Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to Outperform from Market Perform due to valuation and the company's better balance sheet following capital raises. The firm raised its target on shares to $16.50.
  
• Merriman upgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ:BCSI) to Buy from Neutral to reflect stabilizing demand and merger synergies from the Packeteer acquisition.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Genomic Health (NASDAQ:GHDX) to Overweight from Market Weight based on valuation, a new colon cancer assay expected in 2010, and upside from new sales hires.
• Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• Great Plains Energy (NYSE:GXP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Ericsson (nASDAQ:ERIC) was upgraded at Societe Generale to Buy from Hold.

Analyst upgrades:

• JMP Securities upgraded Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) to Outperform from Market Perform based on valuation.
  
• Goldman Sachs upgraded Chico's (NYSE: CHS) to Neutral from Sell based on valuation.
• Blue Coat (NASDAQ: BCSI) was raised to Hold from Sell by Brean Murray.

Analyst downgrades:

• UBS dropped Burger King (NYSE: BKC) to Neutral from Buy due to the company's slowing sales trends and commodity pressure.
  
• Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral by Banc of America based on valuation.
  
• Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform by Baird, which cited the company's Q2 results and reduced guidance.

Analyst initiations:

• UBS initiated O'Reilly (NASDAQ: ORLY) with a Buy because they are positive on its recent CSK Auto acquisition and its valuation.
  
• Baird started Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) with an Outperform because they view the recent pullback in the shares as a compelling entry point.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Teva Pharmaceutical, Blue Coat Systems and American International Group were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's greater growth prospects following the acquisition of Barr (NYSE: BRL). The firm raised the target to $56 from $47.
  
• ThinkPanmure upgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) to Buy from Source of Funds based on the company's growth prospects following positive channel checks.
  
• American International Group (NYSE: AIG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Banc of America on valuation, as they find the risk/reward attractive at current levels.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman upgraded the Semiconductor Production Equipment sector to Neutral from Cautious and added Verigy (NASDAQ: VRGY) to its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) and Cintas (NASDAQ: CTAS) to Equal Weight from Underweight.
  
• Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ: ROCK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Piper.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Monogram Biosciences, Interpublic Group and Blue Coat Systems were today's noteworthy initiations:

• JMP Securities said Monogram Biosciences (NASDAQ: MGRM) has a broad platform enabling it to develop multiple personalized medicine product offerings and has significant growth prospects from its HIV diagnostic business and its diagnostic test in oncology. Shares were initiated with an Outperform rating and $3.50 target.
  
• Jefferies assumed Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) with a Buy rating and $11 target. The firm believes the current valuation does not reflect the company's turnaround, which they believe is gaining traction.
  
• Friedman Billings initiated Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) with a Market Perform rating and $18 target. The firm prefers to wait on the sidelines given the near-term headwinds from a difficult spending environment in North America and integration risks from the Packeteer acquisition.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• American Capital (NASDAQ: AGNC) was initiated at Merrill with a Buy rating and at RBC Capital with an Outperform rating and $32 target.
  
• UBS assumed Quality Systems (NASDAQ: QSII) with a Buy rating and $39 target.
• HSBC initiated Daimler AG (NYSE: DAI) with an Overweight rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: AbitibiBowater, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Capital One were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Lehman downgraded AbitibiBowater (NYSE: ABH) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing dilution from the recent $350M convertible offering, cost pressures, and a more cautious outlook near-term for pulp markets.
  
• JP Morgan cut GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to Underweight from Neutral on long-term earnings growth concerns.
  
• Keefe Bruyette lowered Capital One (NYSE: COF) to Underperform from Market Perform to reflect the company's credit outlook.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS and to Underweight from Overweight at JP Morgan.
  
• Textron (NYSE: TXT) was cut at Credit Suisse to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Merriman downgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) to Neutral from Buy.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Greatbatch and Blue Coat Systems were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Piper assumed coverage of Greatbatch (NYSE: GB) with a Neutral rating and $19.50 target as they believe acquisition-related expenses will weigh on near-term bottom-line results.
  
• Collins Stewart believes shares of Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) are highly attractive at current levels. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $29 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Ultra Petroleum (NYSE: UPL) was initiated at Credit Suisse with an Outperform rating and $82 target.
  
• Lehman assumed Dana Holding (NYSE: DAN) with an Overweight rating and $15 target.

Here are some highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Air France-KLM (NYSE: AKH) nearly doubled Q2 profits, and may make offers for some European rivals.
• Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCSI) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) posted strong results and announced approval of a stock split.
• Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) reported a $2 billion loss for the third quarter.
• Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) beat expectations for the eleventh straight quarter.
• Lowe's Cos. (NYSE: LOW) sales and profits declined due to the housing slump.
• Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) easily beat estimates, signaling strength among luxury retailers.
• Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) beat estimates but lowered its Q4 outlook.
• Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) fell short of expectations and announced a share buyback.
• Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) reported weak earnings but raised its dividend.

Douglas McIntyre ponders whether HP's results put pressure on Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) ahead of Dell's impending report, and he also examines Qualcomm Inc.'s (NASDAQ: QCOM) future earnings difficulties.

Upcoming results to watch for include: Dell Inc. and Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCSI), the Web appliance company "working to make the Web safe for business", posted stellar earnings today beating the Street's estimates by $.06 and raised guidance for it's third quarter.

BloggingStock's Georges Yared had a good write-up in August on the company's wide-area-network (WAN) optimization product. Yared has had a good call on this one and indeed, it's the company that keeps on giving with continued stock growth (it's up 200% so far for 2007). Yared has named Blue Coat to his list of "Top 25 Stocks for the Next 25 Years".

In a research piece issued last week, ThinkEquity analysts said that recent checks with US-based retailers suggest sustained growth in Blue Coat's WAN optimization and Web-security appliance in the US and increased sales momentum overseas. "We believe the WAN optimization growth secular trend continues to be strong and Blue Coat's differentiated unified offering continues to drive demand for Blue Coat in the U.S. and increase momentum overseas," said Jonathan Ruykhaver, a ThinkEquity analyst.

Boy, were they right. Net revenue for the second fiscal quarter of 2008 was $73.4 million, an increase of 85% compared to net revenue of $39.7 million for the same quarter last year and an 18% increase compared to net revenue of $62.4 million in the prior quarter.

Things are certainly humming for Blue Coat.

Zack Miller is the Managing Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund. Author holds no positions in the stocks mentioned above.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Banco Santander, Solera, FTI Consulting and Blue Coat Systems were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Societe Generale expects the Banco Santander's (NYSE: STD) strong organic growth in earnings to continue with the purchase of ABN Amro's (NYSE: ABN) assets in Brazil and Italy, starting shares off with a Buy rating. Shares were started at Merrill Lynch with a Neutral rating.
  
• William Blair initiated Solera Holdings (NYSE: SLH) with an Outperform rating, as they believe underlying trends for auto insurance claims are favorable.
  
• FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN) was initiated at Deutsche Bank, as they believe the company is positioned to sustain double-digit growth, and with a Buy rating and $65 target and at Goldman with a Neutral rating and $62 target.
  
• Pacific Crest initiated Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) with a Sector Perform rating on valuation and estimates fair value at $50/share.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• BNP Paribas started shares of China Netcom (NYSE: CN) and China Telecom (NYSE: CHA) with Buy ratings and China Mobile Limited (NYSE: CHL) with a Hold rating.
  
• Cosan Limited (NYSE: CZZ) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Goldman.
  
• Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ: MEOH) was started at HSBC with an Overweight rating.

The development of e-commerce has provided the business community with new and exciting ways to reach the consumer, but there are associated dangers. There is an outfit in Sunnyvale, California that secures Web communications and accelerates business applications across the distributed enterprise.

Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) helps organizations make the Web safe and productive for business. Blue Coat proxy appliances provide control of Web communications to protect against risks and inefficiencies from spyware, Web viruses, inappropriate Web surfing, instant messaging, video streaming and peer-to-peer file sharing. Blue Coat has installed more than 40,000 appliances worldwide. Customers include the National Institutes of Health, Merck (NYSE: MRK) and the US Air Force. Cisco Systems is a (NASDAQ: CSCO) is a major competitor.

In May and June, I wrote a series on what I think could be the top 25 stocks for the NEXT 25 years. It was a fun exercise and a lot of work. Since the series finished in mid-June, we've been knocked down from 25 stocks to 22 stocks: Opsware (NASDAQ: OPSW), Kyphon (NASDAQ: KYPH) and Color Kinetics (NASDAQ: CLRK) are all being acquired for significant premiums by obviously much larger companies.

We have another on our list that, although it's not being acquired, the stock has doubled in value these past 2 1/2 months. Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) was written up on June 8. The stock was trading at $44, but it's now at $84.80. Blue Coat reported an absolutely explosive July quarter. Revenues came in at $62.4 million versus Street consensus of $58 million, representing a 71% year-over-year increase and a 15% up-sequentially from the April quarter.

The wide-area-network (WAN) optimization product set is gaining mainstream momentum. The even better news for Blue Coat Systems is that it is about to embark on an excellent new product cycle. The company saw bookings, pipeline and deferred revenues all go up substantially this past quarter and provide tremendous visibility going forward.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Spectra Energy (SEP), ComScore (SCOR) and Data Domain (DDUP) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Spectra Energy (NYSE: SEP) was initiated with a Buy rating and $32.50 target at Citigroup, with an Overweight rating and $32 target at Lehman Brothers and with an Overweight rating at Wachovia. Citigroup believes SEP provides investors above-average distribution growth driven by stable cash flows with little or no direct exposure to commodity prices. Wachovia is positive on SEP given its multi-year growth profile and high quality assets.

• ComScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) was initiated with an Outperform rating and $28 target at FBRC on valuation. The company was also initiated at Jefferies with a Hold rating and $25 target, citing valuation, although the firm believes the company is well positioned to benefit from the market demand for Web traffic data/analytics. Deutsche Bank initiated shares of ComScore with a Buy rating and $28 target.

• Data Domain (NASDAQ: DDUP) was started at Pacific Crest with an Outperform rating and $30 target and the firm expects growth to exceed 50% annually for at least the next two years.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• ThinkEquity started shares of Altair Nanotechnologies (NASDAQ: ALTI) with a Buy rating and $6 target.

• ThinkEquity transferred coverage of Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) with a Buy rating and raised its target to $63 from $51.

• Stifel started shares of ICT Group (NASDAQ: ICTG) with a Buy rating and $20 target.

• B. Riley started shares of Charles & Colvard (NASDAQ: CTHR) with a Buy rating and $8 target.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Polo Ralph Lauren (RL), Alcan (AL), Alcoa (AA) and Conn's, Inc (CONN) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Piper Jaffray. The firm feels the risk/reward is balanced at current levels given the near-term risks from increased investment and exposure to inconsistent U.S. wholesale markets.

• Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of Alcan (NYSE: AL) and Alcoa (NYSE: AA) with Neutral ratings and a $101 target and $48 target, respectively.

• Morgan Joseph is positive on Conn's Inc's (NASDAQ: CONN) strong track record of growth, new store growth and easy comps, and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $34 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Merriman initiated shares of Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) with a Buy rating.

• Stifel initiated shares of Pharmerica (NASDAQ: PMC) with a Hold rating on valuation.

• Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) and SAVVIS, Inc (NASDAQ: SVVS) were initiated at CIBC World Markets with Sector Performer ratings.

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

The NEXT company in my ongoing series of the Top 25 Stocks for the NEXT 25 Years is Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCSI). This Sunnyvale, California based company has a current market capitalization of $625 million and was founded in 1996 as CacheFlow, Inc. CacheFlow changed its name to Blue Coat Systems in 2002.

Blue Coat Systems makes appliances and client-based solutions that allow organizations the ability to enhance security and accelerate performance for their networks. Its key product set is the ProxySG family of appliances, which improve existing authentication systems right down to the actual user. ProxyAV is an anti-virus appliance that allows enterprises to scan for viruses, spyware, worms and Trojans at the internet gateway level and at the email level. The product is designed to detect these viruses that bypass existing virus-scanning devices.

Access to the internet extends the reach of business into new and exciting channels, but with the privilege come dangers. There is an outfit in Sunnyvale, California that secures web communications and accelerates business applications across the distributed enterprise.

Blue Coat Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:BCSI) helps organizations make Web use safe and productive. Blue Coat proxy appliances provide control of Web communications to protect against risks and inefficiencies from spyware, web viruses, inappropriate web surfing, instant messaging, video streaming and peer-to-peer file sharing. Blue Coat has installed more than 30,000 appliances worldwide and is ranked number one by IDC in the Secure Content and Application Delivery market. Customers include the National Institutes of Health, Merck & Co., Inc.(NYSE:MRK) and the US Air Force.