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Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) higher Q3 earnings topped expectations but revenue was in line.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) posted better-than-expected Q3 results, but shares sold off.
• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI) was downgraded on concerns about its Q4 guidance.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) shares fell after it posted a deeper-than-expected quarterly loss.
• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) fell victim to profit taking despite reporting better-than-expected earnings.
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) better-than-expected Q3 earnings sent shares higher, despite a decline in revenue.

Investors may be bemoaning Harley-Davidson Inc.'s (NYSE: HOG) less-than-rocking earnings report this week, but there are reasons to still cheer the venerable motorcycle maker, whose stock is up 65 percent this year despite lower sales and tumbling profits. Shares rose more than 1 percent in Friday afternoon trading to more than $28 each.

On Thursday, Harley-Davidson said it earned $26.5 million, or 11 cents a share, in the third quarter, down from $166.5 million, or 71 cents a share, a year ago. Third-quarter sales dropped 21 percent to $1.12 billion, but a 21.3 percent drop in worldwide retail deliveries was far better than in the previous quarter, when sales slipped 30 percent worldwide and 35 percent in the U.S.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) to Outperform from Market Perform on expectations that derivatives trading will increase in the coming quarters.
• NutriSystem (NASDAQ: NTRI) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Janney Montgomery, which believes that the company's earnings have hit bottom, while the company could report better-than-expected Q1 results.
• Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital. The firm thinks the company is an early-cycle story that has significant upside potential.
• UBS upgraded Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) to Buy from Neutral citing cost cutting efforts and slowing store growth.
• Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Benchmark Co.
• Safeway (NYSE: SWY) was upgraded to Buy from Hold by BB&T.
• Needham upgraded Targacept (NASDAQ: TRGT) to Buy from Hold.
• Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jesup & Lamont.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG), cultural icon and a leader in sales of high-end motorcycles, is scheduled to discuss its third quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Thursday at 9:00 AM ET, hosted by CEO Keith Wandell and CFO John Olin. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

During three months that ended in September, Harley-Davidson celebrated the 40th anniversary of Easy Rider, rolled out new models for 2010, and appointed a new CFO. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this Milwaukee-based, dividend-paying company to report that earnings fell 70.4% from a year ago to $0.21 per share, but that's up 61.9% from the second quarter. Sales for the third quarter are expected to be 22.6% lower than a year ago to $1.1 billion.

United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO) closed $36.68. WTI Crude futures are recently down .45% to $71.40 according to Bloomberg. USO unit net asset value reflects the performance of the spot price of West Texas intermediate light crude. USO over all option implied volatility is at 44; verses its 26-week average of 46, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) closed at $23.28. HOG is scheduled to report Q3 EPS on October 15. HOG October option implied volatility is at 76, November is at 55; verses its 26-week average of 60, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement after EPS.

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

Analyst upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuation and expectations the company will repay TARP without a capital raise. The firm raised its target to $34 from $26.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Ticketmaster (NASDAQ: TKTM) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $12 from $8 citing dynamic ticket pricing and the potential merger with Live Nation (NYSE: LYV).
• Citigroup upgraded Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) to Hold from Sell after channel checks indicated retail sales have improved since Q2. The firm raised its target on shares to $26 from $14.
• McDermott (NYSE: MDR) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
• General Electric (NYSE: GE) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

This morning's revised GDP and still high jobless claims were of no concern to the bulls. After a key DJIA component had news, and after interest perked back up in the financial stocks, traders forgot about selling and just started buying all over again. Seven days in a row of an up market is becoming a normal event, it seems.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,576.47 +32.95 (0.35%)
S&P 500 1,030.91 +2.79 (0.27%)
Nasdaq 2,028.09 +3.66 (0.18%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Day Trader Stocks

Today was just one of those solid days. It seems that regulation over non-financial firms being looser is a huge relief. Even a wider than expected seasonal weekly jobless claims report did not hurt the market. Yesterday we had a potential huge technical event in oil prices, but the news today remedied that. Oil was up almost $4.00 at over $67.00 late in the day. We even had two IPOs trading today.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,152.19 +81.47 (0.90%)
S&P 500 986.40 +11.25 (1.15%)
Nasdaq 1,984.30 +16.54 (0.84%)

Top Analyst Calls

According to recent analyst opinion, Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) is a business you should be wary of buying right now. This item reports on a reduction in the price target for the maker of the iconic motorcycle. Edward Aaron over at RBC Capital Markets thinks that earnings and demand won't be great for the company; he slashed his belief of what the shares are worth by $2 to $16 per share.

Harley-Davidson has certainly recovered from its 52-week low made back in March of this year. The stock bounced back from $7.99 to a price of $16.55 as of this writing.

Every year I find myself asking the same question: What to get dad for Father's Day. Well, Kiplinger's offers not to get our dads the same old presents -- another tie, another power tool -- but stocks in companies he probably likes or uses their products. That's a great idea, I thought, and decided to counter with five of my own.

• Kiplinger's suggests: Diageo (NYSE: DEO), the seller of such brands as Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Guinness and José Cuervo. Diageo has held up better than most during the recession -- thanks to a balanced portfolio of products, with higher exposure to mid-price, mainstream brands and less exposure to ultra-premium brands. The shares look reasonably priced. At $56.01, Diageo trades at 15 times estimated June 2009 earnings of $3.82 a share. The stock yields 2.8%.

• Another to consider: Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP), the seller of such brands as Coors, Blue Moon, Pilsner and Rickard's. Beer, probably even more so than hard liquor is supposed to hold better during a recession given the cheaper price point. The company's recent quarterly profits more than doubled. The shares trade at 13 times forward earnings of $3.33 and yield 2.2%.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) to Buy from Neutral and raised their target to $22 from $16 citing the renegotiated royalty agreement with Samsung.
• Goldman also upgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) to Buy from Sell and raised their target to $27 from $11 citing strong operating leverage as RevPAR recovers.
• KeyBanc upgraded Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) to Hold from Underweight citing a recent improvement in freight demand.
• J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) was upgraded to buy from Underperform at Banc of America/Merrill.
• Savvis (NASDAQ: SVVS) was raised to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was upgraded at Citigroup to Buy from Hold.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) Q1 profit edged past expectations despite lower sales of Humira.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) posted a smaller-than-expected Q1 loss, sending shares sharply higher.
• Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, sending share higher.
• BP (NYSE: BP) and other oil companies were downgraded due to higher environmental costs.
• Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW) Q1 earnings declined but still topped analysts' expectations.
• Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) said Q1 earnings would be lower due to a weaker dollar and lower oil prices.

The venerable Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) sputtered through another dismal quarter as reported today. Even Warren Buffett's recent vote of confidence in the form of purchasing $300 million of HOG debt wasn't enough to pretty up a year/year decline in worldwide sales of 12%, and sales this quarter last year were well below the previous year. The company did ship 3.9% more bikes to dealers than in 2008, when dealers were sitting on large stocks of unsold units, but it anticipates shipping 10-13% fewer bikes overall in 2009 than 2008.

Domestic sales dropped 9.7%. Diluted earning reported were $.50, below analyst expectations and down from $.79 Q1 of 2008. Revenue for the quarter was $1.01 billion, down only $2.7 million from same quarter 2008. General merchandise, usually a steady cash-generator for the company, also fell by 10.5% from a year ago.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded HMS Holdings (NASDAQ: HMSY) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they believe the recent weakness provides an attractive entry point. The firm keeps a $36 price target on shares.
  
• Credit Suisse believes Universal Health (NYSE: UHS) is well positioned to gain market share, that earnings risk from the Las Vegas market is manageable, and that the balance sheet provides flexibility. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised their target to $48 from $46.
  
• UBS upgraded RF Micro (NASDAQ: RFMD) to Buy from Neutral citing checks that indicate strengthening momentum, impact from recent restructuring, and expected debt reduction. The analyst raised RFMD estimates above consensus and upped the price target to $3 from $1.10.
• Liberty Capital (NASDAQ: LCAPA) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  
• Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) was raised to Hold from Sell at Soleil.
  
• SunTrust (NYSE: STI) was lifted at Keefe Bruyette to Outperform from Market Perform.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) closed at $17.10. HOG named Keith Wandell as president and CEO, succeeding James Ziemer who is retiring. Wandell is currently COO and Pres of Johnson Controls (NYSE-JCI). HOG is expected to report Q1 EPS on April 16. HOG, April option implied volatility is at 100; April is at 97; above its 26-week average of 87, according to Track Data, suggesting larger movement.

NASDAQ 100-QQQQ overall implied volatility at 38; 26-week average is 43.

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