U.S. stock futures are mixed this morning, as investors are awaiting economic data on retail sales and manufacturing activity in the New York area. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3 points to 12,227.00 and S&P 500 futures fell 0.30 point to 1,327.40. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 1 point to 2,382.75.

European markets were mixed today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.12%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.06%.

Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.20% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.08%.

Analyst upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Sonoco Products (SON) to buy from hold after the company reported Q1 results and raised guidance. The firm upped its target for shares to $38 from $32.
• Baird upgraded Western Digital (WDC) to outperform from neutral following the solid Q3 report and guidance. The firm raised its target to $50 from $48.
• Goldman upgraded Qwest (Q) to neutral from sell. Qwest is being acquired by CenturyLink (CTL).
• Hershey (HSY) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Principal Financial (PFG) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Monster Worldwide (MWW) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at Wells Fargo.

Here's another one of those stocks that I didn't buy and then found myself sadly watching from the sidelines as it rose higher. A year ago, I proffered a bearish reading on the prospects for telecom entity Qwest Communications (Q). Well, shares of Qwest have done well over the last twelve months. Should I now allocate some investment capital to this idea?

One might argue yes. After all, the company is up at the time of this writing on the Q4 numbers. However, I just don't feel compelled to buy. Especially not after all the declines I see in the release.

Analyst upgrades:

• FBR Capital upgraded Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect a recovery in the missy sector and the company's product improvement. The firm raised its target on shares to $19 from $13.
• Roth Capital upgraded Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) to Buy from Hold based on product cycle strength in wireless and Ethernet, HDD share gains, and a return of PC growth. Target is $22.
• Goldman upgraded Colgate (NYSE: CL) to Buy from Neutral citing valuation and expectations for a pick-up in unit growth. The firm raised its price target to $85 from $83. Note that Goldman downgraded Clorox to Neutral from Buy.
• Cadbury (NYSE: CBY) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at HSBC.
• Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) was upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Qwest (NYSE: Q) was upgraded to Market Weight from Underweight at Thomas Weisel.

Qwest Communications International (NYSE: Q) is moving lower today after the telecom firm pulled its long-distance phone network off the auction block. The company was attempting to sell its long-distance assets to help generate cash, but reports indicate that bids for the unit were unacceptably low.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that bids for the unit came in below $1 billion, citing sources familiar with the matter. Qwest, which has a debt load of $560 million maturing in 2009, was seeking $2 billion to $3 billion for the business.

Fiber-optic entity Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q), whose colleagues include Verizon (NYSE: VZ), AT&T (NYSE: T), and Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), reported Q4 numbers on Tuesday. Revenues declined by 3%, and adjusted income came in at 12 cents per share, which, according to this article, beat estimates by two pennies.

Well, I have to say, I've been wrong about Qwest. When I last wrote about the tech company, I had a very bearish view. I think Qwest's stock gained a buck since that piece, which is like a huge percentage gain when you consider that the shares closed yesterday at $3.45. The market seems to be liking Qwest's prospects. Going back to that article I cited concerning the earnings beat, I see some positive opinion on Qwest's quarter. I'll agree, it wasn't bad, especially when the economy is considered. The company did well in terms of cash flow: cash from operations for the year was roughly flat while adjusted free cash flow came in at $1.4 billion.

"Investors have been focusing on the shortcomings at Qwest Communications International (NYSE: Q), and to be sure, it has plenty," observes turnaround specialist George Putnam.

In his The Turnaround Letter, he adds, "But the company also has very valuable assets and strong cash flow. In addition, we believe the stock would command a good premium in a takeover." Here's his bullish review.

"Following its IPO in 1995, Qwest expanded via acquisitions and partnerships, and participated in the telecom bubble of the late 1990's.

"Unlike many of the other high-flying telecoms of that era, however, Qwest realized that in addition to a story you needed customers. In 2000, it went out and acquired US West, which gave Qwest the revenue base to survive the bursting of the telecom bubble

"Although the company survived, the shareholders have had a rocky ride during the current decade. The stock peaked around 60 in 2000, dropped to just above 1 in 2002, rebounded to 10 in 2007 and then declined to its present level.

"Management's challenge is too maximize the value of its assets. One of Qwest's greatest assets, and biggest challenges, is its huge traditional landline telephone business. The landline business is in a slow but steady decline as customers move to wireless or Internet telephony.

Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q), a telecommunication concern which counts Verizon (NYSE: VZ), AT&T (NYSE: T) and Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) as esteemed colleagues, issued its Q3 numbers on Wednesday. What do they tell us? Well, for the most part, the numbers, and perhaps more importantly to some extent, the price action, tell us that we should stay away from this low single-digit stock.

Revenues went down roughly 2%. Earnings per diluted share, which came in at $0.09, took a huge dive of 93% on a GAAP basis, but this was driven by a significant tax benefit booked in Q3 2007. Looking at adjusted EBITDA, we see that the drop wasn't so large: Qwest posted $1.08 billion for this metric versus $1.15 billion in the year-ago period. Management didn't see fit to beat expectations, as the call was for $0.10 per share.

However, the company delivered $330 million in adjusted free cash flow, which is representative of a flat growth rate. Hey, the fact that free-cash generation didn't really go down is pretty cool in this case. Management promoted its shareholder-friendly initiatives of dividends and share buybacks in the release. Unfortunately, they aren't enough to bring me to the table where this stock is concerned.

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) reported adjusted earnings of 44 cents per share, inline with estimates. Kraft also raised expectations for 2008 earnings.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) reported a 9% rise in both earnings and revenue, beating analyst estimates on both counts. P&G kept the same outlook.

Telecommunication concern Verizon (NYSE: VZ), whose competitors include AT&T (NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), and Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q), reported earnings for the third quarter on Monday, and investors could not have been happier. As Wall Street continued its painful bearish slide, shareholders of Verizon were bragging about the 10% rise in the company's stock price. Question is, should you be a buyer of Verizon's stock at this point?

The numbers were decent enough. According to the press release, earnings per share were $0.66. Management only succeeded at matching expectations for Q3, according to this earnings-preview piece by Brent Archer. Honestly, I was surprised at the big pop in the stock yesterday. Considering how badly the markets have been doing, and the fact that we're facing a global recession, I would have figured on a more muted response to Verizon's numbers. After all, if we are facing a tough recession (and I'm fully on board with that sentiment), what's going to happen to the growth rate of the FiOS product? That product is doing well, as are other parts of the Verizon portfolio, but I wouldn't have been a buyer into the stock's strength today. And I say that without a doubt.

But, with Verizon, there is that great dividend yield and cash-flow growth. Operational cash flow from continuing operations was up almost 6%, and capital expenditures decreased. That's great news for dividend investors, as more free cash was left over. I think the market looked at Verizon as being oversold and decided to buy in. The company seemed to have a good Q3, and I think long-term investors will definitely do well with the stock; in fact, the press release mentioned that management saw fit to increase its dividend 7% during the quarter, expressing confidence in the company's current business models. But I believe even longer-term thinkers would do well to wait for a pullback in the share price before either initiating a new position or adding to an existing holding. I simply think there was too much excitement around the stock after its report.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.