Analyst upgrades:

• Stanford raised Fluor (NYSE: FLR) to Hold from Sell primarily due to valuation.
• Citigroup upgraded Cadence Designs (NASDAQ: CDNS) to Buy from Hold because they think the company's cost restructuring initiative and its new CFO will be catalysts for the shares.

• Stephens dropped Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) to Equal Weight from Overweight because they no longer view LOFT as a compelling reason to invest in the company.
  
• Citigroup downgraded Hershey (NYSE: HSY) to Hold from Buy on valuation.
  
• KeyBanc dropped Lennox (NYSE: LII) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Coverage of Hershey was assumed with a Sell by Stifel, which cited valuation for its rating.
• FARO Technology (NASDAQ: FARO) was initiated by Needham with a Buy rating.
• Leerink Swann resumed coverage of Cardionet (NASDAQ: BEAT) with an Outperform, as the firm predicts that the company's technolgoy will enable it to grow substantially.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cardionet, Molson Coors and TIM Participacoes were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Cardionet (NASDAQ: BEAT) initiated with an Overweight, target $29 at Thomas Weisel, who believes Cardionet is well positioned for future growth in the ambulatory monitoring market.
  
• Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP) was initiated with a Market Perform, target $61 at BMO Capital.
  
• TIM Participacoes (NYSE: TSU) was re-initiated with an Outperform at Bear Stearns.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Invesco (NYSE: IVZ) was initiated with an Overweight at J.P. Morgan.
• Orion Marine Group (NASDAQ: OMGI) was initiated with a Buy, target of $18, at SMH Capital.
• Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) was initiated with a Neutral, target of $12, at Bank of America.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• RBC initiated Visa Inc (NYSE: V) with an Outperform based on margin expansion opportunities, the secular growth story towards electronic payments, lack of credit risk, and international opportunities. Piper started Visa with a Neutral rating. While the firm believes that Visa should generate long-term earnings growth and free cash flow, the firm thinks that Visa's valuation has increased the risk that strong earnings growth may not meet investors' expectations. However, the firm believes that Visa can still post strong results despite the U.S. consumer slowdown. Goldman initiated Visa with a Buy rating and $90 target and Morgan Stanley started shares with an Equal Weight rating and $75 target.
• Citigroup rated Cardionet Inc (NASDAQ: BEAT) a Buy, citing favorable arrhythmia monitoring trends. The firm has a $26 target on Cardionet.
• Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) was assumed with an Equal Weight rating and $75 target at Morgan Stanley on valuation.

• Merriman initiated Netezza Corporation (NYSE: NZ) with a Neutral rating.
• Credit Suisse started Cascal N.V. (NYSE: HOO) with a Neutral rating and $11.65 target.