MOST NOTEWORTHY: SanDisk (SNDK), Lear (LEA) and Sunoco, Inc (SUN) were today's most notable upgrades: - SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) was upgraded at Goldman Sachs to Buy from Neutral because they expect an improved NAND pricing environment.
- Baird upgraded Lear Corp. (NYSE:LEA) to Neutral from Underperform, with a $36 target, following the buyout offer from Carl Icahn's American Real Estate Partners LP for $36 a share.
- Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Sunoco, Inc (NYSE:SUN) to Buy from Hold due to better-than-expected demand as well as rising East Coast margins.
- Merriman upgraded 8x8, Inc (NASDAQ:EGHT) to Buy from Neutral. The firm believes that by focusing on the SOHO VoIP market, 8x8, Inc has formed a solid revenue base from which to grow; the broker also finds shares undervalued.
- Wachovia upgraded shares of Parkway Properties, Inc. (NYSE:PKY) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuations, as opposed to Highwoods Properties (HIW), which was downgraded today.
- Stifel took RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNWK) up to Hold from Sell on valuation.
- Goldman reinstated Catalina Marketing Corp. (NYSE:POS) with a Neutral, up from its previous Sell rating.
- American Technology added Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG) to its Focus List, as the firm believes its recent weakness provides investors with a buying opportunity.
- Matrix US upgraded MapInfo Corp. (NASDAQ:MAPS) to Hold from Sell based on valuation.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).
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