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Stocks: MSFT - DELL - HPQ - SBUX - LXK - AAPL - IBM

By William Trent, CFA of Stock Market Beat

Apple (AAPL) is facing down a patent lawsuit. And sweatshop allegations. And a $100,000 fine. Now we know they are successful. They’re targets. That did not, however, stop Standard and Poors from raising their rating to Strong Buy.

Microsoft (MSFT) gets an Urge. And gives us 10 reasons to upgrade to Vista, which they claim will be the most secure operating system ever. Evah!

1. Enhanced security through improved Group Policy and BitLocker
2. Network Access Protection
3. New Terminal Services capabilities
4. A new networking stack
5. Enhancements to Directory Services
6. New Server Core feature
7. Expanded Unix/Linux support
8. Enhanced performance monitoring
9. An enhanced Internet Information Server (IIS), version 7.0
10. Enhanced management features and new Server Manager tool

Look out! HP’s (HPQ) got a blade! DELL’s fighting back with a sense of urgency.

Lexmark (LXK) is looking to increase market share - in Taiwan.

Maybe Starbucks (SBUX) should get a premium valuation for being a terrorism hedge.

Bank of America finds IBM’s valuation compelling.

http://www.stockmarketbeat.com/