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Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the famous maker of printers and PCs, and a colleague of entities such as Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), and International Business Machines (IBM), issued Q4 results on Monday after the end of the trading day. Revenues didn't impress me, as sales saw a decline of 8%. Net income, however, was better. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share increased 11% to $1.14.

Also doing well was the operating margin. The adjusted metric increased 170 basis points during the quarter. The annual statement of cash flows should look good to any long-term shareholder. Management still had cash left over from operations after share repurchases, dividend obligations, and capital spending.

U.S. stock futures were mixed Tuesday morning, trading in a tight range after snapping a three-day losing streak Monday with a strong rally. This morning, investors await a slew of economic reports as they digest recent tech earnings and more bank news.

Stronger-than-expected home sales data, as well as rising commodity prices and a weak dollar, helped fuel markets Monday, which closed at least 1.3% higher.

Though the earnings season is winding down, and the coming week includes the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., plenty of reports are still due out. And analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters don't seem to be expecting too many turkeys among this week's bunch.

Leading U.S. meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN), which has just named a new chief executive officer and a new chief operating officer, is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $0.26 per share, up from $0.14 in the same period of last year. But revenue is expected to total $6.9 billion, or 4.3% less than a year ago. The full-year forecast is for a profit of $0.25 per share (-16.7) on $26.4 billion (-3.9%) in sales. This dividend payer has offered upside surprises in the past two quarters, topping estimates by 11 cents per share in the third quarter.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says traders who focus on the negative will pounce on this poor report.

Thanks for nothing, Dell (DELL) (Cramer's Take)! Given that this market seems to care less about the good like NetApp (NTAP) (Cramer's Take), Ross Stores (ROST) (Cramer's Take) or Limited (LTD) (Cramer's Take) and is focused on the bad, like the semi-downgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, I am sure that Dell will be viewed as part and parcel with the downgrade.

I can't stand Dell. I actually slam it in Getting Back to Even, taking a chance that it would get its act together and make me look bad on the very quarter the book is released. Looks like that was a lot of worry for nothing.

U.S. stock futures declined Thursday morning, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street as investors started weighing the possibility that stocks have run up too far and too fast ahead of the economy -- the economic recovery may not be as robust. The retail sector is in focus with several retailers reporting earnings. The tech sector could also experience pressure.

On Wednesday, stocks ended lower with technology shares leading the decline, and the Nasdaq composite down nearly half a percent. Results from Salesforce.com (CRM) and Autodesk (ADSK) weighed on the sector as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Microsoft (MSFT) were among the leading decliners in the Dow.

Jobless claims almost went under 500,000 and gave one of the lowest readings this year. Unfortunately that wasn't enough for the market because these likely need to get under 400,000 or so before unemployment will stop rising. Oil inventories took some fuel from oil, but the weak 30-Year Treasury auction and the government's budget deficit kept the six day rally from turning into a 7-day rally.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,197.47 -93.79 (-0.91%)
S&P 500 1,087.21 -11.30 (-1.03%)
Nasdaq 2,149.29 -17.61 (-0.81%)

Top Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades
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Top Stock/Market Rumors

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the futures are wrong again -- as the year winds down, the chances for a big drop are dwindling.

All morning long I have listened to extended discussions about why the futures are down: Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) (Cramer's Take) guide-up wasn't much of a guide-up, Wal-Mart's (WMT) (Cramer's Take) beat wasn't real because of the revenue, oil could be down because of the Deutsche Bank forecast.

I think it is nonsense.

There's no reason for the futures to be doing anything. We are, once again, presuming knowledge.

3Com (COMS) agreed to be acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in a deal that values 3Com at $7.90 a share, a 39% premium to Wednesday's closing price of $5.69. 3Com over-all option implied volatility of 53 is below its six-week average of 57. 3Com traded 7,957 contracts on November 11, according to Track Data. 3Com's average daily volume is 2,030 contracts according, to IVolatility.

Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) closed at $22.91. Verisign is scheduled to host an analyst day on November 19. November option implied volatility is at 46; December is at 43; near its 26-week average, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

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

When Robert Metcalfe invented Ethernet, he knew it would be an explosive business. So, he co-founded 3Com (COMS) back in 1979. It would become a pioneering company.

But now 3Com will no longer be independent. That is, the company is selling out to Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) for $2.7 billion in cash or $7.90 per share.

The deal is definitely a bold move. But HP needs to be aggressive with M&A to continue its growth.

U.S. stock futures were lower Thursday morning after the Dow industrials hit yet another 13-month high on Wednesday, but the S&P 500 couldn't close above the 1,100 level. Even though Wal-Mart beat earnings and improved its outlook, futures declined as investors await weekly jobs data.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) posted third-quarter profit of 84 cents a share, above Bloomberg's analyst estimates for profit of 81 cents. Wal-Mart also upped its full-year profit above estimates, but fourth quarter guidance barely matched projections. Sales grew by just 1% in the quarter. WMT shares slid over 1% in pre-market trading.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that as numerous stories are mulled over anew, the reasons for selling seem silly.

The lack of important data today forces market participants to revisit stories that got tossed out over the last few weeks simply because of earnings ennui. People are now doubling back to see what they have forgotten, or more important, why they sold certain stocks they most likely shouldn't have.

For example, why did JPMorgan (JPM) (Cramer's Take) go from $47 to $44? Bad loans? Credit quality? No, not really. Nothing like that. Why did Goldman Sachs (GS) (Cramer's Take) go from $192 to the $170s? Some of it was Meredith Whitney, but there is also a sense of entitlement that makes the firm hated, as if somehow it is too much of a pariah to invest in.

Did you a get chance to establish a position in Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) back in April? If you did, you're up a nice 39%. But the equally comforting news is that there's still considerable upside ahead for HPQ, which is why I'm reiterating my buy rating for the company, first recommended on April 24, 2009 at a price of $35.80.

Hewlett is well-positioned to increase market share in PCs, servers, printers and IT services. The company's cost reduction efforts have gone reasonably well, and it's made progress re-positioning its customer services operation to become the one-stop shop that many customers seek. Meanwhile, the integration of Electronic Data Services, acquired for about $13 billion, should go reasonably well.

The latest litigation has Intel Inside.

The State of New York is going after Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) over antitrust allegations. State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is accusing the largest chip manufacturer in the world that it is trying to secure a global monopoly for microprocessors.

For several years, Cuomo said that Intel has pushed the likes of Dell (NYSE: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to agree to the exclusive use of Intel's gear in exchange for billions of dollars in payments. The hefty cash outlays have given what Cuomo called a "stranglehold" on the market.

Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) recently fell as the world's second-largest PC maker, and if Taiwan's Acer has any fire left, it will be directed at the numero uno in global PC sales, Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ). Is it really out of the realm of possibilities to have Acer unseat a $100 billion global technology giant?

Neither company is saying a thing yet, but word is Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and EMC (NYSE: EMC) are joining up to sell a new collection of products designed to deliver cloud computing capabilities, Reuters reports. Called vBlock, the cloud solution is intended to help the companies compete more effectively with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

The partnership, which no one is admitting to, involves a joint venture between Cisco and EMC that will sell vBlock. The former will supply the networking equipment and servers, with the latter kicking in the storage gear and virtualization technology through its VMWare (NYSE: VMW) subsidiary. The joint venture will put the systems together, integrate the components for clients, and make the whole pile of cables and silicon work. A formal announcement is expected next week.