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.

Now that Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY) has made mobile a clear strategic priority for the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S., why not private label a broadband internet service and sell it? That's precisely what Best Buy is doing with Clearwire Corporation (CLWR), as it is taking the latter's 4G wireless nationwide network and branding its "Best Buy Connect" with that network.

Video games are clearly one of the biggest multi-decade trends. Even Best Buy (BBY) has redesigned its floor plan to heavily focus on videogames, and also recently got into the used game business to compete with juggernaut GameStop (GME).

Despite the macro tailwinds, video games are a cyclical sector that depend on the lifecycle of a console as well as game release schedules. This year, the sector has particularly struggled as a result of weaker games and investor fears that mobile games will eat into demand for console games.

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.

It's the Fourth of July. Time to declare your independence from fear. Specifically, the fear of holding risk in your portfolio. Ergo, I list four stocks here that investors should perhaps keep on a watch list. The choice is yours, but maybe you might find something of interest in these four.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): This stock is most definitely a risk, make no mistake about it. Being a retailer based on fashion, how can it not be in the current climate? Yet, back in May, the company's first-quarter numbers didn't seem so bad (although they didn't comprise the best data set I've ever seen, either). And the one-year chart shows that Friday's closing price of $31.11 is getting close to recent support levels.

You may be interested in buying an HDMI cable or a cell phone from RadioShack (RSH), but it looks like a few private equity companies and one competitor may be interested in buying the entire company. According to dealReporter, RadioShack had set a July 1 deadline for non-binding indications of interest from any company that was looking at buying the company.

Analysts are speculating that the same private equity companies that were mentioned in a June 1 New York Post article -- Blackstone Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital and TPG -- might still be interested in the consumer electronic retailer. That same article also mentioned that Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY) may be interested in clearing the competitive landscape by acquiring RadioShack.

With all the mixed signals driving uncertainty and worry lately, the consensus has been a foggy windshield with no clear direction. We can't even tell if one of the largest bear market rallies in history is fizzling or pausing.

On Wall Street, uncertainty is certainly a buzz killer for the irrationally exuberant. If you need a towel to wipe away the fog, take a look at Your Cheat Sheet to the Psychology of Market Cycles.

While contemplating where we're headed, let's take a look at some data points that indicate the US has the potential to lead the world out of this recession ...

Best Buy (BBY) is living on cloud nine these days. It's principal competitor, Circuit City, went belly-up over a year ago and retailing behemoth Walmart (WMT) still can't match (yet) Best Buy's consumer electronics product depth or presentation. That doesn't mean Best Buy's aggressive moves into mobile and services are the only two legs the retailing giant is relying on.

The retailer's moves into mall kiosks and nontraditional retail areas is helping attract more female shoppers, something the traditional consumer electronics retail segments largely forgets. While Best Buy sells 22% of the consumer electronics products in the U.S., only 16% of women buy their consumer electronics there.

After a volatile May, many folks are looking to companies that pay a regular dividend as a way to limit their risk and provide a bit of steady income. While it's important that the payout is substantial in these type of income investments, it's also important for investors to focus on stocks raising dividends because this helps guarantee that a company won't leave shareholders in the lurch and slash payouts when times get a little tough. After all, if you buy in for the quarterly payday, the last thing you want is for your holdings to slash their dividend payouts or let them languish without any increases.

For all you income investors out there, here are three stocks from the last week that just raised dividends and could be good additions to your holdings:

Electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY) is making a bit of news Monday, with a purported leak of its iPhone 4 inventory. I am less impressed about the iPhone 4 coming in white than I am shocked by the $699 current sell price. Apparently, the availability of the latest iteration of the iPhone in white is news, because Apple stopped taking reservations for the model. I guess this is a big deal if you like the white iPhone (mine is black, as is my wife's - i like the color better).

I just can't get too revved up over preliminary reports on the inventory of white iPhone 4s; however, I did find one interesting article over on The Wall Street Journal suggesting that BBY is going to make some changes to try and attract more female shoppers.

I remember 15 years ago, I rarely felt more satisfied than when I sold an unwanted CD for a decent price (still looking for someone to take that Spin Doctors album off my hands). It was also a rush to score a CD that was new (and cheap) to me, even if it had been dismissed by its former owner. That business may have suffered a precipitous fall, the trade of used goods continues to thrive among the gaming community.

Gamestop (GME) makes much of its business (27% in the last quarter, to be exact) in the used trade, and it makes good business sense. Once a consumer buys a title from, say, Electronic Arts (ERTS), the publisher has made its money. The profit from used discs goes to the seller and the middle man (which happens to be Gamestop). While used games comprised just 27% of Gamestop sales last quarter, they made up 48% of the company's gross profit.

Early Tuesday morning, Best Buy (BBY) announced that its first-quarter profit increased to $155 million from $153 million a year ago. While the overall profit was slightly higher, the per-share results of 36 cents matched those from a year ago. These results fell 14 cents short of the consensus estimate.

The electronics retailer also maintained its full-year earnings of $3.45 to $3.60 per share, which surrounds the $3.50 per share expected by the Street.

Best Buy (BBY) will be reporting results for the first quarter tomorrow. Is there an earnings trade here?

Not from where I sit. Nevertheless, I expect decent results. The chain has been consistent in terms of going beyond expectations in recent times. And according to Pallavi Gogoi, Apple's (AAPL) iPad device, as well as a willingness on the part of consumers to continue opening their collective wallet for various electronic items, may bring solid news for shareholders. A profit of 50 cents per share is forecast, and I'd say there is a fair chance we will be reading about a beat on the bottom line.

Ostensible bellwether FedEx Corp. (FDX) is scheduled to step into the earnings spotlight this week. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expect this Memphis-based transportation and package delivery giant to report that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year ago to $1.32 per share.

FedEx's revenue for the three months that ended in May is expected to total $9.0 billion, which is 15.2% higher than the same period of last year. FedEx's per-share earnings have not fallen short of consensus estimates in the past four quarters. The First Call recommendation of 23 analysts is to buy FDX and has been for more than 90 days. Shares have retreated from April's 52-week high of $97.75 and closed last week at $80.63.

Several takeover rumors cropped up this morning. One of those is that RadioShack (RSH) is in the sights of many possible suitors. Those suitors include Blackstone Group (BX), Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital, TPG, and potentially Best Buy (BBY).

These rumors had the shares trading higher this morning, which is really a continuation of RSH's longer-term trend. Since March 2009, RSH has trekked steadily higher, overtaking the 10-month moving average in the process. That said, the stock is stuck just below the $23 level.