Analyst Upgrades

• Tyson Foods (TSN) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Carmike Cinemas (CKEC) to buy from neutral at Merriman.
• Ambow Education (AMBO) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Johnson Controls (JCI) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Dynex Capital (DX) to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Ensco (ESV) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• York Water (YORW) to buy from hold at Brean Murray.
• Mid-America Apartment (MAA) to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• Cheniere Energy Partners (CQP) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Forest Oil (FST) to positive from neutral at Susquehanna.
• Tractor Supply (TSCO) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.

Analyst Upgrades

• DuPont (DD) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• UBS upgraded Deere (DE) to buy from neutral and AGCO (AGCO) to neutral from sell.
• Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Thoratec (THOR) and DTE Energy (DTE) were upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• NICE Systems (NICE) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at HSBC.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Copa Holdings (CPA) to buy from hold.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Nu Skin (NUS) to buy from neutral.
• Continental Resources (CLR) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.

Analyst Upgrades

• Jefferies upgraded Computer Sciences (CSC) to buy from hold and raised its target to $53 from $47. The analyst said Computer Sciences' valuation has created one of the best LBO opportunities in several years and could provide a five year IRR of 25+%.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Comerica (CMA) to outperform from market perform, citing strength of the company's capital. The firm raised its target for shares to $44 from $43.
• RBC Capital upgraded Nokia (NOK) to outperform from sector perform and raised its price target to $14 from $12. The firm upgraded shares based on valuation, reduced execution risk on software development, and potential catalysts from new devices based on Symbian^3. RBS upgraded Nokia to buy from hold after the company named Stephen Elop as CEO.
• Allstate (ALL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Moody's (MCO) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.

If you are looking for clues telling you which stocks have a good chance of increasing in value, you might want consider watching what insiders are doing. After all, talk is cheap, but when insiders put their own money on the line, you should sit up and take note.

Calumet Specialty Products Partners L P (CLMT) topped the insider-buying charts for the week ending July 9th as insiders snapped up 775,000 shares of company stock at a market value of $13,678,750. During the past six months, insiders have increased their overall holdings in the company by 0.37% and now own 53.69% of CLMT stock.

Alliance Healthcare Services Inc (AIQ) was not far behind, with insiders buying 450,000 shares at a market value of $2,024,250. Insiders now own 6.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades

• Piper Jaffray upgraded Dreamworks (DWA) to overweight from neutral following the company's Q2 results. The firm also raised its target for shares to $38 from $30.
• Stephens upgraded Global Payments (GPN) with a $50 price target following the company's Q4 results. Note, shares were downgraded this morning at Janney Montgomery.
• BMO Capital upgraded Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) to outperform from market perform, citing the company's planned exploration activity. The firm raised its price target to $27 from $23.
• eHealth (EHTH) was upgraded to perform from underperform at Oppenheimer and to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• NASDAQ OMX (NDAQ) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• C.H. Robinson (CHRW) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.

The focus of last week's preview was on oil and energy companies, and we saw that big oil had a good week, reporting better-than-expected results and record profits driven by high prices in the third quarter. Energy-related companies are well represented again this week and expectations in general remain high.

Early in the week, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial anticipate that the big earnings gainers will include EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), and Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC), which are expected to post profits of $2.24 per share (up 64.7% from a year ago), $1.48 per share (up 52.7%) and $2.26 per share (up 61.1%) respectively. All three of them have offered positive surprises in recent quarters, and analysts on average recommend buying EOG and Anadarko. Other expected big earnings gainers early in the week include Forest Oil Corp. (NYSE: FST), Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD), Comstock Resources Inc. (NYSE: CRK), and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). The earnings of phosphates producer Innophos Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: IPHS) are expected to have risen 92.3% to $3.37 per share. Innophos beat estimates in the previous quarter by a whopping 210%, and analysts have been impressed with Innophos's lack of debt and pricing gains despite the slowing economy, so, on average, they recommend buying IPHS.

Also early in the week, analysts expect Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT), Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ: KALU), and Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK) to report that their profits fell 52.9% to $0.33 per share, 45.1% to $0.67 per share, and 41.2% to $0.67 per share, respectively. These companies have tended to beat estimates in recent quarters, and the consensus recommendations of analysts are to buy them. However, PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI), one of the largest private mortgage insurance providers in the U.S., is expected to take another hit as the housing slump drags on. The California-based company is expected to have widened its net loss from $1.04 per share a year ago to $2.43 per share in the most recent quarter. Its shares are down 84.5% from a year ago, and have been trading recently near their 52-week low.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Lehman, PNM Resources and Hilb, Rogal and Hobbs were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Wachovia downgraded Lehman (NYSE: LEH) to Market Perform from Outperform citing the larger capital raise, poorly marked assets, and lack of confidence.
  
• Jefferies downgraded PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM) to Hold from Buy citing valuation and lower contribution from the company's First Choice supply subsidiary.
  
• Hilb, Rogal and Hobbs (NYSE: HRH) was cut at Davenport to Neutral from Buy following the acquisition by Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH).

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Merrill lowered Fortis (OTC: FORSY) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  
• Calyon downgraded Helmerich and Payne (NYSE: HP) to Neutral from Add.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: GSI Technology, Array Biopharma and Continental Resources were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Merriman believes GSI Technology Inc (NASDAQ: GSIT) is positioned to benefit as growing bandwidth demand and increasingly complex protocols drive the need for faster and higher density memory in networking equipment. The firm started shares with a Buy rating.
• Array Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ: ARRY) was assumed with an Outperform rating at William Blair. The firm thinks the company's pipeline contains significant value, which will be catalyzed over the next 12-18 months by continued clinical progress and potential partnerships.
• Continental Resources Inc (NYSE: CLR) was initiated with a Buy rating and $30 target at Jefferies, and points to the company's double-digit growth and strong reserve growth potential.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Lehman initiated Ventas Inc (NYSE: VTR) with an Equal Weight rating $46 target and HCP Inc (NYSE: HCP) with an Overweight rating.
• The Boston Beer Company Inc (NYSE: SAM) was assumed with an Overweight rating and $43 target at HSBC.

Readers of this space know that one argument forwarded here is that in the era of elevated energy prices oil/natural gas companies are likely to remain promising plays for the foreseeable future, barring the discovery of a cheap, widely-available, alternative energy. And among oil/natural gas companies, Continental Resources is worth a review.

Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CLR) searches for oil/natural gas beneath the North American continent, in the Rocky Mountain, Mid-Continent, and Gulf Coast regions.

Analysts like the fact that CLR has added reserves of 96.2 million barrels of oil equivalent via growth during 2001-2006. The company has proven reserves totaling 118.3 million barrels of oil equivalent, 1,172 drilling locations and 737,000 acres of leasehold properties.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: CAI International (CAP), ATS Corp (ATCT), Logitech International (LOGI) and Wireless Ronin (RNIN) were today's more noteworthy initiations:

• Piper Jaffray started CAI International (NYSE: CAP) with an Outperform rating and $18 target, believing the company is well positioned to capitalize on global trade growth. Jefferies started CAI Int'l with a Buy rating and $17 target.

• CRT Capital believes ATS Corp's (NASDAQ: ATCT) risks are offset by positive long-term fundamentals of the federal IT services sector and the company's experienced management team and started shares with a Buy rating and $5 target.

• Pacific Crest started Logitech International (NASDAQ: LOGI) with a Sector Perform rating based on valuation.

• ThinkEquity believes that Wireless Ronin Technologies (NASDAQ: RNIN) is exposed to one of the biggest open-ended growth opportunities in digital media today with its RoninCast application and started shares with a Buy rating...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Leerink Swann started Insulet Corp (NASDAQ: PODD) with an Outperform rating.

• Goldman started Essex Property Trust (NYSE: ESS) with a Neutral.

• Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan started Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) with an Overweight rating, while Merrill Lynch started Continental Resources with a Buy rating.

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