Analyst Upgrades

• Valero Energy (VLO) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Changyou.com (CYOU) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Albermarle (ALB) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• ICU Medical (ICUI) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Check Point (CHKP) to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
• FMC Corporation (FMC) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Rangold Resources (GOLD) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Global Cash Access (GCA) to buy from hold at Duncan-Williams.

Below are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks. Click through to the original posts for more details.

• Ann Taylor Stores Corp. (ANN) shares rallied on heavy volume after it posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings.
• AutoZone Inc. (AZO) Q3 earnings easily beat consensus expectations and same-store sales rose sharply.
• Borders Group Inc. (BGP) posted a wider operating loss, decreasing gross margin, and a same-store sales decline.
• Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) posted strong Q3 results and offered guidance, boosting shares on a down-market day.
• Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) posted better-than-expected Q3 results, due in part to a surge in membership sales.

Jamba (JMBA), parent company of Jamba Juice, is a lousy stock. Look at the three-year chart to see what I mean (click on the "three-year" mark once you get there). The one-year chart shows a different story; it actually looks like an interesting stock from that perspective. However, what it says to me is that it is nothing more than a low-priced trading vehicle. No offense, of course. Just stating the facts.

And now, we have an earnings report to consider, one that was released after the bell on Wednesday. For the first quarter, the business lost 13 cents per share versus a loss of 19 cents per share in the year-ago frame. Same-store sales for company-owned locations dropped over 3%.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: SLM Corp, Tempur Pedic and ITT Corp were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) to Underweight from Equal Weight citing the impact on earnings from reduced government subsidies and disrupted capital markets.
  
• Tempur Pedic (NYSE: TPX) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan citing the consumer slowdown and increased competition.
  
• Credit Suisse downgraded ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT) to Neutral from Outperform citing the surprised management changes announced last night.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Cowen downgraded TechTarget (NASDAQ: TTGT) to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Merriman lowered Jamba (NASDAQ: JMBA) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI) was downgraded at Merrill to Neutral from Buy.

Jamba Juice (NASDAQ: JMBA) has been an extremely disappointing performer since it went public through its acquisition by a special purpose acquisition vehicle.

Shares closed at $3.39 on Monday, down from a 52-week high of $11.25 on this day of last year -- A spread of 365 days between the current price and the 52-week high is usually a sign of a difficult stretch.

Perhaps things are getting better: Jamba Juice has reached a deal with Nestle to sell its products at groceries stores in eight states in the western United States. The plan is to eventually expand the program nationally, perhaps internationally, and also target convenience stores and other possible outlets. Nestle (OTC: NSRGY) will manufacture and distribute the beverages.

With its stock in the toilet in light of operational underperformance, this may be just what Jamba needs. But as anyone who witnessed the Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ: KKD) saga can attest, rapid expansion by a premium stand-alone specialty food retailer into mass market distribution can lead to bad results: big losses and irreparable damage to the brand.

Savvy marketing and responsible stewardship of the Jamba franchise on the part of management could make this a big success. But if the company's performance as a public company is any indication, that's not something investors should bet on.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Old Dominion Freight (ODFL), Jamba (JMBA), AMD (AMD), Orbitz Worldwide (OWW) and Quest Diagnostics (DGX) were today's notable initiations:

• Baird is positive on Old Dominion's (NASDAQ: ODFL) growth opportunities, valuation, 2008 improving truck fundamentals, and a potentially seasonally stronger Q4, starting shares with an Overweight rating and $36 target.

• Merriman initiated Jamba (NASDAQ: JMBA) with a Buy rating, as the company aggressively expands its store base beyond California.

• BMO Capital believes AMD (NYSE: AMD) may lose the Intel platform integrated graphics market, and sizeable Intel platform discrete graphics market share. The firm initiated AMD shares with an Underperform rating and $10 target.

• Soleil has concerns regarding Orbitz Worldwide's (NYSE: OWW) decelerating growth and poorer business mix vs. competitors and started shares with a Hold rating and $13 target.

• Credit Suisse initiated Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) with a Neutral rating and $61 target, citing the recent UnitedHealth (UNH) contract loss, slowing growth, and valuation for its Neutral rating...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• McDermott (NYSE: MDR) and Capella Education (NASDAQ: CPLA) were initiated with Buy ratings at Citigroup.

• JMP Securities started ShoreTel (NASDAQ: SHOR) with a Market Outperform rating.

• Credit Suisse initiated LabCorp (NYSE: LH) with an Outperform rating.

• FTN Midwest started Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) with a Buy rating.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: HouseValues, Inc (SOLD), Fortune Brands (FO), D.R. Horton (DHI), Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS) and USG Corp (USG) were some of today's noteworthy initiations:

• Cantor believes HouseValues (NASDAQ: SOLD) may be a lagging indicator of the broader real estate market. As such, it may see its customer and revenue bases contract further in the face of still-sluggish housing data and started shares with a Hold rating.

• Pali Research initiated Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO) with a Neutral rating based on valuation.

• The firm also believes D.R. Horton's (NYSE: DHI) risk to book value and profitability is higher than some of the competition since the company has taken significantly less land charges. Shares were initiated with a Hold rating.

• Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) was initiated with an Outperform at Baird and is positive on Dick's store expansion, market leadership, margin opportunities and fundamentals.

• USG (NYSE: USG) was initiated with a Sell rating at Banc of America, believing wallboard price and profit declines will be worse than expected due to lower housing starts and less spending on remodeling. Their analysis suggests another leg down for housing...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Morgan Joseph started Jamba, Inc (NASDAQ: JMBA) with a Buy rating.

• Wachovia started Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) with a Market Perform rating.

• Baird started Golfsmith International Holdings (NASDAQ: GOLF) with a Neutral rating.

• Merrill Lynch initiated Bayer AG (NYSE: BAY) with a Buy rating and UBS initiated QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC) with a Neutral rating.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

The controversial company VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) has gone up nearly $4 since the sudden resignation of embattled CEO Stratton Sclavos this past Tuesday. I wrote earlier this week that Stratton Sclavos was indeed a polarizing figure, but had survived the Silicon Valley merry-go-round by having lasted 12 years at the helm. Some major institutional investors did not want to be involved with VeriSign's stock as long as Stratton Sclavos was the CEO.This past week has changed that thinking as the stock has lifted from $26 to $30.

As I wrote in my book Stop Losing Money Today, the most important factor in making a decision in owning a stock is the senior management. If an investor cannot get comfortable with a company's CEO, chances are they will avoid the stock. The CEO sets the tone and the vision of the company, plain and simple. The CEO selects the people to run and operate the divisions within a company. The CFO -- chief financial officer -- is entrusted with delivering the vision by the numbers and too communicate effectively with Wall Street as to the composition and direction of those numbers.

Stratton Sclavos was indeed a visionary with VeriSign. When he took over the reigns in 1995, the yet to be public company was doing about $10 million in revenues and was viewed basically as a security company. Under Stratton's watch, VeriSign has grown to a $1.6 billion revenue base company with healthy margins and a strong bottom line. So what happened?

Stratton Sclavos was an acquiring CEO. He believed that whenever something could not be developed internally in a timely fashion -- go out and buy it. Buy it he did. Stratton kept investment bankers busy and always searching for the next property to put into VeriSign's portfolio. Several missteps happened along the way, as well as some good, solid acquisitions. Stratton annoyed some investors as they were concerned about VeriSign deviating away from its core competencies.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Jamba, Inc (JMBA), Quiksilver Inc (ZQK), Volcom, Inc (VLCM) and Interactive Data Corp (IDC) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Oppenheimer believes Jamba (NASDAQ: JMBA) is in the early stages of a solid top- and-bottom-line growth story and is one of the few opportunities today that offers sizable square foot growth, revenue and earnings growth, all with several years of visibility.

• Quiksilver Inc (NYSE: ZQK) was initiated with an Accumulate rating and $14 target at ThinkEquity.

• ThinkEquity also initiated shares of Volcom Inc (NASDAQ: VLCM) with a Buy rating.

• AG Edwards started Interactive Data Corp (NYSE: IDC) with a Buy rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Merrill Lynch resumed coverage of Merck & Co, Inc (NYSE: MRK) with a Neutral rating.

• Matrix USA started coverage of Loral Space & Communications Ltd (NASDAQ: LORL) with a Strong Buy rating and $72 intrinsic value.

• AG Edwards initiated shares of Atheros Communications, Inc (NASDAQ: ATHR) with a Buy rating.

• Stifel initiated Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc (NASDAQ: PEET) with a Hold rating.

• Bear Stearns started Genworth Financial, Inc (NYSE: GNW) with an Outperform rating and $42 target.

• Morgan Stanley started Nova Chemicals Corp (NYSE: NCX) with an Equal Weight rating.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

News Corp. is quickly leveraging its super-hot MySpace property. The next frontier? Wireless.

The company decided to shell out $188 million to purchase Jamba, which was a part of VeriSign.

Jamba is a leader in wireless content, such as ringtones and games. The site also has extensive content deals with record labels, such as Warner Music and Universal Music.

However, VeriSign still wants a piece of the action. So, the deal provides News Corp. with 51% ownership in the company. No doubt, this is an indication that VeriSign is very bullish about this market.

It's also a recognition that VeriSign needed a media partner. And, News Corp. has a rare blend of traditional assets and New Media.

Of course, the traditional assets include hit shows like "24." Although, perhaps the biggest play is melding Jamba with MySpace. So, perhaps new artists can make their own ring-tones? And MySpace can act as the cash register?

Who said MySpace couldn't be monetized?

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.