Analyst Upgrades

• Hyatt Hotels (H) and Hospitality Properties (HPT) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• AB InBev (BUD) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Amerisafe (AMSF) to buy from hold at Wunderlich.
• Northrop Grumman (NOC) to sector perform from underperform at RBC Capital.
• China Lodging Group (HTHT) to buy from hold at Brean Murray and to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.

We're well into the quarter now and the earnings reports continue to roll out.

This week, Dell (DELL) highlights a handful of results from tech companies. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for fourth-quarter earnings of 37 cents per share from the one of the world's top PC purveyors. That's up from 28 cents per share during the same period a year ago. Dell also is expected to report its revenue grew 5.5% year over year to $15.7 billion, for the three months that ended in January.

Analyst Upgrades

• Diamond Offshore (DO) to conviction buy from sell and Baker Hughes (BHI) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Frontier Communications (FTR) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Syntel (SYNT) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo, to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank and to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC) and Fiserv (FISV) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• 3M (MMM) to neutral from underweight and Tyco (TYC) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Collective Brands (PSS) and Nordstrom (JWN) to overweight from equal weight, as well as Foot Locker (FL) to equal weight from underweight, at Morgan Stanley.
• Amazon.com (AMZN) to buy from hold at Lazard Capital.
• Yamana Gold (AUY) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Dollar Tree (DLTR) to neutral from underweight and $48 price target.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Time Warner Cable (TWC) to outperform from neutral and raised its price target to $70 from $59, citing growth in wireline HST demand.
• Needham upgraded NetScout (NTCT) to buy from hold with a $29 price target, citing channel checks that indicate industry spending on network monitoring software may be improving.
• Nstar (NST) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) was upgraded to hold from sell at Societe Generale.
• Air France-KLM (AFLYY) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.

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.

Analyst Upgrades

• UBS upgraded UPS (UPS) and FedEx (FDX) to buy from hold based on recent weakness and leverage to a recovery. The firm raised its price target on UPS to $74 from $72 and on FedEx to $100 from $97.
• Bernstein upgraded Medicis (MRX) to outperform from market perform based on valuation and said the company has been executing well over the past few months. The firm has a $28 price target on the stock.
• Citigroup upgraded Weingarten Realty (WRI) to buy from hold, citing valuation and the company's improved balance sheet. The firm maintains a $24 price target for shares.
• Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW) were upgraded to market perform from underperform at BMO Capital.
• NextEra Energy (NEE) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Baird.
• Nokia (NOK) was upgraded to neutral from reduce at WestLB.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo upgraded MasterCard (MA) to outperform from market perform on valuation as it views the sell-off in shares following the company's Q4 results as unwarranted.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Best Buy (BBY) to buy from neutral on valuation as it believes sentiment has gotten overly negative on the stock. The firm raised its target on shares to $44 from $42.
• Citigroup upgraded Gap (GPS) to buy from hold on valuation following the recent pullback in shares and the company's sales results. The firm raised its price target for the stock to $24 from $23.
• Starwood Hotels (HOT) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Baird.
• Murphy Oil (MUR) was upgraded to hold from sell at Collins Stewart.
• Motorola (MOT) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded Potash (POT) to conviction buy from buy and said a "near-worst-case" scenario on 2010 potash pricing is reflected in potash valuations and that they continue to expect a fundamental potash demand recovery in 2010. Note that the firm also upgraded Mosaic (MOS) to buy from neutral. Potash's price target is $138.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Alcoa (AA) to overweight from equal weight based on expectations for alumina to continue to rally in 2H10. The firm has a $22 target on the stock.
• Baird upgraded Seagate (STX) to outperform from neutral and raised its target to $25 from $22 based on expectations that IT hardware spend will continue to accelerate through 2010, HDD supply conditions will continue to be constrained at least into the March quarter, and that enterprise strength and favorable supply conditions will drive shares higher in 2010.
• Intel (INTC) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Resource Capital (RSO) was raised to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Palm (PALM) was upgraded to hold from sell at Morgan Joseph.

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded T. Rowe Price (TROW) to buy from hold due to valuation and solid core trends. The firm raised its target on shares to $57 from $55. Note the firm downgraded Franklin Resources to hold from buy (see below).
• KeyBanc upgraded U.S. Steel (X) to buy from hold based on stable domestic cost environment in 2010 and likelihood of sustained higher spot pricing. The firm has a $65 target on shares.
• Goldman upgraded Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) to buy from neutral, citing oil leverage, sizable resource base and free cash flow. The firm raised its target to $90 from $88.
• Darden (DRI) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Carnival (CCL) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• AmerisourceBergen (ABC) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Analyst Upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Wells Fargo (WFC) to buy from hold as it believes the TARP repayment should remove uncertainty and that the company will report strong Q4 results. The firm raised its target price on shares to $36 from $29. Keefe Bruyette upgraded Wells Fargo to market perform from outperform following the TARP repayment and raised its target on shares to $28 from $24.
• Wells Fargo believes News Corp's (NWS) newspaper and TV station segments are finally outperforming budget, while cable nets continue to perform well. The firm upgraded shares to outperform from market perform and has a $16 to $17 Valuation range.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Starwood Hotels (HOT) to buy from underperform as they expect "strong cyclical recovery in lodging earnings" in late 2010. The firm raised its target to $40 from $25.
• ArcelorMittal (MT) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• JA Solar (JASO) was upgraded to hold from sell at ThinkEquity.
• Acxiom (ACXM) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Stephens.

Analyst Upgrades

• FBR Capital upgraded New York Community Bancorp (NYB) to outperform from market perform following the FDIC-assisted acquisition of AmTrust. The firm raised its target price on shares to $16 from $11.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Brocade (BRCD) to outperform from perform to reflect valuation, low investor expectations, and the company's potential to gain market share in IP/Ethernet switching. The firm set a target price of $8.50 on shares.
• Stifel Nicolaus upgraded National Health Investors (NHI) to buy from hold following the announcement that the litigation vs. Care Foundation has been dismissed. The firm has a $37 target on the stock.
• American Express (AXP) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• ACE Ltd. (ACE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Kohl's (KSS) was raised to outperform from neutral at Baird.

The IPO market has been pretty slow for the past two years due to the effects of a subprime mortgage crisis that turned into a credit crisis that turned into a worldwide financial crisis and recession. Nonetheless, two companies made their debuts Thursday -- one on the NYSE (NYSE: NYX), the other on the NASDAQ -- and they nailed it. Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) gave its investors a 12% gain on its first Big Board trading day, and Ancestry.com (NASDAQ: ACOM) switched those digits, jumping 21% in its first day of trading.

Hyatt Hotels overcame two major concerns. The worldwide travel market slump has been tough on hotel companies, and Hyatt has been subject to the same forces as everyone else. Also, investors may have been worried about infighting among the founder's heirs (the Pritzker family), but the double-digit price increase suggests that investors don't foresee Bancroft-style squabbles screwing investors -- or, if you don't like Dow Jones, now a part of News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS), Playboy (NYSE: PLA) makes the same point.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) volatility Elevated into Macao Resort Hotel opening. LVS opened the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel today. Sheldon Adelson, chairman & chief executive officer, said "it is no overstatement to say that the opening of Venetian Macao represents a massive paradigm shift for Macao and the future of tourism development in Asia." Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) says "the scale is enormous and the detail impressive." LVS over all option implied volatility of 44 is above its 26-week average of 39 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Ameristar Casinos (NASDAQ: ASCA) implied volatility Elevated at 43. ASCA, a Las Vegas based gaming and Entertainment Company, is recently down $0.55 to $28.39. ASCA has a market cap of $1.6 billion with long term debt of $878 million. ACSA over all option implied volatility of 43 is above its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.