Analyst Upgrades

• Medicis (MRX) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray, to outperform from market perform at Bernstein, to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital and to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Wellpoint (WLP) to buy from neutral at Davenport.
• Humana (HUM) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Frontier Oil (FTO) to equal weight from underweight and Resources Connection (RECN) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Analyst Upgrades

• Baird upgraded Air Products (APD) to outperform from neutral on valuation following the sell-off after the company's bid for Airgas (ARG). The firm has an $89 price target on shares.
• JPMorgan upgraded Peabody Energy (BTU) to overweight from neutral as it believes the company is well positioned for 2010. The firm has a $50 price target on shares.
• Jefferies raised Adobe (ADBE) to buy from hold and has a $40 target on the stock. The firm believes concerns over the future of Flash are overblown and that shares of Adobe are attractive. Additionally, the firm expects CS5 to have a "decent" product cycle.
• Dell (DELL) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• SXC Health Solutions (SXCI) was upgraded to buy from hold at ThinkEquity.
• Harman (HAR) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Safeway (NYSE:SWY) to Buy from Neutral based on valuation.
  
• AthroCare (NASDAQ:ARTC) was raised to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna on valuation.
• BT Group (NYSE:BT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
  
• Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) was upgraded at Goldman to Buy from Neutral.
  
• China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Analyst downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Albany Molecular (NASDAQ:AMRI) to Underperform from Hold on concerns regarding the company's exposure to small biopharma as their checks suggest biopharmaceutical companies that rely on the capital markets to fund operations are cutting back significantly on R&D projects. The firm lowered their target to $8 from $10.
• Baird downgraded Sirona Dental (NASDAQ:SIRO) to Neutral from Outperform and lowered their target to $15 from $21 due to lack of catalysts and better options in dental.
  
• Stephens cut Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) to Equal Weight from Overweight on the expectation that weaker volumes will lead to pricing pressure. The firm lowered their target to $24 from $36.
• Teco Energy (NYSE:TE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at KeyBanc.
  
• RF Micro Devices (NASDAQ:RFMD) was lowered to Underperform from Buy at Merrill Lynch.
  
• Energy Conversion (NASDAQ:ENER) was cut to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sprint Nextel, Safeway, PharmaNet Development, Millennium Pharmaceutical and Telefonica were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Wachovia upgraded shares of Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company is within six months of reaching a sustainable turnaround in subscriber growth and that investor expectations can not get much lower.
• CIBC upgraded shares of Safeway Stores Inc (NYSE: SWY) to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer after the company's strong quarter in a challenging environment.
• Jefferies raised its rating on PharmaNet Development Group Inc (NASDAQ: PDGI) to Buy from Hold as they believe the company should achieve leverage in margins after executing its turnaround.
• Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: MLNM) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird. The firm said expectations for Millennium and Velcade are low and would be buyers for the quarter given the ASH meeting and downstream pipeline visibility.
  
• Telefonica SA (NYSE: TEF) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup following the company's earnings growth guidance.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman Brothers.
• UBS upgraded NII Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: NIHD) to Buy from Neutral.
• Goldman Sachs added Knight Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ: NITE) to its Conviction Buy List.
• RBC Capital upgraded Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY) to Outperform from Market Perform.