Last week, Macy's (M) and JCPenney (JCP) kicked off the retail earnings season by posting better-than-expected earnings for the most recent quarter. Many more quarterly reports from retailers are due this week, and by and large expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are high.

Walmart (WMT), the king of retailers, is expected to buck the trend, though. Analysts anticipate that the Bentonville-based company will report that its third-quarter earnings grew only 6.7% year-over-year to 90 cents per share. During the three months that ended in October, Walmart announced an acquisition in South Africa and kicked-off the holiday shopping season, and revenue for that period is predicted to have risen 3.0% to $102.4 billion. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, analysts so far expect sequential and year-over-year growth of both earnings and revenue. Walmart results have not fallen short of consensus estimates in the past five quarters.

I was reading a rather interesting article in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) about the potential for a holiday toy war between Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT). The price war centers on toys because "parents will buy stuff for their kids even when the economy is awful."

The article adds that shoppers have attempted to buy the "biggest toy bargains" while "ignor[ing] stores' other offerings." However, the article is quick to point out improving economic conditions suggest that retailers have a reason to believe the shoppers will look around the store a bit more and be quicker to part with some cash. Is this a safe assumption? Yes, I think that it is. However, I have a couple of reservations.

Analyst Upgrades

• KeyBanc upgraded Las Vegas Sands (LVS) to hold from underweight based on Singapore performance and a potential revaluation of the yuan.
• ThinkEquity upgraded Seattle Genetics (SGEN) to buy from hold based on the positive SGN-35 HL data. The firm raised its price target to $16 from $12.
• Merriman upgraded Applied Signal (APSG) to buy from neutral with a $28 to $31 valuation range, citing greater confidence in earnings estimates and the company's recent contract wins.
• Siliconware Precision (SPIL) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.
• Pulte Group (PHM) was upgraded to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Greenbrier (GBX) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.

Discount retailer Target Corporation (TGT) announced today that starting October 3 its stores will start to carry all six models of the popular new Apple, Inc. (AAPL) iPad.

While this is not the first time that Apple has teamed up with outside retailers, Target is the largest retailer to date that has agreed to sell the iPad.

You can already buy iPad in some Best Buy stores, and the company has announced that starting this Sunday it will be selling the device at all of its U.S. stores. In addition to facing competition from Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) is also rumored to begin selling iPads in stores soon.

Last January I suggested that shares of Ross Stores (ROST) might be as much of a bargain as the merchandise it sells. That turned out to be true. The stock has outpaced the market considerably. At the time, it was trading at $45.20. Last week, on Sept. 3, Ross closed at $52.60 for a year-to-date gain of 16.37%.

Ross pays a small dividend yielding 1.12%. It is not high, but it exceeds what you're getting from money market accounts or CDs and, added to the stocks appreciating, it's a bonus.

After this nice gain, how do the metrics shape up today? Is it too late to make some money here?

Target (TGT) ended Wednesday's session in the green after second-quarter numbers were digested by the market. The shares closed higher by 2.5%, settling at a quote of $51.95. Volume was heavy.

That's technically a positive sign, but I should point out that we're in a tough environment. You can't trust any gain if you're a trader. If you happened to buy the retailer for a quick move before earnings were released, I hope you got out Wednesday, because once the thesis is realized, it's best to book profits and wait for another entry point.

Analyst Upgrades

• GC Financial upgraded Microsoft (MSFT) to buy from hold, citing expectations that the company will raise its quarterly dividend by 15%. The firm upped its target for shares to $30 from $29.
• JPMorgan upgraded Agrium (AGU) to overweight from neutral, citing valuation and strengthening agricultural fundamentals. The firm raised its target for shares to $75 from $70. Note JPMorgan downgraded Mosaic (MOS) this morning to neutral from overweight.
• Susquehanna upgraded Baker Hughes (BHI) to positive from neutral based on valuation. The firm has a $53 target on the stock.
• Target (TGT) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• CF Industries (CF) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Portugal Telecom (PT) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Talbots (TLB) was enjoying a nice uptrend for much of the past year. Then, economic troubles appeared in Europe, and the bears came clawing their way to Wall Street to ruin the rally. Like many other stocks, Talbots got hit. And on Tuesday, it closed down 9.5% to $12.20. The 52-week high on the shares is $17.79.

During the fourth quarter, the retailer beat estimates by a wide margin. This time around, it's more of the same. According to Reuters, adjusted profit from continuing operations calculated out to 38 cents per share, much higher than the call of 16 cents per share (and much better than the adjusted loss of 23 cents per share from continuing operations in the year-ago period).