Century Aluminum (CENX) took a dive right out of the gate Wednesday morning, as traders panned the commodity concern's third-quarter results. Tuesday night, CENX confessed to a quarterly loss of $16.8 million, or 18 cents per share, down substantially from its year-ago profit of $40.1 million, or 45 cents per share. Sales for the quarter climbed to $279.2 million, but CENX's bottom line was dented by a $12.2 million mark-to-market loss on forward contracts.

The aluminum issue managed to exceed analysts' consensus revenue forecast of $269.5 million, but the quarterly loss fell well short of Wall Street's prediction for a net profit of 8 cents per share.

Shares of Century Aluminum (CENX) caught a lift Friday morning, as analysts at JPMorgan Chase adjusted their price targets on a number of metals and mining issues. Century's price target was hiked from $9 to $13, representing a premium of 13.2% to the stock's closing price on Thursday.

In the first hour of Friday's session, CENX soared to a gain of 7.8% as traders cheered the upbeat note. Technical support from the stock's 10-week and 20-week moving averages also helped to add some lift; these two trendlines are now on the verge of a bullish cross. A finish above $12 would be a major development for the equity, since this level has capped all of CENX's weekly closes since August.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Consol Energy (NYSE: CNX) to Buy from Hold following the company's lowered guidance as 2009 is fully contracted with a 26% price increase. The firm raised its target to $40 from $38.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to Buy from Hold on valuation as it thinks the sell-off on the company's Q4 miss and cautious guidance is overdone.
  
• Wachovia upgraded Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) to Outperform from Market Perform because the firm thinks the outlook of the company's two main markets is improving. The firm believes the company's valuation is attractive. Thomas Weisel upgraded Boston Scientific to Overweight from Market Weight citing valuation and improving fundamentals.
• Goldman added MasterCard (NYSE: MA) to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• Accuray (NASDAQ: ARAY) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
  
• KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Banc of America/Merrill.

Today was actually a light day on the economic front. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke about keeping the banking system private after word came about the creation of the "BAD BANK" for banks to sell assets into. This was the true catalyst for the market today, and most financial stocks rose as a result. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,375.45 +200.72 (2.46%)
S&P 500 874.09 +28.38 (3.36%)
Nasdaq 1,558.34 +53.44 (3.55%)

Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Analyst Upgrades
Short Sellers Attack Tech Stocks... Yet they rose.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman added McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) to its Conviction Buy List as they believe the company will beat their earnings expectations over the next couple quarters. Note that Burger King (NYSE:BKC) was removed from the list.
  
• Baird upgraded Woodward Govenor (NASDAQ:WGOV) to Outperform from Neutral citing increased confident in its outlook following the better-than-expected Q1 report.
  
• Citigroup upgraded Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) to Hold from Sell and removed shares from their Top Picks Live List as a Sell as they believe current expectations are very low following the recent weakness. Citigroup lowered their target price to $13 from $18.
• Ford (NYSE:F) and Lear (NYSE:LEA) were upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
  
• KT Corp (NYSE:KTC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
  
• Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Collins Stewart and to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Analyst downgrades:

• Goldman removed Burger King (NYSE:BKC) from its Conviction Buy List citing recent share strength. Note that McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) was added to the list.
  
• Keefe Bruyette downgraded shares of Och-Ziff Capital (NYSE:OZM) to Market Perform from Outperform to reflect the company's near-term headwinds. The firm lowered their target to $5 from $6.50.
  
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), Alcoa (NYSE:AA), and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) to Equal Weight from Overweight as they believe industrial metals will be depressed through next year.
• Air France (Other OTC:AFLYY) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
  
• Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) was lowered to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  
• Radware (NASDAQ:RDWR) was cut at Argus to Hold from Buy.

Analyst initiations:

• Merriman initiated Suntech (NYSE:STP) with a Sell rating. The firm is concerned by the company's debt load and narrowing maturity and thinks further cost reduction in China could be a challenge. The firm believes a fair price target range is $3.50-$4.50 per share.
  
• JMP Securities views Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) as a long-term "must buy" given its dominant market position, strong balance sheet, and low valuation. Shares were initiated with an Outperform rating and $400 target.
  
• Auriga started Micron (NYSE:MU) with a Buy rating and $5 target. The firm expects DRAM oversupply to ease in the second half of 2009 and believes Micron will not burn significant cash this year.
• Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) was initiated at Morgan Stanley with an Equal Weight rating and $41 target.
  
• Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB) was initiated with a Buy rating and $80 target at Wunderlich.
  
• Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) was started with a Buy rating and $16 target at Citigroup.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) to Neutral from Sell and said liquidity is no longer a near-term concern. The firm lowered Pacific Sunwear's target to $1.50 from $3. Citigroup upgraded shares to Hold from Sell on valuation following the recent weakness and believes Pacific Sunwear has sufficient liquidity to remain a going concern.
  
• Calyon believes Reliant Energy (NYSE: RRI) will be successful in unwinding the Merrill Lynch Retail credit sleeve and obtaining alternative collateral. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Add.
  
• JP Morgan said Cogent's (NASDAQ: COGT) position in homeland security and the defense markets make it less sensitive to an economic downturn, making valuation attractive. JP Morgan upgraded shares to Overweight from Neutral and raised its target to $13 from $10.50.
• Goldman added Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to its Conviction Buy List and removed Riverbed (NASDAQ: RVBD) from the Conviction Sell List.
  
• J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) was raised to Buy from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The Metals and Mining sector, Lamar Advertising and Rigel Pharmaceuticals were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Banc of America initiated the Metals and Mining sector with an Equal Weight rating and believes investors should take a selective approach to stocks in the group. The firm initiated Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and RTI International Metals (NYSE: RTI) with Buy ratings and a $44 target and $41 target, and started Allegheny Tech (NYSE: ATI), Century Aluminum (NASDAQ: CENX) and Titanium Metals (NYSE: TIE) with Neutral ratings and a $64 target, $58 target and $12 target, respectively.
  
• Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR) was initiated at Caris with an Above Average rating and $40 target. Caris is positive on the company's North American focus and exposure to the aggressive deployment of digital boards.
  
• Stanford believes Rigel Pharma's (NASDAQ: RIGL) lead drug R788 has the potential to be the first oral drug for rheumatoid arthritis and expects clinical news flow and partnerships to serve as catalysts. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $30 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Thomas Weisel assumed Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) with an Overweight rating and $90 target.
  
• International Flavors (NYSE: IFF) was initiated at Lehman with an Underweight rating.
  
• JP Morgan started Ares Capital (NASDAQ: ARCC) with an Underweight rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The energy & petroleum sector, BP PLC, BG Group, Check Point and ValueClick were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• 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.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• 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.