Shares of Caterpillar are up 4.5% on the day to $71.91, up $3.13 following better than expected results this morning before the market opened.

Analysts were forecasting $0.39 per share, and the company easily outpaced those estimates with a reported $0.50 per share.

Revenues were a bit shy of analyst estimates, but the stock is surging after it raised its forecast for full year 2010 to $2.50 to $3.25 a share, up from its previous forecast of $2.50 per share.

S&P boosted its price target on the stock to $80 a share, and maintained its Buy rating on the company.

The company noted that the global economy is definitely improving, and as a result construction has been rebounding. This helped pushed the overall market higher today, with the DOW up over 25 points in afternoon trading.

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• Microsoft (MSFT) : Tech giant Microsoft set a new 52 week high today, trading up to $31.58 before closing the trading session down 1.4% on the day to $30.96, down $0.43. The company posted better than expected fiscal Q3 earnings last night following the market close.
• Apple Computer (AAPL) : Apple continues to trade strongly following better than expected earnings earlier this week. The stock hit a new all time high today of $272.18. The stock finished out the session up 1.6% to $270.83, up $4.36.
• Home Depot (HD) : Home improvement giant Home Depot set a new 52 week high today. The stock traded as high as $36.44 and closed the session just under its daily high at $36.39, up $0.67 or 1.9%. Home Depot will not be reporting its earnings until mid May.
• American Express (AXP) : Financial giant American Express set a new 52 week high today of $49.19. The stock closed the day up 2.7% at $48.05, up $1.28. The company posted better than expected earnings Thursday night, reporting $0.73 per share, verses analyst estimates for $0.63.

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As we noted in our earnings preview for Apple, analysts had forecast earnings of $2.45 per share, and the company blew past those estimates with a reported $3.33.

Once again the company got a big boost from iPhone sales, with 8.7 million new iPhones sold during the quarter, more than double the amount of iPhones sold last year.

Looking ahead Apple expects to earn $2.28 to $2.39 per share for its current quarter.

Apple stock is up 5.6% on the day to $258.28, up $13.69 and hit a new all time high today at $260.25.

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Wal Mart will be reporting its fourth quarter numbers, with analysts expecting to see the retail giant post earnings of $1.12 per share. During the same period last year the company had earnings of $1.03 per share. The numbers will be coming out before the market opens in the morning.

Dell Computer is going to be reporting its fourth quarter numbers tomorrow afternoon following the market close. Analysts are forecasting the company to report earnings of 27 cents per share, slightly lower than the 29 cents a share that it reported during the same period last year. The company last reported earnings back on November 19 when it was unable to match analyst estimates.

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The DOW closed the day up 0.7%, NASDAQ up 0.8% and the S&P rose 0.5%.

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings last night following the market close, and easily outpaced analyst estimates. Analysts had been expecting to see the company report 41 cents per share, but the actual report was much higher at 46 cents per share.

Retailer J.C. Penny (NYSE: JCP) reported third quarter earnings this morning that fell a penny short of analyst estimates, but fell in the upper range of the company’s earlier earnings forecast.

DIS stock traded up 4.8% on the day, while JCP gained 6.2% on the day.

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Going into this afternoon’s earnings report, analysts had been expecting the company to post earnings of 41 cents per share. The company’s actual earnings came in higher, with a reported 47 cents per share.

For the same period last year the company had 40 cents in earnings.

Late day traders are pushing shares up 3% in after hours trading.

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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.

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The first time that the DOW rose above the 10,000 mark was all the way back in 1999, and at that time investors celebrated, and drank champagne, but this time it was not so much a reason to celebrate as a reason to relax a bit, as Wall Street continues to claw its way back from the lows set in March of this year.

It has been an impressive run for the DOW, which is now up 53% from the lows it set earlier this year. The market had a good day on the back of strong earnings from Intel Corp. (NYSE: INTC) and JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM).

A few stocks that hit new 52 week highs today include:

• Intel Corp (NYSE: INTC): The company hit a high of $21.27 and closed the day up 1.6% at $20.83. The company reported 33 cents per share, which was higher than the 28 cents that analysts had been expecting to see.
• JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM): JP Morgan hit a high of $47.47 on the day, and closed the session up 3.3% to $47.16, up $1.50. The company reported earnings of 82 cents per share for its third quarter, above analyst estimates for 52 cents a share.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC): EMC set a new 52 week high today after the stock was upgraded this morning by Thomas Weisel to Overweight from Market Weight, and the broker raised its price target on the stock to $24 from $15. The stock hit a new high of $18.33 and closed today’s trading up 1.3% to $18.16, up $0.24.

Other big names hitting new highs today were Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), Merck (NYSE: MRK), and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

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The last time that the company reported earnings was back on July 22 when it outpaced analyst estimates by 2 pennies with a reported $1.02 per share for its second quarter.

Going into tomorrow’s report analysts are looking for the company to show earnings of $1.02 per share. Should the company beat analyst estimates, it would mark the fourth straight quarter that the company was able to surprise to the upside.

PepsiCo recently announced a major $7.8 billion deal to acquire 2 of its main bottlers in an attempt to cut costs, and get new products to the market quicker.CEO Indra Nooyi stated that the deal is a major step to helping the company compete in a market where soda sales are falling.

The company has been facing a tougher market, as more consumers are drifting away from soft drinks and replacing them with healthier drinks such as juices and teas. One thing that has helped PepsiCo deal with the drop in soda sales has been its successful Frito-Lay food line.

Analyst take: Michael Branca, an analyst with Barclays Capital recently boosted his forecast for the quarter to $1.03, stating that he believes Frito-Lays sales will help offset falling soda sales.

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