Analyst Upgrades

• SINA (SINA) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Texas Instruments (TXN), ON Semiconductor (ONNN), Xilinx (XLNX) and Valassis (VCI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Salesforce.com (CRM) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Peet's Coffee (PEET) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Invesco Mortgage (IVR) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• BTU International (BTUI) to buy from hold at Wunderlich.
• Coca-Cola Femsa (KOF) to overweight from neutral at HSBC.
• Chipotle (CMG) to market perform from underperform at Morgan Keegan.

Analyst Upgrades

• RightNow (RNOW) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Vivo Participacoes (VIV) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Genesis Energy (GEL) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.

Analyst Downgrades

• First Community (FCBC) and WesBanco (WSBC) to hold from buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Dresser Rand (DRC) to neutral from buy at Global Hunter.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Dollar Tree (DLTR) to neutral from underweight and $48 price target.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Time Warner Cable (TWC) to outperform from neutral and raised its price target to $70 from $59, citing growth in wireline HST demand.
• Needham upgraded NetScout (NTCT) to buy from hold with a $29 price target, citing channel checks that indicate industry spending on network monitoring software may be improving.
• Nstar (NST) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) was upgraded to hold from sell at Societe Generale.
• Air France-KLM (AFLYY) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded OpenTable (OPEN) to buy from hold, citing stronger than expected near-term trends and traction for the company's Spotlight offering. Citi upped its price target for shares to $70 from $46.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Werner (WERN) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation, the company's reduction in cost, and its above peer exposure to the pricing cycle.
• Goldman upgraded CarMax (KMX) to neutral from sell based on valuation and higher used car profitability. The firm has a $24 target on the stock.
• Apollo Group (APOL) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Nokia (NOK) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Zions Bancorp (ZION) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.

Analyst Upgrades

• Oppenheimer upgraded VeriSign (VRSN) to outperform from perform, citing better-than-expected domain names trends and the potential for a sizeable share buyback. The firm has a $33 price target for shares.
• Oppenheimer also upgraded EMC (EMC) to outperform from perform, citing valuation and expectations for strong Q2 results. The firm set a $22 price target for shares.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Juniper (JNPR) to overweight from neutral, citing valuation and its longer-term outlook. The firm keeps a $31 price target for shares.
• Kilroy Realty (KRC) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Veolia Environment (VE) was upgraded to buy from add at WestLB.
• QEP Resources (QEP) was upgraded to positive from neutral at Susquehanna.

Analyst Upgrades

• Bernstein upgraded Boeing (BA) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation. The firm also raised its price target to $81 from $80.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Thomas & Betts (TNB) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation and an expected recovery in North American nonresidential construction.
• RBC Capital upgraded Susquehanna (SUSQ) to outperform from sector perform and has a $14 target on the stock. The firm thinks the stock's valuation is attractive as its decline in response to the European debt crisis and financial regulatory reform has been overdone.
• Priceline.com (PCLN) was upgraded to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Genzyme (GENZ) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• RightNow (RNOW) was upgraded to overweight from market weight at Thomas Weisel.

Analyst Upgrades

• Piper Jaffray upgraded Psychiatric Solutions (PSYS) to neutral from underweight on expectations the company's merger with Universal Health (UHS) will close.
• Jefferies upgraded Intuit (INTU) to buy from neutral and has a $45 price target on the stock. The firm expects Intuit's 2011 tax season to be at least as good as 2010's and sees improvement in the SMB exposed businesses.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Unica (UNCA) to outperform from market perform. The firm upgraded the stock due to what it sees as improving trends in marketing spending, upcoming enhancements in the company's products and long-term opportunity for marketing software to exceed expectations.
• Textron (TXT) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• RightNow (RNOW) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Beazer Homes (BZH) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.

In 1997, tech entrepreneur Greg Gianforte started a company in an extra bedroom in his house. It became known as RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW), which now generates more than $100 million in annual revenues.

Recently, I had a chance to talk to Greg. I asked him: Is it a good time to start a business?

His answer was simple: It's always a good time to start a business.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) reported a surprise profit but is expected to return to losses next quarter.
• Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) profit and revenue were in line with expectations, sending shares lower.
• Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) posted better-than-expected earnings but other concerns drove down shares.
• eHealth Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH) reported solid Q2 numbers but Wall Street was not impressed.
• Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) posted a smaller-than-expected Q2 loss, sending shares higher.
• JAKKS Pacific Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) reported swinging to a Q2 net loss and revenues were flat.

Yesterday, I had a chance to talk to Greg Gianforte, who is the CEO and founder of RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW). Back in 1997, he had the foresight to realize the power of Internet technologies to help with customer service.

And, according to RightNow's Q2 earnings report (which came out yesterday), the vision continues to gain traction. Revenues increased from $35.2 million to $36.3 million. While this does not sound like much, it is certainly an achievement in light of the tough information technology (IT) spending environment.

Analyst upgrades:

• Oppenheimer upgraded Amdocs (NYSE: DOX) to Outperform from Perform on expectations the company is gaining momentum following recent contract wins. The firm set a $27 price target on the stock.
• FBR Capital upgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) to Market Perform from Underperform after raising the Lodging sector to Overweight from Neutral. The firm cites improving demand data, potential foreign exchange benefits, and continued asset sales for the upgrade and raised its target price on Starwood to $19 from $14.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to Buy from Neutral. The firm expects Goldman to beat Q2 estimates due favorable trading and underwriting conditions. The firm raised estimates and increased its price target to $175 from $144.
• Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Pali Capital.
• KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at JMP Securities.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of Colonial Bancgroup (NYSE: CNB) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent weakness and believes the company will be eligible to receive TARP funds. Morgan Stanley believes the company's valuation adequately reflects risk to the loan portfolio; the firm raised shares to Equal Weight from Underweight.
• Merrill upgraded Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) to Buy from Underperform and believes their valuation reflects the worst-case for bad news.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Trimble Navigation to Outperform from Perform on valuation as they believe the company's long-term growth story is intact.
• Celestica (NYSE: CLS) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.
• KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
• Wachovia raised EastGroup Properties (NYSE: EGP) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst downgrades:

• UBS cut Barclays (NYSE: BCS) to Neutral from Buy as they believe capital raises could negatively impact earnings and that the dividend is likely to be cut.
• JP Morgan downgraded Discovery Holdings (NASDAQ: DISCA) to Underweight from Neutral based on valuation and the deteriorating economic outlook.
• Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS) to Underperform from Market Perform and lowered its target to $7 from $23 as they see further risk to the downside following the company's weaker-than-expected results.
• LKQ Corp (NASDAQ: LKQX) was cut to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital.
• Affymetrix (NASDAQ: AFFX) was lowered to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• RightNow Tech (NASDAQ: RNOW) was downgraded at Baird to Neutral from Outperform.

The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) beat estimates and said the 787 Dreamliner was on schedule.
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) fourth-quarter profits fell on rising fuel costs.
• Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) profits fell due to rising costs of raw materials.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) posted the largest annual and quarterly profit ever by a U.S. company.
• Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) beat earnings expectations due to strong international growth.
• Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) posted record earnings for the third quarter on demand for fuel efficiency.
• JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) posted a narrower-than-expected loss.
• Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ: NSANY) posted strong results due in part to U.S. sales of the Rogue.
• Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) fourth-quarter profit surged, leading to its best yearly results ever.
• Paraexel International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) beat estimates and offered revised guidance.
• Ratheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) posted strong fourth-quarter results and offered optimistic guidance.
• RightNow Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RNOW) posted a loss, though revenues were up.
• Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) posted solid results on TV sales and the game division's return to the black.
• Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) posted solid results despite the housing slump due to strength overseas.
• United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) met earnings estimates due to a pension-related charge.
• US Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) fourth-quarter and full-year profits declined on acquisition costs and job cuts.
• Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) beat expectations despite a profit decline of 49%.

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others and McDonald's, Kraft, P&G, Verizon, MasterCard, 3M and others.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: DirecTV, Salesforce.com and Total SA were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman, as they believe it is well positioned to outperform in the difficult macro environment.
  
• UBS believes Salesforce.com's (NYSE: CRM) Force.com platform has strong differentiation in the marketplace and will help CRM benefit from spending outside of the customer management area. The firm raised its rating to Buy from Neutral.
  
• ING upgraded Total SA (NYSE: TOT) to Buy from Hold as they believe positive results from the company's downstream operations in Europe will support the stock.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.
  
• Goldman upgraded RightNow Tech (NASDAQ: RNOW) to Neutral from Sell.

Corporate strategy expert Sramana Mitra had a nice post yesterday that looked at a broad spectrum of the burgeoning Software as a Service (SaaS) market. Companies like salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) are revolutionizing the software industry by providing hosted versions of traditional software packages and essentially renting them to customers. Customers benefit by paying less money upfront and don't assume the cost of ownership, opting instead to rent software from SaaS companies. Updating and maintenance of software is handled by SaaS firm.

I've been looking at Concur Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNQR). Concur's solutions address automate corporate travel and expense management. Larry Schutts had a good post on the firm saying:

Its flagship program provides the process and information for management to reduce manual processing, improve internal controls, increase business policy compliance, speed up reimbursement, and increase expense report accuracy. The software features Web-based modules for tracking, submitting, and processing reports.

Large corporations like The Chubb Corporation (NYSE: CB), J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE: TXN) are all looking to 1) manage complicated expense processing 2) lower costs.

SaaS companies are just in their infancy as more business look to rent rather than buy. Check out Taleo Corporation (Nasdaq: TLEO), RightNow Technologies (Nasdaq: RNOW), and Vocus, Inc. (Nasdaq: VOCS).

Zack Miller is the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.