In this market and economy it pays (literally) to have a few moderate-risk stocks in your portfolio that also have an chance for a decent upside.

The Travelers Companies (TRV), is one, and that's why I'm reiterating my by buy rating for the company, first recommended on April 24, 2009, at a price of $39.50. If you bought TRV in April, you're up about 34%.

Analyst upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded General Electric (NYSE: GE) to Outperform from Market Perform Thursday after the close. The firm sees an improved risk/reward on the stock and raised its price target to $19 from $18.
• Bernstein also upgraded Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes sales growth and margin expansion expectations are too low. The firm raised its target on shares to $160 from $125.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded CBS (NYSE: CBS) to Neutral from Underweight following the company's Q3 results and raised its target on shares to $13 from $12.
• JPMorgan upgraded Macy's (NYSE: M) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect the company's improving comps. The firm has a $23 target on the stock.
• Ansys (NASDAQ: ANSS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
• Travelers (NYSE: TRV) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Air Methods (NASDAQ: AIRM) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that as long as we're trapped in a commoditized stock market, use the futures to go bargain-hunting.

What if individual stocks want to go up, but the market wants to go down? Don't laugh. In 1982, when The Kansas City Board of Trade started trading Value Line futures (before there were S&P futures), we used to kick around in securities classes what would happen if eventually stocks became so commoditized that individual companies couldn't be removed from the gravitational pull.

For example, we know today looks like a terrible day, with Europe down horribly and our futures real soggy. But then we look and see that J. Crew (NYSE: JCG) (Cramer's Take), one of the best retailers, is not just saying that the fall season is good; it is saying it is blowout beyond imagination. The big Dow stock 3M (NYSE: MMM) (Cramer's Take) is not just saying that things are getting better; it is showing that business is very strong. The monster insurer and fellow Dow stock Travelers (NYSE: TRV) (Cramer's Take) is boosting the dividend and showing you how a responsible financial can behave.

Last week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) reported stellar quarterly results. Lots more third quarter reports from the big banks are due this week.

However, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate year-over-year earnings declines from Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB), Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC), State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT), US Bancorp (NYSE: USB), and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC).

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) to Buy from Hold on valuation and the company's exposure to a potential upturn in international drilling. The firm raised its target on shares to $80 from $56.
• UBS upgraded Allegheny Tech (NYSE: ATI) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $43 from $31 and believes the end of jet engine and other destocking will result in an initial recovery into 2010, even before an order ramp into 2011.
• Merriman upgraded Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACOR) to Buy from Neutral based on the favorable FDA panel outcome and set a $30-$33 target range on the stock. Baird upgraded Acorda to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $28 from $24. Following the panel review, Baird expects Amaya to be approved in 1H10 and would be buyers into the mid/high $20s.
• Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• PG&E (NYSE: PCG) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Newfield Exploration (NYSE: NFX) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

I'm reiterating my Buy rating for The Travelers Companies (NYSE: TRV), first recommended on April 24, 2009 at a price of $39.50. If you purchased TRV at that time, you're up a decent 20%.

Simply, look for The Travelers to continue to improve underwriting results and to capitalize on the flight-to-quality in property-casualty insurance market. Further, TRV's P/E of 9 gives those who didn't purchase shares in April an opportunity to do so now at an attractive price.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that it's the most conservative player in an industry filled with gunslingers.

The keepers of the Dow Jones Industrial Average must have felt insurance-less after the defrocking of AIG (NYSE: AIG) (Cramer's Take), so it's fitting that they added Travelers (NYSE: TRV) (Cramer's Take) to the list, even as I would have preferred Ford (NYSE: F) (Cramer's Take) or Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take).

They needed a financial that wasn't a bank and there aren't many out there that still trade at anything but desperate levels or weren't saved by the government.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is recently up 67 cents to $19.88 in pre-open trading. CSCO will replace General Motors (GM) in the Dow Jones Industrial Averages -- DJIA. CSCO June option implied volatility of 36 is below its 26-week average of 47, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Travelers (NYSE: TRV) is recently trading at $41.87 in pre-open trading, above its close of $40.66. TRV will replace Citigroup (NYSE: C) in the DJIA. TRV June and July option implied volatility of 37 is below its 26-week average of 54, according to Track Data, indicating decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

The insurance sector has had its share of woes, due to some companies dabbling in securities that perhaps they shouldn't have. But that does not mean there aren't bargains out there for moderate-risk investors, and with the aforementioned in mind, The Travelers Companies (NYSE: TRV) is worth a review.

Although both the underwriting and investment climates will remain a tough road up ahead, Wall Street has once again inordinately taken down a company's shares. The Travelers' actions to improve underwriting results and to capitalize on the flight-to-quality in property-casualty insurance market are not fully-reflected in TRV's shares -- not with a p/e of 9.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says Nasdaq is so strong it's downright eerie.

Tech can't be fought here. Because people are partying like it is 1999, when firms used $400 price targets for Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) (Cramer's Take) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) (Cramer's Take) had all the wireless network answers and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take) had the audacity to think that it could control the music business.

We've seen it going on since the market bottom, the endless driving of tech higher and higher. We get the wireless bottom, thanks Nokia (NYSE: NOK) (Cramer's Take); the personal computer bottom, thanks Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) (Cramer's Take); the gadget bottom, thanks Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM) (Cramer's Take); the TV bottom, thanks Corning (NYSE: GLW) (Cramer's Take) and Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) (Cramer's Take); the software bottom, thanks to Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) (Cramer's Take) buying Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) (Cramer's Take) for its software and IBM (NYSE: IBM) (Cramer's Take) celebrating its software on its quarter; and the dot-com bottom represented by great earnings from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) (Cramer's Take) and decent numbers from rejuvenated management teams at Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) (Cramer's Take) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) (Cramer's Take).

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded AmeriCredit (NYSE: ACF) to Market Perform from Underperform as it believes the company's warehouse facility amendments substantially reduce the risk of bankruptcy in the near term. The firm has a $6 target on the stock.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Suntech (NYSE: STP) to Market Weight from Underweight on valuation following the recent weakness. The firm has a $6 target on the stock.
  
• Banc of America/Merrill upgraded Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) to Buy from Neutral on valuation following the recent weakness and believes the company's guidance is achievable.
• Dr. Pepper Snapple (NYSE: DPS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Digital River (NYSE: DRIV) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  
• Clorox (NYSE: CLX) was upgraded at Barclays to Equal Weight from Underweight.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q4 results as they believe fundamentals are stabilizing. The firm raised their target price to $22 from $12.
  
• Baird upgraded Theravance (NASDAQ: THRX) to Outperform from Neutral. The firm said the company looks poised to realize the two-product success necessary to drive profitability, and Horizon will likely play a role in succeeding $7B+ Advair. Note that last night Theravance/Glaxo (GSK) reported positive results for Horizon.
  
• RBC Capital said Aeterna Zentaris (NASDAQ: AEZS) is on the cusp of a Cetrorelix deal and has turned more positive on shares. Shares were upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform.
  
• Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and added to the firm's Conviction Buy List.
  
• Sangamo BioSciences (NASDAQ: SGMO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merriman.
  
• Arthur J. Gallagher (NYSE: AJG) was upgraded at Piper Jaffray to Buy from Neutral.

DuPont (NYSE: DD) reported Tuesday morning, saying it swung to a fourth-quarter loss. DuPont reported a loss of $629 million, or 70 cents per share, but excluding a restructuring charge the loss is 28 cents per share. Revenue fell 16% to $6.07 billion. Results were below analyst estimates of a loss of 24 cents per share on revenue of $6.17 billion.

Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) also reported Tuesday morning, saying it earned $1.24 billion, or 43 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. On an adjusted basis, Verizon earned 61 cents a share compared to 62 cents a share a year ago. Sales were $24.6 billion. Verizon missed estimates only slightly and shares gained 1.6% in premarket trading.

Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) is reporting after the close today and analysts expect earnings of 13 cents a share for the period, on $1.4 billion in net revenue, according to FactSet Research. Shares indicated higher in premarket trading.

Wall Street's optimism in last week's preview about the earnings of tech stocks wasn't misplaced, as there were many more positive surprises than negative ones among the stocks we looked at. This week will bring plenty more data for investors in and watchers of the sector to mull over. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), for example, are expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial to post modest earnings gains from a year ago, to $1.11 per share (on $8.1 billion in sales), $0.72 per share (on $31.3 billion in sales), and $0.47 per share (on $14.8 billion in sales) respectively. All three of these companies ended the week closer to their 52-week lows than highs, and analysts on average consider them each a buy.

Here's a look at some of the week's biggest expected earnings gainers and decliners in the sector:

• Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU): $1.25 per share (+44.0%) on revenues of $134.7 million (+103.2%)
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM): $0.44 per share (+38.6%) on revenues of $1.3 billion (+33.8%)
• QLogic Corp. (NASDAQ: QLGC): $0.31 per share (+29.0%) on revenues of $170.0 million (+21.2%)
• FLIR Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR): $0.32 per share (+28.1%) on revenues of $275.2 million (+44.0%)
• Juniper Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR): $0.30 per share (+26.7%) on revenues of $927.4 million (+26.2%)
• Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT): $0.75 per share (+17.3%) on revenues of $391.6 million (+11.1%)
• Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX): $0.29 per share (+17.2%) on revenues of $8.7 billion (+57.3%)
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC): $0.19 per share (+10.5%) on revenues of $3.7 billion (+12.9%)

Analyst upgrades:

• Wachovia upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) to Outperform from Market Perform on expectations for greater pricing power given Goldman's position as the largest remaining independent securities firm.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Investment Technology Group Inc (NYSE: ITG) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company will take market share with the reshaping of the large wire-house brokerage community. The company's target was raised to $37 from $33.
• Broadpoint raised Hoku Scientific Inc (NASDAQ: HOKU) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the contract with Tianwei New Energy reduces financing risk.
• ACE Ltd (NYSE: ACE) and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Axcelis Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: ACLS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold and Evergreen Solar Inc (NASDAQ: ESLR) was lifted to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.

Analyst downgrades: