Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) to Buy from Hold based on valuation. The firm, which has a $50 target on the stock, believes Tysabri PML cases are reflected in shares.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) to Buy from Hold as it finds the valuation attractive and believes the company's sales are benefiting from stabilization in California and share gains. Deutsche raised its target on shares to $45 from $36.
• RBC Capital upgraded Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) to Outperform from Sector Perform and raised its target to $39 from $36 citing valuation and views it as a low risk option on a global economic recovery.
• Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
• Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at RBS.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) reported a surprise Q3 profit due to cost cutting; revenue topped estimates as well.
• Avis Budget Group Inc. (NYSE: CAR) said a proposed offering of $250 million in notes could reduce earnings.
• Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) earnings prospects garnered it an upgrade from one analyst.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) earnings prospects resulted in an upgrade from one analyst.
• Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) lower Q4 earnings topped analysts' expectations, lifting shares.
• Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) higher Q4 earnings beat analysts' estimates but sales were just OK.

Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) announced plans Wednesday to overhaul its 12,000 locations worldwide. The fast-food giant is seeking a sleeker, futuristic look that includes LCD-screen menus, rotating chandeliers, and corrugated metal and brick accents (see pictures at the above link) on the inside, as well as metal canopies and additional signs on the exterior.

The new upscale design, called 20/20, is expected to cost franchisees between $300,000 to $600,000 per restaurant. Some 60 locations have already been remodeled, including in Miami, Mexico City, Edinburgh, and Shanghai, and 75 more are expected to be completed by the end of 2010. All new restaurants will be built using the 20/20 design.

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), which competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN) for the right to feed consumers on the go around the world, issued a Q3 report after the bell on Tuesday that was decent in many respects. Earnings per share on an adjusted basis increased over 20% to 70 cents. This performance absolutely embarrassed the analysts, who were looking for a mere 58 cents per share according to our earnings preview.

So, that was one of the decent parts. Actually, I'd say it was a little more than decent. But, unfortunately, the top line didn't grow. Total revenues actually declined 2%.

Wall Street appears ready to claim a third straight day of gains as stocks continue a rally cheered by brighter economic news and expectations of higher corporate profits. All three major U.S. indexes -- the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite -- were higher in premarket trading Wednesday morning.

Yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average had its second-straight day of double-digit point gains, picking up 131.50 to end at 9,731.25 after Australia boosted interest rates citing an improved economy and earnings expectations that rose for the just-concluded third quarter.

At the time of this writing, shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), a company that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), were trading higher by well over 4%. Volume was doing well, too. Interestingly enough, Yum! Brands will be reporting Q3 earnings on Tuesday, October 6, after the bell. Does this mean that you should buy in ahead of the release?

On the surface, I suppose the market is telling you that Yum! Brands would indeed make a good earnings trade. Not only is the stock up nicely this afternoon, but it isn't too far from a 52-week high.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) kicks off another earnings season this week, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for another net loss for the third quarter. Can we take that as a sign of things to come, or as a bellwether for the economy? Well, barring a big downside surprise, this will be the third narrower quarterly loss for Alcoa. But while Alcoa beat estimates in July, it missed them in April. Alcoa's shares, on the other hand, are up 145.6% since the March low, which is well more than twice as much either the Dow or the S&P 500.

During its third quarter, New York-based Alcoa continued restructuring efforts, remained a part of the DJIA Sustainability Index, and declared a quarterly dividend. It is expected to report a net loss of $0.12 per share for the three months that ended in September. That compares to a profit of $0.37 in the same period of last year. Third-quarter revenue is forecast to have fallen 38.3% to $4.5 billion. Analysts so far expect to see a profit in the fourth quarter, but not for the full year. Alcoa has missed earnings expectations in three of the past four quarters. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 20.0%, again much better than the S&P 500. The First Call consensus recommendation is to hold AA; CNBC concurs that now is not the time to buy. At $12.82, shares are 30.0% higher than three months ago, but 33.4% lower than a year ago.

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), a chain of restaurant trademarks that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), delivered up a nice hot serving of earnings on Tuesday after the bell.

For the second quarter, net sales dropped 7%. Earnings on an adjusted basis increased 10% to 50 cents per share. This was actually much better than analysts' expectations. Wall Street was only counting on 43 cents per share, according to Bloomberg. However, the market is always looking forward, so there was a bit of bad news in terms of guidance pertaining to same-store sales.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says there's good in this market -- remember that.

Does unemployment trump everything? Does it trump Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take) sales? Does it trump 3G and 4G? How about Chinese orders? How about General Mills' (NYSE: GIS) (Cramer's Take) numbers? Yum!'s (NYSE: YUM) (Cramer's Take) business? Does unemployment trump pending home sales? Or order pick-ups in autos and a subsequent bottom?

That's what you have to ask yourself when you sell. You have to ask yourself whether 40,000 or 60,000 jobs trumps everything good that has happened. You have to ask yourself if the government were to take 100,000 of those people and give them jobs taking care of federal lands and parks or working at the post office or having them go into a conservation corps, whether we would be up and not down.

Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC), a fast-food chain whose colleagues include Burger King (NYSE: BKC), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), reported earnings for the third quarter on Tuesday after the bell. The shares have done well today on the news. As I write this, Sonic's stock is up well over 12% in afternoon trading. Volume is great. Do you want to get in on the action?

Sonic said it earned an adjusted 24 cents per share. This article reported expectations as being $0.20 per share, so management beat the bottom line by a nice amount. We'll throw that result on the positive side of the line.

Burger King (NYSE: BKC), a fast-food joint that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), issued its Q3 report on Wednesday. The top line didn't do much, rising only 1% in the face of difficulties with currency translations. Earnings came in at 34 cents per share. That was one penny better than Wall Street's expectations, according to Reuters.

It's always good to beat the earnings call. But Burger King didn't get much mileage out of that victory. The stock actually sold off 3% on the news, closing yesterday at a fresh 52-week low of $16.55. The big catalyst was the conservative fiscal-year guidance.

After the closing bell last night, fast-food restaurant operator YUM! Brands (NYSE: YUM) stepped into the earnings spotlight, reporting a first-quarter profit that dropped 14% compared to a year ago.

Nevertheless, the company's earnings of 46 cents per share topped the consensus estimate of 40 cents per share. The company's sales dropped by 8% to $2.2 billion, which was worse than Wall Street's expected $2.35 billion.

The company noted that gains in overseas markets were undermined a bit by currency losses and a decline in store traffic in the United States at the company's KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants.

Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC), the drive-in fast-food joint that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), and Burger King (NYSE: BKC), reported second-quarter earnings after the bell on Monday. You know that video-game character Sonic the Hedgehog? Know how he's fast? Well, Sonic the burger server is unlike Sonic the software character right now when it comes to growing its business.

Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), a fast-food company that competes with McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), reported earnings for the fourth quarter on Monday. Call me unimpressed.

The chain earned $0.05 per share on an adjusted basis. According to this article, the results matched expectations. I don't begrudge Wendy's/Arby's for doing that in such a tough marketplace. But I do begrudge the weakness in the Arby's brand. Systemwide same-store sales at Wendy's were up 3.7% in Q4, while systemwide comps at Arby's were down a terrible 8.5%. Arby's is having problems attracting people with its current menu portfolio. The value menu at Wendy's, on the other hand, seems to be a strategy that is working. Customers are coming in, ready to get a deal on those delicious, although not-so-healthy, square-shaped burgers. So, if the company wants to improve its situation, it's going to have to get serious about fixing Arby's.

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

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) reported a huge Q4 loss on a charge and the economic slowdown.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) fell short of Q4 expectations but announced a dividend increase.
• Carlisle Companies Inc. (NYSE: CSL) Q4 numbers resulted in an analyst's upgrade.
• Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) warned that its earnings would fall well below expectations.
• Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) posted a bigger-than-expected loss and outlined cost cutting plans.
• Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) shares took a hit ahead of its earnings report due to rival Mattel's Q4 results.