If you are looking for clues to which stocks have a good chance of increasing in value, you might want consider watching what insiders are doing. After all, talk is cheap, but when insiders put their own money on the line, you should take note.

Jefferies Group (JEF) topped the insider-buying charts for the week ending July 9th as insiders snapped up 1,382,000 shares of company stock at a market value of $32,403,125. During the past six months, insiders have increased their overall holdings in the company by 1.73% and now own 3.76% of the stock.

Fast food giant McDonald's (MCD) is going to be reporting its fourth quarter numbers tomorrow, and analysts are expecting to see another strong quarter for the company.

Headed into tomorrow's earnings release, analysts are expecting to see the company post earnings of $1.02 per share. For the same period last year the company posted earnings of 87 cents.

We had a lot of big names trading up to new 52 week highs again today. The overall markets were pretty flat, with the DOW closing the day down 0.14%, the NASDAQ closing the day's trading up 0.04%, and the S&P ending the day a bit lower to finish today's trading down 0.28%.

Here are a few of the names that moved higher during the day to set new 52 week highs.

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) will get its chance to impress investors this afternoon when it reports its first quarter numbers following the market close.

Going into this afternoon's earnings release, the company is expected to show earnings of 44 cents per share for its quarter ending February 27. For the same period last year, the company reported that it had earned 48 cents per share, so we are looking at the company possibly seeing an 8.3% year over year earnings decline.

Earlier in the week, there was an item on a blog at Barrons.com concerning Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL). It was reported that two analysts revised their earnings estimates for the tech company in the downward direction (shareholders hate that!). Ross MacMillan of Jefferies & Co. took two pennies off his fiscal '09 estimate, reducing it to $1.43 per share. Tim Klasell of Thomas Weisel Partners thinks Oracle will do $1.44 per share; this was likewise a reduction of two pennies. I guess there's something about two pennies and Oracle this week. Both analysts have good ratings on Oracle and think the stock will trade higher from here.

And now, for my own two cents. As far as I'm concerned, I think Oracle is not necessarily a stock to jump into at the moment. The shares have been weak this year (of course, what hasn't been weak this year, I suppose), and at Friday's close of $16.32, they were sitting rather close to their 52-week low of $15.00. I would rather see Oracle pull further away from its low of the year before buying. I've been generally bearish on most stocks in the market, and I have to tell you, the recent rallying mood on Wall Street isn't something I have a lot of belief in. I believe Oracle may end up going lower from here once we get additional negative headlines on the macro environment. If I don't see strength, then I won't buy with any sort of conviction. If I wanted to take on some shares of a tech stock, I'd probably go with stronger brands, like a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), or perhaps even an IBM (NYSE: IBM). Yes, Oracle is a big brand name as well, but I am not too partial to its stock, quite honestly (I do respect the company, though). However, even if I bought some Microsoft, my inclination right now would be to sell it the next time it makes a small move higher. In fact, I was trying to get hold of some Microsoft this week for a quick trade, but it just didn't happen.

Jefferies Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF), a middle market investment bank, showed that it can deal with the treacherous credit crunch. While its latest quarterly report showed a 16% drop in revenues to $392 million, it wasn't as bad as the Street expected (the consensus estimate was $275 million). Taking out some charges, earnings came to $0.04 per share (the Street estimate was a loss of $0.16).

The major weakness came from the investment banking. However, there was strength on the trading side, such as with junk bonds.

Basically, Jefferies has taken a number of steps to maintain liquidity and protect its capital base. In fact, in April the company got a $434 million capital infusion from Leucadia National.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Jefferies Group, Quality Systems and Techwell were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Friedman Billings initiated Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) with a Market Perform citing the difficult underwriting environment and challenging credit market.
  
• JMP Securities initiated Quality Systems (NASDAQ: QSII) with an Outperform rating and $35 target. The firm expects the company's practice management and electronic medical record solutions to benefit from growth opportunities within the ambulatory market.
  
• Techwell (NASDAQ: TWLL) was assumed with an Overweight rating and $14 target at Thomas Weisel, as they expect TWLL to have continued stable revenue growth given its market leadership and increased global security demand.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Bernstein initiated NetSuite (NYSE: N) with a Market Perform rating and $23 target.
  
• Keefe Bruyette started Comerica (NYSE: CMA) with a Market Perform rating and $37 target.
  
• BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) and Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) were assumed at ING with Buy ratings.

Back in mid-October, things were tracking nicely for investment bank Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF). Somehow, the firm was able to weather the turbulence, which ensnared elite firms like Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER).

However, things didn't hold up. In November and December, Jefferies suffered some big setbacks. While Jefferies expects net earnings of $140 million for 2007, the fourth quarter will have a net loss of $24 million, or $0.17 per share.

What happened? Well, Jefferies had issues with two principal trading efforts. There were also problems with the junk bond department. Oh, and there were some postponements of investment banking deals.

Simply put, the markets are experiencing extreme volatility (which was certainly evident last week). No doubt, this makes it pretty tough for firms like Jefferies.

The good news is that Jefferies has a strong capital base and has no need for outside capital infusions. Besides, the firm has taken great efforts to diversify its business (going beyond just a pure broker).

But with investors extremely jittery right now, such things are not being considered – at least in the short-run.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Dubai World, a state owned investment company, announced that it has increased its ownership in MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) to 6.5% by purchasing an additional five million shares of stock in the company.

Following the announced purchase, Lawrence Klatzkin of Jefferies & Co. told his clients that MGM is one of his top three picks and maintains a "buy" rating. According to Klatzkin, investors can expect to see Dubai World continue to add to its MGM holdings. This will continue to help keep the stock strong and definitely minimize any sort of downside risk.

Dubai, which has been swimming in money since the oil boom brought billions into the economy, has been moving fast over the past decade to branch out in its revenue streams. Seeing the end of the country's oil reserves in the near future, the country has been working hard to become one of the world's top tourist destinations, and moving into Las Vegas gaming is just one more step in the country's strategy to remain a relevant world player once the oil runs dry.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple (AAPL), Cash Systems (CKNN) and Citrix (CTXS) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Oppenheimer believes Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is the largest beneficiary of the secular growth trends in Internet advertising and transitioned coverage with a Buy rating and $625 target.

• Oppenheimer also believes the current price of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is an attractive entry point given the company's number one position in display advertising and the recent successful launch of Panama. The firm transitioned coverage of Yahoo! with a Buy rating and $34 target.

• RBC Capital sees continued upside for Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) based on achieving its 10M goal for iPhone, upside from Mac momentum and maintaining iPod/iTunes dominance helped by new products, and started shares with an Outperform rating and $160 target.

• Merriman believes Cash Systems (NASDAQ: CKNN) is positioned to gain meaningful share in the casino cash access industry through the near-term introduction of powercash and started shares with a Buy rating.

• Friedman Billings believes Citrix's (NASDAQ: CTXS) latest Presentation Server product release has some near-term risk given raised prices and initiated shares with a Market Perform rating and $35 target...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) was initiated at Oppenheimer with a Buy rating.

• Lehman started Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) with an Equal Weight rating and $82 target.

• JP Morgan initiated Smith Micro Software (NASDAQ: SMSI) with an Overweight rating.

• First Albany initiated coverage of dELiA's (NASDAQ: DLIA) with a Neutral rating.

• Banc of America initiated coverage of Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) with a Buy rating and $34 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Marvel Entertainment, Inc (MVL), Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS), ION Media Networks Inc (ION), Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc (MDRX) and Tenet Healthcare Corp (THC) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• JP Morgan downgraded Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL) to Neutral from Overweight based on the lack of near-term catalysts.

• Gabelli downgraded Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) to Hold from Buy on reduced 2008 expectations. The firm expects Electronic to lose market share given the lack of Q1 product launches.

• CRT downgraded ION Media Networks (AMEX: ION) to Sell from Buy and recommends taking profits at these levels as shares are approaching Citadel LP's offer of $1.46 per share.

• BB&T cut Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc (NASDAQ: MDRX) to Hold from Buy after its weak Q1 report.

• Jefferies downgraded Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) to Underperform from Hold with a $5.50 target to reflect weak volumes.
  

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Brooks Automation, Inc (NASDAQ: BRKS) was cut to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns.

• Prudential downgraded AngloGold Ashanti Ltd (NYSE: AU) to Neutral from Overweight.

• JP Morgan downgraded Jeffries Group, Inc (NYSE: JEF) to Market Perform to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette.

• Pacific Crest cut Cisco Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO) to Sector Perform from Outperform on valuation.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) was named Jefferies' value pick of the day. Yahoo is trading at 11.1x EBITDA versus 12.5x for eBay and 14.5x for Google, according to the report.

Jefferies has a $36 price target which was reduced from $38 following Yahoo's awful earnings release. However, Jefferies analyst, Youssef Squali, remains confident that Project Panama will have a positive impact on revenue which investors should begin to see by the June quarter.

As we have been blogging, I would stay with Yahoo and continue to chip away at this stock. There are few times when such a high-profile franchise name sells for such a low valuation in a growth industry. Remember the old Peter Lynch line, buy a company even an idiot can run because sooner or later an idiot will run it. At some point, if Yahoo cannot get its act together, it will be sold or someone new will come in to run it.

This is the week that was, or, actually, wasn't. Lots of talk in lots of industries, but not much action. Here's a sampler...

JEFFERIES GROUP, INC. (NYSE: JEF)

The investment bank may be a takeover target. MassMutual, or Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., may be the pursuer. Could make sense. Jefferies has lots of clients; MassMutual has big bucks. Back in the good old days of 2004 they actually worked together on a corporate lending venture. The two CEOs are buddies. We don't know if that's means fishin', huntin' or bridge. But buddies talk, don't they? Jefferies' stock is clearly on the rise.

WEATHERFORD INTERNATIONAL LTD (NYSE: WFT)

Now that Halliburton Company (HAL) has finished up in Iran, and is done with KBR, word is that they have oil and gas equipment and services provider Weatherford in their sights. That can't be too hard seeing that they have a lot in common and both operate out of Houston. Weatherford's shares have been trading in the high 40s, up some, higher than the lows and lower than the highs of the last many weeks. Not much has happened in the last few days, but maybe it's because those good 'ol boys are deciding whose barbeque place to meet at.

USG CORP. (NYSE: USG)

This one's been around for a while now, and it's worth noting that it's still around, and may be for a while longer. The stock seems poised for a breakout. Is Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett about to make his move? "Yes, hello. I'm calling with a few questions for Mr. Buffett, please...yes, I'll wait..."