Analyst Upgrades

• Verizon (VZ), FEMSA (FMX), Vornado (VNO), Duke Realty (DRE) and AvalonBay (AVB) to buy from neutral, as well as Carnival (CCL) to conviction buy from buy, at Goldman.
• Symantec (SYMC) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Copano Energy (CPNO), DCP Midstream (DPM) and Inergy (NRGY) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• SYNNEX (SNX) to strong buy from buy at Needham.
• Eli Lilly (LLY) to hold from sell at Hapoalim.
• World Wrestling (WWE) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.

Analyst Upgrades

• Kaufman Bros. upgraded Vancelnfo (VIT) to buy from hold, citing better earnings visibility. The firm raised its target price for shares to $26 from $22.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Progressive (PGR) to buy from neutral with an $18.50 price target, citing valuation and market share gains.
• JPMorgan upgraded Marriott (MAR) to overweight from neutral. The firm has a $36 price target on the stock.
• eBay (EBAY) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Werner Enterprises (WERN) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.
• CNOOC (CEO) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.

Analyst upgrades:

• KeyBanc upgraded Epicor (NASDAQ: EPIC) to Buy from Hold based on several near-term catalysts that include possible convertible debt repurchases, reasonable Q4 results, a proxy fight, and a boost from the Epicor 9 product cycle in 2H09.
  
• KeyBanc also upgraded AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) to Buy from Hold based on relative valuation and said the company could benefit from lower iron ore, scrap natural gas, and labor inputs.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Lennar (NYSE: LEN) to Overweight from Neutral based on relative valuation.
• Marriott (NYSE: MAR) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Wachovia.
  
• Deere (NYSE: DE) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.

Analyst downgrades:

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC), Nasdaq Stock Market Inc (NDAQ), Greenbrier Cos (GBX), Southern Copper Corp (PCU) and Hawaiian Holdings (HA) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Cablevision Systems Corp (NYSE: CVC) to Neutral from Outperform and does not expect a higher bid to emerge.

• Deutsche Bank downgraded Nasdaq Stock Market Inc (NASDAQ: NDAQ) to Hold from Buy, expecting only modest performance in 2007.

• Matrix cut Greenbrier Cos (NYSE: GBX) to Sell from Hold on the belief that slowing demand for double-stack and forest products rail cars is leading to slowing revenues.

• Credit Suisse downgraded Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU) to Underperform from Outperform based on valuation.

• Goldman cut Hawaiian Holdings (AMEX: HA) to Sell from Neutral based on weak fundamentals and increased liquidity concerns.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Sterne Agee downgraded Blockbuster Inc (NYSE: BBI) to Hold from Buy.

• LoJack Corp (NASDAQ: LOJN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham.

• Axcelis Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: ACLS) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at AG Edwards.

• CBL & Associates Properties, Inc (NYSE: CBL) was taken down to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.

• Morgan Stanley downgraded UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) to Underweight from Equal Weight.

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