FedEx Corp. (FDX), the world's leading package delivery service and an ostensible bellwether of the U.S. economy, will dance its way onto the earnings stage this week. Also, with the holiday shopping season well underway, Best Buy Co. (BBY) and Discover Financial Services (DFS) are scheduled to offer up their most recent quarterly results.

Here's a closer look at what the analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting from these three, plus a peek at the week's economic calendar.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded Eaton (ETN) to conviction buy from neutral.
• AECOM Technology (ACM) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Hologic (HOLX), Gen-Probe (GPRO) and Qiagen (QGEN) to overweight from neutral.
• GeoMet (GMET) was upgraded to accumulate from neutral at Global Hunter.
• Accretive Health (AH) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Reinsurance Group (RGA) to overweight from equal weight.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Clearwire (CLWR) to neutral from underperform.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Coca-Cola (KO) to overweight from neutral due to valuation and expectations that developed market volume should improve. The firm raised its target price for shares to $66.
• BB&T upgraded Nordson (NDSN) to buy from hold and has an $82 price target on the stock. The firm believes certain drivers of Nordson's Advanced Tech unit are becoming more secular vs. cyclical and that the company's EBIT margins can go higher.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Embraer (ERJ) to outperform from underperform, citing the positive announcements from the Famborough Air Show. The firm raised its price target to $37 from $21.
• Universal Health (UHS) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Mead Johnson (MJN) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Coventry Health (CVH) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Leerink.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) to Buy from Neutral but lowered its target to $42 from $45 following the solid Q4 report. The firm expects Dollar Tree's cost containment to continue. JP Morgan upgraded shares to Overweight from Neutral on valuation as it believes the recent pullback is overdone and the company set achievable FY09 guidance. The firm has a $43 target on the stock.
  
• JP Morgan also upgraded Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) to Overweight from Neutral on valuation as they find the stock oversold at current levels.
  
• KeyBanc upgraded Nordson (NASDAQ: NDSN) to Hold from Underweight based on valuation, strong balance sheet and cost reductions, and a solid track record of execution.
• Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at HSBC.
  
• Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.
  
• Carter's (NYSE: CRI) was upgraded at Goldman to Neutral from Sell.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says intra-quarter signs that all was well were far off the mark.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) (Cramer's Take) totally fooled us. Throughout the quarter, we heard rumblings that things were just right.

Instead, Dell gave us a quarter that reminds us that the body language in tech has become meaningless. Never forget that you can only trust these guys on the day they report, and that report -- with its depictions of a slowdown across all geographies -- made me want to go out and pick up some Altria (NYSE: MO) (Cramer's Take).

The Dell report reminds me of Nordson (NASDAQ: NDSN) (Cramer's Take), another company that has made you feel all rosy about the international markets. But with that industrial play, it was only Europe that was bad.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Royal Caribbean, Alkermes and ASML Holdings were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) to Equal Weight from Overweight to reflect margin concerns due to the high oil prices and lowered their target to $37 from $40. However, the firm maintains an Overweight rating on rival Carnival (NYSE: CCL).
  
• Baird downgraded Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) to Neutral from Outperform following the company's reduced Risperdal Consta guidance. The firm does not recommend buying shares.
  
• UBS cut ASML Holdings (NASDAQ: ASML) to Neutral from Buy to reflect order uncertainty heading into 2009.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• U.S. Airways (NYSE: LCC) was cut at Credit Suisse to Underperform from Outperform.
  
• Goldman downgraded Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Nordson (NASDAQ: NDSN) was lowered to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.