Goldman Sachs has put a $285 price target on Potash (NYSE:POT) because of the "benefits of strong fundamentals in the fertilizer market", according to the AP.

Merrill Lynch upgraded Wachovia (NYSE:WB) to "neutral" from "underperform", according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Citigroup has initated Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) with a "buy".

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, according to 24/7 Wall St., The financial site also reports that Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has a lowered price target but maintained Buy at Merrill Lynch

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H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), whose colleagues include Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) and Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX), reported Q4 and full-year earnings on Monday. The numbers looked pretty good to me. For Q4, revenues increased 11% to $2.6 billion and earnings per diluted share from continuing operations increased 17% to $2.11. According to this article, analysts' expectations were beat by $0.08. For the full year, the top line expanded by 10%, coming in at $4.4 billion. Earnings per diluted share from continuing operations jumped 21% to $1.39.

The tax specialist said it worked with 23.5 million clients, the most ever in its corporate history. That's a nice indication of health for the company, I suppose, but here's a better one. The board decided to juice the dividend. The annual payment will now be $0.60 per share, translating to a 5% increase. Okay, 5% isn't too exciting, I'll grant you, but H&R Block has now increased its payments to shareholders every year for over a decade.

But, as the company stated in its release, although it intends on repurchasing shares over the next few years, it will remain "particularly disciplined" about the subject in the next fiscal year. Essentially, that means shareholders should not expect a lot of share repurchases for a while. H&R Block is reacting to the fact that it is still rebooting itself after being victimized by the subprime mortgage crisis. I'd rather hear a more aggressive stance in terms of buyback plans, but I'd say there is prudent motive in such posture given the company's state.

Guidance for next fiscal year calls for earnings per share from continuing operations to fall somewhere between $1.60 and $1.70. Based on this guidance and the stock's dividend yield, you could call H&R Block relatively cheap. The stock has done well on a five-year basis and on a year-to-date basis, but I would expect that a pullback will be in the offing as the market goes through erratic gyrations this summer. H&R Block is probably worth a look on such a retreat in share price, but as always, perform your own due diligence.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

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Citi Investment Research affirmed Plexus (NASDAQ: PLXS) affirmed its "hold" rating ahead of the company's analyst meeting, according to the AP.

J.P Morgan downgraded Alcoa (NYSE: AA) to "neutral" from "overweight," according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Friedman Billings affirmed its "outperform" rating on Kroger (NYSE:KR.)

Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) was started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs, according to 24/7 Wall St.

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MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY) to Hold from Buy following the company's investor day, as they were disappointed that no REIT conversion will occur before 2010. Deutsche lowered their target price to $65 from $95.
  
• Citigroup assumed coverage of IFX (NYSE: IFX) and downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy on valuation following the recent rally.
  
• Merrill Lynch cut Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) to Underperform from Neutral. The rating changes reflect Merrill's new rating system based on relative recommendations within the sector.

• Morgan Stanley lowered ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) to Underweight from Equal Weight.
  
• RBC Capital downgraded Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP) to Sector Perform from Outperform.
  
• Praxair (NYSE: PX) was downgraded at HSBC to Neutral from Overweight.

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I recently attended the Warrillow Conference, which focuses on how to sell to the small business market. And, yes, it's a big opportunity -- with more than 27 million small businesses in the U.S. Some of the big players in the space include MasterCard (NYSE: MA), FedEx (NYSE: FDX), Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) and so on.

Well, one of the panels at Warrillow had a group of small business owners -- and they talked about what works when trying to sell to them.

Let's take a look:

Wearing many hats: The small business owner does just about everything. In other words, time is a precious commodity. So, when pitching, make sure things are clear and concise. What are the main benefits? The costs?

More importantly, small business owners want something that is plug-and-play and doesn't require a big learning curve.

The assistant: Many small business owners have one. And, an assistant is often a gatekeeper.

In other words, it's actually a good idea to make your pitch to the assistant -- since he or she will likely relay the information to the owner.

Also, small business owners are relying much more on the Net. Thus, an email pitch is OK so long as it is not wordy. Plus, you should have a website that is easy to navigate and has a demo.

Long Sales Cycle: Because a small business owner is time-constrained, it can take a while to make a sale. But it can be worth it because he or she is likely to be a loyal customer.

Members of the panel agreed that they do not switch vendors lightly -- and usually not just based on cost. After all, it's not easy finding a good vendor.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

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Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Activision Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) beat Q4 expectations and raised its fiscal 2009 guidance.
• Air France-KLM swung to a loss in the fourth quarter and warned of tough times ahead.
• BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) Q1 earnings soared, beating expectations, and it raised its forecast.
• Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) beat Q1 estimates on robust demand and favorable exchange rates.
• Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) Q1 profit declined, hurt by an impairment charge and nearly flat sales.
• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) beat Q1 earnings estimates by managing costs and inventory.
• Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) Q1 earnings tumbled on a one-time charge and the housing slump.
• Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) beat Q3 expectations and announced a share buyback program.
• Lenovo Group Ltd. (OTC: LNVGY) Q4 earnings more than doubled on strong global distribution.
• Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) reported a so-so first quater in line with Wall Street expectations.
• NetEase.com Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) Q1 earnings declined due to increased tax burden.
• Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) missed Q1 earnings estimates but beat revenue expectations.
• Solarfun Power Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: SOLF) Q1 revenue surged 529% from the previous quarter.
• Suntech Power Holdings Co. (NYSE: STP) Q1 revenues soared and earnings more than doubled.

Additional earnings highlights:
Hewlett-Packard, Target, Barnes & Noble, Campbell, Staples and others
Ford, Hormel, Limited Brands, Intuitive Surgical, PetSmart and others

Upcoming results to watch for include Borders (NYSE: BGP), Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL), TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), Costco (NASDAQ: COST), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), HJ Heinz (NYSE: HNZ), Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD), Lions Gate (NYSE: LGF), and Tiffany (NYSE: TIF).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

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Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) shares are trading higher after INTU announced yesterday evening its third-quarter profits jumped 21% to $444.2 million on strong sales of its tax-preparation and accounting programs. The company posted earnings of $1.39 a share on revenue of $1.31 billion, beating analysts' expectations. Also of note was a new $600 million stock buyback plan. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on INTU.

After hitting a one-year high of $33.10 in October, the stock hit a one-year low of $25.08 in March. INTU opened this morning at $27.81. So far today the stock has hit a low of $27.56 and a high of $29.29. As of 12:20, INTU is trading at $28.50, up $1.29 (4.7%). The chart for INTUlooks bullish and steady while S&P gives INTU a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an October bull-put credit spread below the $25 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 19.0% return in just five months as long as INTU is above $25 at October expiration. Intuit would have to fall by more than 12% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

INTU hasn't been below $25 at all in the past year and has shown support around $27 recently. This trade could be risky if the stock breaks below its recent trading range of $27 to $29, but even if that happens, the stock could find some historical support around $25, where it bottomed in March.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in INTU.

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MOST NOTEWORTHY: First Solar, Pride International and EnerSys were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Friedman Billings downgraded First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) to Underperform from Market Perform citing margin risk concerns, as the company aggressively pursues utility-scale projects in the US. The firm said risks are not reflected in share valuation near $300 and could be a source of disappointment but could also lead to downside EPS risk.
  
• Wachovia said Pride International (NYSE: PDE) has the least potential EPS upside vs. peers given the company has contracted the highest percentage of its floater days into 2012E. Additionally, the firm views a takeout by Seadrill as unlikely. Shares were cut to Underperform from Market Perform.
  
• Merriman downgraded shares of EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) to Neutral from Buy as they believe the strong Q4 results were driven by a one-time benefit from lead procurement mechanics and that data does not support the company's sustained margin expansion story.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Citigroup lowered Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) to Hold from Buy.
  
• UBS downgraded Nucor (NYSE: NUE) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Smart Modular (NASDAQ: SMOD) was downgraded at Oppenheimer to Perform from Outperform.
  
• The Airlines Sector was cut by Soleil to Neutral from Outperform.

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Moody's downgraded the debt of Washinton Mutual (NYSE:WM) to A2, according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Citigroup downgraded Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) to "hold" from "buy".

Deutsche Bank has upgraded Micron (NYSE:MU) to "buy" from "hold", according to MarketWatch.

Thomas Weisel Partners reiterated its "outperform" rating on CVS Caremark (NYSE:CVS) ahead of the company's analyst meeting, according to the AP.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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With the slowing economy, there's much fear that businesses will cut back on marketing dollars. Well, so far, this doesn't seem to be a problem for Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT), which provides email marketing services to small businesses.

According to the company's Q1 report, revenues shot up 87% to $18.2 million and GAAP net income came to $338,000. The total customer base now stands at 185,948, up 78% over the past year. In fact, the monthly customer retention is about 97.8%. In other words, customers seem to be happy with the web service.

To capitalize on things, Constant Contact is now expanding its offerings as the company is getting traction from its survey product. There is also a new tool to integrate with Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU)'s QuickBooks.

While vigilant and cautious, Constant Contact doesn't see any problems from the macroeconomic environment. Actually, the company boosted its full-year 2008 revenue guidance to $82.5-$84.5 million from $81-$83.5 million. The adjusted EBITDA is expected to range from $3.2-$3.6 million.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

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Bessemer Venture Partners, which is the oldest VC firm in the US, has picked many winners such as Skype, VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) and LinkedIn. So, what does the firm like right now? Well, one sector is on-demand business applications.

In fact, this week the firm led a $15 million investment in Intacct, which operates a web-based ERP system. In all, the firm has raised $29 million in the past nine months.

"We focus on small and mid size companies," said Marc Linden, Intacct's CFO, in an interview with me. "It's for those businesses that are graduating from Intuit's (NASDAQ: INTU) QuickBooks. And we estimate the market size at $7 billion."

No doubt, there are some tough competitors, such as NetSuite (NYSE: N). But with such a large market size, there should be room for a variety of players.

And what about the slowing economy? According to Linden, there is "no effect yet." Then again, by using an on-demand model, customers may be looking to Intacct to cut costs.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook (www.mergerbook.com).

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The ARS market has thrust its poisoned tentacles in another direction. After raising interest costs for issuers and wiping out the formerly "safe" cash holdings of individual investors, the Wall Street Journal reports that frozen ARS accounts have hit tech companies as well.

Specifically, the Journal lists $855.7 million worth of ARS holding on the books of these five tech companies, listed as follows:

• Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST): $357 mm
• Intuit, Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU): $328 mm
• Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM): $74.7 mm
• Earthlink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK): $60 mm
• MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCS): $36 mm

These companies and others will probably need to write down the value of these securities unless the ARS market unfreezes. If there is an industry that's unscathed by this problem, I'd like to know. But for those who've invested in companies whose cash is frozen in these ARS accounts, there are many restless nights ahead.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Canaccord Adams expects Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) growth to be driven by its expanding international reach, mix shift to third-party revenue, product innovation, and category expansion. The firm initiated shares with a Buy rating and $78 target.
  
• UBS is positive on Altria's (NYSE: MO) growth, low likelihood of downward EPS revisions, and best-in-class cash flow distribution; shares were started with a Buy rating.
  
• Skilled Healthcare (NYSE: SKH) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Morgan Keegan, as they believe nursing home reimbursement risk is already reflected in its valuation.

• KeyBank assumed Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) with a Buy rating and $19 target.
  
• Credit Suisse initiated Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) with an Outperform rating and $35 target.
  
• Broadpoint initiated Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) with a Buy rating.

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The personal finance software space is certainly large and lucrative -- especially as seen with Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU)'s Quicken. Yet, the software is not necessarily easy and has tons of features that are likely to be overwhelming.

Well, Mint.com sees this as an opportunity and operates a fairly simple web-based personal finance site that uses some cool Web 2.0 features. In fact, the company has announced that it has raised $12 million in venture capital and the lead investor is Benchmark Capital, which is a tier-1 firm.

On several occasions, I've talked to Mint.com's CEO and founder, Aaron Patzer. He has provided me with a demo of the system -- and it's super easy to use (funny enough, he even gave me a demo of his personal account).

Something else: Mint.com has found ways to analyze your finances to provide cost-savings, such as with credit cards and so on. Actually, in light of the slowing economy, this is definitely attractive. After all, since the site's launch in September 2007, there are now more than 160,000 users. What's more, Mint.com has identified more than $100 million in potential savings.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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Here are a few highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• CEC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: CEC) reported a profit loss and flat revenue for the fourth quarter.
• Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) raised its third-quarter and full-year earnings forecasts.
• Forward Air Corp. (NASDAQ: FWRD) beat earnings estimates and offered guidance.
• General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) raised its 2008 and 2010 earnings forecasts on strong sales.
• Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ) reported better-than-expected earnings and offered bullish guidance.
• Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) second-quarter profits fell and it offered meager guidance.
• JC Penney Inc. (NYSE: JCP) reported a smaller-than-expected profit decline for the fourth quarter.
• Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) third-quarter profit and revenue beat analysts' expectations.
• OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) easily beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations on lower costs.
• TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) fourth-quarter profit beat estimates and helped raise the retail outlook.
• Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) earnings were dragged down by the Wild Oats acquistion.

Also, Douglas McIntyre examines how a slowdown in orders is likely to affect the earnings of Airbus and Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), and Brian White looks at how HP might "do better" for the rest of this year.

Upcoming results to watch for include Lowes Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW), Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO), Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA), and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

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With "tax time" fast approaching, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) is perhaps one of the few that are happy. After all, it sells the dominant tax software product, TurboTax.

Yet, as seen with the fiscal Q2 results, things are not so rosy. Revenue increased 11% to $834.9 million and profit was $115.2 million, or 34 cents per share, down from $145.4 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier.

True, Intuit's tax business remains strong (especially the online sales). However, the company is showing some strains with its QuickBooks line (which is an accounting system for small business).

So, is this because of the slowing economy? Well, according to the conference call, Intuit wasn't sure. For example, the problem could be the result of the timing of marketing expenditures. Or, there may be strains from the credit crunch (such as the difficulties of refinancings and even getting credit lines).

As a result, it should be no surprise that Intuit has provided meager guidance. Basically, the company expects revenue growth of 5% to 7%.

Although, looking for the long haul, Intuit remains optimistic. For example, the company recently purchased Homestead, which provides websites for small businesses. This should be a nice cross sell with other Intuit products. What's more, Intuit's payroll business is still strong.

But, in today's trading, Intuit's shares are getting slammed - down 11% to $26.53.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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