Analyst Upgrades

• Boeing (BA) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Alcoa (AA) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• BP (BP) to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
• Office Depot (ODP) and Staples (SPLS) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• ON Semiconductor (ONNN) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Kennametal (KMT) and Polyone (POL) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Airgas (ARG) to outperform from market perform at William Blair.
• EchoStar (SATS) to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.

Analyst Upgrades

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded MSCI Inc. (MXB) to outperform from market perform on valuation following Monday's sell-off as it views the acquisition of RiskMetrics (RISK) favorably. The firm has a $36 price target on shares. UBS also upgraded MSCI, to buy from neutral, and raised its target to $40 from $34, citing the recent pullback in shares and the accretive acquisition of RiskMetrics.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Suncor (SU) to hold from sell on valuation and raised its price target on shares to $28 from $20. The firm continues to prefer Canadian Natural (CNQ) to Suncor, however, and raised its target on shares to $80 from $78.
• JMP Securities upgraded Grubb & Ellis (GBE) to outperform from market perform based on the improved operating environment and balance sheet, and valuation, among other reasons.
• Dell (DELL) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• FEMSA (FMX) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at HSBC.
• Westar Energy (WR) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect improving credit trends following the July monthly data. The firm raised its target price on shares to $37.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Corning (NYSE: GLW) to Outperform from Perform as it believes 2010 estimates are achievable and concerns over falling LCD demand are overdone. The firm set a $19 price target on the stock.
• JPMorgan upgraded International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) to Overweight from Neutral on valuation and expectations domestic replacement orders will pick up. The firm has a $23 price target on shares.
• Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Pali Capital.
• Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Mechel Steel (NYSE: MTL) was upgraded to Neutral from Reduce at Nomura.