MOST NOTEWORTHY: AbitibiBowater, Zumiez and VeraSun Energy were today's noteworthy upgrades:
- RBC Capital upgraded AbitibiBowater (NYSE:ABH) to Outperform from Sector Perform and said capacity reductions were double what they expected.
- Susquehanna upgraded Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) to Positive from Neutral based on solid underlying business trends.
- Soleil raised its rating on VeraSun Energy (NYSE:VSE) to Hold from Sell, as they are positive on the merger with US BioEnergy (NASDAQ:USBE).
OTHER UPGRADES:
- Goldman upgraded the U.S. steel sector to Attractive from Neutral and upgraded Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) to Buy from Neutral.
- The firm also added Nucor (NYSE:NUE) to its Conviction Buy List.
- Varian Semi (NASDAQ:VSEA) was raised to Overweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.