Analyst Upgrades

• Walgreen (WAG) and Triumph Group (TGI) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Focus Media (FMCN) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Home Depot (HD) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Arbitron (ARB) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Waddell & Reed (WDR) and Legg Mason (LM) to overweight from equal weight, and Janus Capital (JNS) to overweight from underweight, at Barclays.
• Central Euro Media (CETV) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• GenOn Energy (GEN) and Ntelos (NTLS) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Cooper Tire (CTB) to buy from neutral and Goodyear Tire (GT) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• UBS upgraded Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) to buy from neutral, citing strong fundamentals and buybacks. The firm raised its target to $42 from $31.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded ProAssurance (PRA) to overweight from neutral. The firm has a $76 price target on shares.
• Hershey (HSY) and Sunoco (SUN) were upgraded to sell from conviction sell at Goldman.
• Level 3 Comm (LVLT) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Cathay Pacific (CPCAY) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Even as the holiday season ramps up and the calendar quarter begins to wind down, earnings reports continue to dribble in. Among the companies scheduled to release quarterly results this coming week, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting BWAY Holding Co. (NYSE: BWY), Powell Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: POWL), and Esterline Technologies Corp. (NYSE: ESL) to be among the biggest earnings gainers.

Atlanta-based packaging and container producer BWAY is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter profits that are 65.6% higher than in the same period of last year, or $0.32 per share on revenues of $265.2 million (+4.9%). BWAY topped estimates in the previous two quarters -- by 44.9% in the third quarter. Those results sent shares to a new 52-week high. But shares have fallen 62.7% in the past three months, and they are now trading near a multiyear low of $4.11 per share.

Houston-based energy equipment maker Powell is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter profits that are 62.7% higher than a year ago, or $0.59 per share. Revenues are forecast to be 14.2% higher, or $171.8 million. Powell beat expectations in the past three quarters -- by 20.2% in the third quarter. The share price has fallen 47.7% in the past three months, and the consensus recommendation is to buy POWL.