Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) to Buy from Hold on valuation with the stock down 65% in two months as they believe the company has a "best-in-class fundamental story." The firm lowered its target to $25 from $30.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) to Overweight from Equal Weight on valuation and believes near-term cost reductions could provide a positive catalyst.
• Citigroup upgraded New York Times (NYSE: NYT) to Hold from Sell and lowered its target to $5.50 from $7 on valuation and believes the dividend cut will boost the company's liquidity.
• Pantry (NASDAQL PTRY) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings.
• LECG Corp (NASDAQ: XPRT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) was upgraded at RBC Capital to Outperform from Sector Perform.

• Jefferies downgraded Suntech (NYSE: STP) to Hold from Buy and lowered its target to $6 from $25 as they believe concerns about a convert refinancing in February 2010 will continue to weigh on the stock.
• Credit Suisse cut Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to Underperform from Outperform due to expectations for a decline in wireless infrastructure spending.
• ING downgraded shares of Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) to Hold from Buy as they believe it will be challenging for the company to execute asset sales planned at reducing debt in the current environment.

As we move toward the end of the year, 24/7 Wall St. went looking for ten undervalued big cap stocks. We looked at research reports, P&Ls, balance sheets, projections, SEC filings and stock price movement. We came up with ten companies that the market appears to have passed by, or simply doesn't like. But each one has the makings of a winner.

Gannett. Investors hate newspaper stocks, but Gannett Co., Inc (NYSE:GCI) has a huge web presence and monopolies in many of the markets in which it operates. The company is also a cash machine.

eBay. The holiday season should be good for eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) as industry figures show that e-commerce is coming into its own. The company's PayPal division is a juggernaut.

Sprint. There are only three significant players in the growing U.S. cell market and Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) is one. After missteps with the NexTel integration, the company's new WiMax network should pay big returns for investors.

Hovnanian. With housing prices falling and sales of new and existing homes off, who could love a home building stock? The CEO says the market has hit bottom and Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.'s (NYSE:HOV) land hedging strategy is among the most conservative in the industry.

Alcoa. The world's largest aluminum company. The bull case is that demand in India and China will push up prices for more than the next decade. Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) also just dumped a dog division.

Analog Devices. Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE:ADI) trades well below where it did five years ago. Net income rose 19% in the last quarter. The board just increased its share buy-back and upped the dividend.

The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO). Most investors assume this is a newspaper company. It is not. Its Kaplan and other online learning operations are highly profitable and are becoming the lead operating income divisions for the company.

Anheuser-Busch. Beer is not sexy, but Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. (NYSE:BUD) is making purchases to position itself in South America and China. It is also raising prices, a good sign that demand is strong.

Amgen. Cash flow is running 32% of sales. Analyst have been upgrading the stock as antitrust litigation against the company seems to be favoring Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN). Earnings in the last quarter beat forecasts.

Linear Technology. Part of the out-of-favor semiconductor industry. Linear Technology Corp. (NYSE:LLTC) is impressively profitable and analyst price targets on the shares are well above the current price.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Private equity firms are certainly hungry for semiconductor firms, such as the $17.6 billion buyout of Freescale. And recently there was the proposed $5.5 billion deal for Advanced Semiconductor Engineering.

An analyst at Prudential, Mark Lipacis, has put together a buyout list. Basically, he focuses on what private equity firms like -- lots of cash and cash flow.

His picks? Here's a look:

Altera (ALTR)
Analog Devices (ADI)
Linear Technology (LLTC)
Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM)
Texas Instruments (TXN)

Remember, there's a reason that semiconductor companies have lots of cash: the industry is cyclical. If the economy goes south, these companies can wait it out.

And it does look like the economy is slowing down. So if these semiconductor companies take on huge amounts of debt, might they be vulnerable?

Perhaps. But so far, it seems like private equity firms are far from concerned.

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