Analyst calls: AIG, RACK, FIG, AAPL, BBBY ,IFX ...

Analyst upgrades:

Merrill upgraded shares of AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to Neutral from Underperform to reflect the company's pipeline momentum and lack of negative catalysts.
Keefe Bruyette upgraded Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation as they believe DB should trade at a higher multiple.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) was raised at HSBC to Overweight from Neutral.
American International (NYSE: AIG) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Analyst downgrades:

Merrill cut Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) to Underperform from Neutral as the firm sees better opportunities elsewhere in the sector.
Merriman downgraded Rackable Systems (NASDAQ: RACK) to Neutral from Buy following the company's mixed Q2 results to reflect its customer concentration and fluctuating margins.
Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS) was downgraded at JP Morgan to Underweight from Neutral.
Fortress (NYSE: FIG) was cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.

Analyst initiations:

UBS believes Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a competitive advantage and their checks indicate new Macs, new iPhone colors and potentially new iPods may come early on in the second half of 2008. The firm initiated shares with a Buy rating and $195 target. UBS also initiated Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) at Neutral.
KeyBanc initiated Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) with an Underweight rating and $25 target based on slowing core growth at Bed Bath and likely margin erosion from the ramp in growth at Christmas Tree Shops and buybuy Baby.
Infineon (NYSE: IFX) was initiated with a Buy rating at Deutsche Bank.