This week, telecom software provider, BroadSoft, filed for an IPO to raise $103.5 million. And the company will certainly need the capital. After all, competitors include biggies like Cisco (CSCO) and Huawei Technologies.

Founded more than ten years ago, BroadSoft is now a top-provider of Voice over IP (VoIP) applications for residential and business customers. Services include things like: private branch exchanges (PBXs), video calling, unified communications and converged mobile and fixed-line services.

Analyst Upgrades

• JMP Securities views Yahoo!'s (YHOO) risk-reward as compelling, especially as cyclical and secular growth of online advertising improves. The firm upgraded shares to outperform from market perform and has a $21 target.
• FBR Capital upgraded PNC Financial (PNC) to outperform from market perform, citing an attractive valuation and better risk profile following the company's capital raise. The firm raised its target price on shares to $65 fro $55.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded SEI Investments (SEIC) to buy from neutral on expectations the company's revenues will accelerate in 2011. The firm has a $28 price target on shares.
• Research in Motion (RIMM) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Cisco (CSCO) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Macy's (M) was upgraded to buy from hold at Soleil.

Let's see now. Consumers are more pessimistic this month than last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average loses 100 points on the news. Unemployment is better in one month, worse in another. The DJIA goes up on the good news, down on the bad. Home Depot has a good quarter, raises its dividend, and forecasts a better year for 2010. The stock goes up 50 cents on a day when the market is down 100 points. Other stocks are light on revenues. They go down 10% or more.

The market always sends mixed messages. There has never been a time when all the news is good. That's impossible. If all the news is all good, it means the economy is really thriving. Then investors worry about things being too strong, afraid that inflation will come back, so they sell stocks. When things seem totally awful (see 2008 and 2009 as examples), some investors see nothing but upside potential (see Warren Buffett and General Electric (GE) purchases), and they buy stocks. Most of the time, however, the news is good and bad. There is never a straight upward or downward line for the DJIA or for any stock for a long period of time unless the stock goes out of business, then the line is flat.

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

• Aflac Inc. (AFL) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings, though revenue fell short, and offered rosy guidance.
• Avon Products Inc. (AVP) posted Q4 earnings growth that met analysts' expectations but shares sold off.
• Cisco Systems inc. (CSCO) higher Q2 earnings topped the consensus estimate but cash flow fell.
• CME Group Inc. (CME) fell short of analysts' Q4 profit expectations, resulting in price-target cuts.
• ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings and revenue that boosted shares.

A late day rally kept the fear mongers from winning hand over fist today. We were down as much as 160 points and a buying spree came in rapidly. The 9.7% unemployment left more questions when you consider that the jobs creation lost another 20,000 jobs. Today's late-day rally seemed like bargain hunting at the end of the day or short sellers closing out of positions ahead of the weekend after big selling all week. The huge loss that it looked like was suddenly a day where the positive or negative close was not going to known until the final minutes.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,012.23 +10.05 (0.10%)
S&P 500 1,066.18 +3.07 (0.29%)
Nasdaq 2,141.12 +15.69 (0.74%)

Top Stock & Market Rumors
Top Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO), an expert in networking, posted Q2 results on Wednesday after the bell. Judging by the data, the tech company is holding up okay.

The top line saw an increase of 8%. Net income came in at 40 cents per share, a 25% jump compared to the year-ago number. According to our earnings preview, 35 cents per share was the figure to beat. Score one for management.

How do you account for sovereign debt risk outside of the credit default swap markets? That is what traders were asking themselves today over fears of Portugal, Greece, and other issues. A growing China-U.S. tension and the reality of lower consumer after-tax monies in 2011, and on. The jobs data today was going further and further away from anything decent, and the fears of Friday's unemployment value of most assets fell... stocks and commodities hit skid row.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,999.84 -270.71 (-2.64%)
S&P 500 1,062.86 -34.42 (-3.14%)
Nasdaq 2,125.43 -65.48 (-2.99%)

Top Stock & Market Rumors
Top Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), whose CEO is optimistic about economic recovery, is scheduled to discuss its second-quarter fiscal 2010 financial results in a conference call Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 4:30 PM (ET). A live webcast of the call will be available at the company's website.

During the three months that ended in January, Cisco completed an acquisition, demonstrated new technologies at CES and announced some organizational changes. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for earnings for that period of 35 cents per share. That compares with 36 cents per share in the previous quarter and 32 cents per share a year ago. Revenue for the second quarter is expected to be 3.5% higher than a year ago to $9.4 billion.

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

• Apple Inc. (AAPL) posted its highest quarterly revenue ever, easily beating estimates, as iPhone sales doubled.
• Boeing Co. (BA) swung to a larger-than-expected Q4 profit but guidance fell short of analysts' estimates.
• Chevron Corp. (CVX) fell short of analysts' earnings estimates for Q4, sending shares lower.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) shares rose after optimistic statements by the CEO ahead of Q2 results.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) shares surged after it beat Q4 expectations by a wide margin and cash flow improved.
• Ford Motor Co. (F) reported its first annual profit in four years due to cost-cutting and improved market share.
• Halliburton Co. (HAL) reported lower Q4 earnings but beat estimates by a penny, and revenue also fell.

Cisco Systems (CSCO - option chain) shares are rising today after company CEO John Chambers said in an interview that tech companies often are among the first to see gains in a recovering economy as businesses upgrade their technology. This could be a good sign for the company, which is scheduled to report Q2 earnings on Wednesday evening. Analysts are looking for the company to post a profit of 35 cents per share on revenue of $9.4 billion, compared to a profit of 32 cents per share on revenue of $9.09 billion in the year-ago period. A good quarter announced last night by competitor Juniper Networks (JNPR) also bodes well for Cisco next week. 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 CSCO.

A new book, The Prince of Silicon Valley, chronicles the dealmaking of the IPO king of the 1990s: Frank Quattrone. He made a fortune as he helped more than 100 tech companies go public, which included marquee names like Cisco (CSCO), Netscape and Amazon.com (AMZN).

But those days seem quaint. In fact, the tech IPO market has been a backwater for the past decade, even though there have been some big deals -- like the offerings of Google (GOOG) and Salesforce.com (CRM).

This post is part of a special report, Top Picks for 2010, the 27th annual survey in which TheStockAdvisors.com asks the nation's leading advisors for their single favorite stock for the new year. See all 80 stocks listed here.

"EZchip Semiconductor (EZCH), a fabless semiconductor company that specializes in network processors, is my top pick for the coming year," says technology sector guru Paul McWilliams.

In his Next Inning newsletter, designed for sophisticated tech investors, he suggests, "I think the upside potential here in 2010 and beyond is significant.

Today was effectively a boring day in the stock market. At least there was a real index level change. The major overseas markets were all lower, and that sealed the direction for Tuesday. The yo-yo in the dollar and overall demand issues have oil lower and gold lower yet again today.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,285.59 -104.52 (-1.01%)
S&P 500 1,092.02 -11.23 (-1.02%)
Nasdaq 2,172.79 -16.82 (-0.77%)

Top 10 Analyst Calls
Top Stock Rumors
Top Day Trader Alerts

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the famous maker of printers and PCs, and a colleague of entities such as Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), and International Business Machines (IBM), issued Q4 results on Monday after the end of the trading day. Revenues didn't impress me, as sales saw a decline of 8%. Net income, however, was better. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share increased 11% to $1.14.

Also doing well was the operating margin. The adjusted metric increased 170 basis points during the quarter. The annual statement of cash flows should look good to any long-term shareholder. Management still had cash left over from operations after share repurchases, dividend obligations, and capital spending.

Amazon, Inc. (AMZN) is in the clouds. So are Google, Inc. (GOOG), EMC (EMC) and Cisco (CSCO). Now, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is joining them, having announced on Tuesday its new Windows Azure cloud computing system. The new product will be released on January 1, 2010 -- a new solution for a new year.

Azure will deliver an online platform for the software development set to build their own mousetraps and provide plenty of storage space for users. Testing began a year ago, and full live version will be celebrated next year. For the first month, Azure will be free. The charges start in February.