Analyst Upgrades

• Intel (INTC) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Wells Fargo upgraded MetroPCS (PCS), Coventry Health (CVH) and Scientific Games (SGMS) to outperform from market perform.
• Estee Lauder (EL) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Simon Property (SPG) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Citigroup upgraded BreitBurn Energy (BBEP) to buy from hold.

"After trading higher following its past nine quarterly earnings reports, investors finally found a reason to be disappointed in Apple (AAPL); however, despite the negative investor reaction, it was still an outstanding quarter from the tech giant," says Geoffrey Seiler.

The editor of BullMarket.com report, "Apple reported a fiscal Q4 profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 a share, up 70% from $2.53 billion, or $2.77 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue soared 67% to $20.3 billion. The results easily surpassed the analyst consensus of $4.08 in EPS on sales of $18.9 billion.

"One area of contention with investors was gross margins, which fell to 36.9% from 41.8% a year ago. Analysts were looking for gross margins of 38.1%. However, gross margins were 190 basis points above Apple's own guidance.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman believes EOG Resources (EOG) can regain its premium multiple given its ability to find new horizontal liquids resource plays. The firm upgraded shares to conviction buy from buy and has a $129 price target on the stock.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Macerich (MAC) to buy from hold following the company's Q2 results and raised its target for shares to $47 from $45.
• Needham upgraded QuinStreet (QNST) to strong buy from buy, citing the strong Q4 report and valuation, and has a $20 target on the stock.
• Macy's (M) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Whole Foods (WFMI) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.

Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) traded sharply higher in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company posted strong quarterly results for its third quarter.

Analysts had been expecting to see the company post earnings of $2.84 a share, but Apple easily beat that estimate with a reported $3.51 a share. During the same period last year the company had earnings of $1.35 per share.

It seems that nothing is stopping Apple, Inc. (AAPL) from continuing to produce good numbers. In May of 2010, the tech giant increased its sales of Mac computers 8% from April and 35% year over year, according to NPD.

Further NPD findings show that the Mac has performed even better in June than in May over the last three years. This trend should not stop this year, as June will only be the third month of the new MacBook Pro's availability and seasonal education spending unlikely to falter.

Shares of tech giant Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose to a new all-time high Tuesday afternoon after the company posted a 90% increase in profit for its fiscal second quarter, spurred by strong sales of its popular iPhone.

Heading into the earnings report, analysts had forecast $2.45 per share, but Apple shattered those estimates by posting $3.33 a share for the quarter. During the same period last year, the company reported earnings of $1.79 per share.

Once upon a time, Mac users could brag they were much safer from malicious electronic attacks. After all, in the days before Google (GOOG), when Microsoft (MSFT) was the only uber-player in town, Windows was the perpetual malware target. Phishers, however, aren't discriminating; they're just looking for an account to plunge. So, both Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft users are threatened. Virus writers do tend to focus on the Windows operating system, which owns 90% of the OS market, but phishers are platform independent.

Phishing involves attempts to get a user to reveal information about their accounts. Once the soon-to-be victim clicks that link or fills out a form, the "transaction" is complete -- no operating system interaction necessary. As a result, there really isn't any advantage to using a Mac over a PC.

"Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), a holding on our recommended buy list, delivered another blowout quarter, driven by booming sales of both the iPhone and its Macintosh computers," notes analyst Geoffrey Seiler.

In his BullMarket.com advisory, he suggests, "Overall, Apple's results are nothing short of amazing." Here, he provides an in-depth analysis of the quarter, his outlook, and the reasoning behind the boost to his longer-term price target to $270 a share.

"Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones in the quarter, 7% more than the year-ago quarter, and 3.05 million Macs, a 17% year-over-year increase. The end result was that the company posted a whopping 47% increase in Q4 net income.

If there was one stock you wish you had bought when it was being crushed by the financial crisis along with every entity out there, it's Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Shares of the company, which counts Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) as rivals, have more than doubled since they hit a 52-week low of around $78 per share. Really, did we think this one wasn't coming back? Hey, I fully admit, I've been a bear on Apple at different points during the downturn. Difficult not to be, with consumer sentiment and all that.

Well, it's hard to be a bear now. Last night, the market welcomed Apple's Q4 earnings with open arms. How could it not? The first paragraph of the press release tells a story of profound growth. Sales increased 25%, and earnings per share soared over 40% to $1.82 per share.

"Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), already on our recommended list selection, announced fiscal Q3 earnings after the bell last night that, to no one's surprise, easily topped Wall Street estimates," notes Geoffrey Seiler.

In his Bull Market.com advisory, he reviews the latest earnings report and offers his outlook for the shares -- including a boost to his price target for the stock.

"For the quarter ended June 27th, the company earned $1.23 billion, or $1.35 a share, up 15% from $1.07 billion, or $1.19 a share, a year ago. Analysts were only looking for EPS of $1.17.

This was a very light economic day that was again sort of trumped by a Ben Bernanke speech, but this was to the Senate panel rather than yesterday's House panel. Earnings dominated the trends of the news and the markets spent all day trying to figure out if they wanted to be up or down. However, tech stocks have managed to rise and rise. And rise. Right before the closing bell, this looked to be the eleventh day up in a row.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,881.26 -34.68 (-0.39%)
S&P 500 954.06 -0.52 (-0.05%)
Nasdaq 1,926.38 +10.18 (0.53%)

Major Analyst Upgrades

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was downgraded Tuesday to Underperform from Outperform at Calyon Securities. The analyst cut the EPS estimates and set a $90 price target on the stock. Why? Mostly due to concerns over Mac sales because of the recession and the fact that Apple has a premium pricing model on its Macs. Interestingly, the analyst also cut iPhone unit estimates slightly. Steve Jobs' health was also mentioned as a concern.

That wasn't all, another analyst at Kaufman Bros. trimmed his revenue estimates for the current quarter, but kept EPS estimates the same and the Buy rating.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has about 250 retail stores. It's not surprising that their sales would be off. The recession in retail revenues has spread almost everywhere.

But, the trouble at Apple stores may be deeper than many investors would expect. According to Barron's, "Apple's same-store revenues, a key retail metric comparing sales of stores open for at least a year, slid 17.4% in the December quarter from a year earlier, reports Needham hardware analyst Charlie Wolf." Visitor traffic is fairly flat, so a lot of people are just hanging around checking out the Macs and iPods.

Too much has already been written about what a great quarter Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) had. It beat earnings forecasts. It met expectations for Mac sales. It exceeded expectations for iPod sales, and it was a little light on iPhone shipments.

So, what was the key to Apple's success? More than anything else, it is that the iPod keeps selling even though there are more than 200 million of them somewhere out there in the world. Apple sold another 23 million iPods, a record. And, that was the trick.

Have a look at Apple's iPod pricing. The average price between the cheapest version, the Shuffle, and the next cheapest version, the Nano, is about $99. During a holiday slammed by a recession, how may products are available for $99? Especially products that are great gifts?

Buy a friend an iPhone -- it comes with a hefty two-year calling plan that makes it quite expensive. Buy a Mac -- that will probably set the buyer back $1,000.

The iPod is still a desirable present. It is from Apple, after all. But, what earnings did not tell is how little it costs to get one and what that means during hard times.

A $99 gift. And, by the way, with it strong earnings, Apple should trades at about $99 today.

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

The mystery surrounding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Chief Executive Steve Jobs continues.

After several blogs reported last week that Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer, was ill again, the mercurial executive decided to come clean, especially since he decided to take a pass on the mammoth Macworld conference. At least, sort of.

In a highly unusual "letter" to "Apple Community", Jobs said that doctors have found a hormone imbalance that was "robbing" him of proteins his body needs to be healthy.

"The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment," Jobs said in a statement. "But, just like I didn't lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery."