Analyst upgrades:

• Merrill believes Assurant (NYSE: AIZ) is well-positioned to weather the turmoil in the capital markets environment and cites the company's defensive characteristics for the upgrade. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded R.H. Donnelly (NYSE: RHD) to Hold from Sell to reflect the company's cost cuts and its ability to buy back bonds at discounted prices.
  
• Citigroup raised Consol Energy (NYSE: CNX) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they are seeing no fundamental deterioration in coal.
• Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
  Raymond James raised shares to Outperform from Market Perform.
  
• Penske Automotive (NYSE: PAG) was upgraded to Add from Neutral at Calyon.
  
• ICF International (NASDAQ: ICFI) was lifted to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.

Analyst downgrades:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Sell from Hold after the company reported Q2 results to reflect a deceleration in growth and margin pressures. RIMM's target was lowered to $70 from $120. RBC Capital downgraded Research in Motion to Sector Perform from Outperform citing reduced margin visibility and the slowing macroeconomic environment.
  
• Stephens downgraded Vitran (NASDAQ: VTNC) and Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA) to Equal Weight from Overweight to reflect the companies' deteriorating demand and pricing environment. Vitran's target was cut to $15 from $22 and Saia's was lowered to $16 from $24.
  
• Mentor (NYSE: MNT) was downgraded to hold from Buy at Jefferies to reflect continued weakness in the breast implant market and the potential for lowered guidance. Mentor's target was lowered to $31 from $36.
  
• Merrill cut ING Group (NYSE: ING) to Underperform from Neutral.
  
• CF Industries (NYSE: CF) was downgraded at Citigroup to Hold from Buy.
  
• Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA) was lowered to Sell from Hold at Natixis.

Analyst initiations:

• Suntrust initiated Idexx Laboratories (NASDAQ: IDXX) with a Neutral rating, citing slowing organic revenue growth, valuation and a slowing lab business.
  
• Jefferies initiated Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) with a Hold rating and $33 target. The firm prefers to stay on sidelines due to valuation and macro risks.
  
• Hersha Hospitality (NYSE: HT) was assumed with a Market Perform rating and $7.50 target at Keefe Bruyette. The firm believes near-term demand trends in New York City could slow.
  
• Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) was initiated at Baird with a Neutral rating and $54 target.
  
• KeyBanc assumed ENGlobal (NASDAQ: ENG) with a Hold rating.
  
• Piper initiated Pentair (NYSE: PNR) with a Neutral rating and $39 target.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Home Depot (HD), Harley-Davidson, Inc (HOG), Walgreen Co (WAG), Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded Home Depot (NYSE: HD) to Buy from Neutral to reflect management changes and an improved business mix and capital structure. They note this is a longer-term call given the ongoing impact from the sluggish housing market.

• Baird upgraded Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE: HOG) to Outperform from Neutral on valuation.

• Matrix believes shares of Walgreen Co (NYSE: WAG) are undervalued as increasing sales of generic drugs continue to drive positive trends and upgraded shares to Strong Buy from Buy.

• Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns citing valuation and growth prospects.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• SAIA Inc (NASDAQ: SAIA) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Stephens.

• France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BNP Paribas.

• Raymond James raised Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp's (NASDAQ: CTSH) rating to Outperform from Sector Perform.

• Bernstein upgraded Satyam Computer (NYSE: SAY) to Outperform from Market Perform.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Plexus Corp (PLXS) and Ameristar Casinos Inc (ASCA) were some of today's most notable initiations:

• Lehman initiated Plexus Corp (NASDAQ: PLXS) with an Underweight rating and $15.50 target.

• Wachovia started Ameristar Casinos Inc (NASDAQ: ASCA) with an Outperform rating; the firm sees upside for Ameristar through growth of existing properties that have expansions and the removal of the $500 loss limit in Missouri.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Mattel Inc (NYSE: MAT) was initiated with a Hold rating at Sterne Agee.

• First Albany started Gaming Partners International Corp (NASDAQ: GPIC) with a Buy rating and $23 target.

• Jefferies initiated Morgans Hotel Group Co (NASDAQ: MHGC) with a Hold rating and $20 target based on valuation.

• UBS started E*Trade Financial Corp (NASDAQ: ETFC) with a Buy rating and $29 target.

• UBS also started TD Ameritrade Holding Corp (NASDAQ: AMTD) with a Neutral rating on valuation.

• Stifel initiated Saia Inc (NASDAQ: SAIA) with a Buy rating and $31 target; the firm is positive on Saia's growth and said the company should be the biggest beneficiary of further tonnage leakage from Central Freight Lines, which recently went private.

• William Blair started US BioEnergy Corp (NASDAQ: USBE) with an Outperform rating.

• JMP Securities assumed coverage of Delta Financial Corp (NYSE: DFC) with a Strong Buy rating and $13 target.

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

StarMine is an analyst tracking service we like to review and to refer to. This service is essentially an analysis of the analysts' predictions. Starmine monitors analysts' track records on the calls they make, breaking it down by sector, but more importantly by individual stocks. Based on the "5-star" rating of certain analysts in a given stock, StarMine actually goes out and derives its own earnings prediction for companies that may exceed or miss the Street estimates ahead of each earnings season.

This is the sort of thing we have done on many select names in the past, but they do it on most of the liquid stocks out there.

If you can believe it, we are essentially within three weeks of the next earnings season that will begin in the second week of September and go into full-tilt earnings season mode in the 3rd and 4th weeks of October.

Today on CNBC, StarMine gave some interesting predictions. The gave a short list of three companies that they felt would exceed estimates and three they felt would miss. They use the numbers from the best 5-star analyst for each stock.

We have each stock on the Starmine shortlist, including consensus estimates, brokerage 5-star analyst prediction, and by the implied StarMine estimate based on a blend of the two. We took this one step further by including today's closing stock price, its dollar gain/loss, and we even provided an adjusted 52-week trading range to show if it was at the high-end or low-end of each range.

The ones that StarMine thinks will BEAT estimates:

SAIA Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA) $0.63 consensus; Morgan Keegan at $0.67; so StarMine is predicting $0.66.
SAIA $32.36, up $0.08; 52-week trading range $14.70 to $34.04.

Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS) $0.62 consensus; $0.64 at B of A; so StarMine is predicting $0.63.
UHS $59.94, up $0.25; 52-week trading range $44.50 to $59.84.

Cincinati Financial (NASDAQ: CINF) $0.72 consensus; Keybanc $0.76; so StarMine is predicting $0.74
CINF $48.35, up $0.10; 52-week trading range $39.91 to $48.55.

The ones that StarMine thinks will MISS estimates: