Analyst Upgrades

• Goodrich (GR) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Ford (F) to neutral from underperform and CenterPoint Energy (CNP) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Dollar Financial (DLLR) and Edwards Lifesciences (EW) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Alterra Capital (ALTE) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) and P.F. Chang's (PFCB) to buy from neutral, as well as SunTrust (STI) to neutral from sell, at Janney Capital.
• Arch Capital (ACGL), Axis Capital (AXS), PartnerRe (PRE), Everest Re (RE) and Transatlantic (TRH) to buy from hold, as well as W. R. Berkley (WRB) to hold from sell, at Citigroup.
• Optimer Pharm (OPTR) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Goodrich (GR), a company that supplies items to the aerospace and defense industries and whose competitors include Honeywell (HON) and United Technologies Corp. (UTX), issued its fourth-quarter results on Thursday. Friday, the shares hit a new 52-week high of $94.12 during the intraday session; they eventually settled down to $93.09, good for a gain of 0.6%, a move backed by above-average volume.

The 52-week low for the stock is $61.24, so the shares have come a long way over the last 12 months. The chart shows a nice uptrend that emerged from a round of sideways trading. How was the Q4 profit? Does it validate the bullish sentiment?

Analyst Upgrades

• Ryder (R) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• HCP (HCP) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Hertz Global (HTZ) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Lincoln National (LNC) to buy from neutral and T. Rowe Price (TROW) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Protective Life (PL) and Janus Capital (JNS) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Newell Rubbermaid (NWL) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• National Instruments (NATI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Team Health (TMH) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst Upgrades

• Amgen (AMGN) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Goodrich Petroleum (GDP) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Tutor Perini (TPC) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Covidien (COV) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Sara Lee (SLE) and Comcast (CMCSA) to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
• Research In Motion (RIMM) to outperform from sector perform at FBN Securities.

Analyst Upgrades

• State Street (STT) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Roth Capital upgraded Intel (INTC), Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Nvidia (NVDA) to buy from neutral.
• Bebe Stores (BEBE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery.
• W&T Offshore (WTI) was upgraded to buy from accumulate at Global Hunter.
• Citigroup upgraded International Rectifier (IRF) and Timberland (TBL) to hold from sell.
• Watson Pharma (WPI) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Atmel (ATML) was upgraded to strong buy from buy at Needham.
• Ashford Hospitality (AHT) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Oppenheimer upgraded MetroPCS (PCS) to outperform from perform.

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.

Aerospace business Goodrich Corp. (GR), whose related companies include Honeywell International (HON) and United Technologies (UTX), has been a good stock to own this year. The 52-week low for the shares is $53.57 while the 52-week high is $82.18, the latter being made earlier today. With a little more than two hours to go before the end of regular trading activities, the shares were exchanging hands at $79.55, a quote that reflects a gain of over 2%.

The twelve-month chart seems shows an attractive situation. From a technical viewpoint, it does appear as if more upside is in store for the equity. But what about the latest quarterly missive to investors?

Analyst Upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Ford (F) to buy from hold and raised its price target to $19.50 from $14.50, citing positive demand trends, sustainable market share gains and strong cash flow.
• BMO Capital upgraded MGM Resorts (MGM) to outperform from market perform with an $18 target, citing stabilizing metrics in Las Vegas.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded TRW Automotive (TRW) to buy from hold, citing better-than-expected production trends, and raised its price target for shares to $52 from $39.
• Dr. Reddy's Labs (RDY) was upgraded to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Pulte Group (PHM) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS and $8.50 price target.
• Vodafone (VOD) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Nomura.

Analyst Upgrades

• Bernstein upgraded Boeing (BA) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation. The firm also raised its price target to $81 from $80.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Thomas & Betts (TNB) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation and an expected recovery in North American nonresidential construction.
• RBC Capital upgraded Susquehanna (SUSQ) to outperform from sector perform and has a $14 target on the stock. The firm thinks the stock's valuation is attractive as its decline in response to the European debt crisis and financial regulatory reform has been overdone.
• Priceline.com (PCLN) was upgraded to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Genzyme (GENZ) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• RightNow (RNOW) was upgraded to overweight from market weight at Thomas Weisel.

Summer is winding down and so is another earnings season. Most of the S&P 500 have reported results for the past quarter, but there are still a few things of note coming up this week.

In its second quarter, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: SNDA), one of the largest entertainment media companies in China, announced plans for an IPO for its Shanda Games business and bought a majority stake in music producer and distributor.

After the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, the earnings spotlight turns to Canadian banks: Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) are all scheduled to report their second-quarter results.

While banks north of the border of generally have held up better than their U.S. counterparts, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the four listed above to report that earnings declined between 20% and 30% since the same period of last year. All four have P/E ratios around 10, and they are paying dividends. Shares of all four have surged 50% to 83% in the past three months, but are still 26% to 38% lower than a year ago.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: HSBC Holdings, WPP Group and Aware were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) to Underweight from Equal Weight to reflect expected losses at the company's U.S. unit.
  
• ABN Amro cut WPP Group (NASDAQ: WPPGY) to Hold from Buy as they expect slowing top-line growth from stagnant marketing budgets.
  
• Merriman downgraded shares of Aware (NASDAQ: AWRE) to Neutral from Buy after DSL royalty revenue declined for a third straight quarter.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman removed McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Suntrust downgraded Goodrich Petroleum (NYSE: GDP) to Reduce from Neutral.
  
• Merrill lowered Grupo Aeroportuario (NASDAQ: OMAB) to Neutral from Buy.

Readers of this space know that the investment bias is toward large-cap companies who have a competitive advantage in established markets, preferably with a favorable global trend as a support. With this in mind, Goodrich Corp. is worth a review.

Goodrich Corp. (NYSE: GR), formerly a tire maker (the company without the blimp), is now an aerospace services company, providing both parts and service for engines, airframes, electronic systems, and other aircraft systems.

Analysts see double-digit revenue growth for GR in 2008 and 2009, aided by favorable sector trends, including strong international, cyclical demand for jets and increased jet use, and an aging jet fleet in the U.S.

Further, GR is also using strong cash flow to expand maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities.

Analysts also like the fact that GR is moving manufacturing to low-cost areas and implementing efficiency projects. The Reuters F2008/F2009 EPS consensus estimates for GR are $4.34/$4.95.

Goodrich (NYSE: GR), a supplier of components, systems and services to the commercial and general aviation airplane markets, is recently up $1.14 to $68.20 on unconfirmed takeover chatter. GR has market of $8.4 billion with long term debt of $1.7 billion. GR October 70 calls have traded 41 times on transaction volume of 884 contracts above its open interest of 449 contracts. GR October option implied volatility of 29 is above its 26-week average of 25 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk.

YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW), a transportation holding company with brands including Yellow Transportation, Roadway, Reimer Express, Meridian IQ, New Penn, USF Holland and USF Reddaway, is recently up $0.45 to $28.25 on unconfirmed chatter Deutsche Post has made a $41 bid for YRCW. YRCW has a market cap of $1.5 billion with $903 million in long-term debt. YRCW call option volume of 5,697 contracts compares to put volume of 319 contracts. YRCW October option implied volatility of 45 is above its 26-week average of 34 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Aerospace stocks, WuXi Pharma, Myriad Genetics, Cypress Bioscience and Knology were today's noteworthy initiations:

• LYON initiated shares of aerospace stocks including Goodrich Corporation (NYSE: GR), TransDigm Group Inc (NYSE: TDG) and Triumph Group Incorporated (NYSE: TGI) with Add ratings and a $74 target, $45 target and $90 target, respectively.
  
• WuXi Pharmatech (NYSE: WX) was started with a Hold rating and $29 target at Jefferies on valuation. JP Morgan started shares with a Neutral rating and Credit Suisse initiated shares with an Outperform rating.
  
• Myriad Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: MYGN) was started with a Hold rating and $50 target at Citigroup, as the firm is cautious on the Phase III Flurizan results and does not recommend putting new money here at these levels.
  
• Citigroup also initiated shares of Cypress Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: CYPB) with a Buy rating and $22 target as the firm believes Milnacipran has sufficient database for approval and is capable of gaining meaningful market share as firstline therapy.
  
• Knology Inc (NASDAQ: KNOL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $25 target at BWS Financial, as the firm believes the company's growth potential is greater than other cable companies through a business plan that allows it to have operations in all regions of the U.S.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Wachovia resumed coverage of Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LCAPA) with an Outperform rating.
  
• Northwest Airlines Corporation (NYSE: NWA) and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE: DAL) were initiated with Overweight ratings at JP Morgan.
  
• Thomas Weisel started shares of Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL) with a Market Weight rating.
  
• Goldman initiated shares of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Activision Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI) with Buy ratings and THQ Inc (NASDAQ: THQI) with a Neutral rating.