Sometimes, a big market washout like we had on Friday, when the S&P 500 fell 10 points and the Dow was down 170 points at its worst level, can reveal an awful lot about individual stocks. It's days like these when the winners stick out like sore thumbs and reveal just how much demand there is for their shares. On Friday, there was a collection of such stocks.

All the following names have had astounding gains in the past year, and it sure looks like they are prepared to continue on that same trajectory. These stocks stuck out like a sore thumb on Friday because of significant buying interest in a terrible broad market tape. None of the moves in these names was driven by news

Riverbed Technology (RVBD - option chain) shares are rising today on reports that the company is in negotiations to buy Radware (RDWR) for $47 per share. Rival Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) reportedly has offered $45 per share for RDWR. 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 RVBD.

RVBD opened this morning at $35.50. So far today the stock has hit a low of $34.58 and a high of $36.91. As of 12:20, RVBD is trading at $34.99 up 0.17 (0.5%). The chart for RVBD looks neutral and S&P gives RVBD a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

The market won't let QE2 go ahead of the G20 meetings. Now the talk is that the second wave of quantitative easing is mostly priced in, as well as fears of ongoing currency wars. The markets were mixed at the open, but shares were lower by the close on the DJIA, and trying to hold on to positive in the NASDAQ and S&P500.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 11,132.26 -14.31 (-0.13%)
S&P 500 1,183.05 +2.79 (0.24%)
Nasdaq 2,479.39 +19.72 (0.80%)

Top Analyst Calls
Next Week's Top Earnings

Option traders appear to be setting up for a bullish move on Cogent Inc. (COGT). Traders plowed into 1,571 new call option contracts -- 3.27 times the average volume -- on the stock on Friday. And we know that traders were eager to get into this trade because 99% of the trades came in on the ask price.

Recently, 3M Company (MMM) announced that it was going to acquire Cogent for $10.50 per share. The stock closed Friday at $11.01, up 19.53% during the past month.

As companies increase collaboration across many offices, it's getting much more complicated to manage information technology resources. But Riverbed Technology (RVBD) has been working on solutions to this problem for some time. Its main focus is on so-called wide area network (WAN) optimization.

This is a red-hot market and Riverbed is certainly a key beneficiary as it demonstrated in its latest quarterly release reported late Thursday. Shares of the company soared as much as 11% in Friday's trading. And given the growth ahead for the company -- and the strong momentum -- the good news for investors should continue.

Analyst upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) to Neutral from Underweight based on lower input costs, stabilization in home, lower markdown dollars, and valuation.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) to Perform from Underperform as it believes Novellus' market share has stabilized and that the company is a potential acquisition target. The firm raised its price target to $20 from $9.
• Bernstein upgraded ConAgra (NYSE: CAG) to Market Perform from Underperform citing strength in grains and moderating input costs.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• China Housing (NASDAQ: CHLN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital.

The choppy/consolidating (or perhaps worse) market conditions sometimes give the impression that growth plays do not exist, but that is not the case, and one growth company worth reviewing is Riverbed Technology

Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) develops hardware and software that improves the performance of applications shared over networks. The company sells directly, and via reseller channels and distributors.

Analysts see another impressive, 40-60% revenue growth year in 2008, following a 156% increase in 2007, on growing demand for the company's traffic management solutions.

Further, the company is well-positioned to benefit from increase demand for wan (wide area network) optimization, as these tools become mission-critical for many companies. Operating costs remain under control. The Reuters FY 2007/FY 2008 EPS consensus estimates for RAVID are $0.64 to $0.76.

In just a few years, Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD) has built a strong technology offering, which helps move large files -- such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) PowerPoints, SAP (NYSE: SAP) data files and so on -- across networks at high speeds. In fact, last week I had a chance to meet the CEO, Jerry Kennelly, who was quite upbeat even though Riverbed's stock price was down about 28% to $34.61.

Although, based on the fiscal Q3 results, things seem fine. Revenues spiked 158% to $63.3 million and net income was $2.8 million, or $0.04 per share, which compares to a net loss of $3.1 million, or $0.16 per share in the same period a year ago. About $9.7 million of Q3's expenses came from stock option compensation.

Riverbed has continued its innovation. Back in August, the company launched its Steelhead Mobile product, which improves the performance of file downloads for laptops. Riverbed claims that about 41% of workers in the US are mobile, such as in remote offices, hotel rooms, coffee shops and so on.

If you have ever had to deal with the slow response times of shared network software programs, you'll be able to appreciate the fact that there is a firm in San Francisco that can do something about it.

Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD) provides hardware and associated software that speed the performance of shared computer network applications. The devices boost efficiency across wide area networks, routinely cutting business application times by factors of five and more. The company scales its systems to operate in environments ranging in size from small businesses to major data centers. Strategic partners include Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC). Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) are competitors.

The company pleased investors last week, when it reported Q1 EPS of twelve cents (ex-items) and revenues of $42.8 million. Analysts had been looking for five cents and $37.5 million. Management also guided Q2 EPS to 11-12 cents (six cent consensus) and Q2 revenues to $48-$49 million ($42.09M consensus).

In comments on his MAD MONEY this evening, Cramer was giving more advice for a record-breaking market. He said a great way to make money in a rally is to find some of the lesser-known names that have been overlooked.

[Oddly enough, this is a complete backflip from his advice last night, when he said to go with the big tech titans. But who's keeping track? Ahem.]

Today he said Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RVBD) is one that could be a big big winner like his old DivX Inc. (NASDAQ:DIVX) call. He said RVBD is up 20% but you might not have missed it. He said they are actually beating Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) at its own game. Cramer said this is a great speculative tech stock.

Cramer said Riverbed is actually a best-of-breed WAN product company, but it isn't even profitable yet. He said the company's revenue growth has been large, and its technology is the best out there. Riverbed currently has deals with HP, McData, NEC, and others. He thinks the new estimates for RVBD are conservative, and it could blow away estimates one quarter out.

RVBD closed down 4% at $18.05 in regular trading but popped up 12% to $20.25 in after-hours after Cramer touted this stock.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.