Analyst Upgrades

• Marriott (MAR) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and Owens-Illinois (OI) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• FirstMerit (FMER) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Safeway (SWY) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Babcock & Wilcox (BWC) to buy from neutral, as well as Jacobs Engineering (JEC) and W. R. Berkley (WRB) to neutral from sell, at Goldman.
• Pioneer Natural (PXD) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Teekay Tankers (TNK) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), Alltel (AT), Home Depot (HD) and Nokia (NOK) were today's more noteworthy downgrades:

• Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at CIBC, to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James and to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns after the company reduced its second quarter guidance.

• Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Merriman on valuation.

• Lehman downgraded Alltel Corp (NYSE: AT) to Equal Weight from Overweight as the firm doesn't expect a competing bid for the company.

• Home Depot (NYSE: HD) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform following yesterday's rally and feels that with the HD sale out of the way, the focus will now turn to Home Depot's ability to grow in the challenging do-it-yourself retail market. Goldman cut Nokia to Neutral from Buy on valuation...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• JP Morgan cut Headwaters (NYSE: HW) to Underweight from Neutral.

• Citigroup downgraded Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) to Hold from Buy.

• Matrix USA cut Phototronics (NASDAQ: PLAB) to Sell from Hold.

• Ferris, Baker downgraded Gladstone Commercial Corp (NASDAQ: GOOD) to Neutral from Buy.

• Citigroup removed Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) from its Citi Recommended List.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Some of today's most notable upgrades include Qualcomm, Inc (QCOM), Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) and Chevron Corp (CVX):

• JP Morgan upgraded Qualcomm, Inc (NASDAQ: QCOM) to Neutral from Underweight, to reflect the company's re-accelerating business fundamentals and positive pre-announcement on Tuesday.

• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Countrywide Financial Corp (NYSE: CFC) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company remains among the premiere mortgage originators and will be the ultimate beneficiary of the mortgage market shakeout.

• Susquehanna upgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters Inc (NYSE: AEO) to Positive from Neutral based on a strong spring assortment and long-term earnings power from new brand concepts aerie and MARTIN+OSA.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) to Hold from Sell based a backlog of resources that keeps growing and increased pressure on the need for delivery.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Lehman upgraded Darden Restaurants, Inc (NYSE: DRI) to Equal-Weight from Underweight to reflect the company's strong management team and what they believe to be "very achievable" guidance.

• Cadbury Schweppes plc (NYSE: CSG) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs as they believe the company may break up Nelson Peltz acquired a stake in the company.

• AG Edwards upgraded El Paso Corp (NYSE: EP) to Buy from Hold with a $16 target.

• Gladstone Capital Corp (NASDAQ: GLAD) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Wachovia.

• Gabelli upgraded shares of Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) to Buy from Hold following the strong fourth quarter report.

• Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE: LUV) and JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ: JBLU) were upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.

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

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

Gladstone Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: GAIN) is the top conservative investment idea from Adrian Day, editor of The Global Analyst. He explains, "An attractive vehicle for investors seeking above-average yield is the so-called Business Development Company.

"These are companies that lend money to small and middle-market companies, often receiving equity participation in addition to the interest on the loans. Because they do not pay tax at the corporate level, but pay out essentially all their net income to investors, yields tend to be high, and we've been successful with several previous recommendations, including Allied Capital and American Capital.

"One of the newest and most conservative is Gladstone Investment. Run by David Gladstone, who has had a multi-decade career in this industry, GAIN has been relatively cautious in investing its funds since going public in the middle of 2005. This is because of a sense that the market is overheated with either low returns or risky loans.