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Analyst upgrades: VQ, NFX and RF

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Venoco, Newfield Exploration and Regions Financial were today's noteworthy upgrades:

Jefferies upgraded shares of Venoco (NYSE:VQ) to Buy from Hold on increased confidence in the company's 5%-10% 2008 production growth target.
Newfield Exploration (NYSE:NFX) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings. The firm said there has been significant progress in the economics of NFX's Woodford play.
Citigroup upgraded Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) to Hold from Sell on valuation, as they their concerns are now priced into shares.

OTHER UPGRADES:

MOST NOTEWORTHY: MRU Holdings (UNCL), CVS/Caremark (CVS), Medco Health (MHS) and Blackboard (BBBB) were today's noteworthy initiations:

Kaufman Bros. expects MRU Holdings (NADAQ: UNCL) to post a profit in Q4 for the first time due to its first student loan securitization and started shares with a Buy rating and $9 target.

Thomas Weisel believes shares of CVS/Caremark (NYSE: CVS) represent a compelling risk/reward at these levels, initiating shares with an Overweight rating and $51 target, given the positive trends in the market and the likelihood of successful merger integration.

Thomas Weisel believes Medco Health (NYSE: MHS) is well positioned to capitalize on continued generic conversions, starting shares with an Overweight rating and $100 target.

Banc of America would be buyers of Blackboard (NASDAQ: BBBB) current levels, initiating shares with a Buy rating and $50 target, given the company's defensible business model and market leadership position.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

Leerink Swann initiated Phase Forward (NASDAQ: PFWD) with a Market Perform rating and $19-$20 valuation range.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Select railroads were popular initiations today:

Morgan Keegan started shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (NYSE: BNI) with an Outperform rating and believes the stock should trade at a premium to Class 1 railroad peers, as the company consistently ranks above its peers in terms of operating ratio and return on invested capital.
Morgan Keegan believes Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) de Mexico provides KSU a tremendous growth opportunity, starting shares with an Outperform rating.
Morgan Keegan also believes Norfolk Southern Corp (NYSE: NSC) is undervalued, despite having some of the best operating metrics in the industry, initiating shares with an Outperform rating.
Union Pacific Corp (NYSE: UNP) was started with an Outperform rating as Morgan Keegan believes earnings estimates and management guidance may be conservative.
Finally, CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Morgan Keegan as the firm believes there is more risk to the current share price than the potential upside...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

Citigroup started Gaylord Entertainment Co (NYSE: GET) with a Buy rating and $68 target.
Morgan Joseph initiated shares of Jakks Pacific, Inc (NASDAQ: JAKK) with a Buy rating.
ITT Corp (NYSE: ITT) was given an Equal Weight rating by Morgan Stanley.
Banc of America started Healthways, Inc (NASDAQ: HWAY) with a Buy rating and Matria Healthcare, Inc (NASDAQ: MATR) with a Neutral rating.