Analyst Upgrades

• SINA (SINA) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Texas Instruments (TXN), ON Semiconductor (ONNN), Xilinx (XLNX) and Valassis (VCI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Salesforce.com (CRM) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Peet's Coffee (PEET) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Invesco Mortgage (IVR) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• BTU International (BTUI) to buy from hold at Wunderlich.
• Coca-Cola Femsa (KOF) to overweight from neutral at HSBC.
• Chipotle (CMG) to market perform from underperform at Morgan Keegan.

"Getty Realty Corp. (GTY), yielding 6.6%, is the largest publicly traded REIT which owns and leases gas stations and convenience stores," notes income specialist Carla Pasternak.

The editor of High Yield Investing explains, "The REIT has provided strong double-digit average returns of 11% annually over the past decade and a half (almost double the 6% for the S&P 500).

She continues, "It owns about 1,060 properties, mainly in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic state and operates nine petroleum distribution terminals.

Analyst Upgrades

• SunTrust upgraded Lennox (LII) to buy from neutral, given signs of improved residential HVAC equipment and service demand and a bottom in commercial lines. The firm has a $55 price target on the stock.
• Cowen upgraded Universal Display (PANL) to outperform from neutral. The firm expects OLED display growth to accelerate driven by increased handset and other mobile device penetration, followed by high-end TV and lighting applications.
• Canaccord upgraded Amylin (AMLN) to hold from sell following Roche's (RHHBY) delay in its Phase 3 study for taspo, a competitor to Amylin's bydureon. The firm has an $18 target on Amylin shares.
• DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Public Service (PEG) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• QuinStreet (QNST) was upgraded to overweight on valuation at Thomas Weisel.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Priceline.com, Monster and Internap were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Susquehanna downgraded Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) to Neutral from Positive as they believe upside may be difficult given the macro environment, competition, and currency headwinds.
  
• JP Morgan lowered Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) to Neutral from Overweight following the company's expectations for higher 1Q08 operating expenses.
  
• Internap (NASDAQ: INAP) was downgraded by Merriman to Neutral from Buy as they believe upside will be limited until the company can complete its integration of the VitalStream CDN acquisition.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• JP Morgan cut Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) and Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY) was downgraded at WestLB to Add from Buy.
  
• Merrill downgraded Getty Realty (NYSE: GTY) to Sell from Neutral.

Hat-tip to PaidContent.org, a good site about the media business, which reported on Friday about Jupitermedia (NASDAQ: JUPM) purchasing Flying Hands Music, an online library of royalty-free music. Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler posted on his blog that this "was part of the company's strategy to expand, what it believes, is the world's largest collection of royalty-free music."

JUPM will be combining Flying Hands with its existing site, RoyaltyFreeMusic.com. It appears Jupiter has larger plans to bulk up its music offering. As announced on Meckler's blog, JUPM has plans to launch a new way for organizations to buy royalty-free background music for websites and other purposes in late February.

It's a good thing Jupiter is looking for expansion. Its stock is down 50% for 2007 and its larger competitor, Getty Images (NYSE: GYI) is down over 30%. Both companies have been plagued by what Citibank analyst Matthew Troy called "investor concern about structural shifts in the stock imaging landscape, driven by rapid growth in alternative channels and forms of lower yielding image licensing" in a research piece in November.

In other words, what was once a lucrative business is being eaten away by smaller sites with aggressive pricing and licensing requirements that just aren't what Jupitermedia was accustomed to seeing. To address this issue, JUPM has changed its focus to expand into media with acquisitions like Flying Hands.

What investors who have followed the story for some time are witnessing is that the Jupitermedia investment thesis has changed. Instead of Jupiter spinning off some of these web properties, Jupitermedia is now actually looking to acquire new businesses to amalgamate to their media business.

Zack Miller is the Managing Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund. Author holds no position in stocks mentioned.