Abercrombie & Fitch Company (NYSE: ANF) Reiterated Buy with $70 target at Jefferies.
AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) Started as Buy at UBS.
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Sell at Soc-Gen.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD) Started as Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. (NYSE: EL) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Micron Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Reiterated Outperform with $12.00 target at Credit Suisse.
Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Noble Corporation (NYSE: NE) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Sears Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
U.S. Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $130 at Argus.

Read Also: The Top Analyst Calls of the Last Week

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The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 157 points to 12,862.23 (1.23%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 46 points (1.61%) to 2,905.66, and the S&P 500 rose 1.46% or more than 19 points to 1,344.90.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. (NASDAQ: PEET) raised to ‘outperform’ at Baird; Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) cut to ‘underperform’ at Jefferies; Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) raised to ‘buy’ at Janney Capital; and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) started as ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) is up more than 11% at $54.83 after posting a new 52-week high of $54.90 earlier (see our coverage here); Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is up more than 13% at $9.12; PC Connection Inc. (NASDAQ: PCCC) is down nearly -20% at $10.22; Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) is down -0.73% at $48.98, but posted a new 52-week high of $49.92 earlier in the day; PerkinElmer Inc. (NYSE: PKI) is up more than 6% at $26.21; Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM) is up 2.4% at $54.28; Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. (NYSE: EL) is down -3.64% at $56.71 (more coverage here); and Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) is up more than 5% at $21.19.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: THLD) is up nearly 115% at $2.77. The pharmaceuticals firm has announced a global development deal with Germany’s Merck.

Tudou Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: TUDO) is up nearly 19% at $16.66. The Chinese online video company has signed a deal with Sina Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) to provide a video platform for Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social site.

Zoltek Cos. Inc. (NASDAQ: ZOLT) is up nearly 39% at $13.14. The specialty fibers maker posted good earnings number and forecast continued growth in the market for wind turbines which use its carbon fibers in blade construction.

STR Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: STRI) is down nearly -20% at $9.08. The company manufactures materials used in solar PV modules, and lowered its fourth-quarter guidance this morning.

Mannkind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD) is down nearly -13% at $2.15 after posting a new 52-week low of $2.14 earlier. The biotech company has priced its public offering of units containing one share of stock and warrant to purchase another 0.6 shares. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month Treasury bill auction
• 3:00 p.m. – Treasury STRIPS

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Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Shares of Threshold are up about 81% at $2.33. About 6 million shares have been traded so far today, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 137,000 shares traded. The pharmaceuticals firm has announced a global development deal with Germany’s Merck. We have more coverage here.

Ocean Power is up nearly 19% at $3.45. Nearly 150,000 shares have traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of around 79,000. The company is developing an electricity generation system that uses wave power to drive the turbine, and has today reported a highly successful test for the US Navy.

Zynga is up nearly 14% at $14.07 after posting a new post-IPO high of $14.43 earlier today. More than 30 million shares have traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 12 million. The social game maker has become a virtual tracking stock for the Facebook IPO — or at least investor enthusiasm for the IPO. sharespost.com lists Facebook shares at $36 on the secondary market today, up less than 3% since the announcement of the IPO. More coverage here.

MediciNova is down nearly -15% at 2.10. About 50,000 shares have traded by mid-day, compared with a daily average of about 12,000. Shares gained more than 30% yesterday, so today’s action is likely some profit taking.

Mannkind shares are down more than -11% at $2.19 after setting a new 52-week low of $2.15 earlier today. More than 14 million shares have already traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of about about 900,000 shares. The company has priced its public offering of units containing one share of stock and warrant to purchase another 0.6 shares. More coverage here.

At about noon, the DJIA is up 1.38% at about 12,843, the Nasdaq is up 1.39% at around 2,899, and the S&P 500 is up 1.23% at about 1,342. Today’s report on non-farm payrolls and a fall in the headline unemployment rate to 8.3% have put some life into the market today.

Paul Ausick

The NASDAQ stocks which fit this bill are as follows: Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CADX); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA); Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMEX); Pacer International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PACR); MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD); Wave Systems Corporation (NASDAQ: WAVX); Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER); NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI); and Zix Corporation (NASDAQ: ZIXI). 

The NYSE stocks which fit this bill, except for one, are as follows: Mindray Medical International (NYSE: MR); Sealy Corporation (NYSE: ZZ); Rogers Communication, Inc. (NYSE: RCI); The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI); HHGregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG); American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM); Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (NYSE: BPI); and Life Time Fitness (NYSE: LTM). 

We only looked at companies with an average volume of more than 250,000 shares and have added some loose color on these if applicable.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) was pounded in the last two weeks but the bank shares have started to stabilize.  Dick Bove defended it last week as have several others now that the bank has also tried to defend itself unsuccessfully.  Barron’s wrote this weekend “Time to Bet on Bank of America” as all of the bad loan news is priced in and then some.

Carbonite, Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB) ended up becoming a great IPO for anyone who got shares.  The online backup storage outfit is not immune to market weakness, but it has a simple share structure and it was not as small of a sliver as some other recent Web2.0 or most recent .com sales would have indicated.  The company was forced to slash its price to get the IPO done and the price was a bargain for buyers.  Any weakness should represent buying opportunities and this is a complete opposite stance for after-market trading that we have said in most other post-IPO players of late.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) has seen its game change now that it beat earnings and is showing some stabilization after what had been a free-fall.  We covered Cisco as one where the negativity going into earnings was so high that no one wanted it.  It appears to have reached a plateau and at $15.99 its lowest peak selling price before earnings was $13.30.  Cisco is now back above the 50-day moving average ($15.42) and the 200-day moving average is all the way up at $18.08.  The next resistance point is $16.50 or so, and then not up until about $17.05.

HMS Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: HMSY) has a 3-for-1 stock split being effected with a Wednesday ex-date on the dividend.  At $70.96, its 52-week trading range is $50.97 to $84.82.

Kindred Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: KND) is one where if we said it was ‘hit hard’ after the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements would be like calling a heart attack a case of the 24-hour flu.  What makes it interesting is that Barron’s points out that it now only trades at about 7.5-times next year’s earnings after adjusting for the new reimbursement rates and said the sell-off from $19 to $12 was overdone.  Barron’s take: Kindred could pop 150%

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) needs all the help it can get and it rose by more than 17% on Friday to $2.79 after JMP Securities    upgraded the rating to Market Outperform after the FDA confirmed its pivotal study design for Afrezza.  What was interesting is that there were also some after-hours trades that were up more than 5% more after the close.  With a 52-week trading range of $2.20 to $10.05 and with a short interest of more than 20 million shares, this is going to be one to watch.

Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) did not participate in the Friday rally follow-through.  Shares were down almost 3% at $6.18; shares put in a new 52-week low this week (as did many) and the new 52-week range is $5.65 to $11.95. DRAMeXchange reported this last week that the DDR 2GB and 4GB contract price was $12.25 (1Gb $0.61) and $23.5 (2Gb $1.31) respectively, representing decreases of 15.52% and 16.07% respectively.  Those were the largest price drops since June and the fear is that it could remain weak if the market does not bolster confidence again.  Micron has an investor presentation on Monday as well.  The good news is that the 50-day moving average is not up until $7.57.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) experienced a total gap and crap trade pattern on Friday after Thursday’s earnings.  It gapped up by more than 10% pre-market but ended up closing down almost 4% at $12.88 on the day.  We warned that volatility would reign rather than a rapid-fire price recovery.  The sell-off from the peak was even more than what we were expecting based upon the news.  Our take is that NVIDIA has a bit of an identity crisis on Wall Street as the financial world is trying to think of it as a mobile computing play rather than a pure-play graphics chipset player for PCs.  The change of mentality is just going to take a while and there are still many cheaper chip-related stocks to be had.  Be patient here.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) briefly broke under $3.00 this last week on the market and on financial health concerns.  When we said “the worst was yet to come” a week earlier in Sprint, it was not expected that another 30% would come out of the stock in the last week and a half.  Whether it comes to a management change or another bold move, Sprint is truly finding itself in a lonely spot.  We hate to bring up viability issues when a company has about $6.5 billion in cash and investments, but that risk seems to be coming up more and more based on the stock market action.

Ralcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RAH) has rejected an offer from ConAgra yet again after the terms were raised to $5.2 billion that was said to be $94.00 in cash.  What is interesting is that this is a super-premium to prior highs before the latest deal surfaced.

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

eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is up more than 4% premarket on moderate volume to $34.47, relative to a 52-week range of $19.06-$35.35.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) is down nearly 15% premarket to $3.75, relative to a 52-week range of $3.40-$10.05. The company reported Q1 losses worse than street expectations.

USA Technologies (NASDAQ: USAT) is down 9.5% premarket to $2.30, relative to a 52-week range of $0.46-$3.74. The company reported positive 3Q earnings.

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is down 13% premarket on heavy volume to #22.30, relative to a 52-week range of $18.30-$29.85. The company, which has been in conflict with several major airlines regarding ticket rights, reported dissapointing 4Q results.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) is down 11% on moderate volume to $4.50, relative to a 52-week range of $4.60-$10.73. The company recently cut more than a third of its workforce in a bid to streamline operations.

Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ: PNRA) is up more than 8% premarket on moderate volume to $107.80, slightly above a 52-week range of $70.86-$106.87. Piper Jaffray recently raised the price target on the bakery chain to $125.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) had a very rough week and shares were  battered after its revenue shortfall and mixed guidance was just nowhere near good  enough to satisfy investors after what had been close to a 200% return in the last year.  Many firms threw in the towel as shares went from almost $140 to under $110 and the stock closed out the week at $109.97 versus a 52-week range of $47.11 to $145.76.  We saw two standout calls actually getting behind the network optimization solutions provider.  F5 was raised to “Outperform” from “Neutral and the price target was raised to $134.00 from $103.00 by Credit Suisse.  The firm called it a buying opportunity and a chance to accumulate shares.  Gleacher & Co. also stepped in and upgraded the rating on F5 to “Buy” from “Hold” with a $130.00 price target due to its market position and due to still well above-market growth even if that growth is decelerating.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) was one that felt like no Kind man this week.  The company’s inhalable diabetes treatment called Afrezza was given yet another blow by the FDA. In a complete response letter, the FDA asked for two more tests, which will likely cost more capital than MannKind has available today.  Shares were as high as $9.50 before the pre-halt and before the news hit and shares actually hit $10.00 on Tuesday.  After the halt was released, MannKind opened down close to $5.00 on Thursday and shares closed the week out at $5.76 after having briefly challenged $6.00 on Thursday and Friday.  We knew downgrades would come, and we gave our own detailed outlook over at BioHealthInvestor.com.  Still, there was a standout gutsy call made elsewhere this week from a brokerage and research firm we rarely here about.  A firm called Weeden & Co. upgraded the shares from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $6.00 to $9.00.  Apparently the only thing at issue was that the firm did not have a sell rating before, although most traders and investors treat a “hold” rating the same as a “sell” rating.  Dangerous times for a dangerous stock, but one gutsy call.

Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CYTX) up approximately 12% premarket to $6.20, relative to a 52-week range of $3.15-$9.50. The Pharmaceutical company recently received approval to begin a line of stem cell-based research in the Netherlands.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) have gained nearly 3% premarket to $29.97, relative to a 52-week range of $19.06-$31.54. The company recently reported healthy 4Q earnings.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) is down more than 20% premarket to $110, relative to a 52-week range of $47.11-$145.76. In its Q1 report, the company actually met analyst expectations, but traders were expecting a strong beat.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) is down 3% to $14.15, relative to a 52-week range of $10.64-$15.95. The recent fall in shares comes after the company reported its 4Q earnings.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) has lost 43% of its value this morning to $5.21, relative to a 52-week range of $4.76-$11.08.

-Michael B. Sauter

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Raised to Outperform at BMO.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) Raised to Buy at Gleacher & Co.; Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Neutral at Ticonderoga.
Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) Cut to Underperform at FBR; Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
MannKind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Massey Energy Co. (NYSE: MEE) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.

You can 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