• Bernstein upgraded Talisman Energy Inc (NYSE: TLM) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation and potential exploration success in Vietnam and raised Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC), Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN) and EOG Resources Inc (NYSE: EOG) to Market Perform from Underperform on improving gas fundamentals.
• Bernstein also upgraded shares of BP PLC (NYSE: BP) and BG Group (NYSE: BRG) to Outperform from Market Perform.
• Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ: CHKP) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings, citing checks that indicate a strong product cycle for the company's beefed up VPN/firewall product portfolio.
• ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) was upgraded at Citigroup to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they believe the recent correction provides a compelling entry point.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA), Alumina Ltd (NYSE: AWC) and Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) to Buy from Neutral and shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: PCU) to Neutral from Sell.
• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Tempur Pedic International (NYSE: TPX) to Overweight from Neutral.
  
• Infineon Technologies (NYSE: IFX) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Analyst upgrades 9-5-07: BP, BRG, CHKP and VCLK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Citigroup cut Statoil (NYSE: STO), BG Group (NYSE: BRG) and Repsol SA (NYSE: REP) to Sell from Hold due to valuation and the difficult operating environment.

• Matrix USA downgraded Flow International (NASDAQ: FLOW) to Strong Sell from Hold, citing weak demand from Asian customers that led to slowing sales growth.

• Bernstein downgraded the refining sector to Underperform and refiners Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) to Underperform from Market Perform...

• Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP) was cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse; RBC Capital downgraded CP shares to Sector Perform from Outperform.

• Goldman downgraded Taiwan Semi (NYSE: TSM) to Neutral from Buy.

• Buckingham lowered Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) to Accumulate from Buy.

• Credit Suisse downgraded Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) to Neutral from Outperform.

Analyst downgrades 7-19-07: CAH, JCI, SUN, TSM and VLO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• UBS downgraded shares of Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) to Reduce from Neutral and lowered their target to $70 from $78 to reflect decelerating revenues in the company's core businesses, global capacity additions in construction machinery, competitive concerns and valuation.

• Soleil downgraded Movie Gallery (NASDAQ: MOVI) to Sell from Hold following comments after yesterday's close about missing certain debt covenants.

• Suntrust downgraded shares of Cache (NASDAQ: CACH) to Neutral from Buy citing the company's attempt to reconstruct itself in a difficult economic period with tough comps and in a waning trend cycle.

• Manor Care (NYSE: HCR) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia, citing the acquisition by the Carlyle Group. Soleil cut Manor Care to Hold from Buy on the news...

• UBS downgraded BG Group (NYSE: BRG) to Neutral from Buy.

• Roth downgraded MRV Communications (NASDAQ: MRVC) to Hold from Buy.

• Matrix lowered Brown-Forman (NYSE: BF.B) to Hold from Buy.

• JP Morgan cut Liberty International (OTC: LBYIY) to Neutral from Overweight.

Analyst downgrades 7-03-07: CACH, CAT, HCR and MOVI originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan as the firm believes the company has addressed weakness in display advertising with recent partnership announcements and the acquisition of Right Media. Additionally, the firm still sees upside to Panama.
• Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, citing valuation and a favorable risk/reward.
• Merriman upgraded shares of Dress Barn (NASDAQ: DBRN) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the improved sales trends in May and sees the stock trading at the high end of its peer group average or in a range of $25.50-$27.00.

• Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) was upgraded to Buy from Sell at Societe Generale, which also added shares to its Premium List.
• Lehman Brothers upgraded AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB) to Equal Weight from Underweight, as the firm views AVB as a close comp to Archstone-Smith Trust (NYSE: ASN). Lehman also upgraded Post Properties (NYSE: PPS) to Equal Weight from Underweight, citing industry M&A activity, and China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) to Buy from Neutral, citing valuation.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of BG Group plc (NYSE: BRG) to Buy from Hold to reflect expected growth in the company's liquefied natural gas business.
• Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W Baird, which expects improved performance at JBoss and a positive mix shift in the core O/S business following the release of RHEL 5.

Analyst upgrades 5-31-07: Yahoo! upgraded to Overweight originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 31 May 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.