Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI) designs and produces indoor and outdoor lighting equipment for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure and residential applications. Products are sold under such brand names as Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Gotham, Carandini and American Electric Lighting to retail home improvement centers, electric utilities, municipalities, lighting showrooms and contractors. The firm employs approximately 7,000 associates and has operations in North America, Europe and Asia.

The company pleased investors last week, when it reported Q2 EPS of 82 cents and revenues of $482.6 million. Analysts had been expecting 68 cents and $470.2 million. Management attributed success to new products, more favorable pricing and improved productivity.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: BAE Systems, VASCO Data Security, Salesforce.com, Tempur Pedic and Fidelity National were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Goldman added BAE Systems (OTC: BAESY) to its Conviction Buy List, as they believe the company's defensive growth characteristics will lead to outperformance.
• Jefferies upgraded shares of VASCO Data Security International Inc (NASDAQ: VDSI) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent sell-off in the stock.
• Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Piper to reflect the company's strong cash flow generation and the firm's belief that CRM is a core holding in the enterprise application market.
• Citigroup upgraded shares of Tempur Pedic International Inc (NYSE: TPX) to Buy from Hold, as they believe double-digit sales growth and margin expansion will drive 25% EPS growth over the next few years.
• SunTrust raised its rating on Fidelity National Information Services Inc (NYSE: FIS) to Buy from Neutral on valuation.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• JP Morgan raised its rating on Mattel Inc (NYSE: MAT) to Overweight from Neutral.
• Broadpoint upgraded Pacific Ethanol Inc (NASDAQ: PEIX) to Underperform from Sell.
• Merrill upgraded Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) to Buy from Neutral.
• CIBC upgraded Acuity Brands Inc (NYSE: AYI) to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer.