National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM) is up about 9% on strong earnings.

ExpressJet (NYSE:XJT) is up almost 7% on news that it has extended a contract with Continental (NYSE:CAL).

Bearingpoint (NYSE:BE) is down over 11% after the departure of its CFO.

Focus Media (NASDAQ:FMCN) is off 10% on a weak outlook from management.

Stock may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Staples, Evergreen Solar and Genzyme were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) to Buy from Hold following the company's raised bid for Corporate Express based on the increased chance the deal gets deal done and SPLS achieves meaningful EPS accretion.
  
• Jefferies also raised Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ: ESLR) to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they believe concerns regarding capital needs are now priced into the stock and that the company continues to take risk out of its growth story through execution.
  
• Bernstein upgraded Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ) to Outperform from Market Perform citing increased confidence in GENZ's product portfolio, geographic and therapeutic diversification, improved outlook, and valuation.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
  
• BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) was upgraded at Goldman to Neutral from Sell.
  
• Lehman upgraded Nexen (NYSE: NXY) to Overweight from Equal Weight.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Smith & Nephew, British Sky Broadcasting and Electronic Data Systems were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) was cut to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, citing deteriorating fundamentals in several of SNN's key business lines.
  
• Goldman removed British Sky Broadcasting (NYSE: BSY) from its Conviction Buy List and said shares continue to trade at all-time low multiples and that the timing with Sky-Virgin dispute remains unclear. Shares remain Buy rated.
  
• Friedman Billings downgraded Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS) to Market Perform from Outperform based on valuation following the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) news.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman downgraded J Sainsbury (OTC: JSAIY) to Neutral from Buy and removed shares from the Conviction Buy List.
  
• Goldman also removed Hewlett-Packard from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Citigroup cut BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) to Hold from Buy.
  
• Wachovia downgraded LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) to Market Perform from Outperform.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Polaris Industries, Edwards Lifesciences, BearingPoint and Fortis were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Rochdale upgraded Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) to Buy from Hold, as they have increased confidence in the company's ability to achieve estimates.
  
• Piper upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) as they believe the bad news is behind the company with a U.S. turnaround expected in 2008.
  
• Jefferies raised shares of BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) to Hold from Underperform on valuation as they believe the risk/reward is neutral following the recent pullback.
  
• Fortis (OTC: FORSY) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns. The firm upgraded shares on valuation as they believe the recent weakness is overdone.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman Sachs added Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Commercial Metals (NYSE: CMC) to its Conviction Buy List.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Varian Semiconductor (NASDAQ: VSEA) to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• Bear upgraded Bruker Biosciences (NASDAQ: BRKR) and Hutchison Telecom (NYSE: HTX) to Outperform from Peer Perform.
  
• Banc of America upgraded Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) and J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) to Neutral from Sell.

This morning, Prudential issued notes on two of my favorite companies: Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT).

Prudential upped Boeing's target price from $99 to $103 but maintained the Overweight rating. The analyst, Byron Callan, tweaked his model, specifically adding 737 deliveries 2-5 years out. Mostly, however, he sees broader macro factors as a positive.
Prudential notes that other analysts recommending the stock have higher earnings estimates.

Caterpillar, which has been one of my favorite companies and stock for a while now, last week reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter. Booming overseas markets were the main drivers. Indeed, while the North American slumping housing market continues to represent a challenge, the overseas outlook is positive.
Prudential expects the N.American market to start improving in the second half of 2007, as the worst of the housing market slump is likely over. 2008 will be much better for CAT, and investors should focus on that, analyst Igor Maryasis said. He expects CAT's earnings to reaccelerate.
Prudential maintains its Overweight rating, but lifting the 6-12 month price target to $80 from $73, saying CAT's
current 11X 2008 EPS multiple remains attractive.

As for Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Prudential downgraded PFE to Neutral Weight from Overweight. Analyst Tim Anderson says that indeed PFE may be at the bottom, but he can't see clearly what would be the catalysts that would lift the stock despite organizational plans announced.
As revenue stream is eroded by generic competition, the analyst says Pfizer has two options: The first is to split up the company, which probably would not happen, the second is another acquisition of a company with phase III pipeline products.

Trending analysis based on preliminary Fed numbers for industrial production is revealing few surprises at this time. Provided here are some highlights which should give you some usable insight into where we're headed. The figures I present here are year to year comparisons, Feb '06 to Feb '07. The percentages are conservatively rounded and are only intended for use in trending.

Home electronics is the largest reported production gainer with an increase of over 25.5%. This implies continued strength in home entertainment and consumer electronics most especially wireless devices.

Appliances, furniture and carpeting are down over 5.5% . This is most likely due to the continued home mortgage woes and all the questions we are currently dealing with in that realm. This sector is also feeling increased pressure from abroad.

Energy production is up 9.5% which analysts say is due to the wide spread cold spells over the last two months.

Business equipment is up over 8.5% as a category overall with transit showing 9% gains and information processing up an impressive 14.5%.