MOST NOTEWORTHY: NCR Corp, Medivation and Teva Pharma were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Baird upgraded NCR Corp (NYSE: NCR) to Outperform from Neutral following its North American ATM managers survey that indicates a solid ATM environment and opportunity for margin improvement.
Rodman & Renshaw upgraded Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN) to Outperform from Market Perform citing valuation of the firm's pipeline given recent catalyst of positive Phase II results in Huntington's disease with lead candidate, Dimebon.
Goldman added Teva Pharma (NASDAQ: TEVA) to its Conviction Buy List citing valuation, upcoming catalysts, and defensive characteristics.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC) was raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
RBC lifted Bankrate (NASDAQ: RATE) to Outperform from Sector Perform.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) was upgraded at WestLB to Hold from Sell.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Symantec, Cardinal Financial and BP Plc were today's noteworthy upgrades:
ThinkPanmure upgraded Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) to Buy from Accumulate based on improved execution, stable growth in core business, and ramping competitive position in some high-growth businesses.
Baird upgraded Cardinal Financial (NASDAQ:CFNL) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation, the company's favorable credit risk profile in Northern Virginia, and its excess capital position.
Societe Generale raised BP Plc (NYSE: BP) to Hold from Sell as it believes the bad news is priced into shares and earnings could be better than expected.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU) was upgraded at Merrill Lynch to Neutral from Underperform.
Jefferies lifted Hunsman (NYSE: HUN) to Hold from Underperform.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU) was raised to "neutral" from "underperform" at Merrill Lynch, according to24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports that Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFMI) was cut to "neutral" from "buy" at UBS.
Citigroup added Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) to its Top Picks Live list, according toBriefing.com. The news service reports that Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) was also added to the list.
Societe Generale raised its rating on BP (NYSE:BP) to "hold" from "sell" according toMarketWatch.
When Alcatel and Lucent agreed to merge in April 2006, there were the typical phrases in the press release: "new growth opportunities," "cost synergies," "global convergence," "increased scale," "global capabilities" and so on. Oh, and yes, it would "create enhanced value for shareholders."
Yet, there was something that was curious. The CEO of the new entity, Patricia Russo, said she would not learn French, even though Alcatel was based in France. Might this be a sign that there would be some cultural issues?
Alas, the fact remains that the benefits of the deal haven't materialized as Alcatel-Lucent's (NYSE: ALU) stock price has gone from $14.50 to $7.50.
Well, this week, Alcatel-Lucent had its annual meeting. No doubt, it wasn't fun as shareholders provided an earful. After all, the company had to write down $4.55 billion in asset value because of the merger (there were also thousands of layoffs).
Interestingly enough, shareholders passed a resolution that allows Alcatel-Lucent's board to rid its chairman/CEO with a majority vote instead of a two-thirds of a vote.
Unfortunately, I don't see this amounting to much. Keep in mind that -- with consolidation of wireless carriers -- its tough for equipment providers to get any leverage. Plus, the competition is still intense.
By the way, Russo apparently is learning to speak French now. And she even spoke some words at the meeting. However, she will need to learn a more important language: profits.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Alcatel-Lucent, Opnext and American Axle were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Goldman upgraded shares of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU) to Neutral from Sell to reflect the recovery of U.S. corporate bond yields which they believe is positive for the company's long-term pension liability. Goldman also thinks analyst estimates may have bottomed.
Thomas Weisel raised Opnext (NASDAQ:OPXT) to Overweight from Market Weight after their research indicated an acceleration in optical communications component industry revenue growth.
Deutsche Bank upgraded American Axle (NYSE:AXL) to Buy from Hold to reflect the cost savings from the UAW contract.
OTHER UPGRADES:
MFA Mortgage (NYSE:MFA) was upgraded at Keefe Bruyette to Outperform from Market Perform.
Merrill Lynch resumed coverage of Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) with a "neutral" rating, according toBriefing.com. The news service also reports that Thomas Weisel downgraded NetFlix (NASDAQ:NFLX) to "market weight" from "overweight".
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) reported a staggering $3.3 billion loss in its first-quarter, due in part to a weak U.S. market, a strike at a major supplier and plummeting sales of sport utility vehicles and pickups. While the loss amounted to $5.74 per share, GM's adjusted results are a loss of $350 million, or 62 cents per share, handily beating analysts' expectations of a $1.60 loss per share. Still, compared to last year, when the automaker had earned $62 million, or 11 cents a share, the results are far from stellar especially when considering that GM's revenue slipped despite being up 20% outside North America. GM shares are up about 3.5% in premarket trading.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) also reported a loss Wednesday morning, its fifth straight quarterly loss and said it expected annual revenues to fall while scaling back its market forecast for 2008. Shares of ALU are down nearly 8% in premarket trading.
According to Fortune, AT&T (NYSE: T) is planning to cut the price by as much as $200 on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone when the new 3G model comes out this summer. Subsidizing the phone by that much will cut the price to $199 to for customers who sign two-year contracts, the Fortune source says.
I'm glad all these "blue chip stocks" are blowing up. No, I don't enjoy seeing investors suffer, but as I've written about here, here and here, investors need to learn not trust any company or anybody in this business. Investors don't even have to remain invested all the time! Contrary to the advice of fee-earnings-professionals, the majority of whom continually fail to match the S&P 500's returns, you don't have to manage your money like a $500 million mutual fund. Diversification is for widows and orphans!
While it'll probably take me a few years to truly get through to all of you, if you've been invested for any length of time in any company listed below-considering what you've been through-you're probably more likely to believe me:
Last week, I wrote one article about 10 stocks making new 52-week highs and another about 10 stocks making new 52-week lows. Gold, oil and steel plays made up the majority of stocks making new highs while technology and finance companies were the ones plummeting.
Both articles gave some very basic rules on how to spot reversals while recommending investors cut their losses quickly and let their winners run. And, both articles were released mid-week around the same time of day. Yet the article about stocks making new lows turned out to be more than seven times as popular!
Why do you think that is? Sure, they're slightly more actively traded, but I believe investors are not comfortable buying into or holding commodity plays because they've already gone up so much. But they're perfectly willing to go down with the ship on blue chip brokers and technology plays, sometimes even doubling and worse, tripling up because they're invested in such "quality companies."
Shares of communications equipment maker Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) have been surging today following announcing that its first-quarter profit more than doubled, helped by higher networking equipment sales. Its surprising earnings numbers and also a positive sales outlook gave a lift to the entire sector, whose shares have been rallying in early trading.
For the quarter, the company said that its profit rose to $28.8 million, or 28 cents per share as new products helped Ciena to "take share and gain additional customer traction." These numbers are up from $11.1 million, or 12 cents per share reported in the same period a year ago.
Included in the company's earnings figures was $7.7 million related to a patent litigation settlement. Excluding that, Sears earnings numbers would have come at $49.6 million, or 47 cents a share. Analyst, on average, expected the company show quarterly earnings of 40 cents per share.
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Here are some highlights from this past week's 
I'm glad all these "blue chip stocks" are blowing up. No, I don't enjoy seeing investors suffer, but as I've written about 
Last week, I wrote one article about 10 stocks making new 52-week highs and another about 10 stocks making new 52-week lows. Gold, oil and steel plays made up the majority of stocks 
Shares of communications equipment maker 
Cramer on BloggingStocks: Paulson and Bernanke step up to the plate
Google's $1.7 billion YouTube deal going down the tubes?
Before the bell: Futures lower as oil rises, despite Alcoa earnings
