Analyst Upgrades

• Best Buy (BBY) was upgraded to top pick from outperform at RBC Capital, as the firm thinks the company's valuation is inexpensive while it will perform well during the holiday season.
• Credit Suisse upgraded CF Industries (CF) to outperform from neutral, citing favorable fundamentals in nitrogen and phosphate markets.
• Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was raised to buy from hold by Jefferies, which cited expectations for higher selling prices next year and cost savings from sourcing more components internally.
• BMO Capital upgraded RC2 Corp. (RCRC) to outperform from market perform as the firm believes that RC2's baby products are performing better than previously expected.
• Ericsson (ERIC) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merril.
• ProLogis (PLD) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Constellation Energy (CEG) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.

During the recent recalls of Chinese toys due to high lead content, toymaker RC2 (NASDAQ: RCRC) has been forced to recall close to 2 million products from its Thomas & Friends product line. In an effort to make up for the mistakes, the toy maker decided to give a little something back to to consumers involved in the recalls, and you guessed it... the gifts were more products with excessive lead paints!

It blows my mind that the company has actually allowed this to happen yet again. The most recent of the company's product recalls took place last week and involved around 200,000 toys, and earlier this summer the toy maker was hit was a massive 1.5 million toy recall, so it makes sense that they would try to give something back to consumers. Unfortunately the gesture of good faith has blown up in their face.

We were alerted to this unfortunate event by The Consumerist where you can also find the official statement from the company regarding this most recent consumer slap in the face:

Unfortunately, the discovery that certain Toad vehicles could be potentially unsafe was made in August, after Toads had been sent as bonus gifts to some families. Many of the Toad bonus gifts are safe, however some may not be. If you received a Toad vehicle as a bonus gift from us, please check its underside for the tracking code 1656OW00 to determine if it is one of the recalled toys.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Getty Images (GYI), Jackson Hewitt (JTX), Electronic Data (EDS), RC2 Corp (RCRC) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Deutsche Bank cut Getty Images (NYSE: GYI) to Sell from Hold citing deterioration in its core business. Gabelli downgraded Getty Images to Hold from Buy after the company lowered guidance to reflect the changing industry dynamics.

• Goldman cut Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX) to Sell from Neutral citing near-term risks that include the renegotiation of the HSBC (HBC)/RAL contract, the DoJ/IRS investigation, and decreasing performance in tax.

• Jefferies downgraded Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS) to Hold from Buy to reflect the company's slowing cash flow improvement.

• Wedbush downgraded RC2 Corp (NASDAQ: RCRC) to Buy from Strong Buy on the lower sales forecast for 2007. Soleil cut shares to Hold from Gradually Accumulate to reflect uncertainty over the Thomas recall and increased competition.

• Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform based on valuation...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Lazard downgraded Kyphon (NASDAQ: KYPH) to Hold from Buy.

• SMH Capital cut Aventine Renewable Energy (NYSE: AVR) to Sell from Neutral.

• Credit Suisse downgraded AutoDesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) to Neutral from Buy.

• UBS cut SABMiller (OTC SBMRY) to Reduce from Neutral.

• CIBC downgraded Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) to Sector Performer from Outperformer.

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