MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Piper upgraded shares of Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) to Outperform from Market Perform, citing valuation, and expects the company to have an upbeat tone on Thursday's quarterly report.

• Wachovia upgraded shares of Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) to Outperform from Market Perform based on valuation and strength in its international business. The firm believes North American weakness is largely confined to the e-commerce channel while enterprise growth is ongoing and international business remains strong.

• Banc of America upgraded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to Buy from Neutral on valuation.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) to Buy from Hold and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) & Comerica (NYSE: CMA) to Hold from Sell. The firm said JPMorgan's financial conglomerate structure gives it strength to gain share in times of stress. U.S. Bancorp was upgraded based on valuation and okay credit quality. Comerica was upgraded based on valuation and upcoming HQ move to Texas, which could make it a takeover target...

• JP Morgan upgraded Valueclick (NASDAQ: VCLK) to Overweight from Neutral.

• Bear Stearns upgraded BEA Systems (NASDAQ: BEAS) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

• Stifel raised Career Education (NASDAQ: CECO) to Buy from Hold.

• CL King upgraded Gap (NYSE: GPS) to Strong Buy from Neutral.

Analyst upgrades: CMA, GPS, JPM, MNST and VCLK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• IBM Corp (NYSE: IBM) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman to reflect the slowdown in domestic technology spending. Credit Suisse downgraded shares of IBM Corp to Neutral from Outperform and ThinkEquity cut IBM to Accumulate from Buy on the same rationale.

• Wendy's International (NYSE: WEN) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wachovia, citing valuation.

• Needham downgraded Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to Hold from Buy on valuation and the firm's belief that the 2H07 acceleration implied in consensus revenue forecasts could be difficult to exceed given the recent slowdown in display ad growth.

• WR Hambrecht downgraded shares of Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) to Hold from Buy as the firm believes there could be more downside to forward estimates given the aggressive pricing and softer demand environment. The firm sees too many industry risks following Seagate Technology's (STX) earnings conference call.

• Keefe Bruyette cut TD AmeriTrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Raymond James and BMO Capital downgraded U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) to Market Perform from Outperform following its Q1 report.

• First Albany downgraded Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc (NASDAQ: JOSB) to Sell from Neutral.

• ThinkEquity cut Evergreen Solar, Inc (NASDAQ: ESLR) to Source of Funds from Accumulate on valuation.

• Matrix USA downgraded SI International, Inc (NASDAQ: SINT) to Sell from Neutral.

• Goldman Sachs cut Intervac, Inc (NASDAQ: IVAC) to Sell from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades 4-18-07: AMTD, IBM, WEN & YHOO downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.