The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 76 points to 12,932.01 (-0.59%), the NASDAQ fell more than 11 points (-0.39%) to 2,946.27, and the S&P 500 fell -0.43% or nearly 6 points to 1,363.71.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) maintained as ‘buy’ with a target price of $19 at Argus; Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) maintained ‘outperform’ with a target price of $166 at Credit Suisse; Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) raised to ‘hold’ at Argus; BP plc (NYSE: BP) cut to ‘underweight’ at Barclays; and Synacor Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNC) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/ML.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) is down up 5.5% at $65.24 after posting a new 52-week high of $66.18 earlier today (more coverage here); Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) is up 4.1% at $4.04 (more coverage here); OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) is up 10.5% at $4.85; Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) is up 1.4% at $5.11; The Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN) is down -4.3% at $4.66 (more coverage here); Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) is up 18.4% at $12.64; and Pioneer Drilling Co. (NYSE: PDC) is up 5.5% at $8.03.

On Wednesday we are scheduled to get earnings from AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU), CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL), Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. (NYSE: DTG), Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M), Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), and priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Fossil Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) is down -36.8% at $79.50. The fashion accessories company revealed a weak forecast today. More coverage here.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is down -24.6% at $8.81. The drug maker’s earnings were not as strong as expected. More coverage here.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX: AVL) is down -24% at $1.67 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.58 earlier today. The rare earths miner is delaying a feasibility study. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto and Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser are giving speeches. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 10:00 a.m. – Wholesale trade report
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 1:00 p.m. – 10-year note auction

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Paul Ausick

What’s killing shares today is the same thing that drubbed MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) and Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP): subscriber growth is either weak or non-existent. Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone Group plc (NASDAQ: VOD) and AT&T Inc,. (NYSE: T) are adding subscribers, especially to wireless offerings, but even they are not growing as fast as before. Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile USA, a division of Deutsche Telekom AG (OTC: DTEGY) face the same problems.

It’s worse for the smaller guys, though, because they either cannot offer the hottest products, like the iPhone from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) or because they’re stuck with a lot of legacy wireline business that is continuing to erode. CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL), which reports earnings on Wednesday, is expected to post EPS of $0.58, down more than -22% from the same period last year and down about -6.5% sequentially. CenturyLink, though much larger than Frontier or the others, owns a lot of wireline business.

Frontier’s residential subscriber number dropped from 3.34 million in the first quarter of last year to 3.04 million this year. Wireline revenue was also down, from $589 million to $535 million. Business services revenues also fell, from $591 million to $585 million, and the number of business subscribers also fell, from about 333,400 to 302,100. The number of broadband subscribers rose, as did the number of video subscribers. Consequently the revenue figures per customer rose as well. Just not very much.

Growth prospects for Frontier and the other small players are quite dim as they are spectrum-limited and face stiff competition from the big players. Worse, perhaps, is that there is not likely to be any competition among the big players to pick up these smaller competitors. If anything, Verizon and AT&T would prefer to abandon their dwindling wireline businesses. But CenturyLink is still absorbing its acquisition of Qwest and none of the others can — or probably should — to add to their wireline holdings.

Frontier’s shares are down about -58% just after noon today, at $3.67 after posting a new 52-week low of $3.49 earlier today. The prior range was $3.81-$8.97.

Paul Ausick

AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE: EW) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Nomura Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NMR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE: GWW) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

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JON C. OGG

BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE: BWA) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) Raised to Outperform as the Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Chesapeake Granite Wash Trust (NYSE: CHKR) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Citi Trends, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN) maintained long-term Underperform as the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Energy XXI (Bermuda) Limited (NASDAQ: EXXI) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks Investment Research.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) Reiterated Buy with $70.00 price target at Argus.
InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) maintained Outperform but cut price target down to $20.00 from $37.00 at Credit Suisse.
Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF) Cut to Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Cut to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity; maintained Outperform but cut price target to $40.00 from $42.00 at Credit Suisse.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Raised to Buy from Hold but price target is only $16.00 at ThinkEquity.
Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) Cut to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: WPI) maintained Buy with a price target objective of $78.00 per share at Argus.

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Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Hold with $225.00 price target “due to low margins through 2012″ at Canaccord Genuity.
The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) Raised to Buy with $20.00 price target at Argus.
CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Chubb Corporation (NYSE: CB) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) Cut to Hold from Buy at Argus.
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE: FSL) Reinstated as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
GeoResources, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOI) Started as Buy with $43 price target “on a concentrated Eagle Ford/Bakken exposure” by Canaccord Genuity.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was initiated with a ‘Buy’ rating and $725.00 price target “on robust growth and great value” by Canaccord Genuity.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Started in new coverage as Buy with a $14.75 price target at Jefferies.
LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Started as Buy with $85 price target as “growth trumps valuation” by Canaccord Genuity.
Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU) Downgraded to Neutral from Buy with $43 price target by Goldman Sachs.
Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) Downgraded to Neutral from Buy with $33 price target at Goldman Sachs.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) Started as Hold with $51 target at Auriga.
The Talbots, Inc. (NYSE: TLB) maintained Neutral with $3.00 fair value by Janney Capital Markets.
Travelers Cos. Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) added to the US Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Maintained Neutral with $23.00 price target at Janney Capital Markets.
Willis Group Holdings, PLC (NYSE: WSH) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

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One big weight on the entire group is the proposed $39 billion merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY). If the merger is approved, AT&T’s subscriber count will surge even further past second-place Verizon’s.

Sprint has complained loudest about the proposed merger, and with good reason. While it now ranks third in subscriber numbers, it would almost certainly be the first casualty of the combined AT&T/T-Mobile. Sprint’s latest strategy — betting the company on the iPhone from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) — could really get hammered if AT&T is able to acquire T-Mobile’s low-end subscriber base. AT&T already offers an iPhone 3GS for just $49, an offer Sprint really would not be able to compete with.

CenturyLink, now the proud owner of Qwest, is going to be busy digesting that acquisition for some time. The company’s latest earnings report was littered with higher costs related to the merger.

Frontier’s landline business could be a profit generator for a while longer, and the company’s high dividend yield strongly recommends the shares. The company may offer the safest short- to medium-term play among all these stocks.

Leap and MetroPCS talked about a merger last year but were never able to agree on the deal. They may not have any other choice if they want to survive.

Here’s a closer look at some of the numbers. All data from Yahoo! Finance, with current prices gathered around noon today.

AT&T target price remained essentially flat at $32. The current price is $29.07, which equals an implied gain of $2.93, or 10%. The company’s dividend yield is 5.8%, and the forward P/E is 11.68. The implied gain has fallen a bit as the company’s share price has risen by about 1% since October 11th. The company is due for a dividend raise, probably about $0.01/share/quarter, if the past two years are any guide.

Verizon’s target price has been raised from $38.61 to $40.00. Today’s price is $36.94, marking an implied gain of $3.06, or 8.3%. The company’s forward P/E is 14.48 and the stock’s dividend yield is 5.3%. The stock’s 52-week high is $38.95, just 5% above the current price. Verizon raised its dividend by 2.6%, to an annualized $2/share in September.

Sprint’s target price has been lowered from a median of $5.68 to $3.15. The stock is currently trading at $2.87, for an implied gain of $0.28, or 9.8%. The share price today is also 23% higher than it was last month and could easily clear the very low bar set by the target price. When the company will return to paying a dividend is anyone’s guess, but do not expect one for at least another year.

CenturyLink’s target price has remained essentially flat at $44.00. The shares are trading today at $37.29, for an implied gain of $6.71, or 18%. The company pays a dividend yield of 7.7%, and its forward P/E is 8.72. The company’s annual dividend of $2.90 has not changed for seven quarters, but the solid dividend yield is still very attractive.

Frontier’s target price has fallen from $7.84 to $6.50. Shares are trading today at $5.43, for an implied gain of $1.07, or 19.7%. Of the stocks in our review, Frontier is the only one trading lower today than it was a month ago, and came within pennies of touching its 52-week low earlier today. The company’s 13% dividend yield is slightly higher than it was last month, due of course to the lower stock price. The annual dividend was lowered from $1/share to the current $0.75/share in September last year, but the company has committed to maintaining its dividend.

Leap Wireless’s target price has remained the same at $11.00. Shares are trading today at $9.04, for an implied gain of $1.96, or 21.7%. The company does not pay a dividend and its forward P/E is negative. The book value of the stock is $8.81/share, and the implied gain is a fantasy.

MetroPCS’s target price has fallen from $15.12 to $12.50. Shares are trading today at $8.65, for an implied gain of $3.85, or 44.5%. The company pays no dividend and the forward P/E is 8.21. Like Leap, MetroPCS’s survival likely depends on a merger, probably with Leap.

Finally, we should note that AT&T and Verizon are both growing their broadband subscriber bases, and that among large business users the two companies garner nearly half of all the internet service provider (ISP) business. Among medium-sized businesses, the two capture more than a third of all ISP business, and among small business, the two get 20% of all ISP business. AT&T gets 20% of all U.S. business traffic and Verizon gets 12%. Business ISP services are more competitive even than household services, so this could change quickly, except that neither AT&T nor Verizon is likely to allow themselves to be severely underpriced.

Unless and until the AT&T/T-Mobile merge is approved, telecom service in the U.S. is a two-horse race. If the merger is allowed, the race might turn into a runaway with an uncatchable leader, a couple of also-rans and a few stragglers.

Paul Ausick

AT&T (NYSE: T) has a mean price target of $32.33 from 24 brokers. In early afternoon trading today, shares are priced at $28.78, for an implied gain of $3.55, or 11%. AT&T’s forward P/E is 11.30 and the company’s dividend yield is 6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $27.20-$31.94, and it’s trading today about 6% above its low and about 10% below its 52-week high. The company’s $39 billion offer for T-Mobile USA would make it the largest US mobile carrier, but a US Justice Department lawsuit could kill or at least slow down the conclusion of that deal.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) has a mean price target of $38.61 from 27 brokers. Shares are now trading at $36.61, for an implied gain of $2.00, or 5.2%. Verizon’s forward P/E is 14.13 and the company’s dividend yield is 5.5%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $31.60-$38.95, and it’s trading today about 15% above its annual low and about 6% below its 52-week high. Verizon has the lowest implied gain of all the stocks in this list, which could be a result of investors’ reaction to the AT&T/T-Mobile deal that would put Verizon substantially behind AT&T in number of subscribers.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) has a mean price target of $5.28 from 28 brokers. Shares are trading at $2.34 today, for an implied gain of $2.94, or 55.7%. Sprint’s forward P/E is negative and the stock does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $2.10-$6.45, and it’s trading today about 11% above its 52-week low and 64% below its 52-week high. The numbers on Sprint don’t tell the full story, though, as analyst downgrades have hit the stock hard recently and most of the new price targets are in the $3/share range. The company’s decision to bet the farm on Apple’s iPhone has sent investors fleeing.

Frontier Communications Corp. (NYSE: FTR) has a mean price target of $7.84 from 14 brokers. The stock is trading around $5.92 today, for an implied gain of $1.92, or 24.5%. Frontier’s forward P/E is 14, and the company’s dividend yield is 12.80%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $5.33-$9.84, and it’s trading today about 11% above its low and almost 40% below its 52-week high. Frontier’s attraction to shareholders is its high dividend yield, which the company’s board recently affirmed its intention to continue paying the $0.75 annual dividend.

CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) has a mean price target of $44.12 from 17 brokers. Shares are trading today at $33.56, for an implied gain of $10.56, or 23.9%. CenturyLink’s forward P/E is 18.95 and the company’s dividend yield is 8.8%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $31.16-$46.87, and it’s trading about 8% above its low and 28% below its 52-week high. CenturyLink just completed its $24 billion acquisition of Qwest, which gives the combined company a large base of landline subscribers who are not sticking around. The company needs to improve its mobile subscriber numbers and to juice up its broadband base, but that dividend is mighty tempting these days.

Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) has a mean target price of $10.95 from 20 brokers. Shares are trading at $6.00 today, for an implied gain of $4.95, or 45.2%. Leap’s forward P/E is 20 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $5.50-$17.66, and it’s now trading about 9% above its annual low and about 66% below its 52-week high. Leap, along with MetroPCS, are among the low-cost providers of wireless service and both companies focus on pre-paid subscribers who buy minutes as needed, unlike the contract (post-paid) subscribers at AT&T or Verizon. The two companies talked merger last year, but were unable to reach a deal.

MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) has a mean price target of $15.12 from 23 brokers. Shares traded today at $8.33, for an implied gain of $6.79, or 44.9%. MetroPCS’s forward P/E is 8.13 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week range is $7.75-$18.79, and it’s now trading about 10% above the annual low and about 56% below its 52-week high. MetroPCS, and Leap, both address the only part of the mobile market that is still showing significant growth — the low-end customer unable or unwilling to pay north of $100 for a smartphone. T-Mobile, which also competes at this end of the market, is stymied by the takeover offer from AT&T. Both Leap and MetroPCS also need some help from falling handset prices. More merger talks could be on the horizon as well. MetroPCS’s market cap of just around $3 billion is 6 times Leap’s of around $500 million. Not a lot of extra clout and probably not a lot of cost-cutting synergies either.

Paul Ausick

Other companies getting in on the ratings action include CRH PLC (NYSE: CRH), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN), CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL), Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK), and Compass Diversified Holdings (NYSE: CODI).

CRH PLC (NYSE: CRH) received an affirmation of its ‘BBB’ senior unsecured rating  with a stable outlook from Fitch. CRH is a building materials company based in Ireland that also operates in the US. The company’s market cap is more than $11 billion. HSBC recently upgraded the stock from ‘Underweight’ to ‘Neutral’.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) received ratings from Standard & Poor’s on $350 million of floating-rate, asset-backed notes. The Class A senior note ($326.75 million) received a ‘AAA’ rating; the Class B subordinated note ($12.05 million) received a ‘AA’ rating; and the Class C subordinated note ($11.2 million) received an ‘A’ rating. The coverage amount on the Class A note is 13.96%, falling to 9.90% on the Class B note and 6.39% on the Class C note. The backing for the notes includes beneficial interest in lease contracts, related vehicles, and fleet receivables.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) subsidiary Wachovia Bank received lowered ratings on 10 commercial mortgage backed securities classes from S&P. Eleven other classes in the mortgage trust series had ratings re-affirmed. S&P based the downgrade on the fact five of the pool’s assets, worth $48.9 million, are in the hands of a special servicer. Three of the properties are in foreclosure, one is 30-days delinquent, and only one is current.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) has completed its acquisition of National Semiconductor and S&P withdrew its corporate credit rating on National Semi and replaced it with Texas Instruments’ ‘A+’ rating with a stable outlook.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) subsidiary Qwest has received a ‘BBB-’ rating on $950 million in senior notes due 2021. Qwest will add the proceeds to net proceeds of $557 million from a recent issue of notes due in 2051 to redeem $1.5 billion in notes due next year. CenturyLink’s corporate credit rating remains at ‘BB’ and its outlook is stable. The Qwest acquisition makes CenturyLink the third-largest wireline phone carrier in the US.

Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) received a downgrade on all its ratings from Moody’s following its drawdown of $160 million from its corporate revolving credit facility of $400 million. Moody’s concludes that the drawdown signals weaker cash flow and that the company will consume cash next year, hurting Kodak’s liquidity. The corporate famil rating was downgraded from ‘Caa2′ to ‘Caa3′. Outstanding debt was also downgraded one or two notches.

Compass Diversified Holdings (NYSE: CODI) received a downgrade on its speculative grade liquidity rating from Moody’s. The rating dropped from ‘SGL-2′ to ‘SGL-3′ due to a recent acquisition which Compass paid for from its revolving credit facility. The company is expected to refinance the debt with longer term debt, and Moody’s said that it would likely revert to the higher rating if that happens. Compass owns a stable of nine companies and pays a very high dividend yield of 11.5%.

Paul Ausick

Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) Raised to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) Maintained Buy with $48 target at Argus.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Maintained Outperform but cut target to $91 at Credit Suisse.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Maintained Outperform but Cut target to $27 at Credit Suisse.
France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday call).
Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) Cut to Neutral as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.
ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) Started as Outperform at Leerink Swann.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

We have added in the price action and impact of calls, and also added in color on the situation and included more consensus data if relevant.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) had a rough week as tech stocks in equipment got off to a rough start for this earnings season.  Deutsche Bank cut its rating to Hold from Buy, taking shares from $5.58 to $5.36 on the call, but ultimately taking shares down to a low of $5.00 during the week before it closed out the week at $5.09.  That is nearly 10% lower for the call’s impact all together, and it needs to be considered that this former dog is still up more than 50% in 2011.

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) is a company that 24/7 Wall St. has been very positive on for quite some time.  It is one of our Top Stocks To Own For The Decade.  Around $29.50, its consensus target is $31.60 and the highest official target is $38.00. We think $35 is a fair value for 2012, but one call in water came out this week that really highlighted value above and beyond what we and above and beyond what Wall Street thinks… Gabelli highlighted a recent asset swap for the operating efficiencies and rate recognition, yet it gave a private market value foe 2011 of $44 and the report actually gave a $46 private market value for 2012.  This is above and beyond our bullish stance on the greatest water utility in America.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is set to report earnings this week, but one of its larger bulls has trimmed shipment, earnings and revenue targets ahead of earnings. Gabelli maintained a “Buy” but lowered estimates under consensus.

Ariba Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA) was given a very positive research initiation call, but one which did not get off to a good start.  Barclays initiated coverage this last Monday with a “Buy” rating and a $44 price target as the B2B platform leader is expected to gain market share.  Shares went out the prior week at $36.72 and ended up down at $34.31 on the week.  This is not a cheap stock by any real measurement.  The $44 target is now the street-high call and the consensus price target is only $36.70.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) just announced the closure of its Savvis acquisition and it has already closed on its Qwest acquisition.  The company offers a high yield for investors and at $38.42 it is well under the 52-week high of $46.87.  It also trades at just under 15-times this year’s expected earnings.  Friday came word that this was downgraded to Underperform as the dubious “Bear of the Day” call at Zacks.