Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: YHOO, EW, BWY, BRO, BNI, FFIV, AOL, CYPB, ATML ...

Analyst Upgrades

Kaufman Bros. upgraded Yahoo! (YHOO) to buy from hold after channel checks indicated display advertising is seeing continued improvement in pricing and demand. The firm finds the risk/reward profile on Yahoo! shares attractive at current levels and raised its price target on the stock to $20 from $19.
Citigroup upgraded Edwards Lifesciences (EW) to buy from hold following the company's investor meeting as it believes new product launches will serve as catalysts in 2010. Citi raised its target on shares to $101 from $72.
Deutsche Bank upgraded BWAY Holding (BWY) to buy from hold following the company's Q4 results and raised its target on shares to $22 from $17.
Clearwire (CLWR) was upgraded to buy from sell at Soleil.
Nokia (NOK) was raised to hold from sell at Societe Generale.
NCR Corp. (NCR) was upgraded at JPMorgan to overweight from neutral.

Analyst Downgrades

JPMorgan downgraded Brown & Brown (BRO) to underweight from neutral after assuming coverage of the stock and lowered its target price on shares to $19 from $22. The firm expects the company's growth to remain under pressure.
Burlington Northern (BNI) was downgraded to neutral from outperform at Baird. The company is being acquired by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A).
William Blair downgraded F5 Networks (FFIV) to market perform from outperform on valuation.
Gildan Activewear (GIL) was cut to hold from buy at TD Newcrest.
Sanderson Farms (SAFM) was lowered at Argus to hold from buy.
Cemig (CIG) was downgraded to neutral from overweight at JPMorgan.

Analyst Initiations

Bernstein started AOL (AOL) with an outperform rating and $31 target. The firm believes AOL's challenges are discounted and valuation is too cheap to ignore.
Roth Capital said Cypress Bioscience (CYPB) is trading at an attractive valuation given its significant cash balance of $3.00 per share, a royalty stream from Savella valued at approximately $4.00 per share, and other assets. Shares were initiated with a buy rating and $7.50 target.
Needham believes that Atmel (ATML) is gaining share in the 8-bit and 32-bit markets, while it has a large growth opportunity in the touch screen market. The firm, which initiated shares with a buy rating, expects the company's margins to expand meaningfully and it set a $5.50 target.
TJX Companies (TJX) and Ross Stores (ROST) were initiated with perform ratings at Oppenheimer.
Blackboard (BBBB) was initiated with a neutral rating and $49 target at JPMorgan.