Analyst Upgrades

• Barclays upgraded Western Digital (WDC) to overweight from equal weight.
• LDK Solar (LDK) was upgraded to buy from hold at Needham.
• Legg Mason (LM) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Agilent (A) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Dean Foods (DF) to outperform from market perform and Developers Diversified (DDR) to market perform from underperform.
• Deutsche Bank also upgraded Developers Diversified, to buy from hold.
• Northrop Grumman (NOC) was upgraded to sell from conviction sell at Goldman.
• MYR Group (MYRG) was upgraded to buy from hold at BB&T.

Clearwire (CLWR - option chain) shares are rising today on reports that the company will auction some of its wireless spectrum in order to raise $2.5 billion to $5 billion. According to Bloomberg, potential bidders for the spectrum include AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), Deutsche Telekom, Time Warner Cable (TWC) and Sprint (S). If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CLWR.

Goldman Sachs (GS) was quite the busy brokerage this morning, as it trekked through the financial sector and also issued a number of other upgrades, including one for Sprint Nextel (S).

The brokerage upped Sprint to buy from neutral, issuing a $6 price target, a nice elevation from the previous target of $3.50. Goldman noted that the reason for the upgrade is churn, and that the company is "about to move the needle." Goldman stated, "Sprint's gross add/upgrade activity slowed sharply in 2008, which ironically should benefit the company over the course of 2010 as the logical pool of churn subscribers is reduced." The upgrade comes basically from a glorified hunch.

Analyst Upgrades

• FBR Capital upgraded Halliburton (HAL) to outperform from market perform as it sees less headline risk from the Gulf of Mexico spill following Wednesday's House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. The firm upped its target for shares to $44 from $35.
• FBR Capital also upgraded Morgan Stanley (MS) to outperform from market perform as it views the valuation as attractive following the recent pullback in shares. The firm maintains a $35 price target for shares.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Avnet (AVT) to buy from hold on valuation; it views the recent pullback as a buying opportunity. The firm raised its target for shares to $39 from $36.
• U.S. Steel (X) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• News Corp. (NWS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Argus.
• Sprint (S) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.

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

• Coinstar Inc. (CSTR) shares surged following stronger-than-expected Q1 earnings driven by DVD rentals.
• Humana Inc. (HUM) shares traded lower despite the report of better-than-expected earnings for Q1.
• IMAX Corp. (IMAX) reported strong Q1 results that easily topped consensus estimates, but shares declined.
• Kellogg Co. (K) topped Q1 earnings expectations and announced a share buyback program.
• Office Depot Inc. (ODP) Q1 earnings fell short of consensus estimates and same-store sales declined.

BHP Billiton (BHP) closed at $77.80. Copper is recently down 0.99% according to Bloomberg. BHP April put option implied volatility is at 31, May is at 32, below its 26-week average of 38, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) at 16.96; 200-day moving average is 23.73.

Three stocks with IV rise on March 19; Apollo Investment (AINV) +6%, Provident Energy Trust (PVX) +5%, Sprint (S) +7%, according to IVolatility.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Sprint Nextel (S) has done many things in the last few years: improved its customer service, procured some of the better and leading-edge smartphones (at least in 2009) and it has gained gobs of prepaid wireless subscribers while narrowing losses of contract wireless customers. Still, it is losing customers to the competition, and that hasn't stopped. What can be done?

Sprint CFO Bob Brust indicated this week that revenue declines will show up this year and will turn into revenue growth at least a few quarters out. That statement alone sent Sprint shares up 5% yesterday. But it's the same old stuff: Brust referenced narrowing losses in the contract customer base and rising revenue growth from its prepaid customer base. This isn't anything new, so why the spike in share price? Good question.

At 8:30 a.m. Eastern, the Labor Department will release the February figures for nonfarms payrolls. Economists are expecting job losses in the U.S. probably accelerated in February as severe weather forced some employers to temporarily close. According to Briefing.com, economists expect payrolls dropped by 68,000 workers last month after falling by 20,000 in January. The unemployment rate, probably rose to 9.8% from 9.7% the previous month.