SanDisk (SNDK) is a global leader in the flash memory card market and competes with Hynix, Micron (MU), Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Toshiba and IM Flash (a joint venture of Micron and Intel). We earlier discussed the rising popularity of tablet devices and its potential impact on our $50.60 Trefis Price Estimate for SanDisk's Stock, which is about 17% above the market price. (See SanDisk's Opportunity in the Tablet Market.)

In its February 2011 Analyst Day Presentation, SanDisk provided its estimates for the tablet market and the flash storage per tablet device (in Gb/unit). Based on the data available, we will soon be updating our SanDisk model to account for the tablets as a separate division.

After Friday's beating, where SanDisk Corporation (SNDK) fell around 9%, the stock looks compelling. SNDK shares fell after the company reported better than expected earnings because investors were concerned about a miss on margins. The company reported net income of $307 million or $1.27 per share compared to analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09.

Analyst Upgrades

• Verizon (VZ), FEMSA (FMX), Vornado (VNO), Duke Realty (DRE) and AvalonBay (AVB) to buy from neutral, as well as Carnival (CCL) to conviction buy from buy, at Goldman.
• Symantec (SYMC) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Copano Energy (CPNO), DCP Midstream (DPM) and Inergy (NRGY) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• SYNNEX (SNX) to strong buy from buy at Needham.
• Eli Lilly (LLY) to hold from sell at Hapoalim.
• World Wrestling (WWE) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.

Analyst Upgrades

• SanDisk (SNDK) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• JPMorgan resumed Potash (POT) at overweight, up from neutral.
• Ariba (ARBA) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Cirrus Logic (CRUS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Tesoro (TSO) to overweight from equal weight.
• Solarfun Power (SOLF) was upgraded to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Barclays upgraded Ciena (CIEN) to overweight from equal weight.
• Optimer Pharm (OPTR) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Argo Group (AGII) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Green Mountain (GMCR) to buy from underperform and Southern Company (SO) to neutral from underperform.

Analyst Upgrades

• Soleil upgraded Community Health (CYH) to buy from hold based on expectations for improved 2011 demand. The firm has a $40 price target on the stock.
• Wunderlich upgraded Invesco Mortgage (IVR) to buy from hold following the company's better-than-expected Q3 dividend. The firm also raised its target price for shares to $23.50 from $21.50.
• Goldman upgraded SuccessFactors (SFSF) to conviction buy from buy, citing cloud exposure.
• Vulcan Materials (VMC) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Comstock Resources (CRK) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Ladenburg.
• Trimble Navigation (TRMB) was upgraded to buy from hold at Canaccord.

Analyst upgrades:

• Morgan Keegan upgraded Copano Energy (CPNO) to Outperform from Market Perform based on the $300M capital infusion it received from TPG Capital.
• Wells Fargo upgraded SunTrust (STI) to Market Perform from Underperform following the company's Q2 results citing improving credit quality trends and valuation.
• UBS upgraded Baidu (BIDU) to Buy from Neutral based on solid fundamentals following the strong Q2 report and guidance and valuation. The firm raised its price target to $92 from $69.
• Baxter (BAX) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• JetBlue (JBLU) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Soleil.
• Penn Virginia GP (PVG) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.

Analyst downgrades:

• Piper Jaffray downgraded Beckman Coulter (BEC) to Neutral from Overweight following the company's weaker than expected Q2 results and lowered guidance. The firm lowered its target for shares to $60 from $74. Shares were also downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies and to Neutral from outperform at Baird following the company's reduced guidance.
• Keefe Bruyette cut AmeriCredit (ACF) to Market Perform from Outperform following the acquisition by General Motors (GM, MTLQQ).
• FBR Capital downgraded SunTrust (STI) to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered its price target to $27 from $34. The analyst believes larger banks are better positioned than regionals due to greater prospects of reserve releases.
• Travelers (TRV) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
• Lender Processing (LPS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.
• Penn Virginia Resource (PVR) was downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC Capital.

Analyst initiations:

• ThinkEquity assumed coverage of SanDisk (SNDK) with a Buy rating.
• Macquarie initiated Allergan (AGN) with an Outperform rating and $75 price target.
• Macquarie also initiated Cooper Companies (COO) with an Outperform rating and $45 price target.
• NCR Corp (NCR) was initiated with a Hold rating at KeyBanc.
• CryoLife (CRY) was started at Benchmark Co. with a Buy rating and $8 target.
• China New Borun (BORN) was initiated with an Overweight rating and $7.40 target at Piper Jaffray.

Today was a strange day in the market, with EU markets mixed and an overall mixed bias being present all day ahead of earnings season. A Fed official noted that rates were appropriate on the same day that Ben Bernanke was out discussing the lack of credit available at small businesses. Despite today's win looking more like a tie or surrender, we have now been up 5 days in a row.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,216.27 +18.24 (0.18%)
S&P 500 1,078.75 +0.79 (0.07%)
Nasdaq 2,198.36 +1.91 (0.09%)

Technology firm SanDisk (SNDK) is enjoying a nice morning thanks to favorable coverage from brokerage firm UBS.

The brokerage house upgraded SanDisk to buy from neutral and assigned a new target price of $55 per share, an elevation from $46 per share. UBS's analyst believes that strong second-half demand will outweigh any risks the stock may hold. The analyst predicts "better than expected ASP trends" continuing in the second half, combining with tight market supply to boost the shares.

Analyst Upgrades

• Janney Montgomery upgraded Microsoft (MSFT) to buy from neutral with a $30 price target, citing valuation and expectations for strong Q4 results.
• UBS upgraded SanDisk (SNDK) to buy from neutral based on favorable pricing and mobile design win momentum. The firm raised its target to $55 from $46.
• BMO Capital upgraded Medtronic (MDT) to outperform from market perform based on valuation and its product pipeline. The firm has a $48 price target on the stock.
• Lorillard (LO) and Qualcomm (QCOM) were upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Monsanto (MON) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• FedEx (FDX) was upgraded to buy from hold at BB&T.

BHP Billiton (BHP) was up $1.11 to $63.81. Copper was up 1.52% according to Bloomberg. BHP July and August put option implied volatility is at 43, November is at 45; above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

SanDisk Corporation (SNDK) is recently closed at $41.67. July put option implied volatility is at 71, October is at 63, January is at 61; above its 26 week average of 56 according to Track Data, suggesting larger July price movement.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

If you're looking for a stock that can ride Apple's (AAPL) coattails higher, look no further than SanDisk (SNDK).

SanDisk makes the flash memory that goes in every iPad Apple makes. And right now, that is a lot of iPads.

Of course, SanDisk is not wholly dependent on Apple. With the tablet wars taking off and smartphone and GPS sales increasing, demand for SanDisk's flash memory continues to grow from every angle.

Analyst Upgrades

• Collins Stewart upgraded BP (BP) to buy from hold after the company canceled its dividend payments and agreed to put $20 billion in a claims escrow fund.
• Credit Suisse upgraded First Solar (FSLR) to outperform from neutral and raised its target to $150 from $110.20. The firm raised estimates given expectations for strong demand and lower costs and believes pricing upside for Q2/Q3 is not reflected in valuation.
• Argus upgraded EMC (EMC) to buy from hold, citing valuation and notes that the company's VMware (VMW) stake is undervalued.
• Rio Tinto (RTP) was upgraded to buy from hold at Societe Generale.
• Sunoco (SUN) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• UBS (UBS) was upgraded to outperform from underperform at Macquarie.

"Each week, we assess the market's strongest stocks and highlight ten that appear to offer the best prospects," explains Mike Cintolo.

The editor of Cabot Top Ten adds, "Below, we offer our fundamental and technical analysis of three technology stocks that meet this criteria: F5 (FFIV), a player in cloud computing; NetApp (NTAP), a leader in networked data storage; and SanDisk (SNDK), the global leader of the solid state flash memory industry.

The earnings crunch is on. Intel (INTC) and IBM (IBM) have already reported strong earnings results, and some of this week's biggest anticipated earnings gainers are also tech stocks: Apple (AAPL), AT&T (T) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) to report that its earnings rose 57.1% from a year ago to $0.49 per share for the three months that ended in December. Revenue is expected to total $3.0 billion, up 19.5% from a year ago, during a fourth quarter in which it raised its guidance and declared a quarterly dividend. But the full-year forecast is for earnings of $1.13 per share (-28.0%) on $10.4 billion in revenue (-16.8%). This Dallas-based semiconductor maker's earnings results have been better than expected in the past four quarters, beating estimates by as much as nine cents per share.

The transmission of data wirelessly is the new big movement in tech. Kindles, 4G phones, tablets and more will soon be flooding marketplaces worldwide. The wireless and new telecom revolution will be sweeping the market place for years to come. This leads the investor to the obvious question: "How do I make a buck off all this?"

Here, for your consideration, are some stocks likely to thrive in the wireless tech revolution. As new devices and functionalities come onto the market, each of these stocks could perform strongly. Share prices are as of Wednesday's close.