Analyst Upgrades

• Wachovia upgraded Choice Hotels (NYSE: CHH) to Outperform from Market Perform based on its high margin franchise, valuation, and brand acquisition opportunities, among other reasons.
• Canaccord upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Speculative Buy based on asset and management quality, size, and liquidity, and view as a potential hedge against inflation and U.S. dollar weakness.
• Cowen upgraded Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Outperform from Neutral. The firm expects Amazon to gain more of the consumer wallet as it focuses on lower prices and a superior shopping experience vs. online and offline competitors.
• Ctrip.com (NASDAQ: CTRP) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura.
• FedEx (NYSE: FDX) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) to Buy from Hold and raised the target price to $70 from $50 following AMGN's better-than-expected Q2 results and positive Dmab results.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS) to Neutral from Underperform and expects the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) transaction to close at the $25/share price.

Analyst downgrades:

• JP Morgan downgraded OmniVision (NASDAQ: OVTI) to Neutral from Overweight citing slowing growth and increased competition, as well as the impact on margins.
• Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEP) was downgraded at Lehman to Equal Weight from Overweight.
  
• International Game Tech (NYSE: IGT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.

Analyst initiations:

• KeyBanc said Visa's (NYSE: V) strengths are its recurring revenue model, significant pricing power, no consumer credit risk, operating leverage, expense flexibility, and considerable free cash flow, among other reasons. The firm initiated shares with a Buy rating and $94 target.
  
• Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC) was assumed at Caris with an Average rating and $18 target. The firm sees tough comps ahead for the company and does not expect any meaningful price increases.
  
• Caris also initiated Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL), as they are positive on the company's new financing vehicle. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $45 target.
• Goldman initiated textile, apparel and footwear stocks. Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) and Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) were initiated with Buy ratings, Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) and Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) were started with Neutral ratings and American Eagle (NYSE: AEO) was initiated with a Sell rating.

Even though tomorrow is a holiday in the U.S., there are a handful of companies planning to report quarterly earnings nonetheless. Perhaps some may be trying to keep a low profile; others may simply not be concerned with the American holiday schedule. Regardless, here's a quick peek at some of those companies, with the consensus earnings per share estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial compared to the previous quarter and year-ago quarter, the share price at the close on Friday (with charts behind the links), and consensus recommedations.

• Constellation Energy Partners (NYSE: CEP). Est. EPS: .48; Prev. Q.: .31; Yr-ago: .51; Shares: $19.63; Rec.: Strong buy.
• Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings (NYSE: FSR). Est. EPS: .66; Prev. Q.: .68; Shares: $13.19; Rec.: Hold.
• Natco Group Inc. (NYSE: NTG). Est. EPS: .69; Prev. Q.: .63; Yr-ago: .57; Shares: $44.46; Rec.: Buy.
• PharMerica Corp. (NYSE: PMC). Est. EPS: .08; Prev. Q.: .06; Shares: $13.86; Rec.: Hold.
• Stewart Information Services Corp. (NYSE: STC). Est. EPS: -.04; Prev. Q.: -.79; Yr-ago: .59; Shares: $32.49; Rec.: Hold.
• Trico Marine Services Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMA). Est. EPS: .77; Prev. Q.: .87; Yr-ago: 1.07; Shares: $31.92; Rec.: Buy.

UPDATED: Constellation reported .13 EPS; Flagstone reported .60 EPS; Natco reported .66 EPS; PharMerica reported .09 EPS; Stewart reported -1.74 EPS; and Trico Marine reported 2.08 EPS.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Red Lion Hotels (RLH), Constellation Energy (CEP), Brinker Int'l (EAT), Nvidia (NVDA) and InfoSpace (INSP) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Baird upgraded Red Lion Hotels (NYSE: RLH) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation, brand expansion progress and takeover potential.

• Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEP) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup based on higher cash flow expectations and valuation.

• JP Morgan upgraded Brinker (NYSE: EAT) to Overweight from Neutral, and sees potential upside from slower unit development and a possible Mac Grill sale.

• BMO Capital upgraded Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to Outperform from Market Perform following a strong second quarter.

• Stanford upgraded InfoSpace (NASDAQ: INSP) to Hold from Sell on valuation; They consider the core online segments looks to be priced into the stock and downside support is given with tax credits and the cash balance...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Citigroup raised Cox Radio (NYSE: CXR) to Hold from Sell.

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of PepsiAmericas (NYSE: PAS) to Neutral from Underweight.

• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Emulex (NYSE: ELX) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) was raised to Buy from Hold at Gabelli.

• Seagate (NYSE: STX) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

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