Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Deere (DE) to overweight from neutral and raised its target on shares to $65 from $52. JPMorgan believes the company's fundamentals are improving and sees signs of a recovery in forestry, turf and earth-moving equipment.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Valmont (VMI) to neutral from underweight on valuation following the company's Q4 results. The firm lowered its target price on shares to $70 from $74.
• Soleil upgraded Group 1 Automotive (GPI) to buy from hold on valuation with a $36 price target. The firm believes negative news flow for Toyota has created an opportunity to accumulate shares.
• Bernstein upgraded Deutsche Telekom (DT) to outperform from market perform.
• Nucor (NUE) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• American Eagle (AEO) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The automotive sector was today's most noteworthy initiation:

• Prudential initiated the automotive manufacturers industry and automotive retail industry with Favorable ratings and the automotive parts and equipment industry with an Unfavorable rating. The firm initiated coverage on following stocks:
  
• Overweight-rated names included Autoliv Inc (NYSE: ALV), Group 1 Automotive, Inc (NYSE: GPI), Honda Motor Co, Ltd (NYSE: HMC), Johnson Controls, Inc (NYSE: JCI), Sonic Automotive, Inc (NYSE: SAH), & Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE: TM).
  
• Neutral Weight-rated names included AutoNation, Inc (NYSE: AN), DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX), Magna International Inc (NYSE: MGA) and United Auto Group, Inc (NYSE: UAG).
  
• Underweight-rated names included Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F), General Motors Corp (NYSE: GM) and Gentex Corp (NASDAQ: GNTX).

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Bernstein initiated JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) with a Market Perform rating and $54 target.

• Lehman started Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE: TWC) with a Neutral rating.

• Merriman initiated shares of Progressive Gaming International Corp (NASDAQ: PGIC) with a Buy rating, as the firm believes it is on the cusp of gaining meaningful market share of casino floors through its technologies and now is the time to get involved in shares.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Pharmion Corp (PHRM), Genesis Microchip (GNSS) and SanDisk Corp (SNDK) were some of today's most notable downgrades:

• Pharmion Corp (NASDAQ: PHRM) was downgraded to Sell from Source of Funds at ThinkEquity, citing valuation.

• Matrix USA downgraded Genesis Microchip Inc (NASDAQ: GNSS) to Strong Sell from Hold to reflect a share decline in revenues; they also believe shares are overvalued relative to the sector.

• SanDisk Corp (NASDAQ: SNDK) was cut to Hold from Buy at WR Hambrecht. The firm said it has learned that a crack in the IP story has occurred, as Samsung has found a way to significantly reduce its royalty payments to SanDisk on its finished SD cards that it is currently shipping. The firm said this step by Samsung puts at risk ~15% of SanDisk royalty revenues as early as Q2:07, as Samsung is no longer willing to pay the 8% royalty rate to SanDisk on NAND MLC SD cards.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Stephens downgraded Group 1 Automotive Inc (NYSE: GPI) to Equal Weight from Overweight following disappointing Q1 results.

• JMP Securities downgraded Flanders Corp (NASDAQ: FLDR) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Oppenheimer cut ValueClick Inc (NASDAQ: VCLK) to Neutral from Buy on valuation.

• Matrix USA downgraded L-1 Identity Solutions (NYSE: ID) to Sell from Buy on valuation.

• Goldman took Medco Health Solutions Inc (NYSE: MHS) off its Conviction Buy List, citing valuation.

• Raymond James lowered Hiland Holdings (NASDAQ: HPGP) rating to Outperform from Strong Buy.

• JP Morgan cut Waters Corp (NYSE: WAT) to Neutral from Overweight based on valuation.

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