MOST NOTEWORTHY: Intel Corp (INTC), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (AMD), Post Properties, Inc (PPS), Analogic Corp (ALOG) and the base metals sector were today's more noteworthy upgrades:

• DA Davidson raised Intel Corp's (NASDAQ: INTC) rating to Buy from Neutral based on market share gains and unexpected PC growth.

• American Technology upgraded Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) to Buy from Neutral as the firm expects shares to trade higher near-term with data not likely to get worse over the next six months. The firm suspects AMD could win a notebook platform at Toshiba Corp (TOSBF) and expects further offerings at Dell Inc (DELL).

• Banc of America upgraded shares of Post Properties Inc (NYSE: PPS) to Neutral from Sell and raised their target to $53 from $42 after REIT Wrap, a real estate industry newsletter, reported the company may have already received several unsolicited bids.

• Stanford upgraded Analogic Corp (NASDAQ: ALOG) to Buy from Hold based on improving fundamentals in the security and medical businesses.

• Goldman upgraded the base metals sector to Attractive from Neutral as the firm believes above-consensus metal prices for 2008-2009 are sustainable. The firm favors copper fundamentals over nickel, zinc and aluminum and views Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX) as its top pick.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Lehman upgraded Alon USA Energy, Inc (NYSE: ALJ) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• Bear Stearns upgraded Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd (NASDAQ: SNDA) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

• Wesco International, Inc (NYSE: WCC) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

• BMO Capital raised ResMed Inc (NYSE: RMD) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

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

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) is helping to bring eBay Inc's (NASDAQ: EBAY) Skype "to the masses," by selling Skype Internet calling phone gear in the electronics section of its stores.
• The Wall Street Journal's "BreakingViews" section speculated that a merger between General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) NBC and Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) would "make industrial sense."
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that the Bancroft family, which control a majority of the voting shares of Dow Jones and Company Inc (NYSE: DJ), is split over the idea of meeting with News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) Chairman Rupert Murdoch to discuss his $5B offer for Dow Jones.
• The Financial Times reported that Internet jewelry retailer Blue Nile Inc (NASDAQ: NILE) is launching operations in Europe.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Sunday Telegraph, Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) has hired Morgan Stanley to help defend itself in the event of an unsolicited takeover approach.
• The Sunday Telegraph reported that Clear Channel Communications Inc (NYSE: CCU) is expected to put its international poster business up for sale for as much as $3.2B.
• The Telegraph reported that rival groups are looking to stop Alcoa Inc's (NYSE: AA) hostile bid for Canadian aluminum producer Alcan Inc (NYSE: AL).
• The Economic Times reported that Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) is in talks with "leading Indian business houses including the Tatas," according to sources.
  

WEBSITES:

• DigiTimes.com reported that the ATI Radeon HD that was just introduced by Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) has fallen short of expectations in terms of price, performance and energy efficiency.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) -- option implied volatility flat into 4/23 EPS & Outlook. TXN is expected to report EPS on 4/23. Bear Stearns has an Outperform rating on TXN. BEST says, "We maintain our positive stance on TXN based on our belief that the ASP pressure on TXN's wireless business will moderate in 2H07." TXN call option volume of 21,304 contracts compares to put volume of 4,455 contracts. TXN May option implied volatility of 28 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, indicating non-directional price risks.

Option volume leaders today are: Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD), Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC).

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Energizer Holdings, Inc (ENR), Gilead Sciences, Inc (GILD), Intel Corp (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) were some of today's more noteworthy upgrades:

• Prudential upgraded Energizer Holdings Inc (NYSE: ENR) to Neutral from Underweight. The firm said Energizer has been overly focused on the negative potential of cost inflation without fully appreciating the positive mix shift being generated by faster growth of high-margin specialty products and new products that indicate innovation and a competitive edge.

• Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink Swann following Gilead's strong quarter.

• FTN Midwest upgraded shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) to Buy from Neutral as the firm believes they are seeing the beginnings of a truce with between the two companies which could lead to higher ASPs.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan to reflect the company's prospects for production growth.

• Stifel raised shares of Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE: WRE) to Buy from Hold with a $42 target.

• AG Edwards upgraded FARO Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: FARO) to Buy from Hold.

• William Blair upgraded Illinois Tool Works, Inc (NYSE: ITW) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• JP Morgan added J.C. Penney Co (NYSE: JCP) to its Focus List.

• Matrix USA upgraded shares of Henry Schein, Inc (NASDAQ: HSIC) to Buy from Hold on valuation.

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

Monday April 16

• Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 10am.
• PDUFA date for Neurochem Inc's (NASDAQ: NRMX) Eprodisate extended from today to 7/16.

Tuesday April 17

• Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Hearing on XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: XMSR) / Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI); Webcast at 10am.
• J.C. Penney Co Inc (NYSE: JCP) 2-day Analyst Meeting.
• Technology giants International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) to report after the market close.

Wednesday April 18

• United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 9:30am.
• Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 5pm.

Thursday April 19

• Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 5:30pm.

Friday April 20

• Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 9:30am.
• Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) to hold Analyst Meeting.

Friday the 13th. Superstitious? If you are, don't read any further.

But hey, you're in the market, aren't you? You know what this game's all about. Then read on, because you never know what's around the next corner, do you? Just be careful not to walk under any ladders.

ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC (NYSE: AMD)

On Monday the chip maker announced that it would report first quarter revenue of $1.23B, about $300M below what was expected, and said it would immediately look to cut costs. So much for those rosy sales forecasts. And it may not get any better any time soon. No matter what, these guys need a cash infusion really badly. So the next thing you know, the rumors began to fly that a private, and friendly, equity partner would emerge from the shadows to help out. While the stock reacted positively to the retrenching news, there's another possibility to consider: management will sell the company. Down route 82 in Santa Clara, meanwhile, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) was said to be smiling broadly.

CIRCUIT CITY STORES INC (NYSE: CC)

Repeat after me: "They hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) to help them look at strategic alternatives." Okay? They've said it's to help them sell those 900 stores they have up in Canada. But they're closing stores in a lot of places, aren't they? They're also firing all those hard working execs who make too much, and will continue to trim the f-a-t, especially that unnecessary spending. Many analysts feel good vibes, focusing on a future they think will be blessed with a long-term upswing. That said, the stock smiled. Repeat after me: "Goldman's not there just to shut the doors on some Canadian stores." Okay? The competition -- think Best Buy Inc (NYSE: BBY) -- isn't going to back off. And word about is that they may go private. That'll keep the stock afloat for now, but then what?

Yesterday's revenue and earnings miss by Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) point to how powerful Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is. AMD seriously bypassed Intel, beating it to market with a 64-bit processor. However, Intel, as usual, waited for the market to broadly adopt 64-bit processors and then jumped in with both feet.

AMD announced it expects to report revenue of $1.2 billion in the upcoming quarter, below the $1.5 billion consensus. AMD cited a drop in both ASP and volume as the reasons for the shortfall -- not good.

In Intel's most recently reported quarter, demand for microprocessors was strong. The presumption that AMD with a strong product portfolio and slower PC desktop growth would mean tough times for Intel, appears not to be the case.

Increased demand for notebooks and the use of dual-core processors has created a big uptick in the consumption of microprocessors. While per-unit pricing for dual-core processors is considerably less than the traditional single-core processor, the new fabs that Intel has constructed to manufacture these chips allows Intel to produce product for considerably less and make more money -- a luxury that AMD does not have.

It is time to start getting back into Intel in a big way. AMD, once again, showed a ray of hope that it would be able to compete against the chip giant, but once the market moved full force in its adoption of 64-bit processors and Intel was able to put its capital to work to build state-of-the-art chip fabs, the battle was over.

AMD announced it would be cutting back on capex to avoid a liquidity crunch. This cut in capex is occurring when Intel is just hitting hits stride.

My advice -- Get back into Intel; avoid AMD.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: BHP Billiton (BHP), Applied Materials, Inc (AMAT), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Oracle Corp (ORCL) were some of today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Prudential upgraded shares of BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) to Neutral from Underweight with a $50 target to reflect capacity expansion in uranium mining and increasing demand for iron ore from China.
• Bank of America upgraded Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ: AMAT) to Buy from Neutral with a $25 target as the firm believes the company's solar power equipment market is accelerating faster than estimates and guidance.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) was upgraded to Neutral from Reduce at UBS citing limited downside to the shares.
• Oracle Corp (NASDAQ: ORCL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, where its coverage was transferred to another analyst.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Credit Suisse added Rite Aid Corp (NYSE: RAD) to its U.S. Focus List.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded O2Micro International Ltd (NADAQ: OIIM) to Overweight from Equal-Weight based on the company's announcement of a settlement with Samsung.
• Wachovia added Lehman Brothers Holdings (NYSE: LEH) to its Focus List. Due to Lehman's record banking fee backlog of $1.03 billion in Q1, the firm believes their banking estimate is "quite conservative."
• Continental Airlines, Inc (NYSE: CAL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at FTN Midwest citing the surprisingly strong March unit revenue growth for the upgrade.
• Bear Stearns upgraded Vodafone PLC (NYSE: VOD) to Peer Perform from Underperform.

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

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), the huge microprocessor company, has held up pretty well in the most recent stock market correction. Despite a good drop in all the major stock indices, Intel budged little -- a sign all the sellers could be done dumping this stock.

From Intel's most recent quarterly conference call, what shocked me most was the growth in the demand for microprocessors. The presumption on Wall Street is with Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD) doing an outstanding job coming up with new products the past few years and PC growth moderating considerably, it was hard to see how the chip giant would grow again.

However, the move to notebooks and the use of dual-core processors has created a big uptick in demand. While the per-unit pricing on dual-core processors is considerably less than the traditional single-core processor, the new fabs that Intel has constructed to manufacture these chips allows Intel to produce these chips for considerably less.

While this Fly has been cautious on semiconductors, with Intel apparently a washed out stock, with all the sellers gone, it is a good time to jump into the chip giant. I cannot remember the last time someone mentioned buying Intel's stock. This could be a good contrarian indicator.

My suggestion is to start buying Intel's stock and ride the seasonal up tick in demand.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX up 0.24 to 13.53

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) calls (quoted in Pennies) busy on chatter of private equity cash infusion. AMD is recently up $0.46 to $13.87. AMD has been frequently subject to LBO chatter; today chatter is circulating that a friendly private equity-strategic partner could surface to make cash infusion. Speculation is that AMD could announce a deal similar to the deal Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) announced on 1/23/07, when it received a $700 million dollar private placement from KKR. AMD call option volume of 73,560 contracts compares to put volume of 9,747 contracts. AMD April option implied volatility of 41 is below its 26-week average of 45 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risks.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) implied volatility is low. Meg Whitman enters ninth-year working as eBay CEO. EBAY is recently up $0.23 to $31.72. Meg Whitman has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, much of it in EBAY stock. Years ago, Whitman said she would leave EBAY after eight to ten years. Whitman joined EBAY in 1998. EBAY has a market cap of $43 billion. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a market cap of $270 billion. EBAY overall option implied volatility of 34 is below its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, indicating decreasing risks.

Option volume leaders today are: SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK), AtheroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIX), Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL) and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).

Note: The Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

We blogged late last fall about semiconductor stocks fundamentals rolling over. It appears semi management is beginning to whisper more and more of moderating results to analysts:

• Lehman cuts Micron Technology Inc's (NYSE: MU) estimates and sees losses for the next three quarters. The increase in demand for memory chips due to Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Vista demanding more memory is not happening.
• Pacific Crest Securities wrote second quarter chip demand is underwhelming, with notebooks and the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii the only bright spots.
• J.P. Morgan wrote consensus expectations for both the second quarter and all of 2007 are too high and is trimming estimates, The more significant earnings misses could come from Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD), Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and On Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: ONNN); with smaller cuts for Texas Instrments Inc (NYSE: TXN), Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR), Xilinx Inc (NASDAQ: XLNX) and Fairchild Semiconductor International (NYSE: FCS).

We began blogging about a slowdown in semiconductor stocks in November. However, most of this slowdown could be coming to an end. It appears from both National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: NSM) and Texas Instruments recent earnings releases that both companies are seeing the industry downturn ending as inventories have been worked down and backlog is beginning to build again.

The other major points we have been making is that we are entering the seasonally weak period for these stocks. So be cautious about jumping in with both feet in the early Spring.

Most likely, the two drivers for these stocks is the Fed lowering rates or the typically seasonal pick up which occurs in late summer. Since the Fed is on hold, there appears to be no need to jump into these stocks yet. Let the bad news hit these stocks and then start bottom fishing.

MOST NOTEWOTHY: ConocoPhillips (COP), InfoSpace, Inc (INSP), Verizon Communications (VZ) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) were some of today's more notable downgrades:

• Goldman Sachs downgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Neutral from Buy.

• Stanford cut InfoSpace Inc (NASDAQ: INSP) to Sell from Hold as the firm believes shares are overvalued since the company has no clear plans to reignite growth.

• Buckingham downgraded Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) to Neutral from Accumulate.

• Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) was cut to Hold from Strong Buy at Matrix as the firm believes growing competition is driving down selling prices and narrowing margins.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman downgraded Anadarko Petroleum Corp (NYSE: APC) to Sell from Neutral.

• Merriman cut Fiberstars, Inc (NASDAQ: FBST) to Neutral from Buy.

• Bank of America downgraded Dollar General (NYSE: DG) to Neutral from Buy.

• Cantor cut AudioCodes Ltd (NASDAQ: AUDC) to Hold from Buy following the company's lowered Q1 outlook.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Novartis AG (NVS), Barnes & Noble, Inc (BKS), Altria Group (MO) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) were some of today's more notable upgrades:

• Credit Suisse upgraded Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) to Neutral from Underperform on valuation and the approval of its drug Tekturna.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Barnes & Noble, Inc (NYSE: BKS) to Neutral from Sell on valuation.

• Deutsche Bank believes the recent weakness in Altria Group (NYSE: MO) presents a buying opportunity given the potential to unlock value, upgrading shares to Buy from Hold.

• JMP Securities upgraded shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) to Market Outperform from Market Perform following checks that indicate the company's next-generation "Barcelona" quad-core server chip and next-generation low-power mobile PC processor chip is exhibiting excellent power, performance, scalability, and price/performance characteristics at key OEM customers.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• ThinkEquity upgraded Microchip Technology Inc (NASDAQ: MCHP) to Accumulate from Source of Funds following the company's improved guidance.

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Eni SpA (NYSE: E) to Equal-Weight from Underweight as they believe management made it clear that the dividend is sustainable and a large-scale acquisition is not forthcoming.

• JP Morgan upgraded Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) to Neutral from Underweight citing management's new focus on customer service and expectation's for modest growth for the upgrade.

• AG Edwards upgraded Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc (NYSE: BUD) to Buy from Hold.

• Morgan Joseph upgraded Boyd Gaming Corp (NYSE: BYD) to Buy from Hold based on key markets the company operating in and its diversification.

• Bernstein upgraded Cablevision Systems Corp (NYSE: CVC) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform.

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

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) said it may have lost internal emails that it was required to produce in the antitrust litigation with Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD).
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is attacking Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) over copyright policies.
• The Financial Times also reported that Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) has launched a bid for control of Japan's Nikko Cordial.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Detroit News, Cerberus met with Chrysler executives on a possible bid for the DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX) Chrysler Group unit.
• Investors Business Daily reported that Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) and Dell Inc (NADSAQ: DELL) have entered into the Palm Inc (NASDAQ: PALM) acquisition speculation.

The ground hog said there'd be an early spring. Or, did he really mean an early spring sales event? Don't know for sure, but there's a whole lot of talk going on. Here's a look at some that grabbed our attention this week.

Lodgian Inc (AMEX: LGN)

The hotel operator's fourth quarter results are in and they're not pretty: A fourth quarter loss of $20.7M-compared to a $7.8M profit in last year's fourth quarter--and an announcement it plans to sell 27 hotels, keeping 43 as its core portfolio, as it attempts to redefine itself. Oh, and it suspended its stock repurchase program and won't bother to provide any forward looking information until its "strategic" process is complete. Good cover, eh? Maybe they're just gearing up for one big sale. And maybe that's why they really hired Goldman Sachs and Genesis Capital to help. They need it.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD)

A takeover target? Could be. Shares had an unusual run up at the end of February, coming after its fourth quarter loss that was reported in January. That was following by a dismal revenue forecast. So much for that talk of quadrupling microchip production next year from the levels of 2005.Word of a private equity buyout has the options market taking a serious look The real crunch, though, is its weakened balance sheet since it borrowed aplenty to take over ATI. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Wait, is that Intel calling?

Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW)

Could Dow go Indian? It could. Word all week is that India's Reliance Industries may be looking to grab a petrochemical biggie. Dow is a biggie. Many followers complain about Dow's performance and that maybe its parts are worth more than the whole. Meanwhile, Reliance's chairman Ambani is said to be in a position to pick up $6B to go after foreign companies along with private equity funds, said to include Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR. Like everyone else, Dow doesn't comment on rumors, especially when they've been hearing them for a long time.

Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS)

Here's the gist of what Gap's interim CEO said yesterday: This company has tremendous potential. I guess he forgot that the company had just turned in a 35% drop in fourth quarter profit. And that that was preceded by a year of sales turmoil and executive changes. One wag wrote the other day, "We have a hard time envisioning. a scenario where things can get much worse that they are today." They could put themselves up for sale, but are hindered by the fact that they aren't in the real estate business. They could close stores or sell divisions. They could go private. Whether or not there's a strategic buyer out there, good luck to whomever they hire to run the place.