Texas Instruments (TXN), which boosted its quarterly dividend last week, is scheduled to discuss its third-quarter 2010 financial results Monday, October 25, in a conference call with CFO Kevin March, beginning at 5:30 PM (ET) . You can catch a live webcast of the call at the company's website.

During the three months that ended in September, the Dallas-based semiconductor maker continued to innovate and sold a product line to Intel (INTC). Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for Texas Instruments to report that its earnings for that period rose 39.1% from a year ago to 69 cents per share. Revenue is expected to total $3.7 billion, which is a increase of 28.1% from the same period of last year.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Lubrizol (LZ) to Hold from Sell following the company's analyst day citing its continued pricing power in lubricants. Citi upped its target price for shares to $115 from $82.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Viacom (VIA) to Buy from Neutral citing the company's ratings improvement, 2011 film slate, and video game pipeline. The firm has a $45 price target for shares.
• BMO Capital resumed coverage on Gammon Gold (GRS) with an Outperform from a Market Perform following the its equity issue. The firm has a $12.50 price target on the stock.
• Comerica (CMA) and First Horizon (FHN) were upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Prudential (PRU) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.
• Itron (ITRI) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.

The market went up and then down. By the end of the trading day, most of the indexes were in the red, but not by much. The two pieces of news that traders had to digest both came early in the day. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales rose 7.6% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.13 million. Housing market progress is still painfully slow. Weekly jobless claims, a notoriously fickle number, rose 12,000 to 465,000. A better indication of the job market -- continuing claims -- fell 48,000 to 4.49 million. The figure is still staggeringly large and a sign the the joblessness problem remains firmly entrenched.

The numbers:

Dow Jones 10,662.42 -76.89 (-0.72%)
S&P 500 1,124.83 -9.45 (-0.83%)
Nasdaq 2,327.08 -7.47 (-0.32%)

Texas Instruments (TXN - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company cut the top end of its third-quarter EPS and revenue forecasts to 72 cents from 74 cents and $3.78 billion from $3.85 billion, respectively. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on TXN.

This morning, TXN opened at $23.57. So far today the stock has hit a high of $23.89 and a low of $23.39. As of 12:10, TXN is trading at $23.35, down $0.49 (-2.1%). The chart for TXN looks neutral and S&P gives TXN a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

McDonald's Corporation (MCD) closed down 70 cents to $72.74. Overall option implied volatility of 19 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional near term price movement.

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN) is hosting a mid-quarter update on September 9. Susquehanna lowered its rating to neutral from positive. September option implied volatility is at 29, December is at 33 is above its 26-week average of 31 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

CBOE Volatility Index-VIX up 2.53 to 26.98, S&P 500 down 1.55%.

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

Analyst Upgrades

• BMO Capital upgraded Noble Energy (NE) to outperform from market perform and raised its target to $85 from $78. The firm upgraded Noble based on Niobrara field potential and record-breaking reserve potential at the Leviathan prospect.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Raytheon (RTN) to outperform from market perform based on relative valuation, strong balance sheet and International sales exposure.
• ThinkEquity upgraded Cerner (CERN) to buy from hold based on valuation and EMR momentum. The firm raised its price target on shares to $86 from $80.
• Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) was upgraded to buy from hold at Societe Generale.
• Cavium Networks (CAVM) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• CSG Systems (CSGS) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman believes EOG Resources (EOG) can regain its premium multiple given its ability to find new horizontal liquids resource plays. The firm upgraded shares to conviction buy from buy and has a $129 price target on the stock.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Macerich (MAC) to buy from hold following the company's Q2 results and raised its target for shares to $47 from $45.
• Needham upgraded QuinStreet (QNST) to strong buy from buy, citing the strong Q4 report and valuation, and has a $20 target on the stock.
• Macy's (M) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Whole Foods (WFMI) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Coca-Cola (KO) to overweight from neutral due to valuation and expectations that developed market volume should improve. The firm raised its target price for shares to $66.
• BB&T upgraded Nordson (NDSN) to buy from hold and has an $82 price target on the stock. The firm believes certain drivers of Nordson's Advanced Tech unit are becoming more secular vs. cyclical and that the company's EBIT margins can go higher.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Embraer (ERJ) to outperform from underperform, citing the positive announcements from the Famborough Air Show. The firm raised its price target to $37 from $21.
• Universal Health (UHS) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Mead Johnson (MJN) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Coventry Health (CVH) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Leerink.

Stocks initially had a hard time finding real direction today. Stocks started out weak with top-line revenue concerns but then rallied with materials. Even Canada's raising its overnight interest rates did not materialize any "rate hike fears" for the immediate horizon.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,229.96 +75.53 (0.74%)
S&P 500 1,083.48 +12.23 (1.14%)
Nasdaq 2,222.49 +24.26 (1.10%)

Texas Instruments (TXN) reported earnings Monday after the bell. Shares were punished in after-hours trading, falling over 5%. The market was disappointed, I presume, by the fact that there really wasn't too much of a surprise when it came to the bottom line.

The tech company announced earnings per share of 62 cents in the second quarter. Okay, that might have been simply in-line with expectations, as our earnings preview makes clear. But you've got to take note of the year-over-year growth as well.

For better or worse, the earnings crunch is on this week, with many companies scheduled to report their second quarter 2010 results. Here's a quick run down of what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting to see in the way of this week's earnings results, as well as a closer look at three of the week's biggest anticipated earnings gainers: American Express Co. (AXP), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Apple Inc. (AAPL).

Analysts expect the following companies to have more than doubled their earnings per share from a year ago.

Intel (INTC), whose related companies include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Texas Instruments (TXN), did extremely well during the second quarter. You've got to like the stock at this point. It reacted very nicely in Tuesday's after-hours session following the release of the report, shooting higher by 7%.

The market has been crazy lately, but as Trey Thoelcke highlighted in his preview piece, Intel's stock is currently cheap relative to the industry average.

"SPDR Morgan Stanley Technology (MTK) has been one of our top ETF recommendations in recent months," says Nathan Slaughter, who reviews the exchange-traded fund along with some of its primary holdings.

The editor of The ETF Authority suggests, "The latest financials from some of the heaviest hitters in the field have reaffirmed our confidence in this sector of the market.

"For example, a few months ago, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) was cheering spectacular +133% first quarter sales growth.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Norfolk Southern (NSC) to overweight from neutral, citing the company's leverage to coal and position relative to peers. The firm has a $68 price target for shares.
• Benchmark upgraded Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) to hold from sell based on a more favorable earnings outlook and reduced dividend risk.
• UBS upgraded Costco (COST) to buy from neutral based on valuation. The firm raised its price target to $63 from $62.
• Visa (V) was upgraded to gonviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• KLA-Tencor (KLAC) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.

Short sellers increased their bets against tech stocks for the period ending May 28, according to data from the NYSE and NASDAQ.

The short interest in NYSE-traded tech shares AMD (AMD) and Texas Instruments (TXN) were up sharply. The short interest in AMD was up 19% to 61.6 million shares. Share short in TXN rose 27% to 27.9 million.

Among NASDAQ-traded stocks, the short interest in Intel (INTC) rose 36% to 61.3 million. Shares short in Broadcom (BRCM) were up 41% to 15.9 million. The short interest in Qualcomm (QCOM), Micron (MU), and Seagate (STX) also rose.

Tech shares with falling short interest included Microsoft (MSFT), down 14% to 57 million and Dell (DELL) down 14% to 45.3 million.