Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) to Buy from Sell and added shares to its Conviction Buy List citing valuation. The firm also upgraded the Semiconductor Capital Equipment Sector to Attractive.
  
• Morgan Keegan believes Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) will emerge from the slowdown as a stronger company with greater market share and expansion into adjacent markets. Shares were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform.
• Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
  
• Daimler (NYSE: DAI) was upgraded at UBS to Neutral from Sell.
• Friedman Billings upgraded Mariner Energy (NYSE: ME) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation and the company's upcoming catalysts in the deepwater GOM.
• Swiss Reinsurance (OTC: SWCEY) was raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

• Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.
• Deutsche Bank cut Hess Corp (NYSE: HES) and Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) to Hold from Buy and Suncor (NYSE: SU) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Sell from Hold after cutting their oil price forecast for 2009 to $60/bbl and 2010 to $58/bbl.
  
• Merrill downgraded Akzo Nobel (OTC: AKZOY) to Neutral from Buy on expectations the company's coatings end markets will worsen and chemicals division will see pressure next year.
• Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) was lowered at Citigroup to Hold from Buy.

Continue reading Analyst calls: AMAT, CSCO, PFE, DAI, INTC, COP, MNST, SGP ...

Analyst calls: AMAT, CSCO, PFE, DAI, INTC, COP, MNST, SGP ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Merrill upgraded Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) to Buy from Neutral citing progress in the company's turnaround plan, execution, and 2009 earnings growth.
  
• Thomas Weisel raised Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) to Overweight from Market Weight and believes the company's core business remains strong and that valuation is attractive.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation after checks indicated the company should meet Q2 expectations.
• NeuStar (NSR) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• UBS raised Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• Goldman upgraded Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) to Buy from Neutral.

• Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ: ZION) to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered its target to $33 from $43 following the company's Q3 results, as they believe near-term credit trends and concerns surrounding its securities portfolio will limit upside. Shares were also downgraded at JP Morgan to Neutral from Overweight due to deteriorating credit trends.
  
• Banc of America cut Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) to Neutral from Buy to reflect a lack of margin stability and their belief consensus estimates remain too high.
  
• Barclays downgraded Avis Budget Group (NYSE: CAR) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing the global economic slowdown and refinancing risk.
• Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), Luxottica (NYSE: LUX) and ArvinMeritor (NYSE: ARM) were cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.
  
• Luxottica was also downgraded at HSBC to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• JP Morgan cut AuthenTec (NASDAQ: AUTH) to Underweight from Neutral.

• Janney Montgomery believes Gladstone Capital's (NASDAQ: GLAD) management team and lower portfolio investment risk profile warrant a premium valuation. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $13 target.
• CommVault (NASDAQ: CVLT) was initiated with a Buy rating and $14 target at Cantor, as the firm finds the stock attractively valued given its secular growth rate potential.
  
• KeyBanc is positive on Papa John's (NASDAQ: PZZA) management team, growth potential, cost initiatives, and differentiation. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating and $30 target.
• Arris (NASDAQ: ARRS) was initiated at Jefferies with a Hold rating and $7 target.
  
• Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RIGL) was initiated at Banc of America with a Neutral rating and $21 target.
  
• Morgan Stanley started Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) with an Equal Weight rating.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: KFT, SYMC, CAR, GLAD, HANS ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent weakness and expects positive seasonality in the second half of 2008.
  
• Gilat Satellite (NASDAQ: GILT) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair on valuation.
• Cott Corp (NYSE: COT) was raised at UBS to Neutral from Sell.
  
• EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein.
  
• Integra LifeSciencues (NASDAQ: IART) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus.

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) to Hold from Buy on HDD inventory concerns and share loss at Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) after checks indicated MRVL likely lost the design for the RIM Javelin to Freescale. The firm lowered their target to $15 from $22.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Integrated Device (NASDAQ: IDTI) to Perform from Outperform as they believe the upcoming Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) server memory transition will pressure shares for several quarters.
  
• Broadpoint downgraded shares of Healthaways (NASDAQ: HWAY) to Neutral from Buy as they see few near-term catalysts.

Continue reading Analyst calls: CRM, COT, EOG, MRVL, MNST, COMV, V

Analyst calls: CRM, COT, EOG, MRVL, MNST, COMV, V originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Omnicare (NYSE: OCR) to Buy from Hold and raised their target to $37 from $24.50 following the company's Q2 results to reflect improving earnings visibility.
  
• Piper upgraded Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Neutral from Sell following the company's Q2 results to reflect its continued execution in cost management. The firm raised its target to $9 from $7.
  
• Capital One Southcoast upgraded Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) to Add from Neutral based on additional new builds already under contract and rig reactivations. The firm raised its target to $36 from $32.

• Citigroup downgraded shares of ImClone (NASDAQ: IMCL) to Hold from Buy despite thinking the initial offer from Bristol Myers (BMY) will be raised, as they do not advise chasing shares at current levels. The company's target was raised to $73 from $56.
• First Mercury (NYSE: FMR) and Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) were downgraded at JP Morgan to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• Jefferies lowered Osiris Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OSIR) to Underperform from Hold.

• Morgan Keegan initiated Cicso Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) with a Market Perform rating, citing the difficult macro environment; the firm believes 2H08 estimates will come down.
  
• Banc of America reinstated coverage of MF Global (NYSE: MF) with a Buy rating and $8.36 target.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Many Wall Street analysts thought that when Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) lost its bid for Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) that it would take the $45 billion it was going to spend and buy other online companies.

Think again. Microsoft's management says it is not so. According to the FT, "Steve Ballmer, chief executive, scotched talk that Microsoft would turn to a `plan B' of other acquisitions to boost its online presence." Ballmer feels that buying more internet companies will not improve its share of the search market. He is not simply after more pageviews.

The news is probably disappointing to several large online companies. AOL, Facebook, Monster (NASDAQ: MNST), and Digg might all have been part of a Microsoft plan to improve the size of its presence on the web.

The Microsoft comments send another message. Search is important. Display advertising is not. Search is an efficient way to make money. Display advertising's best growth years are behind it.

If Ballmer is right, the online world is about to go through a major upheaval.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Microsoft (MSFT) to give up on buying big web companies originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Auction-rate securities were supposed to be cash equivalents. Individuals and companies could move in and out of them in a day. The financial instruments have existed since 1985. In an auction, any imbalance in securities bought and sold were picked up by banks and brokerages and sold at the next event. These auctions went on as often as several times a week.

The problem with the market is that when banks started to run low on money, they pulled their commitments to run the auctions, the market fell apart, and the securities do not trade. Because they are illiquid, their values are falling.

Many companies put cash into auction-rate paper to get a slightly higher yield than with government securities. The firms even put the money on their balance sheet as cash equivalents. Now that practice is haunting them.

Several technology firms are stuck with these investments. According to The Wall Street Journal, Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) had $357 million of this paper at the end of last year. Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) had almost $75 million at the end of February. The companies are going to have to write-down some of the value of this capital which will affect their earnings.

The problem cannot really be blamed on the companies. The market for he paper is over 20-years-old and has functioned like clockwork until recently. It does raise the specter of lawsuits against the banks and brokerages who made the market. They positioned these securities as cash and then pulled the plug on the auctions.

It is one more headache for financial companies in trouble, but in this case, they probably deserve it.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Auction-rate securities hurt tech company results, lawsuits ahead? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• 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.

• 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.

Analyst downgrades: Priceline.com, Monster, Internap originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) is recently down $2.34 to $23.36 in pre-open trading.

MNST warned of higher marketing-operating expenses and weak revenue trends will result in lower Q1 EPS.

Bank of America lowered its price target to $39 from $45.

MNST overall option implied volatility of 59 is above its 26-week average of 49 according to Track Data, suggesting larger movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Option Update: Monster Worldwide volatility at 59 into higher Q1 expenses originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) is up over 6% on strong earnings.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is up over 5% on better-than-expected earnings.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) is off over 7% on word of slow handset sales from rival Sony Ericsson.

Monster (NASDAQ:MNST) is down 7% on comments that its expenses may be higher than anticipated.

Shares may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Pre-market movers (ADBE) (MNST) (MS) (NOK) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI) posted lower fourth-quarter profits but record full-year sales.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) posted strong results and offered bullish guidance (see transcript).
• Concur Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CNQR) revenue soared and it offered revised guidance.
• Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) posted a bigger-than-expected loss for the fourth-quarter.
• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) beat earnings expectations but fell short of revenue estimates.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) beat estimates but shares were dragged down by VMware results.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) shocked investors and missed earnings expectations (see transcript).
• Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) beat estimates as revenue soared.
• Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) sidestepped the subprime mess and fourth-quarter earnings soared.
• MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) reported a $2.3 million loss due to mortgage write downs.
• Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) posted a $1.6 million loss and lowered its full-year guidance.
• Monster Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST) posted strong results despite weakness in North America.
• ScanSource Inc. (NASDAQ: SCSC) beat earnings estimates but matched revenue forecasts.
• Somanetics Corp. (NASDAQ: SMTS) beat estimates and offered revised guidance.
• Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) beat expectations on revenue growth from overseas.
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) reported a record loss for the fourth quarter due to the subprime crisis.
• VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) missed revenue forecasts, sending shares tumbling.
• Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) posted unimpressive results, but beat earnings expectations (see transcript).

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Exxon, Boeing, Halliburton, Sony, UPS, Honda, and others and McDonald's, Kraft, P&G, Verizon, MasterCard, 3M, and others.

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others

Earnings highlights: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If I had $61 million in cash, I think I could do much better with it than Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST). That's how much the company shelled out for Affinity Labs, which got its start last year.

In fact, the company says it is in the "development stage" and has about one million registered users. So yes, I guess Monster is expecting a monstrous number of job listings to come from this deal (at least I hope so).

OK, what is Affinity all about? Basically, it's a network of sites that cater to certain professions and vocations, such as PoliceLink, FireLink, GovCentral, and so on.

True, these sites have social networking features, such as profiles, photo sharing, and videos. Yet, the technology seems fairly generic.

But keep in mind that the founder of Affinity, Christopher Michel, sold Military.com to Monster.com back in 2004. That site is a thriving community with more than 10 million members.

So perhaps Monster is trying to snag Michel to get his social networking credentials. But, it sure does look like a hefty price tag.

In yesterday's trading, Monster.com's stock was down 4% to $27.73.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Monster.com's scary deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 05 Jan 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Deutsche Bank initiated shares of Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: GPRO) with a Buy rating and $78 target and expects the company's broad product portfolio in Clinical Diagnostics and Blood Screening to drive growth.
  
• CIBC initiated Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) with a Sector Performer rating, as they believe their macro concerns are more important than the company's intermediate-term prospects and its position within the global recruiting market.
  
• William Blair views the valuation of LabCorp (NYSE: LH) as compelling given the company's growth outlook. The firm started shares off with an Outperform rating.
  
• William Blair also initiated Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) with a Market Perform rating, and prefers a wait-and-see approach as the company's diversification strategy unfolds.

• Wachovia initiated Cleco (NYSE: CNL), ITC Holdings (NYSE: ITC) and Aqua America (NYSE: WTR) with Outperform ratings and American States Water (NYSE: AWR) with a Market Perform rating.
  
• Baird resumed coverage of Ritchie Bros (NYSE: RBA) with a Neutral rating and $78 target.

Analyst initiations: GPRO, MNST, LH and DGX originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lately, Monster Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST) has scared away investors. This is despite a bull run for mega internet franchises like Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). Yet Barron's thinks that Monster can roar again.

No doubt, the company has some serious issues. For one thing, the economy appears to be slowing down. Also, competition in the sector is fierce, with players like Indeed.com and Dice (NYSE: DHX) fighting for every dollar.

But it looks like the bad news is baked into the stock already. Keep in mind that Monster trades about 20 times the projected profits for 2008. Additionally, Monster has been building out its global footprint, such as in Europe and Asia. And there are no shortage of buyout suitors, like Google, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).

What's more, Monster owns 44.4% of ChinaHR.com, which is the #2 jobs site in China. In light of the crazy valuations of Chinese IPOs, this could be a highly valued asset.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Barron's: Monster (MNST) may roar again originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Monster Worldwide (MNST) options strategy after downgrade originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Wachovia downgraded shares of Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) to Market Perform from Outperform citing increased risk of an economic slowdown and execution issues in its N.A. Careers segment.
  
• Credit Suisse downgraded shares of Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJ) to Neutral from Outperform on valuation with shares above their $46 target.
  
• Banc of America downgraded Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) to Neutral from Buy on valuation. The firm also downgraded Walgreen (WAG) to Sell from Buy, as they see further downside following the Q4 miss and believes the problems in Q4 are company-specific and not industry-wide.
  
• Citigroup downgraded shares of Sealy Corporation (NYSE: ZZ) to Sell from Hold following the Q3 results, as they believe Sealy faces increased competitive pressures at the high end of the market where the best margins are derived.

• Goldman Sachs removed Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Nucor (NYSE: NUE) from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Merrill Lynch added Intercontinental Hotels (NYSE: IHG) to its Least Preferred List.
  
• ABN Amro downgraded Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) to Hold from Buy.
  
• Soleil downgraded Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades: MNST, BOBJ, MT, WAG and ZZ originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On August 16th, Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) informed Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST) of a thread of malicious software, called Infostealer.Monstres, which uploaded 1.3 million entries with personal information from a remote server. The information contained on this server was limited to names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

It took Monster Worldwide five days to comment on the situation. "Regrettably, opportunistic criminals are increasingly using the Internet for illegitimate purposes," the company said in a statement Wednesday. The company is in the process of reaching out to its users and law enforcement on this issue.

Now, one might quickly say, "five days is a long time to keep quiet about this," but you'd be mistaken. Take a look at a few of the recent security breeches and how fast the response has been from corporations:

• Back on June 17th, 2005, MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) announced the information from 40 million credit cards "may" have been stolen. According to CardSystems, a third party processor of payment data, the credit card theft possibly occurred late last month, CNet.com reported. The company continued to say, "It identified a 'potential security incident' on Sunday, May 22nd and called the FBI the next day.

• CNBC's Charlie Gasparino reported earlier this month that a 'major identity-theft incident' occurred at Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER). According to his sources, the device stolen from Merrill's corporate offices included personal information, including Social Security numbers, of nearly 33,000 employees. Gasparino said the incident allegedly occurred two weeks ago, but Merrill is now "only getting around to telling people."

• Massachusetts-based TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) reported on the week of January 15th than an "unauthorized intruder" gained access to its systems in mid-December, taking 45.6 million credit card and debt card numbers over a period of 18 months.

Monster Worldwide should be applauded on its immediate response on the matter. While the data stolen did not include credit card numbers or social security numbers, people need to be know what is happening with the information they hand out to websites.

Monster Worldwide (MNST) should be applauded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Monster.com (MNST) users getting more than just job offers

Monster.com (MNST) users getting more than just job offers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to the Wall Street Journal's (subscription required) "Heard on the Street" column, some investors are speculating that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A) could buy struggling mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC).
• Five insiders bought $592.7K in Orbitz Worldwide Inc's (NYSE: OWW) stock at per-share prices ranging from $9.55 to $10.10, reported Barron's Online's (subscription required) "Inside Scoop" column.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) is believed to be considering the sale of Lake, its Japanese consumer finance subsidiary.

• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH) has bought a 26% stake in ECL Finance, the non-banking finance company of India's Edelweiss Capital, for about $4.3M, reported the Business Standard.
• Brookfield Asset Management Inc (NYSE: BAM) has shelved its plan to buy Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE: CP) due to the global credit crunch and the current lack of funding for leveraged buyouts, reported the Globe and Mail.

• According to security company Symantec Corporation's (NASDAQ: SYMC) blog, there is a new Trojan called "infostealer.monstres" which is attacking online recruitment site Monster.com (NASDAQ: MNST).

Newspaper wrap-up: Buffett interested in Countrywide (CFC)? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Piper upgraded shares of Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) to Outperform from Market Perform, citing valuation, and expects the company to have an upbeat tone on Thursday's quarterly report.

• Wachovia upgraded shares of Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) to Outperform from Market Perform based on valuation and strength in its international business. The firm believes North American weakness is largely confined to the e-commerce channel while enterprise growth is ongoing and international business remains strong.

• Banc of America upgraded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to Buy from Neutral on valuation.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) to Buy from Hold and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) & Comerica (NYSE: CMA) to Hold from Sell. The firm said JPMorgan's financial conglomerate structure gives it strength to gain share in times of stress. U.S. Bancorp was upgraded based on valuation and okay credit quality. Comerica was upgraded based on valuation and upcoming HQ move to Texas, which could make it a takeover target...

• JP Morgan upgraded Valueclick (NASDAQ: VCLK) to Overweight from Neutral.

• Bear Stearns upgraded BEA Systems (NASDAQ: BEAS) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

• Stifel raised Career Education (NASDAQ: CECO) to Buy from Hold.

• CL King upgraded Gap (NYSE: GPS) to Strong Buy from Neutral.

Analyst upgrades: CMA, GPS, JPM, MNST and VCLK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.