Analyst Upgrades

• Molycorp (MCP) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Humana (HUM), HealthSpring (HS) and UnitedHealth (UNH) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Williams Cos. (WMB) to conviction buy from neutral and UBS (UBS) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• China Kanghui (KH) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Armstrong World (AWI) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Time Warner (TWX) to buy from hold at Benchmark Co.
• Calpine (CPN) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• 3M Company (MMM) to neutral from underperform and Kirby (KEX) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sigma Designs, Satyam and Genpact were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Deutsche Bank initiated shares of Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM) with a Buy rating and $62 target, as they believe the company can maintain its leadership position in the fast-growing IPTV and high-def DVD markets. Baird said Sigma's IPTV momentum is accelerating, Blu-ray demand in strong, and Ultrawideband is the next growth opportunity. The firm resumed coverage with an Outperform rating.
  
• Banc of America started shares of Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY) with a Neutral rating and $39 target on valuation, as they believe better value exists in peers Cognizant Technology (NASDAQ: CTSH) and Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ: INFY).
  
• UBS initiated Genpact (NYSE: G) with a Neutral rating and $18 target on valuation.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Goldman resumed coverage of HealthSpring (NYSE: HS) with a Neutral rating and $23 target.
  
• Wachovia initiated Gentiva Health (NASDAQ: GTIV) with an Outperform rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: HealthSpring (HS), CoPart (CPRT), Multi Fineline Electronix (MFLX) and Global Traffic Network (GNET) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• HealthSpring (NYSE: HS) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $20 target at Banc of America, as the firm doesn't expect earnings growth to recover until 2009.

• Rochdale Research started CoPark (NASDAQ: CPRT) with a Buy and $36 target yesterday. The firm said CoPark is in an excellent competitive position and expects growth to re-accelerate as the company integrates and expands its non-U.S. platform.

• Needham reinstated shares of Multi Fineline Electronix (NASDAQ: MFLX) with a Buy rating and $13 target, as the firm believes the current valuation overly discounts the company's opportunities with Sony-Ericsson (SNE/ERIC), Apple (AAPL), and the likelihood of stability at Motorola (MOT).

• Oppenheimer initiated shares of Global Traffic Network (NASDAQ: GNET) with a Buy rating and $9.50 target as the firm believes the company's expansion into new territories such as Canada and the UK should enable double-digit revenue and cash flow growth for the long term.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Goldman Sachs reinstated shares of Qiagen (NASDAQ: QGEN) with a Neutral rating.

• Raymond James initiated shares of Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) with an Outperform rating and $275 target.

• NexCen Brands (NASDAQ: NEXC) was started at Lazard with a Buy rating.

• BMO Capital initiated shares of INVESTools (NASDAQ: SWIM) with an Outperform rating.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: PetSmart, Inc (PETM), Google (GOOG), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd (RDY) and Optimal Group Inc (OPMR) were today's more noteworthy downgrades:

• Stifel cut PetSmart Inc (NASDAQ: PETM) to Hold from Buy biting valuation.

• First Global downgraded shares of Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (NYSE: RDY) to Equal-Weight from Overweight after a U.S. court ruling appeared set to block generic competition to Japanese company Eisai Co, Ltd's (ESALY) ulcer drug Aciphex.

• B. Riley downgraded shares of Optimal Group (NASDAQ: OPMR) to Neutral from Buy to reflect increasing uncertainty regarding further legal actions, which may be taken by the U.S. Attorney's office against the company...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Friedman Billings downgraded Allied Defense Group (NYSE: ADG) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Sandler cut Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: BPFH) to Hold from Buy.

• Raymond James downgraded both HealthSpring, Inc (NYSE: HS) and Emageon, Inc (NASDAQ: EMAG) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Teck Cominco Ltd (NYSE: TCK) was downgraded to Sector Performer from Sector Outperformer at CIBC.

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