Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded Reliance Steel (RS) to buy from neutral and The Buckle (BKE) to neutral from sell.
• RAM Energy (RAME) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
• RBC Capital upgraded H&E Equipment (HEES) and Cameco (CCJ) to outperform from sector perform, and Denison Mines (DNN) to sector perform from underperform.
• Alexandria Real Estate (ARE) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Investment Technology (ITG) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Wedbush.

Analyst Upgrades

• Time Warner Cable (TWC) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
• Citigroup upgraded MEMC Electronic (WFR) and Skilled Healthcare (SKH) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Administaff (ASF) was upgraded to buy from hold at Roth Capital.
• The Buckle (BKE) was upgraded to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded DreamWorks (DWA) to neutral from underperform.
• Corrections Corp. (CXW) was upgraded to buy from neutral at SunTrust.
• Marvell Technology (MRVL) was upgraded to positive from neutral at Susquehanna.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to its Top Picks Live List. The firm believes RIMM's outlook is more secure given its unit growth trajectory and stabilizing margins. Citi raised its target on the stock to $100 from $65.
  
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Overweight from Equal Weight following the company's Q3 results it believes growth is accelerating and expectations are low. The firm raised its target on the stock to $24 from $21.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Huron (NYSE: HURN) to Buy from Hold as it believes bad news is already priced in and FY09 expectations are achievable. The firm keeps a $46 target on the stock.
• Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  
• Quicksilver (NYSE: KWK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Banc of America/Merrill.
  
• EIG Resources (NYSE: EOG) was lifted at Goldman to Conviction Buy from Neutral.

Stock screeners are tools that let investors filter through a large number of stocks according to chosen criteria. It is important to remember that a stock screener is just a tool and every investment should be analyzed on its own merits to make sure it fits with your personal portfolio and risk characteristics. My weekly column finds interesting investment opportunities with the help of our Stock Screener.

Since two of the stocks I covered in the Stock Screener section had such wild movements in such a short time, I've decided to quickly take a look at all the stocks I've covered here, see what major news recently affected them and how they reacted. All returns are as of May 2nd close.

Solar Energy Stocks

On March 27th, I went over some solar energy stocks. I looked at Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) and Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP), concluding with: "I think it may not be too late to jump on the Trina bandwagon. Suntech could prove a long-term solid player as well."

Since then, TSL returned over 24% and STP returned 5.8%.
The main catalyst in the solar energy stock was a court ruling that could pave the way to more regulations and have a positive impact on alternative energy stocks.

Stock screeners are tools that let investors filter through a large number of stocks according to chosen criteria. It is important to remember that a stock screener is just a tool and every investment should be analyzed on its own merits to make sure it fits with your personal portfolio and risk characteristics. My weekly column finds interesting investment opportunities with the help of our Stock Screener.

To be honest, I decided on this stock screener quite by chance. I originally had my mind set on the Cosmetic & Skin Care industry for this week, but just above it was the Correctional Institutions industry. When prison management companies first became public I was so repulsed by the idea that I never followed up on them. Now, some ten years later, and after their performance the past year, I decided to take another look.

The four companies in the industry (in order of market capitalization) are Corrections Corporations of America (NYSE: CXW) with a $3.39 billion market cap, The Geo Group, Inc. (NYSE: GEO) with a market value of $1.22 billion, Cornell Companies, Inc. (NYSE: CRN) with a $302.52 million market cap and finally, the OTC traded (hence I won't cover it here) Avalon Correctional Services, Inc. (OTC: CITY).

Why even bother? Well, look at the year-to-date returns and decide for yourselves (the bottom, yellow line is the S&P 500), the rest, going up, are Cornell, CCA and Geo.

Better yet, one year returns are 54% for Cornell, 91% for CCA and 115% for Geo. So the question is -- have they run out of room to grow?