Analyst Upgrades

• Union Pacific (UNP) and Polycom (PLCM) were upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Time Warner Cable (TWC) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• LaSalle Hotel (LHO) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Graco (GGG) was upgraded to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Valley National (VLY) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at Keefe Bruyette.
• Credit Suisse (CS) was upgraded to hold from sell at RBS.
• U.S. Bancorp (USB) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Penn National (PENN) and Riverbed (RVBD) were upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Goodrich (GR) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• Amazon.com (AMZN) upgraded to buy from average at Caris.

Analyst Upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) to buy from hold based on valuation. The firm keeps a $39 target on the stock.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Kenexa (KNXA) to overweight from neutral, citing a strengthening of trends for the company. The firm has a $29 price target on the stock.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Gaylord Entertainment (GET) to buy from neutral on expectations the company will benefit from strong trends in 2011. The firm raised its target for shares to $35 from $32.50.
• MeadWestvaco (MWV) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• EADS (EADSY) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.

The recent headlines for Gaylord Entertainment (GET) read like a short-form love letter -- Barron's recently predicted a 40% to 50% rally for the shares, Tennessean called it a "stock to watch" in 2010, and SmarTrend took note of the resulting upward momentum from this outpouring of affection.

Option players have been quick to jump on GET's bullish bandwagon. During the past 10 days, traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open nearly 99 calls for every one put. This ratio of calls to puts ranks higher than 100% of other such readings taken during the past year, indicating that speculators have reached a 52-week peak of optimism toward the security.

Analyst upgrades:

• Oppenheimer upgraded Amdocs (NYSE: DOX) to Outperform from Perform on expectations the company is gaining momentum following recent contract wins. The firm set a $27 price target on the stock.
• FBR Capital upgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) to Market Perform from Underperform after raising the Lodging sector to Overweight from Neutral. The firm cites improving demand data, potential foreign exchange benefits, and continued asset sales for the upgrade and raised its target price on Starwood to $19 from $14.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to Buy from Neutral. The firm expects Goldman to beat Q2 estimates due favorable trading and underwriting conditions. The firm raised estimates and increased its price target to $175 from $144.
• Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Pali Capital.
• KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at JMP Securities.

"The Grand Old Opry's owner is sparkling after a billionaire buys a big stake," says Bill Martin in his top-notch advisory service, BullMarket.com.

He notes, "TRT Holdings, an investment vehicle for Robert Rowling. has quietly taken a 10%+ stake in Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET), becoming its largest shareholder.

"The latest buys came as shares of the $1 billion market cap company hit a multi-year low. Rowling's firm bought more than 608,000 shares of Gaylord at $20.44, increasing its holdings to 4.693 million shares, or an 11.49% stake.

"Nashville-based Gaylord owns and operates hotel properties, including the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee and the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, Florida.

"The company also owns and operates the Radisson Hotel at Opryland and the famous Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Other business include a Nashville radio station, a paddle wheel showboat, performance venues, a golf course located near the Opryland complex, and a corporate events production company.

"With a projected net worth of $6.2 billion, Rowling was #158 on the latest Forbes list of the World's Billionaires. The press-shy Rowling rarely pops up as a major shareholder in a public company, and has only done so three times in recent years, including Gaylord.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Wachovia, Deutsche Bank and Pearson plc were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• UBS believes it is increasingly likely that Wachovia Bank (NYSE: WB) will need to raise capital. The firm said the company may need to raise $5B in equity and cuts its dividend to 1c, which will save $3B annually. UBS cut shares to Neutral from Buy and lowered its 2008 EPS estimate to ($1.98).
  
• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) to Underweight from Equal Weight as they believe DB may have to increase its tier 1 ratio, which could lead to dividend cuts or asset sales.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Pearson (NYSE: PSO) to Sell from Hold as they believe the weak funding environment for Education will slow earnings growth.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• UBS lowered Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ: TRIN) to Sell from Neutral.
  
• Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) and Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET) were downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

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:

• ASML Holdings (NASDAQ:ASML) was raised at Merrill to Buy from Neutral.
  
• UBS upgraded Forest Oil (NYSE:FST) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Bear upgraded Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE:GET) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

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:

• UBS started Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET) with a Neutral rating.

• 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.

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

I like millionaires, I always have and I always will. A report by TNS research has revealed that American millionaire households have increased in number over the last four consecutive years to an astonishing 9.3 million, give or take a few. That's an awful lot of millionaires if you ask me. What does the climbing head count among the well-to-do mean to Joe Average? Well, if you can get beyond the jealousy and resentment long enough to see the forest through the trees, you'll find that it means a lot to us.

Millionaires tend to move a lot of money, which is the life blood of our economy. They buy large homes and furnish them with expensive decor. They own nice cars, often several, give them the best of care, and house them in well-lit, heated garages. Millionaires buy into businesses in pursuit of growing their fortunes. They invest in speculative business ventures and back inventors with good (and not so good) ideas. Millionaires hire people to assist in the routine and mundane tasks in life. Cleaning the pool, cutting the lawn and shopping for groceries are a few of the tasks that can be delegated by throwing a few dollars at them. Millionaires can throw those dollars around and they tend to do just that. "There's more where that came from," chuckle, chuckle, snort. Of course some of the wealthy tend to be very tight-fisted but they're generally easy to pick out. They live lonely lives in snobbish repose, worried that the world shall snatch an extra dollar from them.

If you want to find out where the millionaires are, this CNN Money report is a fine place to get started. It lists the top ten counties where millionaires reside. Note that it's a bit California-heavy. Some other states with counties that boast the highest number of millionaires across the country include Illinois, Arizona, Texas, New York and Florida. The list goes on and reveals the fact that more Americans have become dollar-savvy. But what does this mean, bottom line, for our country? In some ways it depends on your perspective. Some folks will tell you that it's an indication that the wealth gap has widened. I laugh at that assertion and claim instead that it means our horizons of opportunity have broadened. I also believe that it's a culmination effect of our maturing 1960's baby boom. There are an awful lot of people out there who have striven long and hard to prove that the American Dream has been more than an unsubstantiated stance on manifest destiny. Today's millionaires are the result of prolonged and intense focus on the principles of true success. This stuff doesn't just happen by itself.

So, please don't be tempted to give into feelings of unfairness. Don't waste your time wondering, "Why them and not me?" Some times it's a simple flip of the cards that determines the outcomes of success, but most often, it's the result of blood-and-guts determination. Let the climbing number of millionaires serve as inspiration to you. Realize that financial security is still well within your grasp. Then, learn their ways, associate with them when you can and truly believe that success knows no boundaries of background, gender, race or class. Roll up your sleeves, pull down your cap and get yourself to the business of leaving self pity for the next guy. You have no time to feel sorry for yourself when you're busy staking out your spot on next years millionaire list.

Oh, and about that money you spend on lottery tickets... a passbook account gives better returns by far.