Analyst Upgrades

• Akamai (AKAM) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Las Vegas Sands (LVS) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Aetna (AET) to Outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Hot Topic (HOTT) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Colonial Properties (CLP) upgraded to Outperform from market perform at FBR Capital and to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Altera (ALTR) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• American Reprographics (ARC), CarMax (KMX) and American Campus (ACC) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Zebra Tech (ZBRA) to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• IMAX (IMAX) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Basic Energy (BAS) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Mednax (MD) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• UTi Worldwide (UTIW) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

E.W. Scripps Co. (NYSE: SSP) today announced its intention to ralston the company. (Ralstoning, by the way, is a term I just coined, referring to the climber Aron Ralston who, trapped by a boulder, was forced to cut off his own arm to survive.) The move separates the still-beating heart of Scripps, its cable-TV and internet shopping sites, from the dead meat, newspapers and local television.

The move follows a similar Ralston by Belo Corp. (NYSE: BLC), which recently split its dead tree and television businesses to the satisfaction of its stockholders and a spike in its stock price.

The new Scripps Networks Interactive will include the Food Network, DIY and HGTV, while E. W. Scripps will hold papers including the Rocky Mountain News as well as 10 local TV networks.

Scripps stockholders will receive shares of the new company as dividends, but the operations of both entities will remain in the control of the Edward W. Scripps Trust.

The move by Scripps and Belo could also present opportunities for investors that believe that the newspaper business, while in decline, could still have some value to be wrung out of it. Once cut free from the cable TV business, its stock could quickly fall to an undervalued level.

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Mergers come to sectors in waves and now its media's turn.

There are many companies that would be of interest to either public or private buyers including Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI), E.W. Scripps Co. (NYSE: SSP) and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO).

Shares of Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher, have tanked more than 20% over the past five years as advertisers fled to the Internet. The company, though, has a solid management team that has made many accretive acquisitions.

Scripps has long been a favorite on Wall Street. The company's cable business, which includes the Food Network and HGTV, is great and its newspaper business is no worse off than others, which I realize is faint praise. Its shares are down 13% this year.

Martha Stewart Living, whose shares have plunged 15% this year, has defied the skeptics.

Even though the company recently said its first quarter loss widened, the results did beat Wall Street expectations. Chief Executive Susan Lyne has done a good job in expanding the Stewart brand. The recent prepared food deal with Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) seems to have potential.

Other targets include The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), which I've argued before, satellite radio companies XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NYSE: XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Belo Corp. (NYSE: BLC), which owns the Dallas Morning News along television and radio stations.