Analyst upgrades:

• Baird upgraded Nike (NYSE: NKE) to Outperform from Neutral on expectations the company will benefit from the drop in the U.S. dollar and continued solid trends in athletic footwear. The firm raised its target on shares to $69 from $61.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company is well positioned for cyclical turnaround in the Paper/Building Products space. The firm raised its target on shares to $19 from $11.
  
• Goldman upgraded Diageo (NYSE: DEO) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the current valuation and the company's exposure to emerging markets.
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at ING Group.
  
• Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  
• Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX) was upgraded at Oppenheimer to Outperform from Perform.

Analyst upgrades:

• Baird upgraded MSM Industrial (NYSE: MSM) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation and a positive view for Industrial Distributors.
  
• William Blair upgraded Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent pullback and believes Allscripts is well positioned to benefit from public policy that drives adoption of electronic medical records.
  
• Citigroup upgraded Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) to Buy from Hold as they believe the ALJ recommendation in the company's pending electric rate case indicates potential for an improving outlook.
• Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) was upgraded at JP Morgan to Neutral from Underweight.
  
• Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst downgrades:

• Oppenheimer downgraded Bio-Reference Labs (NASDAQ: BRLI) to Perform from Outperform as they believe weaker volumes could pressure top-line growth in the near-term. The firm lowered their target to $25 from $30.
  
• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to Equal Weight from Overweight to reflect market deterioration as they find the risk/reward as balanced at current levels.
  
• JP Morgan cut Nestle (OTC: NSRGY) to Underweight from Neutral on concerns the company's 2009 revenue will miss consensus estimates due to market share losses.
• Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) and Anglo American (NASDAQ: AAUK) were lowered to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Properity Bancshares, MV Oil Trust and Bio-Reference Lab were today's noteworthy initiations:

• B. Riley initiated Prosperity Bancshares (NASDAQ:PRSP) with a Buy rating and $32 target. The firm thinks the company's lower risk profile is supported by its conservative management team and by the relative strength of the Texas economy and housing markets.
  
• Oppenheimer assumed MV Oil Trust (NYSE:MVO) with a Perform rating and believes the company's distribution growth is priced into shares.
  
• Bio-Reference Lab (NASDAQ:BRLI) was initiated with an Outperform rating at William Blair. The firm believes the company is well-positioned to benefit from robust industry growth trends.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Baird initiated Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACOR) with a Neutral rating and $28 target.
  
• Citigroup started Mindray Medical (NYSE:MR) with a Buy rating and $45 target.
  
• Goldman Sachs initiated H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) with a Neutral rating and $20 target.

Looks like we still might have a summer swoon, and if we do, then many of the stocks on your watch list might pop up as buy opportunities. One more stock you might want to add to that list is Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading clinical lab. It operates 2,000 patient services centers where samples are collected, along with about 30 primary labs and 150 rapid response labs throughout the US and in Mexico and the UK.

Investment ideas come from many different avenues. This one came to me because I donated blood this week. Not everyone is eligible to donate and only 5% of that group actually do. Our whole blood supply is supported by very few people. I started thinking about the cost of collecting, maintaining and distributing the blood and how quality control is done. According to the PBS series Red Gold: The Epic Story of Blood: "Currently, the average base price of a unit of RBCs [red blood cells] is in the range of $100-$160, but will increase as more sophisticated testing for transmissible diseases (e.g., HIV and viral hepatitis) are introduced." The news of globe-trotting tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker also brought the the idea of labs and screening to mind.

Quest runs many different tests and screens for many different things. Ironically, now I'm screening the (blood) screener, and it did not take long to discover there was some value here. You can see some of my often repeated criteria; low P/S, fair P/B, pays a dividend (wish it was higher), not much debt, good cash-flow, and ROE is solid and higher than the P/E.

• Price-to-earnings P/E: 17.69 (TTM)
• Price-to-sales P/S: 1.55 (TTM)
• Price-to-book P/B: 3.13 (TTM)
• Price-to-cash-flow P/CF: 9.95 (TTM)
• Return-on-equity ROE: 20.2 (TTM)
• Long Term Debt-to-Equity (MRQ) 0.5
• Dividend Yield 0.82%

Quest has been building shareholder value for quite some time and the stock price is nearing a two year low, and 20%+ below its all time high set last year.