MOST NOTEWORTHY: GFI Group, Wells Fargo and Cirrus Logic were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Goldman downgraded GFI Group Inc (NASDAQ: GFIG) to Neutral from Buy following the company's announcement that credit chief, Donal Fewer, left the company to go to a rival firm and that about two dozen brokers may defect to follow him.
• Oppenheimer cut Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) to Underperform from Perform as they believe the company is under-reserved by at least $4.5B and that there is significant room for multiple contraction.
• Cirrus Logic Inc (NASDAQ: CRUS) was downgraded at Jefferies to Hold from Buy on valuation, as they believe the risk/reward is no longer favorable at current levels.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Baird cut Ryder System Inc (NYSE: R) to Neutral from Outperform.
• Caterpillar Incorporated (NYSE: CAT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia and to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
• Goldman removed Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) from its Conviction Buy List.

Ryder System (NYSE: R) shares are trading higher after the company announced it would acquire the assets of Miami-based truck leasing company Gator Leasing Inc. Ryder will get Gator Leasing's truck fleet of about 2,300 trucks and about 300 contract customers. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on R.

After hitting a one-year high of $65.69 in April, the stock hit a one-year low of $38.95 in November. R opened this morning at $61.04. So far today the stock has hit a low of $60.43 and a high of $62.58. As of 3:15, R is trading at $62.14, up 1.53 (2.5%). The chart for R is bullish but slightly deteriorating while S&P gives R a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, if one were to invest in it, I would consider a May bull-put credit spread below the $55 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverages nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in just five weeks as long as R is above $55 at May expiration. Ryder would have to fall by more than 15% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

Ryder System (NYSE: R) today announced it is dropping its forecast for third-quarter earnings per share from $1.20-$1.23 to $1.12-$1.14. The company also revealed that third-quarter results will be impacted by a $10 million sale of property, more than offset by a $12 million charge for restructuring, the benefits of which won't be realized until 2008. Its end-of-year projections are now for EPS of $4.10-$4.15, down from previous expectations of $4.30-$4.35, but still above 2006 figures.

Ryder blames general softening of demand beyond the housing sector for declining revenue in its Fleet Management Solutions segment, which accounts for about 60% of its revenue. The company has a fleet of more than 140,000 vehicles and employs almost 30,000 people.

One area to keep an eye on with Ryder is its Supply Chain Solutions sector, which accounts for 32% of revenue. This sector is closely tied to the automobile industry -- in fact, GM (NYSE: GM) accounted for 40% of Ryder's SCS revenue in 2006. Slack times at GM could show up on Ryder's bottom line.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: DaimlerChrysler (DCX), Omniture (OMTR), Convergys (CVG), Expedia (EXPE) and Baidu.com (BIDU) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• WestLB upgraded shares of DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX) to Buy from Add after the company raised the profit margin forecast for its Mercedes unit.

• Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) was upgraded by Piper Jaffray to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's strong revenue momentum and expanding margins.

• Wedbush upgraded Convergys (NYSE: CVG) to Hold from Sell on valuation.

• Citigroup raised shares of Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) to Buy from Hold on valuation...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Bear Stearns upgraded shares of Ryder System (NYSE: R) to Outperform from Underperform.

• Lehman raised EnCana Corp (NYSE: ECA) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• USG Corp (NYSE: USG) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Buckingham.

• Morgan Keegan upgraded shares of Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• Citigroup raised Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE: CFR) to Hold from Sell.

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

Cigarettes can kill you, or at least assist in the project. But, in the interest of equal attention I must mention that french fries, alcohol, stress, and overexertion can assist in killing you also. Perhaps now this blog post needs a rating of X. In the ever-present mind-set of those who are paid to protect you from the bad choices you can make that might harm you, the Motion Picture Association of America has again taken up the daunting task of sculpting artistic creation to better fit within its own concepts of what you need protection from. This time the MPAA wishes to include certain smoking scenes as criteria for an "R" movie rating.

As a smoker I haven't minded being relegated to the status of second-class citizen while being summarily tossed to the street in the interest of protecting others from my habit. In fact, I don't even smoke in my own home because I don't want to expose my daughter to secondhand smoke. It's my habit, it's dangerous and I have no right to expose anyone else to the stuff. I do however find it disconcerting that a regulatory agency wishes to take it upon itself to demonize approximately 30% of the American population by declaring that our nicotine addiction is unfit for general public viewing. Excuse me please but I'm a human being too you know, and 90 percent of the nonsmokers I know have no problem with my habit as long as I do not force them to inhale my smoke.

So here's my answer to the MPAA's declaration that as smokers we are evil people who need to be labeled so that parents may protect their children from looking at us:

The American Medical Association has determined that obesity is at least as detrimental to the public health as smoking is. In fact, a majority of health studies make clear that people who are overweight face greater health risks in a shorter time span than even the heaviest smokers do. Obesity places a greater burden on health care resources than tobacco does, and being chronically overweight exposes one to more vast and varied health concerns than smoking ever will. Additionally, excessive consumption of calories assists in depriving the rest of the world from adequate nutritional sustenance. Therefore, it is my solemn duty to inform the MPAA that being overweight is a life choice that poses greater risks to society than smoking does, and I demand that it does something about it. Never mind the fact that probably two-thirds of its own board meet the criteria for being chronically overweight. MPAA owes it to society to protect us from the dangers of being overweight, and it should restrict the viewership of motion pictures that display obese people.

Now stick that in your pipe and smoke it.