Analyst Upgrades

• General Growth (GGP) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• PPL Corp. (PPL) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK) to neutral from reduce at Nomura.
• Hologic (HOLX) to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Cognex (CGNX) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Buckeye Partners (BPL) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Ericsson (ERIC) and Health Care REIT (HCN) to buy from neutral and Olin (OLN) to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Nalco (NLC) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Watts Water (WTS) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• McDermott (MDR) to buy from neutral at Pritchard.

U.S. stock futures are higher Wednesday morning as investors await labor market data. Crude oil traded above $100 a barrel. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27 points to 12,049.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index gained 3.6 points to 1,304.70. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 5.75 points to 2,317.25.

The blue-chip Dow index dropped 1.38% to close at 12,058 on Tuesday.

After the opening bell, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to present a monetary policy report to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. The Fed's Beige Book will be released at 2 p.m. ET.

Costco Wholesale (COST) reported Q2 EPS of 79 cents, matching analysts expectations. Costco reported Q2 revenue of $20.88 million, versus the consensus of $20.54 billion. The wholesaler reported a 7% rise in its Q2 same-store sales.

McDermott International (MDR - option chain) shares have risen over 10 percent in early trading on news that the company plans to split itself into two firms: The Babcock & Wilcox Co., and J. Ray McDermott. Current MDR shareholders will receive one share of each company when the transaction closes in 2010. B&W will manufacture nuclear components and other power generation systems. J. Ray will design, build and install offshore production facilities, pipelines and subsea systems. If you think that the stock 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 MDR.

MDR opened this morning at $22.40. So far today the stock has hit a low of $21.88 and a high of $23.05. As of 12:00, MDR is trading at $22.81 up $2.15 (10.4%). The chart for MDR looks bearish.

Analyst upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuation and expectations the company will repay TARP without a capital raise. The firm raised its target to $34 from $26.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Ticketmaster (NASDAQ: TKTM) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $12 from $8 citing dynamic ticket pricing and the potential merger with Live Nation (NYSE: LYV).
• Citigroup upgraded Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) to Hold from Sell after channel checks indicated retail sales have improved since Q2. The firm raised its target on shares to $26 from $14.
• McDermott (NYSE: MDR) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
• General Electric (NYSE: GE) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

McDermott International (NYSE: MDR) is a global oil engineering and construction company that specializes in offshore oil and gas construction and power generation systems.

Although more diversified than pure oil plays, McDermott has benefited greatly from the increase in price in crude.

The speculation is that McDermott will be quite busy with construction projects, as drillers are more active with the higher prices.

You have to love OPEC. It's not uncommon for the barons of the giant cartel to voice their interest in seeing oil at such-and-such a price.

Recently, OPEC reiterated its desire to see oil prices at $80 per barrel. This, they claim, is the price needed to spur additional investment in crude projects. Apparently, anything less will result in oil sitting idle in the ground.

Analyst upgrades:

• Merriman upgraded Taser (NASDAQ: TASR) to Buy from Neutral as it believes current valuation levels do not reflect the company's market opportunities and that the law enforcement funding in President Obama's stimulus plan will boost sales in Q4 and FY10.
  
• Goldman upgraded Macy's (NYSE: M) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to its Conviction Buy List based on reduced balance sheet concerns and improved risk/reward. The firm also raised their target to $8.25 from $8.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO) to Neutral from Underweight and raised its target to $29 from $19 following the better-than-expected Q2 report. The analyst continues to prefer Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).
• Goldman removed Universal Am (NYSE: UAM) from the Conviction Sell List.
  
• McDermott (NYSE: MDR) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
  
• Canadian Natural (NYSE: CNQ) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says eventually, the credit markets will thaw, and this one will take off like a rocket.

Cheap isn't always relative. Consider the case of Shaw Group (NYSE: SGR) (Cramer's Take), the infrastructure play with the nuclear bent that has tons of business around the world building nuke plants that are competitive with oil and nat gas even at these prices, but obviously are much better for the environment.

Shaw's doing great -- big order book, no cancellations or stretch-outs (unlike ABB (NYSE: ABB) (Cramer's Take) or McDermott (NYSE: MDR) (Cramer's Take)), and most important, its stock is trading a mere dollar and a half above its cash.

It's absurd, as the CEO told me last night on a pre-empted edition of the 6 p.m. "Mad Money." The valuation makes no sense.

This post was written by Minyanville contributor Sean Udall.

Through my career I've generally stayed apolitical with regard to investment and trading decisions, but there have been times when some higher percentage trades have presented themselves due to political circumstances. Examples include: the tech push in Clinton's second term, the defense sector after Bush's 2000 victory, as well as the oil patch. Based on that, here are some overriding thoughts, in no particular order.

The market has moved to the phase where many if not most participants want and expect a pullback. Since the market confounds the greatest number of players most of the time, is a big pullback a lower probability event now? Moreover, does the selling panic of much of October turn into a buying panic in the coming weeks and months? I'm letting the charts lead me here but aware that this bullish case could possibly trump terrible economic conditions.

I still think the alt energy patch (solar, wind, battery tech, clean coal) will produce some of the best winners, but a lot of easy money has been made in just days. Quality and fundamentals will likely count much more now than over the past few months. Also, extended runs may become vulnerable quickly if policy decisions do not show quick tangible follow-through. Companies with the best balance sheets and funding sources will benefit the most and have the least downside on sharp technical pullbacks.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the sellers are in control, and without dividend protection, we have no floor.

The bad stuff is in the market. It just has to get more in. That's all. That's the conclusion you have to reach when you see companies like Terex (NYSE: TEX) (Cramer's Take), which is valued at only a billion and a half dollars, or Joy Global (NASDAQ: JOYG) (Cramer's Take) at $2 billion and change or McDermott (NYSE: MDR) (Cramer's Take) at $3 billion.

In other words, forget about the stock prices. They are almost all absurd unless we are headed into a recession of such magnitude that companies start showing severe losses in the first quarter. Think about the market cap size. If Terex, which is actually a pretty good machinery company, can sell at a billion and a half dollars -- about the price that some acquisitive company might have paid for a division of Terex a year ago -- why can't it sell at $1 billion? How about $800 million? What's to stop it? The sellers at this point obviously don't even care about it, not one bit. They just want money. The buyers have had their heads twisted off and don't want anything more to do with it. No one wants to recommend it because the estimates are too high. And without a dividend, it has no protection; besides, people might perceive that the dividend can't be paid -- a la Freeport (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take) -- and sell it anyway.

Analyst upgrades:

• Merrill upgraded shares of General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F) to Neutral from Underperform on expectations for fundamentals to improve in 2009.
  
• Citigroup upgraded Chubb (NYSE: CB) and Travelers Group (NYSE: TRV) to Buy from Hold as they expect the company to benefit from the AIG (NYSE: AIG) fallout. The firm raised Chubb's target to $57 from $56 and Travelers Group's target to $51.50 from $49.50.
  
• Credit Suisse upgraded shares of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) to Outperform from Neutral as they believe margin expansion can drive higher profitability.
• JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus.
• Goldman raised Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• NetLogic (NASDAQ: NETL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper.

Analyst downgrades:

• JP Morgan downgraded Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) to Underweight from Neutral citing the company's early stage pipeline and generic competition.
  
• Merrill downgraded Unilever (NYSE: UL) to Neutral from Buy as they believe the incoming CEO is unlikely to bring a major restructuring or split up the company.

Merrill Lynch downgraded Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) to Underpeform from Neutral, according to MarketWatch.

Deutsche Bank downgraded China Netcom (NYSE:CN) to Hold from Buy, according to Briefing.com. The news services also reports that Citigroup downgraded McDermott (NYSE:MDR) to Hold from Buy.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) was cut to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch, according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports that Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) was cut to Underperform from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Douglas A. McIntyre

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Evergreen Solar, Myriad Genetics and Columbia Laboratories were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Kaufman Bros. believes Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ: ESLR) is well-positioned to take advantage of a decline in raw material costs because it makes its own wafers on its own equipment. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $18 target.
  
• Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN) was initiated at RBC Capital with an Underperform rating and $37 target and expects negative Phase III results for Flurizan when data is presented in June.
  
• Caris believes Columbia Laboratories (NASDAQ: CBRX) has two potential high value treatments, one to prevent preterm birth and the other to treat primary dysmenorrhea. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $11 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• McDermott (NYSE: MDR) was initiated with a Buy rating and $70 target at KeyBanc.
  
• Morgan Stanley assumed Canon (NYSE: CAJ) with an Overweight rating.
  
• Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) was initiated at William Blair with a Market Perform rating.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this report highlighted where the success lies in this market: energy and petroleum.

Fluor's (NYSE: FLR) (Cramer's Take) a monster. It shows you that what has hurt the other companies, particularly Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) (Cramer's Take), is pure execution.

This gigantic beat also serves to remind us of the big dichotomy. You are either in the energy and petroleum products game or you are in a lot of games that don't work.

It's not easy for these companies, some of which have lived off the duress of state and local governments, including Shaw (NYSE: SGR) (Cramer's Take) and to a certain extent Aecom (NYSE: ACM) (Cramer's Take) and URS (NYSE: URS) (Cramer's Take), to become oil-and-gas plays.

The only ones that have transcended it beside Fluor are Foster Wheeler (NASDAQ: FWLT) (Cramer's Take) and Jacobs Engineering (NYSE: JEC) (Cramer's Take), and the only reason you would really know that is longevity. I remember in the early 1980s when FLR and then FWC would compete directly for all of the huge projects after the second oil shock.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Fluor, Forward Air and McDermott were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Fluor (NYSE: FLR) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's strong performance and backlog in Q4 and raised their target to $190.50 from $158.
  
• Baird upgraded Forward Air (NASDAQ: FWRD) to Outperform from Neutral citing near-term growth initiatives that are gaining traction.
  
• Citigroup also upgraded shares of McDermott (NYSE: MDR) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's strong Q4 performance and rising commodity prices.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• RBC Capital upgraded Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) and ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) to Top Pick from Outperform.
  
• Credit Suisse raised China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.