Analyst upgrades:

• Credit Suisse upgraded Stancorp (NYSE: SFG) to Outperform from Neutral citing relative valuation and EPS visibility.
• Jefferies upgraded Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE: CY) to Hold from Underperform after its channel checks indicated the company's capacitive touch screen solution has design traction. The firm raised its target on shares to $10 from $7.50.
• FBR Capital upgraded Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect improving store channel checks, the company's brand focus and controlled inventory, as well as the firm's belief that guidance could be conservative. FBR raised its target on shares to $9 from $6.
• Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at JMP Securities.
• Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at RBS.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Nucor (NYSE: NUE) to Buy from Hold to reflect its positive outlook for steel and expectations the company will return to profitability in Q4. Citi raised its target price on shares to $57 from $46.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Given Imaging (NASDAQ: GIVN) to Outperform from Perform to reflect solid PillCam Colon data and expected margin improvement. The firm has a $25 target on shares.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Genworth (NYSE: GNW) to Buy from Hold following the $600M capital raise as it believes liquidity at the holding company has improved. The firm raised its target on shares to $18 from $7.
• Washington Federal (NASDAQ: WFSL) was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at FBR Capital.
• Carnival (NYSE: CCL) was upgraded to Sell from Conviction Sell at Goldman.
• Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Weeden.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman said International Paper (NYSE: IP) is its top pick in the group citing leverage to early cycle containerboard. The firm upgraded shares to Conviction Buy from Buy and has a $26 target on the stock.
• Morgan Keegan upgraded Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE: HR) to Outperform from Market Perform citing valuation and better-than-expected Q2 results.
• William Blair upgraded Harbin Electric (NASDAQ: HRBN) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes the Chinese economy is likely to accelerate and the company's balance sheet is strengthened following the retirement of debt.
• Allstate (NYSE: ALL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Commercial Vehicle Group (NASDAQ: CVGI) was upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at JPMorgan.

"We believe that the recent relative strength of tech stocks is the start of a longer term trend, not merely a flash in the pan," says Jim Oberweis and Dave Covas.

In The Oberweis Report, the money managers and small cap advisors explain, "Our confidence stems from the emergence of the next Killer Apps, which drive technology cycles because they change how we live our lives." Here, they make a case for technology and offer a trio of small cap favorites.

"During the 1980's and early 1990's, the personal computer was the Killer App. During the late 1990's, it was the Internet. During this decade – zilch. Until now. The next Killer Apps – video-on-demand and ubiquitous high-speed wireless connectivity – are coming.

Analyst upgrades:

• Baird upgraded Nike (NYSE: NKE) to Outperform from Neutral on expectations the company will benefit from the drop in the U.S. dollar and continued solid trends in athletic footwear. The firm raised its target on shares to $69 from $61.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company is well positioned for cyclical turnaround in the Paper/Building Products space. The firm raised its target on shares to $19 from $11.
  
• Goldman upgraded Diageo (NYSE: DEO) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the current valuation and the company's exposure to emerging markets.
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at ING Group.
  
• Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  
• Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX) was upgraded at Oppenheimer to Outperform from Perform.

"We are still finding attractively valued growers in tech," says quantitative analyst Richard Morney.

In his Upside stock advisory newsletter, he notes "We have found several especially promising tech stocks with solid track records, strong finances, and attractive growth prospects."

Here, the advisor reviews three stocks that earn his top 'best buy' rating: Akamai NASDAQ: AKAM), Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) and TeleCommunications Systems (NASDAQ: TSYS).

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of SourceFire (NASDAQ:FIRE) to Buy from Hold as they believe the company is benefiting from recent spending by the U.S. Federal government and private enterprises to improve cybersecurity. The firm raised their price target on the stock to $11 from $7.
  
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Brocade (NASADAQ:BRCD) to Buy from Neutral as they believe an expanded OEM announcement with IBM (NYSE:IBM) could be announced as early as the end of April, creating a positive catalyst. The firm raised their price target on the stock to $6 from $4.
  
• UBS upgraded Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) to Buy from Sell but lowered their target to $4 from $21 citing reduced churn and cashflow concerns, expectations for FY10 to be a trough year, and a potential reacceleration in deferred growth.
• AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Strattec (NASDAQ:STRT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Baird.
  
• Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) was upgraded at William Blair to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Safeway (NYSE:SWY) to Buy from Neutral based on valuation.
  
• AthroCare (NASDAQ:ARTC) was raised to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna on valuation.
• BT Group (NYSE:BT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
  
• Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) was upgraded at Goldman to Buy from Neutral.
  
• China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Analyst downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Albany Molecular (NASDAQ:AMRI) to Underperform from Hold on concerns regarding the company's exposure to small biopharma as their checks suggest biopharmaceutical companies that rely on the capital markets to fund operations are cutting back significantly on R&D projects. The firm lowered their target to $8 from $10.
• Baird downgraded Sirona Dental (NASDAQ:SIRO) to Neutral from Outperform and lowered their target to $15 from $21 due to lack of catalysts and better options in dental.
  
• Stephens cut Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) to Equal Weight from Overweight on the expectation that weaker volumes will lead to pricing pressure. The firm lowered their target to $24 from $36.
• Teco Energy (NYSE:TE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at KeyBanc.
  
• RF Micro Devices (NASDAQ:RFMD) was lowered to Underperform from Buy at Merrill Lynch.
  
• Energy Conversion (NASDAQ:ENER) was cut to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

[Update: Find more from Timothy Sykes here, and more stocks to buy here.]

Each quarter brings a new batch of earnings plays, so which ones should you trade?

I've had my fair share of successful calls, but I've also been burned badly before. One time, I put in a solid week's worth of research (pdf) to pick Vasco Data Systems (NASDAQ: VDSI) right before earnings, and what happened, they totally blew it. A 30% drop. It still stings. This is just the latest reminder that you can't trust companies, analysts or really anyone on Wall Street.

So far, in this latest round, Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC), Mastercard (NYSE: MA), VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT) and Concur Technologies (NASDAQ: CNQR) have performed well while Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Accuray (NASDAQ: ARAY), Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) [editor's note - this was written prior to today's news], VMware (NYSE: VMW), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) have all bombed.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) all had very solid quarters, but where did it get investors? Nowhere -- all three stocks are flat since then.

We've pinned down the ever-dancing Wall Street Warrior Timothy Sykes for another StockWatch: Between the Bells segment! In this edition, the author of An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund cautions you to revise your strategy for the developing bear market. "It is not the time to be aggressive, it is the time to be conservative," says Tim.