The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 38 points to 12,959.71 (0.29%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 5 points (-0.16%) to 2,983.66, and the S&P 500 rose 0.02% or less than 1 point to 1,371.09.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) cut to ‘neutral’ at Janney Capital; Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) raised to ‘buy’ at Janney Capital; Pepsico Inc. (NYSE: PEP) reiterated as ‘buy’ at Gabelli; KB Home (NYSE: KBH) raised to ‘overweight’ at Barclays; and First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) maintained as ‘hold’ by target price cut to $30 at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Douglas Dynamics Inc. (NYSE: PLOW) is up 1.7% at $13.16; Fuel Cell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) is up 10% at $1.65; NN Inc. (NASDAQ: NNBR) is down -7.2% at $7.83; Velti plc (NASDAQ: VELT) is up 24.6% at $12.24; Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTH) is up 2.4% at $8.41; Oil-Dri Corporation of America (NYSE: ODC) is up 1.6% at $20.25; and Middleby Corp. (NASDAQ: MIDD) is up 5% at $98.21 after posting a new 52-week high today of $101.72.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Tudou Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: TUDO) is up 155% at $39.26 after posting a new 52-week high of $42.81. The Chinese online video company is merging with competitor Youku Inc. (NYSE: YOKU). More coverage here.

Pacific Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ: PCBC) is up 57% at $45.03 after posting a new 52-week high of $45.45 earlier this morning. The bank holding company is being acquired by Union Bank for $1.5 billion ($46/share).

Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ANTH) is down more than -45% at $3.51 after posting a new 52-week low of $3.08 earlier this morning. The drug company has unexpectedly cancelled a heart drug trial because the drug does not work.

Tranzyme Inc. (NASDAQ: TZYM) is down nearly -42% at $2.98 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.68 earlier. The company’s bowel drug failed a phase III drug trial.

Clean Diesel Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CDTI) is up about 64% at $5.09. The biofuel maker reported a net profit for the fourth quarter, where a net loss was expected.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:30 a.m. – National Federation of Independent Businesses small business confidence index
• 8:30 a.m. – Retail sales
• 10:00 a.m. – Business inventories
• 11:30 a.m. – 4-week Treasury bill auction
• 1:00 p.m. – 10-year Treasury note auction
• 2:15 p.m. – Federal Reserve FOMC meeting announcement

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Paul Ausick

This week, I’m focusing on one of my favorite valuation metrics for determining a company’s under or overvaluation.

Let’s first start with a definition.

The Price to Sales ratio is simply: Price divided by Sales.

If the Price to Sales ratio is 1, then you’re paying $1 for every $1 of sales the company makes.

A price to sales ratio of 2 means you’re paying $2 for every $1 of sales the company makes.

As you might have guessed, the lower the Price the Sales ratio, the better.

A price to Sales ratio of .5 means you’re paying 50 cents for every $1 of sales the company makes.

And paying less than a dollar for a dollar’s worth of something is a good bargain.

One of the reasons why I like the Price to Sales ratio is because it looks at sales rather than earnings like the P/E ratio does.

Sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement than earnings.

Secondly, I’d be hard pressed to find a screen where adding the Price to Sales ratio didn’t improve it.

For me, I prefer to look for stocks with a Price to Sales ratio under 1. Although, I’m willing to go up to 4, depending on the industry. But I’ve found that the best way to use it is to find stocks with a Price to Sales ratio below the median for its Industry.

And that’s what we’ll be focusing on in this week’s screen.

Let’s first start with:

* Projected Growth Rate greater than or equal to Projected Growth Rate for the S&P
(Above market growth rates.)

* Last Earnings Surprise greater than 0
(Positive EPS Surprise)

* Last Sales Surprise greater than 0
(Positive Sales Surprise)

* Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2
(Only stocks with a Zacks Rank of a Strong Buy or Buy get through.)

* Price to Sales less than or equal to Median Price to Sales for its Industry
(Valuations that are lower than their Industry.)

* Price greater than or equal to $5

* Avg. 20 Day Volume greater than or equal to 100,000

Here are 5 stocks from this week’s list (for Tues., 3/22/11):

CACI – CACI International Inc.
LECO – Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.
MLI – Mueller Industries, Inc.
NNBR – NN, Inc.
TRN – Trinity Industries, Inc.

Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start using this screen and the Price to Sales ratio in your own trading. Or create your own strategies and test them before you invest. Know what to buy and when to sell.

Sign up now for your 2 week free trial to the Research Wizard.

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.