Analyst Upgrades

• Verizon (VZ), FEMSA (FMX), Vornado (VNO), Duke Realty (DRE) and AvalonBay (AVB) to buy from neutral, as well as Carnival (CCL) to conviction buy from buy, at Goldman.
• Symantec (SYMC) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Copano Energy (CPNO), DCP Midstream (DPM) and Inergy (NRGY) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• SYNNEX (SNX) to strong buy from buy at Needham.
• Eli Lilly (LLY) to hold from sell at Hapoalim.
• World Wrestling (WWE) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.

Analyst Upgrades

• TCF Financial (TCB) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Exelon (EXC) to market perform from underperform at Wells Fargo.
• Nvidia (NVDA) and Boyd Gaming (BYD) upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Estee Lauder (EL) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Webster Financial (WBS) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Skilled Healthcare (SKH) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• NCR Corp. (NCR) to outperform from neutral at Wedbush.
• Barnes & Noble (BKS) to neutral from underperform and Pioneer Natural (PXD) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Autodesk (ADSK) to buy from neutral at Goldman.

Analyst Upgrades

• Intel (INTC) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight and Autodesk (ADSK) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Citigroup upgraded Blackrock (BLK) to buy from hold.
• 99c Only Stores (NDN) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• PetSmart (PETM) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Ruth's Hospitality (RUTH) and Morton's Restaurant (MRT) to overweight from neutral.
• BioMed Realty (BMR) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Piedmont (PDM) to market perform from underperform.

Analyst Upgrades

• RBC Capital upgraded Syniverse (SVR) to outperform from sector perform based on strong secular growth in mobile data and roaming. The firm raised its price target to $28 from $23.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded PG&E (PCG) to buy from hold with a $49 price target due to valuation.
• Jefferies assumed coverage on Sierra Wireless (SWIR) with a buy from a hold and raised its price target to $12 from $9. The analyst expects the M2M market to experience 25% growth over the next two years.
• Affiliated Managers (AMG) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• EastGroup Properties (EGP) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Gammon Gold (GRS) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.

Apple's (AAPL) Mac has often been considered a niche product -- at least compared to the massive PC market. Yet, this is starting to change. A key has been the success of the iPhone and the iPad. So why not get a Mac as well?

Well, this is certainly starting to play out, as seen with each quarterly report from Apple (the latest one saw 3.5 million Mac sales). And as a result, major application developers are getting interested in the platform. Just look at Autodesk (ADSK). The company has announced that it will launch its flagship architecture design product, AutoCAD, on the Mac for the first time in nearly two decades. Of course, there will be versions for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that will integrate with the Mac version.

Analyst Upgrades

• Credit Suisse upgraded Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to outperform from neutral following the company's increased FY11 guidance. The firm has an $85 target on the stock.
• FBR Capital upgraded Hyatt Hotels (H) to market perform from underperform following the company's Q2 results. The firm raised its target for shares to $44 from $38.
• BB&T upgraded to Smithfield Foods (SFD) to buy from hold, citing tighter supplies, strong pork prices and improving export demand. The firm has a $19 target on the stock.
• Holly (HOC) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Cogent Communications (CCOI) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• Catalyst Health (CHSI) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at First Analysis.

Right out of the gate Wednesday, put volume surged to about 50 times the norm on Autodesk (ADSK). Within the first 45 minutes of trading, about 20,000 puts changed hands on the design software company. Most of the activity is taking place in the July series, where it looks as though traders are buying new puts at the 25 and 31 strikes. The stock is currently trading near $26.60, in between these two popular put options.

However, today's preference for bearishly oriented options isn't exactly a deviation from the norm for Autodesk. Among options slated to expire within three months, puts currently outnumber calls by a margin of 2.74 to one.

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

• American Public Education Inc. (APEI) received an analyst upgrade following the Q4 report and guidance.
• Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) traded higher after it reported swinging to a profit in Q4, but revenue declined year over year.
• Blackstone Group (BX) reported adjusted Q4 earnings, compared to a year-ago loss, and postive renvenue too.
• Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) higher Q2 earnings beat estimates, but shares fell on so-so revenue results.
• DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (DWA) lower Q4 earnings beat expectations but net income for the full year rose.
• Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) topped analysts' Q4 earnings expectations but shares fell after it warned of lower margins.

Today could be called the Bernanke cheer. Ben Bernanke managed to successfully convince Wall Street that interest rates were not going to rise any time soon. A slate of favorable earnings also added to spate of news that overseas emerging markets.

These were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,374.84 +92.43 (0.90%)
S&P 500 1,105.12 +10.52 (0.96%)
Nasdaq 2,235.59 +22.15 (1.00%)

Top Analyst Calls
Top Stock and Market Rumors

Autodesk (ADSK), which is the developer of AutoCAD and other sophisticated design tools, is showing signs of a comeback. In the company's latest quarterly report, profits came to $50.1 million, or $0.21 per share, up from a loss of $105.3 million, or $0.47 per share in the same period a year ago. Although, there was a decline in revenues of 6.9% to $456.1 million and license revenues fell 13%.

Keep in mind that Autodesk has been aggressive in cutting costs. For the past year, the company realized savings of $312 million million. The original goal was $250 million.

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

• Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) posted better-than-expected Q3 results, sending shares higher.
• AutoDesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings, sending shares higher.
• Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) had another disappointing quarter as same-store sales declined.
• CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) delayed its Q3 report due to ongoing debt restructuring and a possible bankruptcy.
• Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) Q2 earnings came in well ahead of Wall Street expectations.

AutoDesk (NASDAQ: ADSK - option chain) shares are rising today after the company reported Q2 earnings of 0.05 per share and $10.5M. Excluding one-time items, this EPS was 0.24, above estimates of 0.19. 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 ADSK.

ADSK opened this morning at $25.21. So far today the stock has hit a low of $25.08 and a high of $25.61. As of 11:10, ADSK is trading at $25.30, up 1.10 (4.6%). The chart for ADSK looks neutral and S&P gives ADSK a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) is scheduled to release its first-quarter earnings results after the closing bell today. Analysts, on average, are expecting the company to report a profit of 8 cents per share, down sharply from ADSK's profit of 50 cents per share in the year-ago period. Sales for the period are expected to arrive at $419 million.

Thomson First Call reports that the software concern has exceeded Wall Street's consensus earnings estimates in each of the previous four reporting periods, but pessimism is nevertheless running high ahead of tonight's announcement. On Wednesday, traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) bought to open 3,607 puts on ADSK, compared to just 84 calls. In other words, bearish bets were nearly 43 times more popular than their bullish counterparts.

The day's skeptically skewed option volume was simply the extension of a recent trend; ADSK boasts a hefty 10-day ISE put/call volume ratio of 9.56, indicating that traders have consistently preferred puts over calls during the two weeks preceding the earnings release. This ratio ranks in the 99th percentile, revealing that pessimistic options on the equity have rarely been in greater demand.

The market was down almost all day, although it did make a few runs at going positive. The Q4 GDP data was even far worse than the revision estimates. While there is very little good news on the headlines, it does seem as though buyers are starting to nibble on positions. The end of day drop today looks like it was an index rebalance issue for month-end, although there could always be the fear of holding into the weekend. In that case, today almost felt like a win. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 7,068.66 -113.42 (-1.58%)
S&P 500 735.50 -17.33 (-2.30%)
Nasdaq 1,377.84 -13.63 (-0.98%)

Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Analyst Upgrades

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

• Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) kicked off the new season with a larger-than-expected loss due to the economic slump.
• Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions (NASDAQ: MDRX) reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings.
• Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) share price soared after its strong Q1 earnings and guidance.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) earnings prospects without CEO Steve Jobs led to an analyst's downgrade.
• Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) lowered its guidance as business slows at an unprcedented rate.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) reported terrible Q4 results and receivbed additional TARP money.
• Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG) lowered its 2008 earnings estimate due to soft soybean commodity markets.
• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) posted a much bigger-than-expected loss and said it would split in two.
• Coventry Health Care Inc. (NYSE: CVH) offered full-year guidance that was less than analysts expectations.
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) forecast Q4 earnings would come in below analysts' expectations.
• CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) increased its quarterly dividend despite the recent lowered guidance.
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) reported a net loss for Q4 and the full year, dragging down the sector.
• Genentech Inc. (NASDAQ: DNA) revenue and earnings surged but were lower than analysts estimated.
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) Q4 results were in line with low expectations as the gross margin declined.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) reported a huge drop in Q4 earnings but it stayed in the black.
• Lexmark International Inc. (NYSE: LXK) slashed its Q4 outlook and announced job cuts.
• Pentair Inc. (NYSE: PNR) efforts to limit an earnings decline led to a buy recommendation.
• Precision Cast Corp. (NYSE: PCP) earnings prospects following the recent rally led to an analyst's downgrade.