• ING believes BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) will grow through acquisitions and is in a good position relative to peers. Shares were upgraded to Buy from Hold.
  
• KeyBanc upgraded Kaman (NASDAQ: KAMN) to Buy from Hold based on valuation, higher foreign 2009 sales, and exposure to the military helicopter market, among other reasons.
  
• Merck (NYSE: MRK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Banc of Amerca/Merrill on valuation.
• J Crew (JCG) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette.
  
• UBS upgraded Expeditors (NASDAQ: EXPD) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• CVB Financial (NASDAQ: CVBF) was raised to Hold from Sell at Sandler O'Neill.

• Morgan Stanley downgraded Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) to Equal Weight from Overweight and lowered their target to $25 from $26 based on valuation and high Street estimates given lower oil prices and weaker currency.
  
• CIBC downgraded Louisiana Pacific (NYSE: LPX) to Sector Performer from Outperformer. The analyst believes LPX may have to issue equity at these depressed levels given the tight credit markets and ongoing cash losses.
  
• Calyon downgraded Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) to Sell from Underperform and lowered their target to $7 from $8. The firm recommends taking profits in Southwest due to unit cost challenges given slowing growth and its reduced fuel hedging program.
• CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
  
• Keefe Bruyette downgraded shares of Amcore Financial (NASDAQ: AMFI) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Anglo American (NASDAQ: AAUK) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Royal Bank of Scotland.

• Citigroup believes MasterCard (NYSE: MA) is vulnerable to the consumer spending slowdown and expects a more cautious outlook from management when the company reports earnings. Shares were initiated with a Sell rating and $110 target.
  
• Janney Montgomery initiated GameStop (NYSE: GME) with a Buy rating and $34.50 target and expects GameStop to benefit from the secular growth in gaming, potential hardware cuts, international expansion, and 2009 title visibility.
  
• Jefferies assumed Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) with a Hold rating and $13 target and expects shares to be range-bound until the company shows progress on project execution and margin performance.
• Gran Tierra Energy (GTE) was initiated at Wunderlich with a Buy rating.
  
• Coverage of CME Group (AMEX: CME) was resumed with an Underweight rating at JP Morgan.
  
• Shanda (NASDAQ: SNDA) was initiated with a Hold rating and $30 target at Roth Capital.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BHP, MRK, LUV, MA, AAUK ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.