Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman believes EOG Resources (EOG) can regain its premium multiple given its ability to find new horizontal liquids resource plays. The firm upgraded shares to conviction buy from buy and has a $129 price target on the stock.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Macerich (MAC) to buy from hold following the company's Q2 results and raised its target for shares to $47 from $45.
• Needham upgraded QuinStreet (QNST) to strong buy from buy, citing the strong Q4 report and valuation, and has a $20 target on the stock.
• Macy's (M) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Whole Foods (WFMI) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Full House Resorts, Starent Networks and Capital Trust were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Morgan Joseph said Full House Resorts Inc.'s (AMEX: FLL) valuation does not reflect the present value of its tribal management contract with the FireKeepers Casino. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $3.50 target.
• Starent Networks Corporation (NASDAQ: STAR) was assumed with an Overweight rating at Thomas Weisel. The firm said STAR offers a compelling risk/reward profile given strong gross margins and expanding operating margins.
• Keefe Bruyette initiated Capital Trust Inc. (NYSE: CT) with a Market Perform rating and $30 target, and believes the expected deterioration of commercial real estate fundamentals is likely to remain a headwind for valuations of the shares.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Thomson Reuters Plc. (NASDAQ: TRIN) was started at UBS with a Neutral rating.
• Piper initiated Heritage-Crystal Clean Inc. (NASDAQ: HCCI) with a Buy rating and $20 target.
• Goldman Sachs initiated The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW) with a Neutral rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: PennantPark (PNNT), Delta Air Lines (DAL) and several insurance companies were today's noteworthy initiations:

• PennantPark Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: PNNT) was initiated with a Buy rating and $17 target at Jefferies. The finds shares compelling given the potential dividend growth and book multiple expansion. PennantPark was also initiated at Keefe Bruyette with an Outperform rating and $18 target, at Banc of America with a Buy rating and $16 target and at Friedman Billings with an Outperform rating and $17 target.
• Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was initiated at Bear Stearns with a Peer Perform rating and at Cathay Financial with an Outperform rating.
• Banc of America initiated RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR) with a Buy rating and Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: MRH) and IPC Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: IPCR) with Neutral ratings.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) was initiated with a Hold rating and $24 target at Soleil.
• Robert W. Baird initiated Avery Dennison Corp. (NYSE: AVY) with an Outperform rating.
• Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was initiated with a Buy rating and $58 target at Citigroup.
• Nollenberger initiated Lakes Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: LACO), MTR Gaming (NASDAQ: MNTG) and Full House Resorts (NYSE: FLL) with Buy ratings and Monarch Casino (NASDAQ: MCRI) with a Neutral rating.

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

Main market news here.
CPI data came in, rose 0.4%, more than forecast.

TheStreet.com is pounding the table on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), saying that in the next 30 days investors will realize Apple is about to beat the most optimist of expectations in sales and earnings.

BusinessWeek.com examines the new proposed bill allowing generic drugmakers to manufacture biological drugs (such as hormonal and atibodies) in addition to the chemical drugs allowed today. The winners of such a bill will of course be generic drugmakers such as Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ:TEVA) and the losers will be those that rely on biotech for livelihood such as Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Genentech Inc. (NYSE:DNA). The consumer and large companies trying to curtail health-care costs would also benefit. But there are risks too as outlined in the article.

What are the implications of Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) moving operations to China? It has been rumored that the Chinese government has given Intel the nod to start building a $2.5 billion chip-manufacturing plant there. While labor costs will be reduced, the political backlash could also have consequences.

Coca-Cola Co.'s (NYSE:KO) name is inappropriate according to Bolivia's coca growers. They want the company to drop the "Coca" from its name and ask the United Nations to decriminalize the leaf.

If you though no one listens, here's an example of how customer complaints made a difference. Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWX) executive in southern-California was forced out after too many complaints.

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) plans to launch a Chinese language version of its popular photo-sharing site Flickr.com this year, targeting Hong-Kong users.

Some analyst calls:

• Goldman Sachs added Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Federated Investors (NYSE:FLL) to its conviction buy list, while removing McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD) and Alliance Bernstein (NYSE:AB).
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Bear Stearns upgraded beer companies Anheuser-Busch Co. (NYSE:BUD) and Molson Coors Brewing (NYSE:TAP) from Peer Perform to Outperform and from Underperform to Peer Perform
• Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) was upgraded by Matrix Research from Hold to Buy.
• On the other hand, Matrix Research downgraded Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) from Strong Buy to Buy.