Analyst Upgrades

• Credit Suisse upgraded Netflix (NFLX) to neutral from underperform and raised its price target to $140 from $90. The firm's survey work indicates Netflix's streaming offering is compelling and will continue to grow as it acquires additional streaming content.
• Barclays upgraded Ford (F) to overweight from equal weight, citing the company's earnings power, reduced cost base, expectations for a return to prior peak margins and valuation. The firm raised its target to $16 from $15.
• Merriman upgraded OpenTable (OPEN) to buy from neutral based on increased visibility into international expansion from the toptable.com acquisition and upside from its Spotlight product.
• Siemens (SI) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Medicis (MRX) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• IDEX (IEX) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Baird.

A few weeks ago, a good friend asked me for a stock recommendation that he might add to his Roth IRA. Three stocks with high yields came to mind that would be great in a retirement account. Note that I do not advise others what they should do, but share what I am doing or contemplating doing.

I recently included Merck (MRK) in a review of the granny portfolio, and discussed Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) in Chasing Value™: Buffett Must Be Buying Oil. I own Merck in all of my portfolios and have made Shell the largest holding in the largest portfolio. The third stock that I thought of I don't yet own -- Telefonica SA (TEF). I looked at it last May, and it currently pays a whopping 7.13% yield.

Here is a common sentiment about the stock market: "No fun at all. As I have said before, I believe it has turned into one big casino largely divorced from its original goal of providing capital to companies who produce something of value."

There's a lot of truth to what "granny" recently said to me in an e-mail. Fortunately she also noted "FYI Granny's up 5.86% + dividends." That would give her a gain of about 10% in the past ten months since I posted Where should granny put $50,000, suggesting a very conservative portfolio for an uncertain time.

Not only has she earned a very nice return, surpassing her CD account by 9.5% (20 fold), but she was able to do so with a great deal less volatility than the overall market most of us have lived through.

A reading of +2.4% GDP is still growth. It is just not very robust growth. It is also as the argument continues of whether the U.S. is headed for a double-dip recession or just a period of slower growth. PIMCO's Bill Gross calls it a long protracted period of slow growth. Today was lighter than normal on the earnings news, and the final verdict over a green or red ticker at the close was not clear until the final minutes today.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,465.94 -1.22 (-0.01%)
S&P 500 1,101.59 +0.06 (0.01%)
Nasdaq 2,254.70 +3.01 (0.13%)

Top Analyst Calls

I'm looking at Novartis (NVS) late in the trading day. There's less than an hour to go before the market closes. The stock is up 0.4% to $50.97. Is it me, or is Wall Street telling us that it isn't too excited by the drug maker's latest earnings report? Which actually wasn't bad, as far as I can tell. Perhaps the market actually is excited, but the response is being muted by the overall tone of the session (volume is strong, I should mention).

The one-year chart for the equity probably wouldn't make you want to buy this one for a trade. It almost seems as if the chance to get in on a great pullback has come and gone, doesn't it? Well, let's have a peek at the fundamentals.

Thursday morning, Merck & Co. (MRK) announced that it would shut down eight manufacturing plants and eight research sites around the world, along with consolidating some of its offices.

Merck notes that these moves are part of the ongoing consolidation triggered by the acquisition of Schering-Plough last November. The acquisition made Merck the second-biggest pharmaceutical firm in the world. That said, the company is going to eliminate roughly 15% of its workforce (which comes out to 16,000 jobs) in order to save roughly $3.5 billion a year.

In the year following Bush's dividend tax cuts, the Dow Jones rose 16%. When the tax cuts expire in a few months, will the market drop?

One method of evaluating stocks is that they are worth the present value of all the future cash flows. This can make dividend stocks particularly attractive to investors because they get paid rent or a dividend for holding a company. If conditions change and those future dividends are no longer expected, a stock can suddenly be worth a lot less. This is a large reason why we see stocks drop suddenly at earnings announcements or when companies revise outlooks.

Analyst Upgrades

• FBR Capital upgraded Noble Corporation (NE) to outperform from market perform as it finds the company's acquisition of Frontier Drilling as smart and strategic. The firm upped its target price for shares to $42 from $36.
• Citigroup upgraded Ameriprise (AMP) to buy from hold, citing potential margin expansion from the Columbia acquisition. The firm maintains a $50 price target for shares.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Jabil Circuit (JBL) to overweight from market weight, citing valuation and the company's growth prospects. The firm raised its target for shares to $20 from $18.
• Blackrock (BLK) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• Disney (DIS) and News Corp (NWS) were upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Portland General Electric (POR) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

In its weekend edition, Barron's Andrew Bary wonders whether Big Pharma's punishment on Wall Street has gone too far. The sector has fallen out of favor with Wall Street and now has one of the lowest price/earnings ratios of any major sector of the stock market, Bary writes.

Investors are staying away from the large pharmaceutical companies ahead of their looming patent cliff, when blockbuster drugs like Lipitor, Plavix and Singulair lose patent protection and lose most of the sales from these drugs to generics. Investors also fear the companies don't have enough new drugs in the pipeline to make up for the lost sales, which could mean big hits to earnings.

But when the Street writes off one of the world's most important industries and with valuations at all-time lows, investors ought to take notice, Bary says. Especially when the average dividend yield of the big drugmakers is 4.8%.

"If you're a retiree or otherwise focused on income, dig into the holdings that make up our Incredible Dividend Machine; this portfolio is designed to home in on champion dividend payers," says Richard Band.

The editor of Profitable Investing explains, "We're looking for the highest yields available, consistent with safety. Three that currently stand out are Merck (MRK), AT&T (T) and Pinnacle West (PNW).

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Baker Hughes (BHI) to hold from sell following the company's Q1 results.
• Auriga upgraded Canadian Solar (CSIQ) to buy from hold as it believes the company's negative preannouncement on April 20 removes a downside catalyst. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $21 from $25.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Post Properties (PPS) to hold from sell following the company's Q1 results. The firm upped its target for shares to $27 from $16.
• Wright Express (WXS) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Nvidia (NVDA) coverage was assumed with a buy from hold at ThinkEquity.
• Elan (ELN) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.

U.S. stock futures declined Tuesday following Monday's rally on renewed concerns over European national debts. And as they awaited some economic figures to be released after the opening bell, investors examined yet another batch of earnings, including from drug giants Pfizer and Merck.

Stocks soared Monday as investors grew more upbeat about the economic outlook and fears about Greece's debt situation abated. The Dow industrisals and the S&P 500 gained 1.3%, while the Nasdaq climbed 1.5%. But Europe and Asia didn't follow suit.

President Obama made it to the oval office with a sincere promise to reform health care in the United States and make it available to those without. Great idea, bad timing. It might also contribute to the bankruptcy of our nation and no amount of hoping, praying and playing with numbers and research reports will alter our path if we spend money we do not have for very much longer.

Contentious Bill

This is a noble task and Obama has energized a national discussion that has led to Senate and House Democrats navigating treacherous straits to piece together recently signed legislation.

This declining company lost patent protection for its statin, Zocor. It has replaced some of these sales with three new drugs, but, in reality, they cannot make up for the lost revenue from Zocor.

Merck's (MRK) revenues are stagnant and the company has a very weak pipeline. Even if health care reform adds more patients, it will also bring increased pressure to cut prices.

Spring is finally here, which means it's time to break out the broom and dustpan for some spring cleaning.

But your home isn't the only thing that requires constant maintenance -- your portfolio does too.

And what better time than spring to get a fresh start by cleaning out the stocks that are sitting around collecting dust rather than making you money?