• Pier 1 (PIR) : Credit Suisse raised its price target on the stock to $13, while BB&T upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. The stock is trading down 1.1%.
• Southwest Airlines (LUV) : EVA Dimensions, LLC upgraded the stock to Buy from Overweight. Stock is trading down 0.5%.
• Bristol Myers Squib (BMY) : EVA Dimensions, LLC upgraded the stock to Buy from Overweight. Stock is trading up 1.4%.
• Xerox (XRX) : EVA Dimensions, LLC upgraded the stock to Buy from Overweight. Stock is trading down 1.2%.

Going into tomorrow’s earnings report, analysts are expecting to see Carmax report earnings of $0.38 per share. During the same period last year the company had earnings of $0.33.

Carmax has a strong history of posting better than expected earnings… easily surpassing analyst estimates for each of its past 8 quarters.

Over the past month the stock had been in steady downward trend, but has traded up slightly higher over the past week after the stock was upgraded by Robert W. Baird & Co. to Outperform from Neutral, and raised its price target on the stock to $40 from $38.

Even with its move higher over the past week, the stock is still well below where it was trading in mid-February, so there is still plenty of room for the stock to trade higher should it report its 9th consecutive quarter of better than expected earnings.

KMX stock closed Wednesday’s trading session up 1.9% to $34.59, up $0.64.

• Microsoft (MSFT) : Microsoft was upgraded today by EVA Dimensions, LLC to Buy from Overweight. MSFT stock closed the trading session at $29.85, down 0.9%.
• Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) : Baker Hughes was upgraded by Citigroup to Hold from Sell. BHI stock finished the trading session down 1.3% at $47.32.
• Electronic Arts (ERTS) : Electronic Arts received a broker upgrade today from Piper Jaffray which boosted its rating on the stock to Neutral from Underweight. The stock closed the day at $19.30, up 1.2%.

• Yahoo (YHOO) : Yahoo was upgraded this morning by EVA Dimensions, LLC to Hold from Underweight. The stock is trading up 0.7% following the upgrade to $17.58, up $0.13
• J. Crew Group, Inc. (JCG) : The stock was upgraded today by EVA Dimensions, LLC today to Overweight from Hold. The stock is trading up 2.0% to $47.83, up $0.96.
• McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) : McDonald’s was upgraded today by Credit Suisse to Outperform from Neutral. The stock is trading up 0.4% on the day to $70.62, up $0.26.

• Exxon Mobil (XOM) : Exxon was upgraded by Raymond James today to Outperform from Market Perform
• Dell Computer (DELL) : Dell was upgraded by Robert W. Baird & Co. to Outperform from Neutral
• Kroger (KR) : Kroger was upgraded by EVA Dimensions, LLC today to Buy from Overweight

The DOW closed the session down 0.67%, the NASDAQ ended the day down 0.76%, while the S&P slipped by 0.8%.

General Electric started off the day off on a bad note when the company reported revenues that came up short of analyst estimates. GE was able to outpace analyst estimates for its earnings in the third quarter by posting 23 cents per share verse analyst estimates of 20 cents per share, but that was not enough to outweigh its missed revenues. The company reported $37.8 billion in revenues verse analyst estimates for $40.3 billion. Shares of GE closed the day down 4.2% to $16.08, down $0.71 on the day and wiping out $7.5 billion in market capitalization.

Bank of America was expected to show a loss for its third quarter of 21 cents per share, but the actual numbers came in worse than expected with a 26 cent loss in the quarter. The stock was hit hard today following the report, with shares falling 4.6% to $17.26, down $0.84 on the day.

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New 52 Week Highs:

There were several big name stocks that were able to set new 52 week highs today, despite the down market and include the following; Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), and Mattel (NYSE: MAT).

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Analyst upgrades and downgrades:

Stocks upgraded today include:

• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) upgraded by Caris to Buy from Above Average with $27 price target
• Safeway (NYSE: SWY) upgraded by Kevin Dann to Buy from Neutral and boosted its price target on the stock to $27 from $19 per share.
• Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) received an upgrade today by Benchmark Co. to a Buy from Hold, while lifting its price target on the stock to $625 from $500.

Stocks downgraded today include:

• Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) downgraded by Caris to Above Average from Buy with a $56 price target on the stock.
• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) downgraded by Gabelli to Hold from Buy.

Analyst upgrades:

• Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) was upgraded today to Neutral from Underperform by Buckingham.
• State Street Corp (NYSE: STT) was upgraded by CLSA to Outperform from Underperform and the broker lifted its price target on the stock to $62 from $45.
• JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) received an upgrade today from Fox-Pitt to Outperform from In Line with a $55 price target.
• Schlumberger (NYSE SLB) was upgraded by Citigroup today to Buy from Hold and the broker boosted its price target on the stock to $80 from $56.

Analyst downgrades:

• Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) was downgraded by Davenport from a Buy to Neutral
• Andarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) downgraded by JP Morgan to Neutral from Overweight
• Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) was lowered today by Citigroup to a Sell from Hold and the broker left its price target on the stock steady at $39.
• BJ Services (NYSE: BJS) downgraded by Citigroup to Sell from Hold and the broker lowered its price target on the stock to $14 from $16.