Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Deere (DE) to overweight from neutral and raised its target on shares to $65 from $52. JPMorgan believes the company's fundamentals are improving and sees signs of a recovery in forestry, turf and earth-moving equipment.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Valmont (VMI) to neutral from underweight on valuation following the company's Q4 results. The firm lowered its target price on shares to $70 from $74.
• Soleil upgraded Group 1 Automotive (GPI) to buy from hold on valuation with a $36 price target. The firm believes negative news flow for Toyota has created an opportunity to accumulate shares.
• Bernstein upgraded Deutsche Telekom (DT) to outperform from market perform.
• Nucor (NUE) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• American Eagle (AEO) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q4 results as they believe fundamentals are stabilizing. The firm raised their target price to $22 from $12.
  
• Baird upgraded Theravance (NASDAQ: THRX) to Outperform from Neutral. The firm said the company looks poised to realize the two-product success necessary to drive profitability, and Horizon will likely play a role in succeeding $7B+ Advair. Note that last night Theravance/Glaxo (GSK) reported positive results for Horizon.
  
• RBC Capital said Aeterna Zentaris (NASDAQ: AEZS) is on the cusp of a Cetrorelix deal and has turned more positive on shares. Shares were upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform.
  
• Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and added to the firm's Conviction Buy List.
  
• Sangamo BioSciences (NASDAQ: SGMO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merriman.
  
• Arthur J. Gallagher (NYSE: AJG) was upgraded at Piper Jaffray to Buy from Neutral.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: NuVasive, Buffalo Wild Wings and Invesco were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Merriman believes NuVasive's (NASDAQ:NUVA) expanding product and distribution should continue to drive growth and feels the recent pullback provides a good entry point into shares. Merriman started NuVasive with a Buy rating.
  
• Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) was initiated at Jefferies with a Hold rating and $30 target as they believe consensus estimates are aggressive and that shares are approaching fair valuation.
  
• William Blair believes Invesco's (NYSE:IVZ) investment capabilities and diversified client base are key differentiators that will drive superior relative growth over the long term; shares were assumed with an Outperform rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Baird initiated XenoPort (NASDAQ:XNPT) with an Outperform rating and $74 target.
  
• KeyBanc assumed Felcor Lodging (NYSE:FCH) with a Buy rating and $14 target.
  
• Trimble Navigation (NASDAQ:TRMB) was initiated at Thomas Weisel with a Market Weight rating and $30 target.