Analyst upgrades:

• Oppenheimer upgraded Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA) to outperform from perform as it finds the stock attractive ahead of FDA's decision on M-enoxaparin. The firm has a $15 price target on the stock.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Symmetry Medical (SMA) to market perform from underperform. The firm cited several factors for the upgrade, including valuation and its belief that Symmetry's customers have begun to deplete their inventories.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Myriad Pharmaceuticals (MYRX) to neutral from underweight after the company announced Phase 2a date for Azixa. The firm has a $5 price target on shares.
• AvalonBay (AVB) and Mid-America Apartment (MAA) were upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• GSI Commerce (GSIC) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• FICO (FICO) was upgraded to equal weight from Underweight at Stephens.

Analyst upgrades:

• Oppenheimer upgraded Gymboree (NASDAQ: GYMB) to Outperform from Perform following the company's Q2 results to reflect valuation and square footage growth from Crazy 8. The firm has a $52 target on the stock.
• KeyBanc upgraded Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) to Buy from Hold on expectations sales and margins will improve in the near-term due to clean inventory levels. The firm recommends a pair trade of long Lululemon, short Under Armour (NYSE: UA).
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Allied Capital (NYSE: ALD) to Market Perform from Underperform following the company's Q2 results and raised its target on shares to $3.50 from $1.
• Jack in the Box (NASDAQ: JACK) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• LogMeln (NASDAQ: LOGM) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Barclays (NYSE: BCS) was reinstated with an Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that this problem will be dealt with without the bloodshed that so many anticipate.

After speaking with Gerard Sweeney, the CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) (Cramer's Take), a classic commercial real estate operator of office buildings, it is more clear to me than ever that the woes of commercial real estate are directly related to when a property was bought not what it is. In other words, if you bought an office building between 2005 and 2007, you are probably going to default. But if you didn't, and you just own a lot of buildings at decent prices, you are probably just going to make less money than you would have otherwise, as you are losing a tenant here and a tenant there, and it's crimping business.

Plus, according to Sweeney, it has gotten better, not worse, in the last few months, with prospective tenants actually kicking the tires, something that didn't happen for a year. Most important, in his key markets of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, business is up nicely year over year. No wonder if you participated in his recent underwriting, you caught almost a double.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says in the wake of an upgrade, FCX has to do a big equity offering.

What will Richard Adkerson do? I can tell you what the CEO of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take) ought to do in the wake of the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgrade to buy from sell. He ought to do the biggest darned equity offering in history.

I like Richard. He's candid, he's a great copper man, but he spent too much at the high on Phelps Dodge and wasn't prepared when copper prices plummeted as his balance sheet's simply not so hot. So he had to cut his dividend at the bottom, literally at the exact bottom.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to Hold from Underperform on valuation. The stock has gone down 40% since they initiated coverage on September 19. The firm maintains a $29 target.
  
• Citigroup upgraded EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG), Quicksilver (NYSE: KWK) and Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN) to Buy from Hold on their belief U.S. natural gas-focused E&P companies have near-term upside.
  
• Barclays upgraded Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) to Equal Weight from Underweight citing the $425M private equity investment, which reduces liquidity risk, and its reduced cost structure.
• Brandywine Realty (NYSE: BDN) and AvalonBay (NYSE: AVB) were upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
  
• tw telecom (NASDAQ: TWTC) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
  
• AmeriCredit (NYSE: ACF) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Friedman Billings.

Analyst downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded Macquarie Infrastructure (NYSE: MIC) to Hold from Buy to reflect the company's sensitivity to the economic slowdown and funding risk. The firm lowered their target to $9 from $40 after the company announced a dividend reduction.
  
• Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was cut to Sell from Neutral at UBS due to the company's exposure to potential generic competition and a lack of new products.
  
• Friedman Billings downgraded Cleveland Cliffs (NYSE: CLF) to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered their target to $42 from $50 to reflect the risk of further production cuts.
• Credit Suisse lowered Acme Packet (NASDAQ: APKT) to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Delta Petroleum (NASDAQ: DPTR) was downgraded at Deutsche Bank to Sell from Hold.
  
• Siemens (NYSE: SI) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at UBS.

Analyst initiations:

• Goldman initiated Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) with a Buy rating and $27 target as they believe it is making progress in becoming a mid-sized specialty biopharmaceutical company. The firm expects the company to be active in M&A and to spin-off or divest its slow-growth or fast-growing assets, such as virology and oncology.
  
• Goldman believes Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) needs a "radical transformation" and restructuring that includes a break up, spin and merger in order to outperform over the next several years. Shares were assumed with a Sell rating and $19 target.
  
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $65 target at Banc of America. The firm prefers to be on the sidelines given uncertainties surrounding 2009 revenue growth and the potential for negative rhetoric out of Washington on pharma costs.
• Acorda (NASDAQ: ACOR) was started at RBC Capital with an Outperform rating and $30 target.
  
• Cavium Networks (NASDAQ: CAVM) and NetLogic (NASDAQ: NETL) were initiated with Neutral ratings at Cowen.
  
• Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) was assumed with a Buy rating and $61 target at Piper Jaffray.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: National Financial Partners, Blackbaud and Trans World were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of National Financial Partners (NYSE:NFP) to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they believe the recent weakness is overdone. Citigroup also added the stock to their Top Picks Live list.
  
• Jefferies upgraded shares of Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) to Hold from Underperform on valuation, as they believe management did the right thing by lowering guidance while buying back stock more aggressively.
  
• B. Riley lifted Trans World (NASDAQ:TWMC) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the company could ultimately go private should credit conditions improve

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Keefe Bruyette raised Anworth Mortgage (NYSE:ANH) to Outperform from Market Perform.
  
• Unit Corp (NYSE:UNT) was upgraded at Raymond James to Outperform from Market Perform.
  
• RBC Capital upgraded Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE:BDN) to Sector Perform from Underperform.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Akzo Nobel, SureWest Communications and the cable sector were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Akzo Nobel (OTC: AKZOY) to Buy from Hold as they believe the company's growth and restructuring potential are being undervalued by the market.
• Jefferies raised its rating on SureWest Communications (NASDAQ: SURW) with to Buy from Hold. The firm believes the company's fiber network and strong cash position make it an attractive M&A target.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded the cable sector to Attractive from Cautious, also upgrading Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) to Overweight from Equal Weight.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Lehman upgraded Comstock Resources (NYSE: CRK) to Equal Weight from Underweight and PDL BioPharma (NASDAQ: PDLI) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
• Cowen upgraded Genentech (NYSE: DNA) to Outperform from Neutral.
• Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Merrill Lynch.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Walgreen, CBS Corp, SL Green Realty, Brandywine Realty Trust and Navteq were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill and to Market Perform from Outperform following its weak Q4 report. Merrill sees limited upside following the worse-than-expected quarter.
  
• CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank to reflect the company's soft rating trends and poor local advertising growth.
  
• Banc of America downgraded shares of SL Green Realty (NYSE: SLG) and Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) to Neutral from Buy. The firm downgraded shares of SL Green to reflect their more cautious stance on the office sector and believes uncertainty over cap rates will limit share upside, and downgraded shares of Brandywine to reflect a lack of near-term catalysts and their more cautious stance on the office sector.
  
• Navteq Corporation (NYSE: NVT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS and to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities following its acquisition by Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK).

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman Sachs removed Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• The firm downgraded Air Products & Chemicals (NYSE: APD) to Neutral from Buy and Valspar Corporation (NYSE: VAL) to Sell from Neutral.
  
• CIBC downgraded Axcan Pharma (NASDAQ: AXCA) to Sector Performer from Sector Outperformer.
  
• Humana Inc (NYSE: HUM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Countrywide Financial (CFC), Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN), Manhattan Associates (MANH), Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI) and Amazon.com (AMZN) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation.

• Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) was upgraded at Wachovia to Market Perform from Underperform based on pipeline progress and valuation.

• JP Morgan upgraded Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH) to Neutral from Underweight following better-than-expected Q2 results.

• Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SPPI) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Brean Murry, expecting shares to remain stable into the spected Phase III initiation with Ozarelix coming in Q4.

• Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) was upgraded by a host of companies following the strong quarter and margin growth, including JP Morgan, which upgraded shares to Neutral from Underperform. Bear Stearns upgraded shares to Peer Perform from Underperform, Lehman upgraded shares to Equal Weight from Underweight and Credit Suisse upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Merrill upgraded United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) to Buy from Neutral.

• Goldman added AT&T (NYSE: T) to its Conviction Buy List.

• Raymond James raised Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) to Strong Buy from Outperform.

• Kaufman upgraded Plantronics (NYSE: PLT) to Hold from Sell.

• Matrix USA upgraded Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) to Hold from Sell.

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