The major beneficiaries of ongoing unrest in the Middle East will include companies that have lots of oil reserves, which certainly includes Brazil's Petrobras (PBR)," notes Paul Goodwin.

The editor of Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report explains, "The company is the third largest oil and natural gas company in the world, with proven oil reserves of 14.2 billion barrels. That's an 11% year-over-year gain in reserves, the largest increase in eight years.

"If you add in probable and possible reserves, the number rises to nearly 28.5 billion barrels. Proven natural gas reserves also took a big jump in 2010, rising more than 15% to 423 billion cubic meters.

Analyst Upgrades

• Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Petrobras (PBR) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Silvercorp Metals (SVM) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• PROS (PRO) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Power Integrations (POWI) and Monolithic Power (MPWR) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Diodes (DIOD) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Whole Foods (WFMI) to hold from sell at Hapoalim.
• Sinclair Broadcast (SBGI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sappi (SPP) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Alpha Natural (ANR) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Watts Water (WTS) to buy from hold at Brean Murray.

"Our advice to buy Brazil as well as our advice to buy energy stocks have rewarded those who heeded them over the last few years; given this, it stands to reason, then, that investing in Brazilian energy is eminently sensible," says Jack Adamo.

The editor of Insiders Plus explains, "Our latest buy recommendation is Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) -- or Petrobras for short.

"The reason for buying Brazil is clear: It is one of the fastest growing countries in the world and among the best of that group in terms of rule of law and honest financial markets.

"As soon as it is possible to do so, several North American companies are likely to move quickly to enter Cuba, the greatest untapped opportunity remaining in the western hemisphere," says Jim Powell.

Here, the editor of Global Changes & Opportunities looks at what he believes are the best investment opportunities for investing in Cuba, should such a change occur.

"In August, Raul Castro announced that 500,000 public workers in Cuba will be laid off and will need to find jobs in newly-legalized small private enterprises.

Stocks to sell that spring to mind right now are probably not in the energy sector. Crude oil prices are up 16% in six weeks. Dividend investors continue to seek out low-risk, high-yield stock picks. So you would think that the major crude oil and energy stocks are good buys right?

Wrong. The fact of the matter is that as we enter another earnings season, the numbers just aren't there for many crude oil blue chips. Even with oil prices improving right now, the ship has sailed on Q3 and those profits are all over but the counting. And as many investors will see soon, those profits may not be as healthy as many crude oil stocks would like.

HSBC Holdings (HBC) closed at $55.23. HBC is expected to report Q4 EPS on March 2. March put option implied volatility is at 39, April and June puts are 34; above its 26-week average of 32, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Petrobras (PBR) closed at $41.58. PBR is expected to report Q4 EPS in early March. Crude oil futures are recently down 0.58% to $79.54 a barrel according to Bloomberg. March put option implied volatility is at 37, July is at 38; versus its 26-week average of 39, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

It goes without saying that the investment strategy advocated here favors integrated oil companies, particularly those with a regional or product advantage. And with the aforementioned in mind, I'm reiterating my buy rating for Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), also known as Petrobras, first recommended on April 22, 2009, at a price of $32.99. If you bought PBR in April, you're up an impressive 47%.

Petrobras remains on-track for 5% to 6% oil/natural gas production growth for FY2009 or about 2.54 million barrels of oil equivalent per day; longer-term, a roughly 7% to 7.5% average annual production increase is seen for 2010 to 2013.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) to Buy from Hold on valuation as it believes commercial construction concerns are well known. The firm raised its target on shares to $40 from $37, and coupled the upgrade with a downgrade of Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) to Sell from Hold.
• Credit Suisse upgraded BJ Services (NYSE: BJS) to Neutral from Underperform following its acquisition by Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI). The firm raised its target to $17.
• Credit Suisse also upgraded Amkor Technology (NASDAQ: AMKR) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $8 from $7. The firm expects Amkor to benefit from near-term strength in the supply chain and the mix shift towards higher value packaging.
• Textron (NYSE: TXT) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Siemens (NYSE: SI) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
• Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery.

Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) closed at $32.30. Crude oil futures are recently down 1.86% to $50.65 a barrel according to Bloomberg. April option implied volatility is at 69; July is at 66; below its 26-week average of 80, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY), the fifth largest gold producer globally, closed at $12.15. Gold is recently down .47% to $954.30 according to Bloomberg. HMY April option implied volatility of 67 is below its 26-week average of 89, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company has decided to invest in oil fields recently discovered under several kilometers of sea water. To obtain the oil it must drill into a hard-to-penetrate layer of salt. So far, no estimate of the size of the find has been made, however some say that the reserve may contain as much as 100 billion barrels. At present, Brazil has proven reserves of 14.4 billion barrels.

Petrobras plans to invest $174.4 billion over the next four years, including $28 billion on the new fields.

Last week Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Hess (NYSE: HES) announced the discovery of oil in a pre-salt field. Exxon Mobil and Hess each own 40% of the partnership and Petrobras owns 20%. Petrobras also owns two nearby fields at Tupi with estimates of 5 billion barrels and 8 billion barrels respectively.

Disney (NYSE: DIS) closed at $28.26 Monday. DIS is expected to report Q4 EPS in early November. DIS November option implied volatility of 54 is above it 26-week average of 31 according to Track Data, suggesting larger movement.

Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) closed at $70.10 Monday. WHR is scheduled to report Q3 EPS in late October. WHR overall option implied volatility of 83 is above its 26-week average of 44 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) closed at $34.20 Monday. Crude oil futures are recently up 3.89% to $91.23 according to Bloomberg. PBR October option implied volatility is at 167; November is at 127; above its 26-week average of 48 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

"Crude oil remains deeply oversold on an intermediate-term basis, suggesting a rally sometime in the early fall," says Dennis Slothower.

The editor of Stealth Stocks looks to Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE: PBR) as his latest "stock of the month." Here's his review of the Brazilian firm that is now the world's 8th-largest oil company.

"The founding of Petrobras was authorized in October 1953, with the objective of executing, on behalf of the federal government, the activities of the oil sector in Brazil.

"Over the past five decades or so, the company has become the country's leader in the distribution of oil products, an activity not covered by the government monopoly, and today it is internationally acknowledged as the eighth-largest oil company in the world.

"Leading the sector in the development of one of the most advanced deepwater and ultra-deepwater technologies for oil production, PBR was twice (in 1992 and 2001) awarded the Offshore Technology Company (OTC) prize, the most important award in the sector.

The list of reasons that oil is trading near $150 a barrel gets longer by the day: speculation, greed at OPEC member countries, rising consumption in India and China and so on.

Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of oil prices is supply interruptions in major exporting nations. Worries about Nigeria and Iran have helped move the cost of crude up over the last few months. Now another big threat can be put on that list.

Oil workers at Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company, have gone out on strike. Brazil is a modestly important supplier of crude, but with the recent discovery of large off-shore deposits, its role is likely to grow.

According to Bloomberg, the strike "may cut Brazilian daily oil output by more than half."

The strike raises two problems, one short term. The psychology of oil prices is so fragile now that even rumors of supply interruptions push crude up. The other, more important problem, is in the future. Brazil's new and significant oil reserves will make the world more dependent on the country for crude. If the workers can strike now to get higher wages, they can strike later. That puts Brazil's output at a level of permanent risk.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.