Analyst Upgrades

• Heico (HEI) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Eaton (ETN), Silgan Holdings (SLGN), MYR Group (MYRG) and Shaw Group (SHAW) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Infosys (INFY) to buy from Neutral at Nomura.
• Isle of Capri (ISLE) to buy from neutral at Merriman.
• NovaGold (NG) to sector perform from underperform at RBC Capital.
• CarMax (KMX) and Rockwell Collins (COL) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• DHT Holdings (DHT) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Cabot Oil & Gas (COG) to overweight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Upgrades

• Verisk (VRSK) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Marriott (MAR) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
• Jefferies upgraded Teekay (TK) and Tsakos Energy (TNP) to Buy from Hold.
• Cadence Design (CDNS) was upgraded to sector perform from underperform at RBC Capital.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded NV Energy (NVE) to buy from underperform and Education Realty Trust (EDR) to neutral from underperform.
• Men's Wearhouse (MW) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel.
• William Blair upgraded Atheros (ATHR) to outperform from market perform.
• Freeport McMoran (FCX) was upgraded to buy from hold at Argus.

"Investors should consider adding exposure to the oil tanker industry; this business is notoriously volatile, as tanker rates fluctuate," says Elliott Gue.

The editor of The Energy Strategist explains, "Nonetheless, I expect the back half of the year to be a solid environment for tanker companies. Moreover, many stocks in the group offer substantial dividend yields. One of our favorites is Nordic American Tanker Shipping (NAT), which yields over 8 percent.

Option traders are pushing up call option prices in the mortgage investment industry as well as pushing up put option prices in the long-term care facilities industry on Monday.

Any time the volatility skews above 1.00, it is an indication that calls are more expensive than puts. Typically, when calls are more expensive than puts, it means the demand for calls is greater than the demand for puts because investors believe the stock is going to rise in the future and they want to take advantage of that movement by buying calls.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Chevron (CVX) to buy from hold after raising its long-term oil price assumption to $80 per barrel from $65. The firm raised its target price for Chevron shares to $97 from $78 and said it expects oil prices to push towards $90 per barrel in the near-term. Note, Citi also upgraded BP (BP) and Petrobras (PBR) Monday morning to buy from hold.
• Jefferies upgraded Overseas Shipholding (OSG) and Nordic American Tanker (NAT) to buy from underperform as it expects crude oil tanker charter rates to improve in 2010 based on expectations for increased OPEC production levels. The firm raised its target on Overseas Shipholding to $60 from $22 and on Nordic American to $41 from $25.
• Goldman upgraded Corning (GLW) to buy from neutral as they believe the LCD cycle may have bottomed in 4Q09 vs. their previous expectation of 2H10. The firm raised its target to $23 from $18. Shares were also upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank on expectations that consensus estimates will trend higher due to robust TV demand and tight capacity. The firm raised its target price on shares to $24 from $19.
• Lam Research (LRCX) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Intel (INTC) was upgraded to hold from sell at Auriga.
• Regal Entertainment (RGC) was upgraded to overweight from market weight at Thomas Weisel.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says it's not too late to get on board these rocket ships.

During the great narrow bull market that was 2006-2007, anyone who hitched a ride on any bulk or oil carrier, any DryShips (DRYS) (Cramer's Take) or Diana (DSX) (Cramer's Take), or any Frontline (FRO) (Cramer's Take) or Nordic American Tanker (NAT) (Cramer's Take), or anyone who bought anything ag-related -- Deere (DE) (Cramer's Take), Monsanto (MON) (Cramer's Take), Potash (POT) (Cramer's Take) -- looked like a genius.

Beginning midyear last year, you looked like a moron.

Nordic American Tanker Shipping (NYSE: NAT - option chain) stock is falling today after the company announced a public offering of 4 million common shares priced at $32 per share. That price represented an 11% discount to the stock's Tuesday closing price.

If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on NAT.

This morning, NAT opened at $32.42. So far today the stock has hit a low of $32.00 and a high of $33.09. As of 11:35, NAT is trading at $32.04, down $4.04 (-11.2%). The chart for NAT looks bullish.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an October bear-call credit spread above the $40 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns.

For this particular trade, we will make a 6.4% return in five months as long as NAT is below $40 at October expiration. Nordic American would have to rise by more than 24% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

NAT hasn't been above $40 since August and has shown resistance around $38 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in NAT.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the price of crude isn't high enough to reignite the oil drilling companies.

Crude's awesome and it's really pushing up the whole complex. The stocks of the oils and the oil drillers are powering higher even as drilling is going down hard. Is it possible that the integrateds are right and the drilling stocks are wrong? Or should they both be going up together?

I wrestle over this issue every day because one of the main reasons why oil is going up, besides the endless "dollar-going-down-oil-safe-haven" trade that the media loves to go out with in order to sound smart, is that the drilling around the world has been cut back dramatically. I think that a deal like Suncor (NYSE: SU) (Cramer's Take) and Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) (Cramer's Take) is great for the oils. It makes me recognize that there is value here in the group. I also believe the demand is real.

It's about that time again: Pepsi vs. Coke. No, not another taste test or another Battle of the Brands. It's time for the next quarterly results from these two soft drink titans.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate that PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP), global beverage and snack food giant, will report fourth-quarter earnings this week that are 9.1% higher that a year ago, or $0.88 per share. Revenue is expected to total $12.8 billion, which is 3.9% higher than last year. For the full year, the profit is expected to be $3.67 per share on revenue of $43.4 billion, up from $3.38 per share on $39.5 billion in 2007. PepsiCo's earnings met or beat estimates in four of the past five quarters, but missed by only two cents per share in the third quarter. The consensus recommendation of analysts remains to buy PEP. The share price fell to a 52-week low in January and is now 24.4% lower than it was a year ago. During the fourth quarter, PepsiCo declared a $0.42 per share quarterly dividend, agreed to acquire a Spitz International, and announced investments in China and Mexico.

The earnings season is beginning to wind down as we have passed the halfway mark of the quarter and the holiday season begins in earnest next week with Thanksgiving in the United States.

Bermuda-based Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) is anticipated by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters to be one of the biggest earnings gainers among companies scheduled to report quarterly results this coming week. The oil tanker fleet operator is expected to post third-quarter earnings of $1.97 per share, 86.8% higher than in the same period a year ago, on revenues of $399.5 million (+44.6%). Frontline missed estimates by 6.4% in the previous quarter, and the consensus recommendation by analysts is to hold FRO. While Motley Fool likes its robust dividend, Jim Cramer said in a recent Lightning Round that he prefers rival Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NYSE: NAT). Shares have fallen 52.9% in the past three months, and reached a 52-week low of $25.00 on Friday.

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) is also expected to be among the week's biggest earnings gainers. Analysts are looking for the semiconductor chip maker to report a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $0.44 per share, 31.8% higher than a year ago, on revenues of $661.7 million (+2.0%). Analog Devices has beat estimates in three of the past five quarters, but only missed by 1.3% in the previous quarter. Analysts on average recommend buying ADI, which has a forecast long-term EPS growth rate of 17.3%, which better than the S&P 500 and that of rival Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN). Shares sank to a multiyear low of $16.23 on Friday, and are down 41.1% in the past three months.

Today was another one of those days where one could feel like the Duke Brothers from Trading Places. It was just another down day, yet the pain seemed to capture everything and everyone. The reasons markets are hurting are all the same as they have been, but such is life and expanding the TARP bailout money isn't helping.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Major Stocks Breaking Under $10.00
Short Sellers Move To Healthy Companies
Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) fell again after negative headlines that it supposedly wants $3.5 billion in TARP funds. Although these are much of the same concerns as yesterday since becoming a bank holding company. Shares were down over 10% at $19.99 right before the close.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) got to see insult added to injury. Moody's cut its debt ratings further into junk status. Shares were down more than another 5% at $5.03 right before the close.

The focus of last week's preview was on oil and energy companies, and we saw that big oil had a good week, reporting better-than-expected results and record profits driven by high prices in the third quarter. Energy-related companies are well represented again this week and expectations in general remain high.

Early in the week, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial anticipate that the big earnings gainers will include EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), and Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC), which are expected to post profits of $2.24 per share (up 64.7% from a year ago), $1.48 per share (up 52.7%) and $2.26 per share (up 61.1%) respectively. All three of them have offered positive surprises in recent quarters, and analysts on average recommend buying EOG and Anadarko. Other expected big earnings gainers early in the week include Forest Oil Corp. (NYSE: FST), Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD), Comstock Resources Inc. (NYSE: CRK), and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). The earnings of phosphates producer Innophos Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: IPHS) are expected to have risen 92.3% to $3.37 per share. Innophos beat estimates in the previous quarter by a whopping 210%, and analysts have been impressed with Innophos's lack of debt and pricing gains despite the slowing economy, so, on average, they recommend buying IPHS.

Also early in the week, analysts expect Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT), Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ: KALU), and Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK) to report that their profits fell 52.9% to $0.33 per share, 45.1% to $0.67 per share, and 41.2% to $0.67 per share, respectively. These companies have tended to beat estimates in recent quarters, and the consensus recommendations of analysts are to buy them. However, PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI), one of the largest private mortgage insurance providers in the U.S., is expected to take another hit as the housing slump drags on. The California-based company is expected to have widened its net loss from $1.04 per share a year ago to $2.43 per share in the most recent quarter. Its shares are down 84.5% from a year ago, and have been trading recently near their 52-week low.

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of UBS (NYSE: UBS) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q3 update as they believe the quarter marks a turning point.
• Merill raised BP Plc (NYSE: BP) and Total SA (NYSE: TOT) to Neutral from Underperform.
• DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) was lifted to Hold from Sell at Soleil.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV) to Market Perform from Underperform as they believe the company's deposits are showing stability despite the massive sell-off.
  
• Kaufman Bros. raised Longtop Financial (NYSE: LFT) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they believe Chinese software service stocks now reflect the investment risks.
• Lear (NYSE: LEA) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.

Analyst downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing checks that indicate deteriorating trends are worst than expected.
  
• Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR) and Pediatrix Medical (NYSE: PDX) were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
  
• Merrill cut StatoilHydro (NYSE: STO) to Underperform from Neutral.
  
• HSBC (NYSE: HBC) was lowered to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: ConocoPhillips, Ashland and Wynn Resorts were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Buy from Neutral, as they see the stock as inexpensive but views the upgrade "as much about avoiding near-term earnings risk with our pure-play refiners."
  
• Jefferies upgraded shares of Ashland (NYSE: ASH) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they find the risk/reward "intriguing" at current levels.
  
• Bear upgraded Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN) to Outperform from Peer Perform citing valuation and Macau operating momentum.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Photon Dynamics (NASDAQ: PHTN) was raised to overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.
  
• PepsiAmericas (NYSE: PAS) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at HSBC.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT) to Neutral from Underweight.

"The commodity bull is awakening," says Curtis Hesler, editor of the Professional Timing Service. The advisor, who focuses on long-term market cycles, explains, "We have been through a long stretch where everything, including gold mining stocks and oil issues, have gone up and down in tandem with the movements in the popular averages (Nasdaq, Dow, S&P 500, etc.).

"We are going to enter a phase now and through 2008 where this will no longer be the case. Next year looks like it will be a very profitable year for commodity-related (real asset) issues, but dismal for financial (paper) assets.

"I am looking for $100.00 crude oil (as well as a move to $850 in gold). This should be the basis for your strategy. The commodity bull will thrive in 2008 at the expense of the general market, and the weak dollar will be no small reason for this.