William Blair downgraded W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE:GWW) and MSC Industrial (NYSE:MSM) to Market Perform from Outperform due to weakened macroeconomic indicators and softness in the construction and transportation end markets.
• Finally, Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:GDP) was downgraded to Reduce from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey based on lower production and higher operating tax expenses.

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