Analyst Upgrades

• Bristol-Myers (BMY) to hold from underperform at Jefferies.
• Pep Boys (PBY) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Tesla Motors (TSLA) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Emerson (EMR) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• ARM Holdings (ARMH) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• NetLogic (NETL) and Cavium Networks (CAVM) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Aimco (AIV) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Ceragon Networks (CRNT) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Analyst Upgrades

• GC Financial upgraded Microsoft (MSFT) to buy from hold, citing expectations that the company will raise its quarterly dividend by 15%. The firm upped its target for shares to $30 from $29.
• JPMorgan upgraded Agrium (AGU) to overweight from neutral, citing valuation and strengthening agricultural fundamentals. The firm raised its target for shares to $75 from $70. Note JPMorgan downgraded Mosaic (MOS) this morning to neutral from overweight.
• Susquehanna upgraded Baker Hughes (BHI) to positive from neutral based on valuation. The firm has a $53 target on the stock.
• Target (TGT) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• CF Industries (CF) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Portugal Telecom (PT) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst Upgrades

• Kaufman Bros. upgraded Amazon.com (AMZN) to buy from hold as it finds the risk/reward on shares attractive following the recent pullback and expects the company to report strong Q4 results. Kaufman maintains a $155 price target on the stock.
• Baird upgraded DeVry (DV) to outperform from neutral and raised its target to $76 from $62. The firm said they have increased confidence in DeVry's ability to navigate through the ERP implementation.
• Benchmark Co. upgraded McGraw-Hill (MHP) to buy from hold on expectations the company's momentum should continue throughout 2010 due to improving debt markets, increased IPO issuance and steady education funding. The firm raised its target price on shares to $42 from $32.
• Best Buy (BBY) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Rochdale.
• AK Steel (AKS) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Cooper Industries (CBE) was raised to buy from neutral at UBS.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the world's economies are getting too strong to obey these downgrades of Intel and TI.

When Wall Street starts looking at tech companies as they would industrials -- as they should be scrutinized -- then we will not get downgrades like Bank of America/Merrill's takedowns of Intel (INTC) (Cramer's Take) and Texas Instruments (TXN) (Cramer's Take).

The essence of these two downgrades is the looming inventory correction that everyone has feared from $14 a share onward for Intel and $18 for Texas Instruments at the start of the summer. At every step I have heard of this coming breakdown, the double ordering and the decline in demand as one analyst after another has warned us of the apocalypse around the corner.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you can be bearish, but you have to admit when you're wrong.

Oh boy, I hit a nerve. My last two days of donning the bear suit and imitating the bears has brought on a cacophony of critics, all of whom think that I am attacking them personally! That's right, they think I have read them, seen them and heard them and that I am spoofing them or making fun of them.

Moreover, they think that I am wildly bullish and that I am mocking them for not wanting to buy things here.

Analyst upgrades:

• Wells Fargo transferred coverage of Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) with an Outperform rating, upgraded from the previous analysts' Market Perform rating. The firm believes commercial construction will be of less of a headwind for the company than the Street thinks, and has a $38-$41 valuation range on the stock.
• Kaufman Bros. upgraded SuccessFactors (NASDAQ: SFSF) to Buy from Hold after channel checks indicated demand trends picked up in July. The firm raised its target on shares to $15 from $12.
• UBS upgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Buy from Neutral and believes Marketplace transaction growth is "turning the corner." Additionally, the firm believes the secondary market represents a long-term opportunity for the company. The firm raised its target to $28 from $24.
• Novartis (NYSE: NVS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
• Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
• Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform AMC Monday at Bernstein.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) to Buy from Hold on valuation as it believes commercial construction concerns are well known. The firm raised its target on shares to $40 from $37, and coupled the upgrade with a downgrade of Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) to Sell from Hold.
• Credit Suisse upgraded BJ Services (NYSE: BJS) to Neutral from Underperform following its acquisition by Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI). The firm raised its target to $17.
• Credit Suisse also upgraded Amkor Technology (NASDAQ: AMKR) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $8 from $7. The firm expects Amkor to benefit from near-term strength in the supply chain and the mix shift towards higher value packaging.
• Textron (NYSE: TXT) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Siemens (NYSE: SI) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
• Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery.

Analyst upgrades:

• Janney Montgomery upgraded Kenexa (NASDAQ: KNXA) and SuccessFactors (NASDAQ: SFSF) to Buy from Neutral on expectations corporate IT spending will accelerate in the second half of 2009. The firm raised its target on Kenexa to $14 from $8 and on SuccessFactors to $12 from $9.
• Jefferies upgraded PSS World Medical (NASDAQ: PSSI) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's cost-cutting measures and efforts to gain market share. The firm raised its target on shares to $25 from $17.50.
• FBR Capital upgraded Sunpower (NASDAQ: SPWRA) to Outperform from Market Perform following the company's Q2 results to reflect increased business prospects in the "rooftop" segment of the market. FBR raised its target on shares to $40 from $22.
• Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) to Hold from Sell to reflect improving macro indicators and a belief negative earnings revisions are unlikely going forward. The firm raised its target price to $37 from $28.
  
• Royal Bank of Scotland upgraded Siemens (NYSE: SI) to Buy from Hold on expectations the company will benefit from an economic recovery.
  
• Banc of America/Merril upgraded State Street (NYSE: STT) to Buy from Neutral and raised their price target to $50 from $40 following stress test results that show the company does not need additional capital. The analyst said the news "clears one of the bars on capital concerns."
  
• Teradata (NYSE: TDC) was raised to Market Weight from Underweight at Thomas Weisel.
  
• Target (NYSE: TGT) was lifted to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
  
• Diageo (NYSE: DEO) was upgraded at UBS to Neutral from Sell.

[Update: Find more Comfort Zone Investing here and more stocks to buy here.]

Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.

By definition, no. Stocks carry risk. If you don't want risk, put your money in treasury bills or under the mattress. But don't expect much of a return, if any. Having said that, certain stocks do have attributes that make them relatively, and I emphasize this word, relatively, safer investments than others.

First and foremost, they have solid earnings. The best ones increase earnings every year for several years, no matter what the economy does. Examples: Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL). If you've watched these stocks during the last 6 months, they've gone down but nowhere near the depths of most others. They have solid earnings investors can count on. Investors pay for that.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Anchor Bancorp, TomoTherapy and Skillsoft Corp were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Keefe Bruyette initiated Anchor Bancorp (NASDAQ: ABCW) with a Market Perform rating and $18 target, as they prefer to wait for credit and capital concerns to subside.
  
• Jefferies believes TomoTherapy (NASDAQ: TOMO) should trade higher based on the company's strong new order growth and would be buyers at current levels. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $17 target.
  
• Skillsoft (NASDAQ: SKIL) was assumed with an Outperform rating at William Blair, as they believe the NETg acquisition will drive significant operating margin improvement in the coming years.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Lehman reinstated MarkWest Energy (NYSE: MWE) with an Overweight rating.
  
• Friedman Billings initiated C.R. Bard (NYSE: BCR) with a Market Perform rating and $102 target.
  
• Wachovia initiated Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) and Thomas & Betts (NYSE: TNB) with Market Perform ratings.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Almost Family, Cooper Industries and Ciber were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Jefferies believes Almost Family (NASDAQ: AFAM) will likely take advantage of the significant consolidation opportunity in home nursing. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $26 target.
  
• Kevin Dann initiated Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) with a Sell rating and $35 target and believes the upcoming growth deceleration in North America, Europe and Asia's developed regions could weigh on sales growth and further margin expansion.
  
• Ciber (NYSE: CBR) was assumed with a Buy rating and $9 target at Roth Capital, as they view the company as a compelling investment opportunity for value investors. The firm recommends building positions.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• BMO Capital initiated Bionovo (NASDAQ: BNVI) with a Market Perform rating.
  
• Goldman reinstated Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) with a Buy rating and $15 target.
  
• Canaccord Adams started Amalyin Pharma (NASDAQ: AMLN) with a Sell rating and $23 target.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Greenfield Online, Simpson Manufacturing and Cooper Industries were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Merriman assumed coverage of Greenfield Online (NASDAQ:SRVY) with a Buy rating. The firm's sum-of-parts valuation implies 50% upside to the stock and they believe the current valuation does not reflect the fast growing, high margin Comparison Shopping segment.
  
• CIBC initiated Simpson Manufacturing (NYSE:SSD) with a Sector Performer rating and sees near-term earnings risk given the company's exposure to the U.S. housing market.
  
• Cooper Industries (NYSE:CBE) was initiated at UBS with a Buy rating and $58 target. The firm expects Cooper to benefit from positive secular trends in energy efficiency and infrastructure investment.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Baird initiated Large/Mid-Cap Banks with an Evenweight view, starting Comerica (NYSE:CMA) and PNC Financial (NYSE:PNC) with Outperform ratings and a $50 target and $75 target, respectively.
  
• Wachovia started Henry Jack & Associates (NASDAQ:JKHY) with a Market Perform rating.