Analyst upgrades: European Banks, Paper and Forest Products sectors, BRCM, KND and CVG

MOST NOTEWORTHY: European banks, the Paper and Forest Products sector, Kindred Healthcare and Convergys were today's noteworthy upgrades:

Keefe Bruyette upgraded the European Banks sector to Neutral from Underweight on valuation as they see limited downside from current levels. Included in the firm's top picks are HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) and Banco Santander SA (NYSE: STD).
Credit Suisse upgraded the Paper and Forest Products sector to Overweight from Underweight citing valuations and expectations that fundamentals will bottom this fall. The firm raised shares of Temple-Inland Inc (NYSE: TIN) and Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (NASDAQ: SSCC) to Outperform from Neutral.
Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Kindred Healthcare Inc (NYSE: KND) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent pullback and believes the company is well-positioned to beat modest expectations over the remainder of the year. The firm raised their target to $36 from $29.
Oppenheimer raised Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) to Outperform from Perform on valuation, as they believe investors should look at the company's business lines separately. Their sum of parts valuation yields an $18 target.

OTHER UPGRADES:

Suncor Energy Inc (NYSE: SU) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan and to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings.
UBS upgraded BT Group Plc (NYSE: BT) to Neutral from Sell.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper.

Tags: Banco Santander, BancoSantander, BRCM, Broadcom, BT, BT Group, BtGroup, Convergys, CVG, European banks, EuropeanBanks, HBC, HSBC Holdings, HsbcHoldings, Kindred Healthcare, KindredHealthcare, KND, paper and forest products, PaperAndForestProducts, Smurfit-Stone, SSCC, STD, SU, Suncor, Temple-Inland, TIN