MOST NOTEWORTHY: GFI Group, Wells Fargo and Cirrus Logic were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Goldman downgraded GFI Group Inc (NASDAQ: GFIG) to Neutral from Buy following the company's announcement that credit chief, Donal Fewer, left the company to go to a rival firm and that about two dozen brokers may defect to follow him.
• Oppenheimer cut Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) to Underperform from Perform as they believe the company is under-reserved by at least $4.5B and that there is significant room for multiple contraction.
• Cirrus Logic Inc (NASDAQ: CRUS) was downgraded at Jefferies to Hold from Buy on valuation, as they believe the risk/reward is no longer favorable at current levels.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Baird cut Ryder System Inc (NYSE: R) to Neutral from Outperform.
• Caterpillar Incorporated (NYSE: CAT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia and to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
• Goldman removed Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) from its Conviction Buy List.

Analyst downgrades: GFI Group, Wells Fargo, Cirrus Logic originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they see an "extremely attractive entry point" at current levels. They believe the company's profitable quarter in a tough environment, the Fed's actions to provide liquidity and management's track record all provide downside protection.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded shares of Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ: CRUS) to Overweight from Market Weight as they believe Wolfson Microelectronics' contract bid loss with a major tier-1 customer signals potential share gain for CRUS in the portable media player segment. They raised their target to $8.00 from $5.50 on the news.
  
• Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein as they expect the company to post solid growth going forward.

• UBS raised DaVita (NYSE: DVA) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Goldman added Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) to its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Merrill upgraded US Steel (NYSE: X) to Buy from Neutral.

Analyst upgrades: LEH, CRUS and HNZ originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.