ThinkPanmure reiterated its "buy" rating on Taleo (NASDAQ:TLEO) ahead of the company's analyst meeting, according to the AP.

Goldman Sachs upgraded International Paper (NYSE:IP) from "buy" to "neutral", according to Briefing.com. The news service also writes that Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from $185 to $210.

EMC Corp (NYSE:EMC) was cut to "neutral" at Bernstein, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Douglas A. McIntyre

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Acergy, Casey's General and Corinthian Colleges were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Citigroup downgraded shares of Acergy (NASDAQ: ACGY) to Sell from Hold as they see risk to the company's backlog and believes the recent share rally is not supported by business operations.
  
• Casey's General (NASDAQ: CASY) was downgraded at Friedman Billings to Underperform from Market Perform citing headwinds that include weak gas comps.
  
• Banc of America downgraded shares of Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) to Neutral from Buy as they believe the post-legislation lending overhang will limit further share upside until COCO can show its students can access federal funds with minimal disruption.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Bernstein cut EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Baird lowered Woodward Governor (NASDAQ: WGOV) to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Merrill downgraded Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) and Bemis (BMS) to Sell from Neutral.

EMC (NYSE:EMC) Cut To Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein, according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports that Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Raised to Overweight at Lehman.

Thomas Weisel initiates Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) as "overweight" according to Briefing.com. Friedman Billings has taken Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) off its "best picks" list.

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

The markets got some extra relief today as weekly jobless claims only rose by 6,000 to 371,000. The Philly Fed also showed that manufacturing contracted slower than expected as output fell by 0.7% in April. Below are the unofficial closing prices for major index levels:

• DJIA 12,988.91 +90.53 +0.70%
• S&P500 1,423.28 +14.62 +1.04%
• NASDAQ 2,533.73 +37.03 +1.48%
• 10 Yr Bond(%) 3.8430% -0.0950
• 52-WEEK LOWS
• TOP ANALYST CALLS

China Architectural Engineering, Inc. (AMEX: RCH) enjoyed another massive day as its stock rose another 23% to $10.17 late in the day based on construction, architecture, and engineering needs that will be necessary in China after that earthquake.

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

• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) profits rose 30%, easily beating analysts' expectations.
• AMETEK Inc. (NYSE: AME) beat Q1 estimates on global strength and recent acquisitions.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) easily beat Q2 expectations but offered a weak outlook.
• AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) posted strong Q1 results thanks to the popularity of the iPhone.
• Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) beat earnings and saw an upgrade from Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Q1 profit soared, and it raised its guidance.
• Cymer Inc. (NASDAQ: CYMI) beat Q1 estimates and announced a share million buyback program.
• Electronic Data Systems Inc. (NYSE: EDS) posted Q1 profits on cost cutting and new contracts.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) Q1 earnings fell on on acquisition-related charges.
• Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL) beat Q1 estimates on increased commercial aerospace sales.
• Huaneng Power ADS (NYSE: HNP) earnings plunged on coal prices, but the stock went higher.
• Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) narrowed its loss on higher sales of networking services.
• McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) Q1 profit plunged on product development and marketing costs.
• MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) missed analysts' estimates for the first quarter.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) beat earnings expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
• Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) profit soared in the first quarter on increase in subscriptions.
• Nintendo Co. (OTC: NTDOY) posted record results due to the popularity of the Wii system.

Before the bell: Earnings have soured mood again

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) said its first-quarter profit dipped 14% on acquisition-related charges, but it posted a 17% revenue gain to $3.47 billion that beat Wall Street forecasts. Excluding items, EMC's profit was $477.3 million, or 23 cents per share. Also, VMware (NYSE: VMW) reported a 5% profit rise on faster-than-forecast sales growth. The company is mostly held by EMC. EMC shares are up about 5.5% in premarket trading. VMW shares are up 13.75% in premarket trading.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM), spun off last month by Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) reported first-quarter earnings this morning, posting a 29% increase in profit to $1.87 billion, or 89 cents a share as new varieties of Marlboro cigarettes such as clove flavored ones as well as acquisitions spurred sales in Indonesia, Pakistan and Mexico. The weak dollar also helped boost the bottom line. Revenue climbed 18% to $15.6 billion. The results beat the 78 cents analysts were looking for. Altria reports quarterly results Thursday. While Altria now does all its business in the U.S. where smoking has been on the decline, cigarette companies tend to do well in a weak economy.

Last night we heard that eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is suing Craigslist for unfairly trying to dilute eBay's 28% stake in it by more than 10%. Craiglist today is firing back, saying the online auctioneer's actions are unethical and smelling of a hostile takeover.

Tech companies suffered in the big internet explosion in 2000. Part of the problem was that many of them did not have adequate cash reserves to make it through the storm. They are concerned that the 2008 recession will be deja vu all over again.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "As of late last month, the technology sector -- which already had been heavy on cash in the past few years -- held nearly $232 billion in cash and cash equivalents, up more than 6% from nearly $218 billion a year earlier, according to Standard & Poor's."

The move is mindless and completely unnecessary. Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY) now has $3.6 billion and EMC (NYSE: EMC) has $4.5 billion according to the S&P numbers. The idea of building assets on the balance sheet makes no sense because both companies make money and have forecast to make money for the rest of the year. EMC had operating income of over $1.7 billion last year.

Wall Street does not like to see "unused" cash sitting around making 2.5% interest. Companies that do not have announced M&A programs, big share buy-backs, or special dividends are going to be punished for balance sheets that are too good.

And they should be.

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

Blockbuster (NYSE:BBI) was cut to "neutral" at JPMorgan according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports that EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC) was cut to "hold" from "buy" at Citigroup.

Citigroup downgraded Emulux (NYSE:ELX) from "buy" to "sell" according to Briefing.com. The newswire also reports that Bear Stearns downgraded Affymetrix (NASDAQ:AFFX) to "underperform" from "out perform"

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: EMC Corp, Emulex, VCG Holding and Conexant were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Citigroup downgraded shares of EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) to hold from buy and Emulex (NYSE: ELX) to sell from buy and lowered its targets to $17 from $22 and to $12 from $20, respectively, to reflect their more cautious stance on the storage space after channel checks indicated a broadly softening demand environment, most notably for 'higher ticket' items.
  
• Merriman downgraded shares of VCG Holding (NASDAQ:VCGH) to neutral from buy following the Q4 miss, as they believe acquisitions could slow in the near-term. They prefer to move to the sidelines until the company's outlook improves.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Conexant (NASDAQ: CNXT) to perform from outperform as they believe the CEO departure could interrupt the company's turnaround.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Hercules Offshore (NASDAQ: HERO) was cut to hold from buy at Deutsche Bank.
  
• JP Morgan downgraded Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) to neutral from overweight.
  
• Affymetrix (NASDAQ: AFFX) was downgraded to underperform from peer perform at Bear.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that absent any catalyst beyond "cheap," the sector looks set to disappoint.

When people say "tech" on TV, it is almost always followed with "cheap," or "low valuation." To which I say, "So what?" AMD (NYSE: AMD) (Cramer's Take) looked cheap until last night. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) (Cramer's Take) looked cheap and there turned out to be no there there. Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) (Cramer's Take) looks cheap but all I hear are earnings cuts. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) (Cramer's Take) looks cheap, but who cares?

Lots of cheap out there.

Here's my question: where's the catalyst?

Shorts? Stronger growth in the second half? No, the only catalysts I look for in tech are product cycles, and other than Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) (Cramer's Take) (nice move there), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) (Cramer's Take) and maybe Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take), because we need a new phone there already, there are no new product cycles to speak of.

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) shares are rising today after the company announced yesterday evening it bought privately held software company Infra Corp. for an undisclosed amount. The company also made a $3.25 per share takeover offer for Iomega Corp. (NYSE: IOM) yesterday, but it was rejected. If you think that the company 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 EMC.

After hitting a one-year low of $12.74 in March, the stock hit a one-year high of $25.47 in October, but has moved lower since then. EMC opened this morning at $15.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $14.76 and a high of $15.04. As of 12:25, EMC is trading at $14.86, up $0.16 (1.0%). The chart for EMC looks neutral and steady while S&P gives EMC a very positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy rating.

The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI) posted lower fourth-quarter profits but record full-year sales.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) posted strong results and offered bullish guidance (see transcript).
• Concur Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CNQR) revenue soared and it offered revised guidance.
• Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) posted a bigger-than-expected loss for the fourth-quarter.
• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) beat earnings expectations but fell short of revenue estimates.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) beat estimates but shares were dragged down by VMware results.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) shocked investors and missed earnings expectations (see transcript).
• Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) beat estimates as revenue soared.
• Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) sidestepped the subprime mess and fourth-quarter earnings soared.
• MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) reported a $2.3 million loss due to mortgage write downs.
• Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) posted a $1.6 million loss and lowered its full-year guidance.
• Monster Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST) posted strong results despite weakness in North America.
• ScanSource Inc. (NASDAQ: SCSC) beat earnings estimates but matched revenue forecasts.
• Somanetics Corp. (NASDAQ: SMTS) beat estimates and offered revised guidance.
• Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) beat expectations on revenue growth from overseas.
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) reported a record loss for the fourth quarter due to the subprime crisis.
• VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) missed revenue forecasts, sending shares tumbling.
• Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) posted unimpressive results, but beat earnings expectations (see transcript).

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Exxon, Boeing, Halliburton, Sony, UPS, Honda, and others and McDonald's, Kraft, P&G, Verizon, MasterCard, 3M, and others.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says Microsoft's $31-per-share offer will wake up the Web sector.

Oh, doctor! Just when you thought there was no reason to own tech whatsoever, when everything was slowing and awful, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) (Cramer's Take) decides to change the game and become the biggest online player there is.

This is huge. It is a giant liquidity event and a reminder that there is value, that there is a floor in a tech group that has gone from bad to worse this year, from totally unownable to ridiculously unownable.

Until now.

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) this morning reported a fourth-quarter profit of 24 cents a share on revenue of $3.83 billion, beating analysts' estimates of 22 cents a share on revenue of $3.66 billion. However, EMC shares are plummeting this morning after VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW), which is 86%-owned by EMC, reported fourth-quarter revenue of $412.5 million. Because analysts had expected VMW to report revenue of $417.4 million, investors may be thinking that VMW's breakneck growth will slow down for the first time since the company's August IPO. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on EMC.

After hitting a one-year low of $12.74 in March, the stock hit a one-year high of $25.47 in October. This morning, EMC opened at $15.42. So far today the stock has hit a low of $15.30 and a high of $15.75. As of 11:35, EMC is trading at $15.63, down $1.28 (-7.6%). The chart for EMC looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock its highest 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a March bear-call credit spread above the $18 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 11.1% return in 2 months as long as EMC is below $18 at March expiration. EMC would have to rise by more than 14% before we would start to lose money.

Last year, VMware Inc (NYSE: VMW) was a darling for growth investors. But as of this year, things are not so stellar. The stock fell 26% in after-hours trading because of the jarring news from its quarterly report.

Revenues increased 80% to $412 million, which was below the Street's consensus forecasts of $417 million. Net income came to $78 million, or $0.19 per share

VMware -- which is 85% owned by EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) -- develops so-called virtualization software. Basically, the technology helps to reduce the costs of servers and other information technology (IT) resources.

To push growth, VMware has been aggressive in global markets, such as Eastern Europe, Japan, and China. There are also some marquee agreements, such as with SAP (NYSE: SAP).

While it looks like the momentum will continue for the first half of 2008, things are not so hopeful for the remainder of the year. In fact, the company projects a revenue growth rate of 50% for the full-year.

True, a slowdown is inevitable as it gets difficult for a billion-dollar company to keep churning large-size growth rates.

Although, the competitive environment is intensifying. Companies like Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Virtual Iron are getting serious about virtualization. And no doubt, this is likely to put pressure on pricing.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook. He also operates DealProfiles.com.