Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded CTC Media (NASDAQ: CTCM) to Buy from Neutral on a better outlook for European Media names and raised its target on shares to $17.60 from $12.
• Morgan Joseph upgraded Movado (NYSE: MOV) to Buy from Hold after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results. The firm set a $16 target on the stock.
• Needham upgraded LTX Credence (NASDAQ: LTXC) to Strong Buy from Hold following the company's Q4 results with a $3 price target.
• Canon (NYSE: CAJ) was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Macquarie.
• Whitney Holding (NASDAQ: WTNY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust.
• Gafisa SA (NYSE: GFA) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst upgrades:

• Kaufman Bros. assumed coverage of Ctrip.com (NASDAQ: CTRP) and upgraded the stock to Buy from its previous Hold rating. The firm thinks the company's Q2 targets are achievable while 20%-plus growth should return in Q3 as comps ease.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Cogdell Spencer (NYSE: CSA) to Neutral from Sell as it believes last night's capital raise removes risk. The firm has a $4.50 target on shares.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Map Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MAPP) to Buy from Hold following the positive Levadex Phase 3 results as it believes the migraine drug could generate peak sales of $250M in the U.S. if approved. Deutsche raised its target on shares to $12 from $5.
• Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE: NWN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) was upgraded to Add from Reduce at WestLB.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) to Conviction Buy from Neutral and raised their target to $90 from $60. Goldman cites ICE's positioning and potential for upward EPS revisions for the upgrade.
  
• Jefferies upgraded FMC Technologies (NYSE: FTI) to Buy from Hold as they believe solid deepwater activity levels will lead to solid EPS results in 2009 and 2010. The firm raised their price target to $45 from $27.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation and expects significant improvement in basis differentials for the company's Barnett production starting the second half of Q2. The firm raised their price target to $60 from $50.
• Elan Corp (NYSE: ELN) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Piper Jaffray.
  
• Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) was upgraded at Keefe Bruyette to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to Neutral from Sell on valuation and believes the company's guidance is realistic.
  
• SMH Capital upgraded GMX Resources (NASDAQ: GMXR) to Accumulate from Neutral and is positive on the company's capex reduction.
  
• Wachovia raised Nationwide Health Services (NYSE: NHP) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect the company's diversified portfolio and "solid" capital position.
• Portugal Telecom (NYSE: PT) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• Omnicare (NYSE: OCR) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Soleil.
  
• SKF AB (OTC: SKFRY) was upgraded at JP Morgan to Neutral from Underweight.

Analyst downgrades:

"Many of the industries that we think of as 'mature' in the U.S. are still in their infancy in Russia," notes global expert John Christy.

In his Forbes International Investment Report, he notes, "Advertising is a perfect example. Overall, the Russian ad market is growing at a 25%-30% clip." Here, he looks at CTC Media (NASDAQ: CTCM), one of the leading TV broadcasters in Russia.

"In 2007, total advertising spending in Russia was approximately $9 billion versus just $1.1 billion back in 2000. To put things in perspective, consider that in the U.K., Europe's largest ad market, spending is roughly $22 billion.

"With more than twice the population of the U.K., Russia's advertising market is less than half its size. Of course, it will take a very long time for Russia's economy to become as developed as Britain's but there is clearly a lot of room for growth.

"Television companies will be a prime beneficiary of this trend. TV accounts for about half of all advertising spending in Russia, or about $4.4 billion. And television advertising has been growing at 40% annually, an even faster pace than that of ad spending overall.

"One of the easiest ways for investors to tap into this growth is through CTC Media. The Moscow-based company is Russia's fourth-biggest broadcaster, with an 11.3% audience share.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: CTC Media, Callidus Software and Seattle Genetics were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Merrill initiated CTC Media (NASDAQ: CTCM) with a Buy rating, citing the company's healthy ad growth outlook and substantial barriers to entry.
  
• B. Riley initiated Callidus Software (NASDAQ: CALD) with a Buy rating and $7 target and believes the company's growing On-Demand offering is being overlooked by investors.
• Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) was assumed with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan. The firm views the company as an attractive investment opportunity given the company's growing pipeline of differentiated antibody therapies and partnership with Genentech (NYSE: DNA).

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Cowen initiated Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) with a Neutral rating and St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) with an Outperform rating.
  
• Lehman initiated UDR Inc (NYSE: UDR) with an Equal Weight rating.