Analyst Upgrades

• BMO Capital upgraded Church & Dwight (CHD) to outperform from market perform with a $75 price target, citing valuation.
• JPMorgan upgraded Men's Wearhouse (MW) to overweight from neutral with a $25 price target. The firm cites valuation and expectations for margin expansion for the upgrade.
• Longbow upgraded Greenbrier (GBX) to buy from neutral and has a $15 target on the stock. The firm's checks indicate demand is tightening for intermodal railcars.
• Sunpower (SPWRA) was upgraded to buy from hold at Soleil.
• Tesoro (TSO) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.

"Even though Beijing has wisely been pulling back on the reins, China is still on pace to achieve growth in the neighborhood of 8% in 2010," suggests Keith Fitz-Gerald.

The editor of The New China Trader explains, "That means slew of building projects (all of which require steel). And that should be great for General Steel Holdings (GSI) , a long-term favorite that's ripe for new money.

"Building projects are only part of the story. China is in the process of dismantling (and consolidating) a decades-old steel industry.

Analyst upgrades:

• JPMorgan upgraded Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) to Overweight from Neutral following its gold valuation analysis. The firm set a $54 price target on Barrick shares and a $47 price target on Goldcorp shares.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $24 from $15, citing the company's improving end market demand, competitive position, and valuation.
• Barclays upgraded AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) to Overweight from Equal Weight, citing the company's improved liquidity position and what they believe to be the beginning of a multi-year profit cycle for the sector. Despite the upgrade, the firm lowered its target to $14 from $20.
• Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
• Toshiba (OTC: TOSBF) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.

Shares of GSI Commerce (NASDAQ: GSIC), an e-commerce and online marketing services company, fell by over a dollar a share on news of a stock offering priced at $17 per share.

The proposed underwriting of 3.7 million new shares will help the company raise $59 million. Existing shareholders, including Softbank Capital Partners, plan to sell and additional 8.2 million shares for proceeds of $139 million.

GSI Commerce was among the most active small-cap stocks in Thursday's trading. At mid-day, the stock was down 6% on heavy volume of over four million shares, well ahead of the average daily volume of 350,000 shares.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. (NYSE: ANF) beat Q4 earnings estimates handily, sending shares higher.
• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) did well in the holiday period but offered weak guidance.
• Barclays (NYSE: BCS) one-time gains offset write-downs and said it expects to resume dividend payments.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) shares fell after it announced that it had understated its Q4 and fiscal 2008 loss.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) topped Q4 earnings estimates due in part to volume gain internationally.
• Diageo (NYSE: DEO) earnings rose in the first half, but it cut its full-year forecast.
• GSI Commerce Inc. (NASDAQ: GSIC) "solid" Q4 results led to an analyst downgrade.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: AU Optronics, General Steel and Sequenom were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Jefferies initiated AU Optronics (NYSE: AUO) with a Buy rating and $25 target and believes LCD trends will be healthy in 2008 despite a soft economy.
  
• General Steel (NYSE: GSI) shares were started at Merriman with a Buy rating, as the firm believes strong demand for steel in China should last for years and finds the valuation attractive at current levels.
  
• Cantor believes Sequenom (NASDAQ: SQNM) is positioned to establish sustainable market leadership as a provider of genome analytical products and molecular diagnostics. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating and $12 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• UBS initiated Altria Group (NYSE: MO) with a Buy rating and $30 target.
  
• Canaccord Adams assumed Drugstore.com (NASDAQ: DSCM) with a Buy rating and $3.50 target.
  
• Goldman Sachs initiated DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) with a Buy rating and $30 target.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Ballard Power Systems Inc (BLDP), GSI Technology, Inc (GSIT), eTelecare Global Solutions (ETEL) and JA Solar Holdings Co, Ltd (JASO) were the most noteworthy initiations in today's modest-sized list:

• Lazard started Ballard Power (NASDAQ: BLDP) with a Hold rating based on valuation.

• GSI Technology (NASDAQ: GIST) is gaining shares at key customers while ramp-up of its next-generation product should act as a strong catalyst to revenue starting in 2H07; Baird started shares with an Outperform rating.

• Baird also initiated eTelecare Global (NASDAQ: ETEL) with an Outperform rating citing consistent above-industry growth rates.

• American Technology initiated JA Solar Holdings Co (NASDAQ: JASO) with a Buy rating, pointing to the company's long-term customer agreements and solid silicon position...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• MetroPCS Communications, Inc (NYSE: PCS) was started with an Overweight rating at Lehman.

• Cowen initiated shares of NetGear, Inc (NASDAQ: NTGR) with a Neutral rating.

• Lazard initiated Itron, Inc (NASDAQ: ITRI) with a Buy rating.

• Pacific Crest started shares of AsiaInfo Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: ASIA) with a Sector Perform rating.

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

On CNBC's MAD MONEY tonight, host Jim Cramer looked at ways to play Christmas -- but it's too late to play. You want the behind the scenes stocks. Out of of these he likes GSI Commerce, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSIC) as the e-commerce nuts and bolts. He says not to buy it now. GSIC can outsource the entire web store and design for you. They serve many large companies. Cramer said that GSIC is beating Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and he took another stab at AMZN as a violator of rules because it trades at more than two times its growth. GSIC trades really cheap to to its growth numbers, and, according to Cramer, is criminally undervalued.

Even though he said don't buy in after hours, the stock still traded up 7% to $18.80, although the 52-week range is $10.67 to $19.