Analyst upgrades

• UBS upgraded CF Industries (CF) to neutral from sell. The firm cites valuation for the upgrade. In addition, UBS raised its price target on shares to $84 from $81.
• Baird upgraded Johnson Controls (JCI) to outperform from neutral and raised its price target to $42 from $33. The upgrade was based on improving margins, China growth, and upside from a cyclical recovery.
• Barrington upgraded G&K Services (GKSR) to outperform from market perform ahead of the company's Q3 results to reflect optimism regarding the company's operational turnaround. The firm set a $35 price target for shares.
• LaSalle Hotel (LHO) was upgraded to top pick from outperform at RBC Capital.
• Zimmer (ZMH) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Thermo Fisher (TMO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL) recently posted decent 1Q earnings despite still being in the midst of an expensive, long-term reorganization. First the numbers. Excluding the reorganization costs, revenue was down by half from 1Q 2006 to $65 million or $.23 per share. Net sales were up 3% to $1.38 billion and net cash from continuing operations improved to $14.5 million for the quarter. Unfortunately, net cash gain was entirely negated by much larger capital expenditures that wil eventually result in reduced expenses and improved productivity, or so insists CEO Mark Ketchum.

Newell Rubbermaid has been in the midst of a turnaround for quite some time, and apparently the wait is far from over. The 1Q 2007 earnings press release is a model of how not to say what one means. Management forecasts sales growth in 2Q 2007 in the 4-5% range, with net cash to be in the range of $75-$125 million. Capital expenditures are forecast to be approximately half of net cash figures. All full year figures exclude restructuring costs, so it is difficult to guage how much progress the company is making. FY 2007 EPS are forecast at $1.73-$1.78 with net cash from continuing operations approximately $575-$625 million. The reorganization project was supposed to have saved $50 million in 2007 and $150 million total by 2009.

Investors might still want to be patient with newell Rubbermaid. The company consistently pays a dividend that yields 2.7% annually. The stock is not subject to cyclical or seasonal fluctuations, and its brands include such office basics as Paper Mate, EXPO markers, Sharpie markers, Rolodex, and, of course, Rubbermaid. The stock hasn't budged much from where it began at the beginning of 2007, but CEO Ketchum still insists that the company is building momentum. The stock recently closed at $30.86, up slightly from$29.26 where it began trading in 2007.