MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded the European Banks sector to Neutral from Underweight on valuation as they see limited downside from current levels. Included in the firm's top picks are HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) and Banco Santander SA (NYSE: STD).
• Credit Suisse upgraded the Paper and Forest Products sector to Overweight from Underweight citing valuations and expectations that fundamentals will bottom this fall. The firm raised shares of Temple-Inland Inc (NYSE: TIN) and Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (NASDAQ: SSCC) to Outperform from Neutral.
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Kindred Healthcare Inc (NYSE: KND) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent pullback and believes the company is well-positioned to beat modest expectations over the remainder of the year. The firm raised their target to $36 from $29.
• Oppenheimer raised Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) to Outperform from Perform on valuation, as they believe investors should look at the company's business lines separately. Their sum of parts valuation yields an $18 target.

• Suncor Energy Inc (NYSE: SU) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan and to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings.
• UBS upgraded BT Group Plc (NYSE: BT) to Neutral from Sell.
• Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper.

Analyst upgrades: European Banks, Paper and Forest Products sectors, BRCM, KND and CVG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Morgan Stanley assumed coverage of Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) with an Overweight rating, Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) with an Equal Weight rating and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) with an Underweight rating.
• Voltaire Ltd (NASDAQ: VOLT) was started with a Buy rating and $29 target at Goldman Sachs, with a Neutral rating at JP Morgan, with an Overweight rating and $12 target at Thomas Weisel and with an Outperform rating and $15 target at RBC Capital. Thomas Weisel said the market gives Voltaire very little credit for its strong position in the rapidly growing Infiniband switch market and RBC Capital believes the stock has impressive growth and gross margin momentum.
  
• Perfect World Co Ltd (NASDAQ: PWRD) was initiated with a Positive rating at Susquehanna, as the firm is positive on its growth potential in the online gaming industry in China.
• Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: ASPV) was initiated with a Sector Perform at RBC Capital, as the firm believes the current valuation is not attractive, and recommends $17 as an attractive entry point. The firm set a target of $22 on the shares.

• Drugstore.com Inc (NASDAQ: DSCM) was started with a Market Perform rating at JMP Securities.
• Wachovia started shares of BladeLogic Inc (NASDAQ: BLOG) with an Outperform rating and $17 target. The stock was also initiated at Morgan Stanley with an Equal Weight rating and at Citigroup with a Hold rating and $27.50 target.
• Lehman initiated Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc (NYSE: SPR) with an Overweight rating and $43 target.
• Goldman Sachs started shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc (NYSE: MMC) with a Sell rating and $25 target.

Analyst initiations 9-4-07: VOLT, PWRD and ASPV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.