Analyst upgrades:

• Roth Capital upgraded MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $90 from $70, citing encouraging Q2 results, new product cycle catalysts, a lift from Europe, and cost reductions.
• William Blair upgraded Costco (NASDAQ: COST) to Outperform from Market Perform after meeting with management as it believes sales and earnings could beat expectations over the next year.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $29 from $23. The firm cites higher Samsung capex forecast, high leverage, and low expectations.
• Home Properties (NYSE: HME) and Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at FBC Capital, while Douglas Emmett (NYSE: DEI) and Duke Realty (NYSE: DRE) were raised to Market Perform from Underperform.
• Agilent (NYSE: A) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Cytec Industries (NYSE: CYT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc.

With the U.S. economic landscape remaining uncertain, it's prudent to add a defensive stock or two to your portfolio, and with the aforementioned in mind Alliant Techsystems is worth an evaluation.

Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) is an ammunition supplier and rocket engine / motor manufacturer with substantial United States Government contracts.

Analysts like Alliant's strong fundamentals, solid U.S. Department of Defense orders for ammunition, equally impressive launch systems work from NASA, and sporting ammunition business.

Analysts also believe ATK is well-positioned to capture a portion of the U.S. DOD's work for next-generation weapon systems.

Meanwhile, margins should improve slightly in F2008 to 11%, and costs, while not low, are reasonable. The Reuters F2008/F2009 EPS consensus estimates for ATK are $6.39/$7.38.

The risks? An early withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq would lower ATK's revenue for F2009-F2010. Analysts are also keeping an eye on the company's productivity per man hour.

The First Call mean rating for ATK is: Buy. [12 firms.] Mean 2008 target: $128. [high: $136, low: $120.]

Stock Analysis: Alliant Techsystems is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for low-risk investors. Investors with an investment horizon longer than 2 years should be rewarded from ATK's shares. Sell / Stop Loss if you were to purchase shares in this company: $68.

Disclosure: Lazzaro has no positions in stocks. In addition to private real estate holdings, he owns corporate and municipal bonds, and cash certificates of deposit.

MOST NOTEWORTHY UPGRADES:

• There were no notable upgrades today.

MOST NOTEWORTHY DOWNGRADES:

• Bear Stearns downgraded MSC Industrial (NYSE:MSM) shares to Peer Perform from Outperform following yesterday's durable goods data as they believe the U.S. maintenance, repair and overhaul market could modestly slow in the near-term.
  
• Citigroup downgraded shares of Golden Telecom (NASDAQ:GLDN) to Hold from Buy and lowered their target to $105, equal to the takeout offer from VimpelCom.
• Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE:CBI) was downgraded to Neutral from Add at Capital One Southcoast.

MOST NOTEWORTHY INITIATIONS:

• Lehman Brothers initiated El Paso Pipeline (NYSE:EPB) with an Overweight.
  
• Alliant Techsystems NYSE:ATK) was initiated with a Neutral at Cowen, which said expectations for ATK are high.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Eaton Vance (EV), Dover Downs (DDE), Meruelo Maddux (MMPI) and Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Merrill downgraded shares of Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV) to Sell from Neutral on expectations net flows will slow and pressure shares due to bank loan outflows and closed-end fund sales.

• Keybanc downgraded Dover Downs (NYSE: DDE) to Hold from Buy due to expectations of significant movement in the Maryland state legislature regarding the issue of slot machine legalization, which could pressure shares.

• Meruelo Maddux (NASDAQ: MMPI) was cut to Sell from Neutral at UBS based on tightening credit markets.

• Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Fifth Third (NASDAQ: FITB) to Underperform from Market Perform on this morning's acquisition of First Charter Corp...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Alliant Techsys (NASDAQ: ATK) was cut to Market Weight from Overweight at Thomas Weisel.

• National Semi (NYSE: NSM) was removed from Goldman's Favorites Value List.

• Matrix downgraded Woodward Governor (NASDAQ: WGOV) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

David Fried specializes in finding fundamentally strong companies that are also buying back their shares. A recent buy in his The Buyback Letter is defense contractor, Alliant TechSystems (NYSE: ATK)

He explains, "Alliant is a $3.9 billion advanced weapon and space systems company employing some 16,500 people in 21 states. It supplies aerospace and defense products to the U.S. government, allied nations, and prime contractors in the U.S."

Alliant, he notes, recently received a $62.5 million contract from Orbital Sciences Corporation for the main abort motor of the NASA Orion crew exploration vehicle Launch Abort System (LAS).

In addition, he points out that NASA's Orion will succeed the Space Shuttle in transporting humans to and from the International Space Station, as well as carrying crews to the Moon and eventually Mars. In late June, Fried adds, ATK received a contract worth more than $5 million to make rocket motors for the Sidewinder air-to-air missile system.

On tonight's MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer said that he thinks defense and aerospace is becoming the seventh bull market and that we spend more than anyone else by far on defense. He feels the Democrats would spend a lot on defense to look strong. Cramer chose Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) last week as a pick, and he really likes Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) because it is the most leveraged name to defense spending, and because it is the cheapest -- according to his growth rate over P/E analysis. He likes its growth, debt retiring, and share buybacks. The first play is Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) as the largest bullet manufacturer and is big into projectiles of all sorts. Alliant reports Thursday, so Cramer noted to only put on a half position so you don't have the earnings exposure as bad.

Alliant Techsystems has been one of my favorite plays in the sector for longer than I can recall. I even had it as a takeover candidate for a BAIT SHOP stock play, meaning it's potential takeover bait. The largest bullet manufacturer angle makes the company quite predictable, and its propulsion systems for space rockets and weapons systems gives it steady juice. But the secret and test propulsion business could be worth an unbelievable amount. Type in X-43A on a web search or go check it out on Space.com and see what comes up. That's theirs, and the future value for this technology could be astronomical.

Jon Ogg is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Jim Cramer was on the floor of the NYSE this morning and appeared on CNBC to discuss potential tax increases if there really were a democratic house and senate. Cramer said the tax hikes against oil combined with the potential reduced cuts in spending and the cuts in Big Pharma drug prices could act as a price-to-earnings multiple reduction on almost everything. Cramer wondered if all the healthcare groups that essentially got to write the latest healthcare policies could now hold up under a democratic congress.

This could still be good for homeland defense stocks and biotech stocks. While Cramer was a little solemn, these groups are all the same ones he has been saying were at risk or would do well under the scenario.

That is, Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD), Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ:GENZ) and Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG) may actually benefit from a democratic congress because of AIDS drugs and other humanitarian aid. At the same time, Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) could be at real risk since they wrote Medicare D. Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (NYSE:ATK) could also be at risk because they are the largest bullet manufacturer for the government, and it now depends on what will happen with Iraq.

Cramer thinks that Fannie Mae Mortgage (NYSE:FNM) could go back into favor and he doesn't think homebuilders will do poorly under a democratic congress.

Finally, Cramer also said TECHNOLOGY needs to be bought here for Q4. He noted Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) positively.

I will report occasional updates to Cramer picks this morning.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.