Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reiterated Outperform and $600 price target by Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) raised to Buy at Global Hunter.

Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) rose handily on Thursday after activist investor Carl Icahn got his way on the board. Now J.P. Morgan has raised its rating to Overweight from Neutral.

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) has shuffled the chairs in the C-suite after earnings. Now Pandora has been raised to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray. Maintained Neutral but raised target to $13 from $10 at Credit Suisse.

Rockwell Automation Inc. (NYSE: ROK) cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Skullcandy Inc. (NASDAQ: SKUL) disappointed the street by predicting a loss. Now we have seen three downgrades: cut to Underperform at Raymond James, cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray and cut to Underperform at D.A. Davidson.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) raised to Buy at UBS.

Telefonica S.A. (NYSE: TEF) raised to Neutral at BNP Paribas.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) cut to Sell from Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) raised to Buy from Hold with $68 target at Argus.

TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) started as Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) started as Hold at Argus.

UBS says to hell with Warren Buffett and his “never buy an airline” stance. It says to buy these airlines.

Here are 11 stocks which analysts expect to rise 50% to 100% (or more) over the next year.

BofA/Merrill Lynch has a positive research call saying that the cell phone towers still have a lot of upside left in them.

Just a few years ago, the common themes were out-of-control finances and out-of-control corporate leadership with no accountability to shareholders (nor to any moral hazards). The pendulum has now swung the other way, and perhaps it is starting to swing too far. Perhaps. Now anyone with access to millions of dollars or billions of dollars can aggressively go after a company for corporate governance issues. This can be over executive compensation, how a company should be capitalized, what forms of stock it should have, what terms it should have for a merger, whether it should split the roles of CEO and chairman, anti-takeover provisions, retirement compensation and on and on.

If you begged us to guess whether activism will grow or contract, we would think that activism will continue. Does that mean that there is not a risk nor that this is a bubble that will not burst and end badly for the public? Those are complicated issues and it may be quite some time before we know the answer. What is so interesting here is that the activist world very recently has targeted what may be hundreds of billions dollars worth of companies.

There are many instances where we cannot help but wonder if an activist bubble is helping to bolster many stocks. For starters, activists can often drive up a stock and create wonderful value. Sometimes they can get out of control, and sometimes they can go out and create absolute value destruction. The saying “there is no free lunch” is one that cannot be ignored, even by activists.

One big activist dilemma is General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE). GE is so large that forcing change is hard to do, but calls have been made over and over to break up the conglomerate’s empire. The problem is that weak units during one part of the business cycle act as cover for the other units when the business cycle changes. An activist might have said that GE needed to not cut its dividend during the recession, but this freed up enough capital that it probably saved quite literally tens of thousands of jobs at GE in the recession. Others have called for new leadership other than Jeff Immelt, while Immelt’s greatest blunders may simply have been that he took over after Jack Welch, when GE was trading close to 30 times earnings, and Immelt’s first day as CEO was quite literally a few days before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

A few powerful men with many financial backers behind them have gone after some really big companies. Again, this train is moving what is nothing short of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of companies. What you have not seen is why this may be a bubble. There is a serious risk in driving shareholder value in the short-term. Anyone can go in and propose layoffs, a spin-off, a recapitalization, a change in management and the like. The problem is that this effort can gut a company or it can merely be a win during one part of the business cycle.

Many efforts can be taken to unlock shareholder value. Special dividends can be issued. Debt can be taken on to pay a dividend or to buy back shares. Companies can go out and seek strategic alternatives. Companies can make their boards easy to change or they can get rid of any barriers that might lead to takeovers. There are dozens of more things they can do. The question to ask is whether creating short-term value comes at the cost of adding too much long-term risk. These risks are potentially serious issues that investors chasing activists have to consider.

As valuations approach the top end of UBS A.G. (NYSE: UBS) Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Jonathan Golub’s proposed range, earnings expectations could become more important drivers of stock prices in 2013. With the stock market closing in on the fourth year anniversary of the subprime mortgage debacle lows, stocks that lower estimates and reward the street by hitting or exceeding those estimates in future quarters may be winners.

In a report released today, the analysts at UBS identified six specific stocks that had lowered consensus earnings expectations for the first quarter of 2013 and beyond. They then looked at the core business of each stock, and the severity of the earnings estimate cut. Their research showed that despite the earnings estimate cuts, the stocks still showed promise for near-term gains. In short, this is a list for value investors. The six stocks are as follows:

Oil field services leader Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) has a Wall St. consensus estimate of $49.50. It closed yesterday at $46.13.

Independent oil exploration and production company Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) has a consensus price target of $99.50. It closed yesterday at $84.13

Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV), manufactures and sells commercial and military trucks, buses, diesel engines and recreational vehicles, as well as provides service parts for trucks and trailers worldwide. The stock closed yesterday at $26.97, and the Thomson/First call estimate is $24.

Gaming leader Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) made the list. The stock closed yesterday at $53.60, and the consensus target is $60.

Mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) closed at $35.64, and the consensus target is $40.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY) rounds out the list. Shares closed yesterday at $9.94, and the consensus estimate is $12.

All but one of these stocks selected is trading lower than Wall St.’s current and revamped expectations. Given the tremendous winter rally, it may not be a bad idea for investors to sell some high-flying winners and look at these six very solid companies as good names to move capital to.

The U.S. dollar index fell today, now down 0.10% at 79.283. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.5% at 640.18, with commodities prices mostly lower again today. WTI crude oil closed up 1.8% today, at $89.51 a barrel following today’s report on inventories (more coverage here). Brent crude trades up 1.4% at $110.37 a barrel. Natural gas is down 2.8% today at about $3.32 per thousand cubic feet. Gold settled down 0.2% today at $1,667.70 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 99 points to 13,251.90 (-0.74%), the NASDAQ fell about 10 points (-0.33%) to 3,044.36, and the S&P 500 fell -0.76% or about 11 points to 1,435.80.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) raised to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley; Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SWHC) cut to ‘neutral’ at Cowen; SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup; Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) started as ‘buy’ at UBS; and Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wedbush.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have resulted in the following price change as of the last half hour of trading today: Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) is up 4.2% at $34.27 after posting a new 52-week high of $34.35 earlier today (more coverage here); FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) is up 1.5% at $93.73 (more coverage here); General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) is down 1.2% at $41.29 (more coverage here); and Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) is down 8.8% at $20.83 (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL), Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX), Carmax Inc. (NYSE: KMX), Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), KB Home (NYSE: KBH), Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD), and Scholastic Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHL).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is up 7.1% at $27.30. The automaker is buying 200 million of its shares from the U.S.Treasury and has a plan to acquire the remaining 300 million. More coverage here.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is up 15.9% at $1.24. The solar panel maker is benefiting from a new policy statement from the Chinese government, which claims that the government will “reform” the industry by encouraging mergers and acquisitions, and by banning local governments from propping up local favorites with loans. Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) and LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) are both up more than 10% today.

THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) is down 71.7% at $0.39 after posting a new 52-week low of $0.34 earlier today. The video game company filed for bankruptcy today and shares were halted briefly. More coverage here.

Oncothyreon Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTY) is down 52.9% at $2.12 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.71 earlier today. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company failed to hit targets with its late-stage lung-cancer drug study.

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

• 8:30 a.m. – GDP
• 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
• 8:30 a.m. – Corporate profits
• 10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
• 10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Fed survey
• 10:00 a.m. – FHFA house price index
• 10:00 a.m. – Leading economic indicators
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 1:00 p.m. – 5-year TIPS auction
• 4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

The massive net loss includes a noncash tax expense of $2 billion ($28.59 per share) and other pretax charges totaling more than $100 million. Excluding those charges, the company posted a net loss of $566 million. Based on a diluted share count of 69 million shares, a back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates a quarterly net loss of about $8.20 per share.

For the full year, Navistar reported a net loss of $43.56 per share on revenues of $12.95 billion, compared with EPS of $22.64 on revenues of $13.96 billion a year ago. The consensus analysts’ estimate called for a loss of $4.14 per share on revenues of $12.84 billion.

The company’s CEO said:

We continue to make significant progress on our turnaround and the complexity of this quarter’s results is reflective of the actions necessary during this time of transition. … Unfortunately, we saw a spike in warranty spend in late October and early November for the few remaining engine issues and the cost to take the proactive actions to support our customers and fix those items is higher than we anticipated. However, the fact is that customer feedback and positive three- and nine-months-in-service data show today we are delivering the highest quality trucks since the 2010 launch, and quality will continue to be our top priority.

Navistar did not provide any fiscal 2013 guidance. The consensus estimates call for a per-share loss of $0.20 on revenues of $13.04 billion for the full year and a net loss of $1.12 per share on revenue of $2.81 billion for the first fiscal quarter ending in January.

The company raised about $200 million in an October secondary offering that was priced well below last night’s closing price of $22.85. The problem is that last’s night’s closing price is less than half the 52-week high. Navistar remains precariously perched on the edge of its own cliff.

Shares are down 4.8% in premarket trading this morning, at $21.75 in a 52-week range of $18.17 to $48.18. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $27.85 before today’s results were announced.

Paul Ausick

The U.S. dollar index fell today, now down 0.27% at 79.352. The GSCI commodity index is down fractionally at 636.92, with commodities prices mostly lower today. WTI crude oil closed up 0.8% today, at $87.93 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 1.1% at $108.84 a barrel. Natural gas is up 1.6% today at about $3.41 per thousand cubic feet. Gold settled down 1.6% today at $1,670.70 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up 115 points to 13,350.50 (0.87%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 44 points (1.46%) to 3,054.53, and the S&P 500 rose 1.15% or more than 16 points to 1,446.76.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) cut to ‘sell’ with a target price of $11.50 at Topeka Capital Markets; Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) cut to ‘market perform’ at FBR; Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) started as ‘buy’ with a target price of $3.50 at Goldman Sachs; Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; and Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) started as ‘neutral’ at J.P. Morgan.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have resulted in the following price change as of the last half hour of trading today: Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is up 2.2% at $14.27 and Sanderson Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: SAFM) is up 0.7% at $50.11.

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), and Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is up 6.1% at $4.19. The smartphone maker continues to attract buyers who believe that the company remains undervalued.

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is up 23.6% at $47.01 after posting a new 52-week high of $47.20 earlier today. The radio research and ratings firm has agreed to a merger with Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) for $48 a share. More coverage here.

Galena Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ: GALE) is down 17% at $1.55. The biopharmaceutical firm priced a secondary offering of 15.16 million shares at a discount of 14% to last night’s closing price.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) is down 11.7% at $3.06 after posting a new 52-week low of $2.86 earlier today. The semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker provided weaker than expected fourth quarter and 2013 fiscal year guidance.

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

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum storage report
• 1:00 p.m. – 7-year note auction

Paul Ausick

The truck-maker priced a public offering of 10,666,666 shares of its common stock at a price of $18.75 per share. There was no explanation of what the company plans to use the proceeds for. Navistar’s press release simply said, “The company intends to use all net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes.” They should have just said, “Look, you know we ran this ship the wrong way and now we need more capital to slide by here.”

What is interesting is that the offering listed J.P. Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch, and Credit Suisse Securities as the joint book-running managers. We have a question for these underwriters… How will they rate the firm by their analysts when the so-called quiet period ends here?

It may seem premature, but some have questioned whether bankruptcy can be avoided here by Navistar. These are all large brokerage firms which conducted the underwriting. If Navistar goes belly-up, they will have a hard time saying that they did not understand the risks.

Today’s capital raise has shares down only by 2.6% at $18.58 and that is not too bad of a drop considering that the Navistar market cap is only about $1.27 billion without the consideration of this offering. Navistar also hit a new 52-week low of $18.17 today as the prior 52-week range was $18.47 to $48.18.

Navistar just got some extra breathing room with some new capital. Now we have to wait to see if this enough to make things better or not.

JON C. OGG

24/7 Wall St. has identified more than a dozen companies with decent-sized to large-sized layoffs. Some of these companies may very well be laying off workers soon as well, due to weaker and weaker fundamentals. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently said that mass layoffs — 50 or more workers fired — were up in September from August. Challenger, Gray & Christmas also agreed and said that the September job cuts were up slightly from a month ago. While the trend was higher in September, most of the layoffs featured here were not announced until the end of September, and most of these layoff announcements are so fresh that they are hot off the press.

These companies make up the newest round of the 24/7 Wall St. Layoff Kings.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) recently announced that, as a part of its breakup and restructuring, it laid off 550 employees in several units and several hundred more workers would be let go in 2013. With this ongoing reorganization, management could continue to streamline operations for some time ahead.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is obviously one of the weakest companies in the PC supply chain. The company just announced recently that it is firing 15% of its workforce, or about 1,800 people. While Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is also under layoff review for its McAfee security unit, AMD’s woes are far worse. We even worry about AMD as a viable entity if it does not have a major development soon.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) has been laying workers off since the recession, and on last look we still have another 16,000 jobs or so being cut through the end of this year. As of May 12, 2012, Bank of America’s network was about 272,000 workers and about 5,700 banking centers. With all of those locations and with its many back office locations, layoffs may just be normal here.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) recently lowered its annual outlook for sales and profits and said that cost-cutting measures would bring about 1,000 to 1,500 layoffs from its workforce of more than 40,000. The engine company also is looking at shortened work weeks and lower production at some factories. Elsewhere in trucking, Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) has been in the process of was cutting white-collar jobs, and layoffs, all said and done, could come to about 800. A year ago it employed about 19,000. Much of Navistar’s layoffs might be finished, but the company signaled that it may shut more locations.

The Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) is looking to close and consolidate plants and local facilities, and its cuts will be about 2,400 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce of around 70,000.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD) also is seeing lower guidance after lower earnings. The chemical and ag giant announced 1,500 fresh job cuts.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) may not be considered a perpetual grower any longer. The company hired about 1,800 workers for its core business operations in the past quarter, but more than 2,800 jobs were cut in the second quarter at its recently acquired Motorola unit. With its recent earnings Google said that its global workforce was 53,546 full-time employees (36,118 in the Google business and 17,428 in the Motorola business), versus 54,604 full-time employees as of June 30, 2012.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) has been slashing and burning its workforce as it retools for the business ahead. Many employees have taken buyouts, and the most recent addition was about 2,000 more layoffs. Unfortunately Meg Whitman outlined that this turnaround was going to be a multiyear effort. That is not very attractive.

Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN) has freshly reported a 19% drop in revenues. The storage and data security company announced that it plans to cut expenses by approximately 25%, and part of that plan involves a 20% reduction from its workforce of 1,100 in 2013.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is in the midst of 500 or so layoffs as it plans to trim its workforce by about 5%. This is after rival Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) slashed its workforce last year to be more focused. The difference here is that Juniper is believed to be positioning itself for a sale.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) said after its recent earnings that total workforce reductions are expected to be in the range of 1,300 to 1,500 positions, or about 2.6% of its workforce. The consumer products giant said that the streamlining will be in its manufacturing and administrative functions in Europe, so it is possible that the US operations will not suffer a big blow.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is slashing its workforce by 5%. While this is only 170 or so workers getting pink slips, Zynga was supped to be a massive growth stock up until reality set in that playing social games with virtual farm animals is really not all that cool.

And Then the “Maybe, Could Be, Likely” Layoff Kings …

Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) is a turnaround that just cannot turn around. The company has signaled that more layoffs could be coming down the road.

Reports have been out that eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) plans to streamline its PayPal payments business. Streamlining usually comes with layoffs, and layoffs were widely reported as coming soon.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) is set to announce layoffs ahead of the coming fiscal cliff. The defense contractor will not be alone in its layoffs if the fiscal cliff comes, although there is a general feeling that defense contractors may push back that official November 1 notification to employees until after the election.

Two rather well known layoffs have also been telegraphed if Obama is reelected. Koch Industries and timeshare company Westgate Resorts have both issued warnings that layoffs will be coming if President Obama is reelected.

JON C. OGG

The company issued a press release confirming that definitive long-term supply agreements for heavy-duty diesel engines and emissions after-treatment technologies have been reached. Navistar will offer the Cummins ISX15 in its International ProStar+, PayStar and 9900 models; Navistar also will utilize the Cummins Emission Solutions after-treatment system for the company’s proprietary heavy-duty big bore engines.

It is important to know that Carl Icahn has taken the activist actions to influence Navistar. The aim is to get things back on track. Whether that effort ultimately will succeed remains to be seen as shares remain very weak. Navistar even said that this effort will help in its goal of offering customers a “proven, reliable and fuel-efficient clean engine technology.”

Navistar will start the pilot building of the International ProStar+ with the Cummins ISX15 in November 2012, and shipments are expected to start in December 2012. The International ProStar+ with MaxxForce 13 and the Cummins Emission Solutions SCR-based after-treatment system will start the initial pilot production in March 2013, and the regular production is projected to start in April 2013. The remaining line-up of heavy-duty truck models will transition to SCR-based clean engine technology in a phased launch throughout 2013 based on volume and customer demand.

Navistar shares are up 1.3% at $19.30 on a mixed market day, but the 52-week trading range is $18.47 to $48.18.

JON C. OGG

A Carl Icahn-nominated member is now Vincent Intrieri and a third nominee who will agreed upon by both Mr. Icahn and Dr. Rachesky will be named at a later date. It may sound a bit like a baseball trade, but honestly that is not highly unusual when it comes to companies which end up buckling under activist investor pressure. Intrieri and Rachesky will replace Mr. Eugenio Clariond and Mr. Steven J. Klinger on the board. The three new members will replace other board members so that Navistar’s board of directors will remain set at 10 directors.

One reason that Navistar had to go along with this is that the strategy of a new engine failed and the shares have been crushed in a manner where it was undeniable that real change was needed. Under a new CEO, Navistar threw in the towel on its new diesel engine and the trucks will now be sold with engines from Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI).

One issue that came up recently was a poison pill anti-takeover provision which the company could trigger any time a new shareholder reaches 15% of the ownership. That would not apply to mutual fund manager Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN) with its 18% stake as of June 30. Collectively, funds tied to Icahn and to Rachesky own more than 25% of Navistar but neither manager is independently known to be above the 15% poison pill trigger even though there are close ties between these two managers to say the least as Rachesky used to work with Icahn years ago.

Getting Icahn and Rachesky on the company’s side seems to be paying off. Navistar shares closed up over 7.5% at $22.81 and that price is higher than the $22.35 open and higher than the late-morning volume was indicating. Navistar’s 52-week range is $19.79 to $48.18.

JON C. OGG