Analyst calls: SAI, KLAC, QCOM, MRVL, UL, CMG, HPQ, AAPL, DELL ...

Analyst upgrades:

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Shanda Interactive (NASDAQ: SNDA) to Outperform from Perform following the company's better-than-expected quarter to reflect its growth acceleration in the casual games platform and margin improvements.
SAIC (NYSE: SAI) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform following the solid Q2 report and guidance.
Susquehanna upgraded Zumiez (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) to Positive from Neutral citing positive August comps, revised merchandising, easier comps, and solid financial position.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Pharm Product Development (NASDAQ: PPDI) and Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) to Buy from Neutral.
Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst downgrades:

Morgan Stanley downgraded the Semiconductor Capital Equipment sector to In-Line from Attractive citing optimistic expectations for Q4 orders following the recent bounce in stocks. The firm downgraded Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) to Underweight from Overweight and KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) KLAC to Equal Weight from Overweight.

Forest Labs (NYSE: FRX) was cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS citing disappointing Aclidinium data.
Goldman removed Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) from the Conviction Buy List.
Lehman downgraded Unilever (NYSE: UL, UN) to Underweight from Equal Weight.
Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) was lowered to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst initiations:

William Blair initiated Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) with a Market Perform rating. The firm believes slowing comps could pressure the stock's multiple and put risk on 2009 estimates.
Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS) was assumed with a Buy rating and $82 target at Banc of America. The firm believes earnings growth may accelerate into 2009 with easier comps.
Calyon initiated the IT Hardware Sector & Storage sectors. Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) was initiated with a Buy rating and $60 target, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was assumed with an Add rating and $19 target, and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $23 target.