Analyst Upgrades

• Thoratec (THOR) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• TW Telecom (TWTC) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• TAL Education (XRS) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Amedisys (AMED) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst Downgrades

• Navigators (NAVG) to neutral from outperform at Macquarie.
• El Paso Electric (EE) to hold from buy at Jefferies.
• Hancock Holding (HBHC) to hold from buy at Wunderlich.
• California Water Service (CWT) and American States Water (AWR) to neutral from buy at Janney Capital.
• Mednax (MD) to hold from buy at Deutsche Bank.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Barclays, Grant Prideco and Force Protection were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Goldman downgraded shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) to Sell from Neutral and added the stock to their Conviction Sell List citing credit concerns. They believe negative headlines on writedowns will continue to weigh on shares.
  
• Banc of America downgraded shares of Grant Prideco (NYSE: GRP) due to its acquisition by National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV).
• Collins Stewart downgraded shares of Force Protection (NASDAQ: FRPT) to Underperform from Buy after the company did not receive MRAP vehicles ordered last night. They believe shares are likely to trade at book value of $3.58 or lower in the short term and set a target price of $2.90.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Keefe Bruyette removed Navigators Group (NASDAQ: NAVG) from its Best Ideas List.
  
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) to Underweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Jefferies downgraded Exelon (NYSE: EXC) to Hold from Buy.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Level 3 Communications (LVLT) and the Machinery Sector were the most notable initiations today.

• Credit Suisse initiated Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) with an Outperform rating and $7.50 target; the firm expects Level 3 to continue to benefit from strong demand for higher data usage.

• Morgan Stanley initiated the Machinery Sector with an In-Line rating.
  
• Within the sector, Deere & Co (NYSE: DE) was started with an Overweight rating and $116 target, Terex Corp (NYSE: TEX) with an Equal Weight rating and $67 target, and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT) & Agco (NYSE: AG) with Underweight ratings and targets of $52 & $25 respectively.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Baird initiated Alcatel-Lucent ADS (NYSE: ALU) with a Neutral rating and $15 target citing valuation and integration risks.

• Ferris Baker Watts initiated Navigators Group (NASDAQ: NAVG) with a Sell rating and $43 target; the firm said Navigators' balanced growth will serve to reduce underwriting/EPS volatility when the next highly active catastrophe season surfaces.

• Prudential initiated Allergan Inc (NYSE: AGN) with an Overweight rating and $138 target; the firm expects 2007 to be another strong year driven by medical aesthetics products acquired from Inamed in last year.

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