To keep things even for U.S. investors, we screened out the ADRs held by Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) even though one is mentioned at the end of the screen to keep them on the list. Of the dozens of stocks held by the conglomerate, these are the eight highest dividends in the Buffett portfolio. We have put the stocks in order of the highest yields first and added in color on each if applicable. As you will see, most of the Buffett top dividend yields still offer upside to their consensus price targets for value investors looking for growth.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) leads the list with a common stock dividend yield of 4.2%. The company has pledged to keep its dividend strong, and this puts it higher than other oil giants. This stock is now within about 1% of new 52-week highs and the $62.42 share price compares to an analyst consensus price target of about $63.98.

Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) has a surprising yield of 3.6% for its common stock holders. This remains a small holding of Warren Buffett but investors might be surprised that the newspaper and media stock has risen to the point that it is up almost 100% from its 52-week low. At $21.62 as of now, the stock trades right at the $21.61 consensus analyst price target, and the 52-week trading range is $12.17 to $22.21.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) offers a 3.3% yield, partly because shares have pulled back since earnings. The earnings report was not stellar by any means, but we think GE shares were sold off too hard after earnings when you consider the state of the bull market. Shares are at $23.24, and GE’s 52-week high is $23.90. Analysts have a consensus target price of $25.33. GE is likely to have a dividend hike yet again later this year.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is a top bank and Buffett keeps buying more and more of this stock each and every quarter. The 3.2% common stock yield is rather impressive, and this remains at the top of the seven safest banks in America. This bank is challenging the highs from before the recession again, if you back out the dividend payments. At $39.30, its stock hit that multiyear high on May 15, and analysts have a consensus price target of $40.76.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) has lifted its dividend and is yielding 3.1% after a dividend hike in April. Buffett has trimmed the stake here over time, but activist investors have been on management’s back and pressing it to run the company better. If P&G keeps up its efforts, it could be worth even more. The market cap of $221 billion already makes it one of the largest public companies out there. With shares at $80.68, the consensus analyst target price is $82.78.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a personal holding of Warren Buffett rather than Berkshire Hathaway. The bank pays a 3.1% dividend, despite not getting to be as aggressive on its capital plans. Jamie Dimon has been under fire here to split the CEO and chairman roles, but Buffett recently has praised Dimon as a great CEO who also deserves his chairman role. We would caution that one analyst showed that some $20 billion (10% of the share price) could come out of the stock if Dimon leaves the bank because there is a management replacement vacuum right now with no heir apparent. With shares at $51.09, the consensus analyst target is $56.21.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) recently raised its dividend. The drug and consumer products giant has been a habitual dividend-raising machine, and its product quality controls appear to be over. The 3.1% payout is impressive when you consider that this stock just hit an all-time high on May 15. Note that the consensus analyst price target of $86.50 is actually less than the current price of $87.64.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) ranked as number eight with a dividend yield of 2.8%. This comes as the stock is challenging all-time highs, and the shipping giant has raised its dividend payment consistently. With shares at $88.60, analysts have a consensus price target of $93.09 on the stock.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) is the ADR of the group, and it was only included because it screens out as having such a high yield at 4.3%. That would have put it at the top of the list. As this is an ADR and subject to currency changes altering the payouts each time in dollars for ADR holders, we are only representing the Yahoo! screen for the nominal payout rather than adding color here.

Jon C. Ogg

*The full Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway portfolio can be seen here.

The new Buffett holdings are below.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was roughly 151.6 million shares, SAME AS last quarter.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) was almost 19 million shares, which appears to be slightly lower but it had been raised before. What matters here is that it remains a substantial holding still.

Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. (NYSE: CBI) was a NEW POSITION at just over 6.5 million shares worth over $400 million.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was more than 400 million shares due to the stock split of 2012, but this is virtually the SAME AS BEFORE.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is the SAME POSITION at 24.1 million shares, but this is lower than in prior quarters.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was the SAME POSITION at 4,333,363 shares.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was a LARGER POSITION and already more than a 10% stake and we recently saw that Berkshire Hathaway had entered into a standstill agreement not to buy more than 25% of the company after already having increased its stake recently. This was listed as 14.97 million shares as of March 31 versus 13.6 million shares before.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was the SAME POSITION at roughly 4 million shares.

DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) was HIGHER YET AGAIN at 37.275 million shares versus almost 34 million shares and that was also higher than before.

Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) was the SAME POSITION of 1.74 million shares.

General Electric Corp. (NYSE: GE) is listed as the SAME POSITION at 588,900 shares, but this is still way down from prior reports.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is the SAME POSITION at 25 million shares, but this was previously up from smaller positions.

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) is the SAME POSITION at 1.51 million shares.

The largest wireless carriers continue to be locked in a war over a market saturated by subscribers. Few athletes or celebrities have the drawing power and command the TV time that Woods does. AT&T was right to sponsor him. Verizon Wireless would be wise to pick up Woods for the same reasons AT&T was. As 4G and new smartphones from Samsung and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) revolutionize the market, Verizon needs more marketing leverage.

Accenture competes with several other global consulting firms for corporate and government customers. It invested millions of dollars in ad campaigns centered around Woods. Accenture’s major competitor — PcW — is already a large PGA tour sponsor. As a matter of fact, it was the title sponsor of the Players Championship, which Woods just won. Its commitment to the sport is already in place. Woods is the logical face of PcW as its extends it participation in the sport.

Coca-Cola Co.’s (NYSE: KO) Powerade is Gatorade’s primary competitor. All of its endorsement deals are with major athletes, including LeBron James and Derrick Rose. Given the prices these athletes command for their associations with Powerade, the drink already invests tens of millions of dollars in endorsements. Woods would be an ideal athlete to round out its stable, based on the fact that he dominates his sport the way that James does.

General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Buick division dropped Woods before the scandal. Its fortunes crumbled ahead of it entering Chapter 11. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler compete with Buick. Either one of them could turn to Woods to build its brand. Chrysler in particular relies on the U.S. market, because it has little presence overseas.

Woods had what was once estimated to be several hundred million dollars in sponsors. He has won seven of his most recent 21 PGA starts, and four so far this year. During most tournaments, he is on television for several hours — just the kind of exposure major sponsors crave.

We tracked the short interest in these top dividend stocks: Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP), Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Kimberly Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).

As we have said, it takes much more conviction to short sell a stock that has a very high dividend. On top of having to pay a broker loan-call rate to borrow the stock, the dividend payouts have to be paid, and the ex-dividend dates play into the equation as well. We compared the short interest settlement dates of April 30 and April 15 and gave added color compared to the recent past on each.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) saw a severe drop in the short interest, losing close to one-fifth of the shares short: 21.11 million versus 26.08 million. Altria’s dividend yield is now down to 4.8% since the stock is back up at highs.

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) saw a big 12% pop in the short interest to 4.34 million shares from 3.86 million shares, even though this stock remains high in price again. AEP’s dividend yield is at 3.8%.

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) saw a minor drop as short sellers wanted to avoid paying that dividend, down to 25.6 million shares short versus 26.04 million. Annaly has a current yield of about 11.9%, based on its last payout.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) saw almost a 10% drop in its short interest to 71.73 million shares, versus 78.29 million shares. AT&T’s dividend is 4.8%.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) saw only a small decline in the short interest after what had previously been a very large drop. The short interest fell to 6.814 million shares from 6.853 million shares in the prior short interest. Before that it had been 7.8 million the prior report. This is again the lowest reading since October, but the days to cover rose to 3.41 from 2.43. Duke has a dividend yield of about 4.1%.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has seen some serious profit taking, and new bets come against after earnings. We just saw the second rise in the short interest, up to 94.248 million shares, at the end of April. This is up from 82.69 million shares before and from 78.92 million shares short two periods ago. Also note that GE’s short interest is the highest in almost a year now. The days to cover ticked down to 1.75 from 2.43 days, and GE outyields the other conglomerates with a 3.3% yield.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) saw a marginal decrease in the short interest after what had been a serious increase in the bets against its massive rise. Its short interest fell to 7.896 million shares, versus 8.05 million shares short in mid-April and 6.7 million as of the end of March. This consumer products giant finally has seen shares pull back a bit, and the dividend is 3.1%.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP) saw its fourth straight gain in the short interest as of April 30, to 3.74 million shares (units). It was 3.728 million shares (units) in mid-April, and the March 28 short interest was 3.357 million units. This is yet again the highest short interest back to last November. Its dividend is actually a distribution and is the equivalent of about 6% now that the price has come back down a bit.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) saw a slight drop in the short interest to 26.57 million shares, but that was after the prior report jumped way up to 28.5 million shares from 21.33 million shares short. Merck’s dividend yield is about 3.8% now that shares have backed off marginally.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) saw a rather large drop of 16% in its short interest to 19.82 million shares from 23.6 million shares in mid-April. P&G’s dividend is back up to 3.1%, now that shares sold off $4 after earnings.

Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) saw a large gain in the short interest to 10.75 million shares, versus 9.676 million shares at the end of March and a prior near-term high of 10.38 million shares in mid-March. Reynolds has a yield of only about 4.9% as shares are close to new highs all over again.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) saw a slight uptick to 52.197 million shares short. This was 51.423 million shares as of April 15 and 57.637 million shares at the end of March. Verizon’s short interest peaked at more than 61 million shares short in February, and its dividend yield is down to 3.9%.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was raised from a Long-Term Buy rating up to a Buy rating from a boutique wealth management firm called Hilliard Lyons, which is based in Louisville, Ky.

F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Nomura.

Federal-Mogul Corp. (NASDAQ: FDML) was raised to a still-cautious Neutral rating from a Sell rating at Goldman Sachs.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was downgraded to Neutral at Citigroup and downgraded to Neutral at J.P. Morgan after earnings; shares are down a sharp 12% or so after the report.

McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (NYSE: MHP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.

MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) was upgraded going into the reverse T-Mobile acquisition/merger to a new Overweight rating at J.P. Morgan.

Read also: Sell in May and Go Away, 2013 Edition

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust after the fresh post-earnings reaction took shares lower, and the price target was raised to $88 from $80.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) was downgraded to Hold from Buy late on Wednesday by Capital IQ ahead of the new merger plan.

TC Pipelines (NYSE: TCP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James.

Read also: The Best Big Earnings Indicators This Earnings Season

The top dividend stocks we are tracking in the short interest are Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP), Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).

As we have said before, it takes much more conviction to short sell a stock that has a very high dividend. On top of having to pay a broker loan-call rate to borrow the stock, the dividend payouts have to be paid and the ex-dividend dates play into the equation as well.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) ticked way back up and gave back all the losses in the short interest from the prior report. This was 26.08 million shares as of April 15, up from 23.829 million in the prior report and up from 24.55 million shares short the month before that. This was the highest reading since the end of December. Altria’s dividend yield is now 4.95%.

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) saw short sellers back off into the stock’s strength. This fell to 3.86 million shares in the April 15 short interest. March 28 short interest was down to 4.37 million share,s versus 5.18 million as of mid-March. AEP yields 3.7% as shares have risen and risen.

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) saw a real drop as short sellers wanted to avoid paying that dividend. The April 15 short interest fell to 26.04 million shares, versus 29.85 million shares in the previous period and from 29.37 million shares before that. What is interesting is that the days to cover rose to 3.61 from 2.62 in the prior report. Annaly has a current yield of about 11.49%, based on its last payout.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) saw a slight downtick to 78.29 million shares short as of April 15, versus March 28′s count of 81.68 million shares short. AT&T’s dividend is 4.86% after the earnings drop.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) saw a significant decline to 6.85 million shares in the short interest from 7.8 million in the prior report. This was the lowest reading since October, and even the days to cover fell to 2.43 from 3.48. Duke has a dividend yield of about 4.1%, as shares are higher from the last report.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has seen some serious profit taking and new bets come against after earnings, but that was after the short interest date cutoff. The short interest actually did rise ahead of earnings to 82.69 million shares, versus 78.92 million shares in the prior report. The days to cover ticked up a bit to 2.43. GE still outyields the other conglomerates, with a 3.46% yield now that shares have taken such a hit.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) saw a serious increase in the bets against its massive rise. The stock has hit new high after new high, up until recent days, but the short interest jumped back up to 8.05 million shares from 6.7 million at the end of March. This consumer products giant keeps seeing the shares rise, and the yield is 3.13% now.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: KMP) saw its third gain in the short interest as of April 15 to 3.728 million shares (units). The March 28 short interest was 3.357 million shares, versus 2.723 million shares short in mid-March. This is the highest short interest back to last November. Its dividend is actually a distribution and now is the equivalent of about 5.61%.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) saw a massive increase in the short interest that is larger than almost all others. This short interest in mid-April went up a whopping 33% to 28.5 million shares. The March 28 short interest was 21.33 million shares, versus 26.18 million shares short in mid-March. Note that this was the highest short interest reading since last August. Merck’s dividend yield is about 3.59% now that shares have appreciated.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) saw a decent gain in the short interest, meaning that short sellers cleaned up on this week’s price drop. The April 15 short interest was 23.6 million shares, versus 21.329 million shares at the end of March and 24.744 million shares short in mid-March. P&G’s dividend is back up to 3.12%, now that shares sold off after earnings.

Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) saw a large gain in the short interest to 10.75 million shares, versus 9.676 million shares at the end of March and a prior near-term high of 10.38 million shares in mid-March. Reynolds has a yield of about 5.13% as shares have remained resilient.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) short sellers must have known it was time to step aside into the stock strength. The April 15 short interest fell to 51.423 million shares, versus 57.637 million shares at the end of March and 60.962 million shares short in mid-March. Verizon yields only 3.98% since its shares have hit higher and higher multiyear highs.

The U.S. dollar index is trading down 0.16% today, now at 82.912. The GSCI commodity index is flat at 607.11. WTI crude oil closed up 2.5%, at $91.43 a barrel after today’s report from the EIA on petroleum inventories (more coverage here). Brent crude trades up 1.1% at $101.44 a barrel. Natural gas is down 1.4% today at about $4.18 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 1.1% today at $1,423.70 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 43 points to 14,676.30 (-0.29%), the NASDAQ rose less than 1 point (0.01%) to 3,269.65, and the S&P 500 was flat at  1,578.79.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including EBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) raised to ‘buy’ at SocGen; CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) raised to ‘outperform’ with a price target of $54 at Oppenheimer; Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) cut to ‘equal weight’ at Morgan Stanley and ‘neutral’ at Citigroup (more coverage here).

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is up 0.4% at $407.67 (more coverage here); Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) is up 7.1% at $35.33; Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) is down 22.4% at $64.24 after posting a new 52-week low of $63.50 earlier today; Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is down 9.7% at $15.67; Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) is up 7.2% at $68.74; Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) is up 7.5% at $18.90 (more coverage here); Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) is up 6% at $13.91 (more coverage here); Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is down 0.1% at $13.35 (more coverage here); Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is down 5.5% at $77.46 (more coverage here); and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is up 0.4% at $7.13 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Angie’s List Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI), Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI), Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO), O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY), Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), Vale SA (NYSE: VALE), Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC), Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), HealthSouth Corp. (NYSE: HLS), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE: POT), Proto Labs Inc. (NASDAQ: PRLB), and Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

SuperValu Inc. (NYSE: SVU) is up 11% at $5.95. The supermarket chain reported a wider loss this morning, but investors apparently like what the company had to say about the next few quarters.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is down 5.2% at $36.97. The telecom giant is just too big to expect growth. More coverage here.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) is up 4.2% at $14.93. The smartphone maker is adding Skype to its app lineup, and combined with some analysts’ concerns about Apple, that appears to be enough to boost the shares.

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

• 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 11:00 a.m. – Kansas City Fed manufacturing index
• 1:00 p.m. – 7-year note auction
• 4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

The chairman of the company’s compensation committee, James McNerney, CEO of Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), was reported by Bloomberg to be unhappy with McDonald after P&G was forced to cut its forecast three times in a year. The irony of that is best left to another day.

P&G announced a layoff of 5,700 employees last year, as well as other cost cutting measures totalling some $10 billion by 2016 to help offset rising commodity costs. That has certainly helped the company’s bottom line, but it’s nothing more than a near-term fix.

McDonald may also get a shareholder challenge led by activist investor William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management. Ackman’s hedge fund owns about 1% of P&G’s stock, and while he’s currently busy with Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) and J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP), if he smells blood in the water here, McDonald could face a tough opponent. Ackman probably thinks he waited too long for results from his hand-picked CEO for Penney’s and is not likely to make that mistake again.

When the notion of replacing McDonald came up last year, many thought that it was premature. After all he’d been at the head of P&G for only about three years and those were the toughest years for the U.S. economy since the Great Depression. But as the quarters roll along and P&G’s performance doesn’t improve, McDonald’s tenure in the corner office gets shakier.

Shares of P&G hit a bottom of around $45 in May of 2009 and have since climbed to an all-time high of more than $82. But growth was pretty flat for the two year to January of 2013, when they turned sharply higher as commodity prices fell and the company’s cost reduction program showed some results. Neither force, however, demonstrates much of a strategic vision.

P&G’s shares are down about 4.8% in mid-afternoon trading today, at $78.05 in a 52-week range of $59.07 to $82.54.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.43% today, now at 83.032. The GSCI commodity index is flat at 609.10. WTI crude oil closed flat today, at $89.18 a barrel on the June futures contract. Brent crude trades down 0.1% at $100.26 a barrel. Natural gas is down 0.8% today at about $4.23 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.9% today at $1,408.80 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 152 points to 14,719.53 (1.05%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 36 points (1.11%) to 3,269.33, and the S&P 500 rose 1.04% or more than 16 points to 1,578.78.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Bankrate Inc. (NYSE: RATE) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) raised to ‘overweight’ with a price target of $100 at J.P. Morgan; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $25 at SunTrust Robinson Humphreys; and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a price target of $25 at Argus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is up 24.9% at $217.81 after posting a new 52-week high of $219.38 earlier today (more coverage here); Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) is down 1.5% at $53.22; Stillwater Mining Co. (NYSE: SWC) is up 1.2% at $10.99; Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) is up 2.5% at $35.67 after posting a new 52-week high of $36.23 earlier today (more coverage here); AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) is up 0.5% at $2.94; Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) is up 10.5% at $55.88; Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is down 5.2% at $19.94; Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) is up 1.5% at $97.24 after posting a new 52-week high of $99.49 earlier today (more coverage here); and RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is up 2.1% at $3.21 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR), Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX), Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is up 9.8% at $16.62. The air lines reported decent earnings today, but is forecasting lower fuel costs going forward. More coverage here.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is up 5.2% at $40.60. The insurer won a lawsuit dismissal in California today.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is down 5.9% at $4.60. The coal miner’s quarterly report came in as poorly as expected and its outlook is now particularly strong. More coverage here.

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. – Durable goods orders
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 1:00 p.m. – 5-year note auction

IBM management may have decided to make the company smaller, after quarterly revenue that dropped year-over-year in the first quarter. Rumors have IBM selling its server business to Lenovo, the firm that bought its PC division in 2005.

In the most recently reported quarter, IBM’s revenue was down 5% to $23.4 billion. To make matters worse, IBM’s revenue dropped at each of its four operating divisions, and in its Systems and Technology group, which houses its hardware operations, revenue dropped 17%. Net income for the whole company rose only rose 3% to $3 billion.

IBM has most of the hallmarks of aging public companies that have lost their capacity to expand except through M&A activity. It shares these characteristics with other very old American companies such as Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T). Each faces too much competition and has shown no evidence to can improve its position against most rivals.

IBM’s revenue last year was barely better than in 2008, before the recession. And revenue has risen less than 9% since 2004 — barely a percentage point each year. Profits have improved, but mostly due to cost cutting.

IBM’s struggle to add sales comes from two sources, although it is hard to say which has been more damaging. The first is that the competition for most of its products and services includes other very big multinationals like SAP, Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN). In sum, they have flanked IBM, at least to the extent that they siphon off enough of IBM’s potential clients to keep the company from rapid expansion. The other problem IBM has is one of innovation. Innovation is a marker of rapid growth in the technology business. IBM has been unable to use advances in products or services to create the kind of expansion that the most successful tech companies have.

Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with IBM’s revenue flatline. Earnings can continue to rise due to judicious control of expenses. The value of the firm’s shares can be helped by a high dividend and share buybacks. But that is all the leverage IBM has to impress investors.