MOST NOTEWORTHY: National Semi, Cintas and J.C. Penney were today's noteworthy upgrades:
- JMP Securities upgraded National Semi (NYSE:NSM) to Outperform from Market Perform citing strong Q2 results, as they expect growth to continue driven by continued success in high-end analog and power management products.
- Baird raised its rating on Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) to Outperform from Market Perform based on analysis that indicates the cyclical inflection point in the sector's stocks is near with U.S. employment growth is likely to bottom within 6-12 months and expectations that the Project One Team initiative is poised to surprise in early 2008.
- Lehman upgraded shares of J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) to Overweight from Equal Weight, as they believe the company is well-positioned to gain market share in the current environment.
OTHER UPGRADES:
- Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
- Goldman raised CA, Inc (CA) to Buy from Neutral.
- Jefferies upgraded SunPower (SPWR) to Buy from Hold.