MOST NOTEWORTHY UPGRADES:

• There were no notable upgrades today.

• Bear Stearns downgraded MSC Industrial (NYSE:MSM) shares to Peer Perform from Outperform following yesterday's durable goods data as they believe the U.S. maintenance, repair and overhaul market could modestly slow in the near-term.
  
• Citigroup downgraded shares of Golden Telecom (NASDAQ:GLDN) to Hold from Buy and lowered their target to $105, equal to the takeout offer from VimpelCom.
• Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE:CBI) was downgraded to Neutral from Add at Capital One Southcoast.

• Lehman Brothers initiated El Paso Pipeline (NYSE:EPB) with an Overweight.
  
• Alliant Techsystems NYSE:ATK) was initiated with a Neutral at Cowen, which said expectations for ATK are high.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY UPGRADES:

• Hilliard Lyons upgraded Sypris Solutions (NASDAQ: SYPR) to Buy from Neutral on valuation, and expected improvements in the company's Industrial Group and Electronics Group.
  
• TD Newcrest upgraded Quebecor World (NYSE: IQW) to Hold from Reduce, while UBS upgraded Quilmes Industrial (NYSE: LQU) to Neutral from Sell.

• Respironics Inc. (NASDAQ: RESP) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform by BMO Capital, following the company's acquisition by Philips.
  
• Think Equity downgraded Nanophase Technologies (NASDAQ: NANX) to Accumulate from Buy, citing checks that indicate sales for architectural coatings remain sluggish.
  
• Golden Telecom (NASDAQ: GLDN) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight by Morgan Stanley.
  
• First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE: FHN) was downgraded to Sell from Hold on Friday by Sandler, O'Neill & Partners.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.