Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) to Buy from Hold on expectations the company will be able to reach a settlement with the New York PSC Staff that will provide benefits to both ratepayers and shareholders. The firm raised its target on shares to $46 from $40.50.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's balance sheet, industry leading position, and potential for accretive acquisitions. The firm raised its target on shares to $75 from $57.
• JPMorgan upgraded Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect valuation and industry data points that suggest a pick-up in discretionary spending. The firm has a $30 target on the stock.
• Alcoa (NYSE: AA) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• East West Bancorp (NASDAQ: EWBC) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• Bronco Drilling (NYSE: BDC) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.

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

• Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) just beat low Q3 earnings estimates but revenue also declined.
• Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) earnings fell short of estimates but revenue was better than expected.
• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings.
• Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) posted a surprise Q3 profit but shares rose slightly on the news.
• Dress Barn Inc. (NASDAQ: DBRN) reported modest growth in both net income and revenue in Q4.
• FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) said that its Q1 earnings and revenue dropped but its cash flow has improved.

As Trey Thoelcke observed in his earnings preview, FedEx (NYSE: FDX), a package shipper that competes with UPS (NYSE: UPS), is considered by many to be a bellwether of the economy. The company reported Q1 earnings on Thursday; what do the results say about the country's financial situation?

Well, to me, they say things are still rough. Revenues decreased 20%, operating margin declined, and earnings per share plummeted 53% to 58 cents. Yeah, I'd say we're still having problems.

Memphis-based package delivery giant FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) is generally seen as an indicator of the state of commerce in the U.S. Last week, not only did the Fed's Beige Book report suggest that the economy had stabilized over the summer, with signs of recovery in some districts, But FedEx also boosted its earnings guidance due to stronger-than-expected volume in its international priority-delivery service. So a question going in to FedEx's fiscal first-quarter report this week is whether the company is still a bellwether.

For the three months that ended in August, when FedEx opened distribution hubs in Chicago and Toledo and declared a quarterly dividend, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for it to report that earnings fell 60.2% from a year ago to $0.49 per share. That's also down 23.4% from the previous quarter, as well as less than the recently updated outlook. First quarter revenue is expected to be down 18.3% from a year ago to $8.2 billion.

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

• Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was downgraded by one analyst ahead of next week's Q2 earnings report.
• Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) better-than-expected Q4 and full-year profit failed to impact the share price.
• FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) boosted its Q1 earnings guidance ahead of next week's quarterly report.
• JoS. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. (NASDAQ: JOSB) saw its Q2 earnings jump higher than expected.
• Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY) swung to a Q1 net loss as revenue plunged despite cost cuts.
• lululemon athletica inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) strong Q2 numbers topped estimates and drove shares higher.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) is on the upswing after hiking its fiscal first-quarter earnings guidance. The parcel specialist said Friday morning that it expects first-quarter profits of 58 cents per share, up from its previous outlook of 30 cents to 45 cents per share. For the current quarter, FedEx predicts earnings of 65 cents to 95 cents per share.

Both figures compare favorably to analysts' consensus estimates, which call for a first-quarter profit of 44 cents per share and second-quarter earnings of 70 cents per share. Chief Financial Officer Alan Graf cited stronger-than-expected volume in FedEx's international priority-delivery service for the upbeat guidance, as well as strict internal cost management.

The United States Postal Service has been heavily promoting it's flat rate deliveries based on the the size of the box instead of the weight in an attempt to retrieve some of the business that it has lost to Federal Express Corp (NYSE: FDX) and United Parcel Service.(NYSE: UPS) over the years.

The increasing use of the internet has reduced snail-mail traffic, hurting USPS revenue, while the internet has increased the traffic of package delivery services as sites like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) continue to expand their businesses and new enterprises and existing traditional companies expand their web presence.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wachovia upgraded Choice Hotels (NYSE: CHH) to Outperform from Market Perform based on its high margin franchise, valuation, and brand acquisition opportunities, among other reasons.
• Canaccord upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Speculative Buy based on asset and management quality, size, and liquidity, and view as a potential hedge against inflation and U.S. dollar weakness.
• Cowen upgraded Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Outperform from Neutral. The firm expects Amazon to gain more of the consumer wallet as it focuses on lower prices and a superior shopping experience vs. online and offline competitors.
• Ctrip.com (NASDAQ: CTRP) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura.
• FedEx (NYSE: FDX) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.

This morning, JPMorgan Chase upgraded FedEx (NYSE: FDX) to "overweight" from "neutral," citing the company's "strong operating leverage" that "should drive performance for the stock when there is improvement in the economy." The brokerage also stated that bad news is already reflected in FDX's stock price. They also upped the dean of delivery's price target to $66 per share from $60 per share.

Is this upgrade a smart move or wishful thinking? I have reservations on a couple of levels, so let's address those, shall we? My first reservation is on a fundamental level. The per-barrel price of oil is rising and could continue to rise, leading to higher gas prices. If this situation occurs, we could see FedEx punished a bit, mainly because of the company's reliance on gasoline. Yes, there is a possibility that FedEx could break its reliance on black gold, but it would take a fleet of hybrid or electric vehicles for this to happen -- and that costs a lot of money.

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

• Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) Q2 earnings were in line with expectations but sales beat.
• Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) beat earnings estimates for Q1, but on horrible metrics, sending shares lower.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) lower Q2 earnings beat expectations and previous guidance, boosting shares.
• CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) Q1 profit and sales dropped, but still beat expectations, sending shares higher.
• Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) posted a smaller-than-expected Q2 net loss and shares rose.

Analyst upgrades

• Baird upgraded Con-Way (NYSE: CNW) and Old Dominion (NASDAQ: ODFL) to Outperform from Neutral due to the benefits of a likely bankruptcy of YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW). Old Dominion's target was raised to $40 from $26 and Con-Way's was raised to $42 from $22.
• Citigroup upgraded Pride International (NYSE: PDE) to Hold from Sell as it believes higher valuation levels are warranted with the upcoming spin-off of Seahawk Drilling. Citi raised its target on shares to $25 from $18.
• Jesup & Lamont upgraded FedEx (NYSE: FDX) to Buy from Hold with a $63 target as it believes the worst is largely behind the company.
• Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
• ArvinMeritor (NYSE: ARM) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust.

FedEx (NYSE: FDX), the delivery company that competes with United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), issued its Q4 earnings report on Wednesday. At first glance, it's scary. On a GAAP basis, FedEx said it lost $2.82 per diluted share during the quarter. You say to yourself, "Man, has the recession gotten worse!" Then you take a breath and see that the loss is sourced back to goodwill charges related to the Kinko's and Watkins Motor Lines transactions. Therefore, adjusting for those elements, FedEx earned $0.64 per diluted share.

You feel a little better as a shareholder when you realize the loss has some accounting context surrounding it. The bad feelings return, however, just like a package that you forgot to put postage on, when you check the results achieved in the year-ago period. You find out that FedEx earned $1.45 per diluted share at that time. Is there any saving grace now?

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) is scheduled to discuss its fiscal fourth-quarter 2009 results tomorrow in a conference call at 8:30 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

For the quarter that included the package delivery service's ongoing dispute with the Teamsters and the expansion of services into Canada, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the Memphis-based company to report earnings of $0.52 per share, down 64.1% from the same period of the previous year. Revenue for the quarter is expected to have fallen 15.4% to $8.4 billion.

Most astute market watchers have known for a long time that the package delivery companies Federal Express (NYSE: FDX) and United Parcel (NYSE: UPS) are good barometers for the overall economy. When business slows down or speeds up they feel it immediately as the package count shrinks and rises.

Both stocks have lost ground the past two days with the overall market and possibly because of the slowly rising oil prices now back up to $60 a barrel.

Today's news was entirely about financial stocks. There is no denying it. We ran a full summary bank by bank showing the needs or lack thereof that Uncle Sam was going to require. But because those have all been read about over and over, today's closing bell piece revolves around some of the other winners that are outside of financial stocks. You would have never thought that 8.9% unemployment could look so good. Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,574.81 +164.96 (1.96%)
S&P 500 929.21 +21.82 (2.40%)
Nasdaq 1,739.00 +22.76 (1.33%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades