MOST NOTEWORTHY: Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), Pepsi Bottling (PBG), Brinker International (EAT), Northwest Airlines (NWA) and Spectrum Brands (SPC) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Merriman upgraded shares of Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) to Buy from Neutral on valuation as they believe the 25% sell-off post in-line earnings is overdone.

• Banc of America upgraded shares of Pepsi Bottling (NYSE: PBG) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the company's earnings power in 2008, ongoing cost controls and more robust product pipeline.

• SMH Capital upgraded shares of Brinker Int'l (NYSE: EAT) as they believe expectations are too low for Q4 and FY08.

• Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley on valuation.

• Spectrum Brands (NYSE: SPC) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Buckingham on valuation...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Gap (NYSE: GPS) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at CL King & Associates.

• Raymond James upgraded Ruby Tuesday (NYSE: RT) to Market Perform from Underperform.

• Burger King (NYSE: BKC) was raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

• MetLife (NYSE: MET) was added to Goldman Sachs' Conviction Buy List.

• Bear Stearns upgraded Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Have you ever sat in a McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) outlet around lunchtime on a weekend and just watched? Chances are you'll see a family or two, and chances are, the young children will be in possession of a hamburger Happy Meal. And if the family you're watching is anything like mine, or my colleague's, you'll see a pregnant mom (that's me) or dad, with an empty Quarter Pounder wrapper, hungrily eyeing the last bites of the child's burger.

Maybe it was a sight like that that prompted franchisee Scott Frisbee, whose family owns 17 McDonald's restaurants in and around Anaheim, California, to develop the idea that McDonald's needed a premium burger. Maybe it was those ubiquitous commercials for the "six dollar burger" at rival Carl's Jr., a unit of CKE Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:CKR), and the fact that his menu had no competitive item. Maybe he was just hungry. Either way, the progress of McDonald's Third Pounder from concept to its appearance on California menus is remarkable for its speed -- not to mention its success.

At $3.99, the burger is the most expensive sandwich the company has ever offered -- seemingly counter to McDonald's place in the country's subconscious as the cheapest place to get a family meal. At 720 to 840 calories depending on options, the sandwich seems contrary to America's hopeless striving to become healthier. And after a string of less-than-stellar new menu items in the 80s and 90s, the fast food chain had slowed to focus on its menu standards -- so however did this come to fruition so quickly and to such obvious acclaim?

Note to advertisers: be really careful who you pick to pitch your products.

Sure, you want a big name. You want convincing. You want sexy. But do you really want someone who doesn't even like your product? (Hint: no!)

Yesterday, Paris Hilton plead 'no contest' to one count of alcohol-related reckless driving -- she'll pay a fine and be on probation for 36 months. All this because she was really hungry (and drunk) and "wanted to have an In-N-Out burger."

Which all would be a juicy story, and par-for-the-course with the idle rich like Ms. Hilton. Except that she's a former spokesperson (spokesmodel?) for rival Carl's Jr., a unit of CKE Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:CKR). There was so much egg (or was that hamburger grease?) on everyone's face, the incident made Business 2.0's list for dumbest moments in business.

I'll give this: you probably don't want your spokespeople drinking and driving. But if they do, and they're caught in the act and interviewed as to what was going on, wouldn't you want them to say, "I really wanted a Carl's Jr. burger?"

Pick your spokespeople like you pick your CEOs: make sure they love 'em a good ____ [your product goes here]. It will at least make for a good crawl on CNN. Any PR is good PR... right?