Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Blackstone Group (BX) to outperform from market perform following the company's Q3 results and maintains an $18.50 price target on shares.
• Baird upgraded Astec (ASTE) to outperform from neutral citing relative valuation and upside from new multi-year U.S. highway funding legislation. The firm raised its target to $33 from $27.
• Goldman upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to conviction buy from neutral citing "significant" long-term growth drivers that include international growth. The firm raised its target to $45 from $36.
• Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Energizer (ENR) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• AstraZeneca (AZN) was upgraded to buy from hold at RBS.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Patterson-UTI Energy, Nabors Industries, US Steel Group, Cooper Companies and Continental AG were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded Patterson-UTI Energy Inc (NASDAQ: PTEN) and Nabors Industries Limited (NYSE: NBR) to Outperform from Market Perform citing valuations and secular growth trends.
• Citigroup upgraded US Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) to Buy from Hold and raised their target to $118 to reflect operating catalysts and their expectations for domestic steel markets to improve in Q4 and 2008.
• Cooper Companies Inc (NYSE: COO) was also upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup despite the lowered guidance as they believe the company's products are improving and earnings upside is possible.
• WestLB upgraded Continental AG (OTC: CTTAY) to Buy from Hold after the tire marker announced plans to reorganize its company structure into six divisions following the purchase of Siemens AG's (NYSE: SI) VDO automotive unit.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Tempur Pedic International (NYSE: TPX) was upped to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC World Markets.
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Stone Energy Corporation (NYSE: SGY) to Outperform from Market Perform.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) to Buy from Hold.
• Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein.

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Stone Energy-(NYSE: SGY) implied volatility, volume & share price Rises. SGY, an independent oil and natural gas company based in Louisiana, will announce EPS on 5/8/07. SGY is recently up $1.79 to $31.72 on unconfirmed takeover speculation. EPL offered to purchase SGY for $52 cash on 5/25/06. On 10/12/06 EPL terminated its merger with SGY. SGY announced on 4/26/07 the SEC ended an informal probe of SGY's proven hydrocarbon reserves. SGY call option volume of 2,816 contracts compares to put volume of 32 contracts according to Track Data. SGY May option implied volatility of 50 is above a level of 31 from ten minutes ago (as of this writing) and its 26-week average of 30 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Ceridian-(NYSE: CEN) May option volatility increases as CEN rallies on chatter. CEN, an information services company principally in the human resource, transportation and retail markets, is recently up .91 to $35.03. TheDeal.com reported a deal for CEN could be near. CEN has a market cap of $4.93 billion, long-term debt of $83 million and cash & short term investments of $294 million. CEN reported 2006 revenues of $1.56 billion. CEN May option implied volatility of 35 is above its 26-week average of 26 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

Option volume leaders today are: Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Motorola (NYSE: MOT).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: CV Therapeutics, Inc (CVTX) and Stone Energy Corp (SGY) topped today's modest-sized list of downgrades:

• Citigroup cut CV Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: CVTX) to Sell from Hold with a $6 target due to the diminished market potential for Ranexa and its high operating expenses. First Albany downgraded shares to Neutral from Strong Sell to reflect the lack of catalysts.

• Matrix USA cut Stone Energy Corp (NYSE: SGY) to Strong Sell from Hold, believing significant cost increases are driving negative fundamental trends.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Deutsche Telecom AG (NYSE: DT) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns as the firm believes evidence of a turnaround needs to be seen before shares move higher.

• Thomas Weisel cut Brady Corporation (NYSE: BRC) to Market Weight from Overweight to reflect lower confidence in management's ability to deploy capital effectively.

• Overseas Shipholding Group Inc (NYSE: OSG) was downgraded to Hold from Strong Buy at Matrix USA.

• American Technology downgraded Sigma Designs, Inc (NASDAQ: SIGM) to Neutral from Buy with a $28 target.

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