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Sunny skies are here for Ausra, the solar thermal company backed by Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures. The company is looking for a buyer, and it's already talking to three, according to a report by Reuters. Everything is up for grabs, from a majority stake in the company to 100% of it, and the back-and-forth going on is at a "very aggressive level."

The businesses looking to pick up Ausra are said to be global power generation conglomerates but haven't been named yet. So, the clean energy company would be a way for one of them to diversify.

Apple just bailed on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, citing the business organization's view on climate change. The Chamber of Commerce doesn't accept the notion that people are the force behind global warming and has called for public hearings to question the evidence that many accept. But, this has led several companies to leave the group, with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) only the latest.

The technology company stated through Catherine Novelli, a vice president of government affairs, that it would "prefer that the chamber take a more progressive stance on this critical issue and play a constructive role in addressing the climate crisis." Apple resigned its membership "effective immediately."

Analyst upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) to Neutral from Underweight based on lower input costs, stabilization in home, lower markdown dollars, and valuation.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) to Perform from Underperform as it believes Novellus' market share has stabilized and that the company is a potential acquisition target. The firm raised its price target to $20 from $9.
• Bernstein upgraded ConAgra (NYSE: CAG) to Market Perform from Underperform citing strength in grains and moderating input costs.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• China Housing (NASDAQ: CHLN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital.

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LRY) to Hold from Sell to reflect the company's capital raises and progress on leasing over the past quarter. The firm raised their target price to $21 from $16.
  
• UBS upgraded shares of Lonmin (Other OTC:LNMIY) to Neutral from Sell as they believe Xstrata may make an offer for the company.
  
• Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded RadiSys (NASDAQ:RSYS) to Buy from Hold after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results and provided Q1 guidance which the firm believes indicates that fiscal 2009 results will be better than expected. The firm set a target of $8.50.
• Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) and PG & E (NYSE:PCG) were raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
  
• Techne (NASDAQ:TECH) was upgraded at Baird to Outperform from Neutral.

• UBS upgraded Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) to neutral from sell and placed a short-term buy rating on shares based on the new Palm Pre. The firm raised its target to $6.50 from $1.35.
  
• UBS upgraded Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $7.50 from $5.75 based on its improved view of the company's credit risk.
• Canaccord upgraded Elan PLC (NYSE: ELN) to Buy from Sell and raised its target to $10.87 from $6.90, citing Tysabri potential.
• Brandywine Realty (NYSE: BDN) and Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) were upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
• Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) and L-3 Comm (NYSE: LLL) were raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is an energy-based holding company, serving some 15 million northern and central California residents through subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The firm owns and operates electricity generation facilities, over 150,000 miles of electric lines, nearly 50,000 miles of natural gas pipelines, and underground natural gas storage fields. Competitors include American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and Edison International (NYSE: EIX).

Investors were pleased last week, when PG&E said it expected FY08 EPS of $2.90-$3.00 and FY09 EPS of $3.15-$3.25. Analysts had been expecting $2.96 this year and $3.19 next year.

The more questions you have these days about the investment world, and the more concerned you are about economy over the next few years, the more you should have some of your assets in electric utilities. Regardless if our nation makes a push toward nuclear, solar, or wind power or does nothing at all, electric utilities will remain the big players. Year in and year out they have a stable customer base, pay a higher dividend yield and have a much higher level of predictability than almost any other investment class.

Another factor that is likely to contribute to the growth of electric utilities is the push toward electric "plug-in" cars. I have not done any analysis as to how this will affect global warming, the price of gas, the quality of air, or total national energy consumption, but those issues aside, if we change even 25% of the nation's automobiles to all-electric over the next ten years, that is a lot of growth.

Historically, the Dow Jones Utilities Average has beaten the pants off the Dow Jones Industrial Average for total return. There are short periods of time when the Industrials jump past the Utilities, but over the long haul, investors have done much better with what seems like the less attention-grabbing, boring old utilities. Choosing boring stocks remind you of anyone? Yes, "My Pal Warren" has been buying these boring stocks over the last decade (adding to his others in chocolate, underwear, ice cream and insurance) and you can see the results in the five-year chart comparing the two Dow indices.