Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Dollar Tree (DLTR) to neutral from underweight and $48 price target.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Time Warner Cable (TWC) to outperform from neutral and raised its price target to $70 from $59, citing growth in wireline HST demand.
• Needham upgraded NetScout (NTCT) to buy from hold with a $29 price target, citing channel checks that indicate industry spending on network monitoring software may be improving.
• Nstar (NST) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) was upgraded to hold from sell at Societe Generale.
• Air France-KLM (AFLYY) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: AstraZeneca plc (AZN), Aeroflex Inc (ARXX), Symantec Corp (SYMC), Chevron Corp (CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) were just some of today's noteworthy downgrades:

• HSBC downgraded shares of AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) to Neutral from Overweight as the firm believes investors will have to wait until 2009 for the company to start benefiting from its strategy.

• Aeroflexx Inc (NASDAQ: ARXX) was cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies with a $14 target based on valuation.

• Thomas Weisel downgraded shares of Symantec Corp (NASDAQ: SYMC) to Market Weight from Overweight citing a lack of near-term catalysts and increased risk from transitions in its business model.

• Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) was removed from AG Edwards' Focus Portfolio. The firm believes Chevron offers less upside potential than other companies in the sector.

• Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy on valuation and its balanced risk/reward profile...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Piper Jaffray cut Juniper Networks, Inc (NASDAQ: JNPR) to Market Perform from Outperform with a $20 target.

• Friedman Billings downgraded L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc (NYSE: LLL) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• MedImmune, Inc (NASDAQ: MEDI) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman.

• Hecla Mining Co (NYSE: HL) was cut to Sector Underperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC based on valuation.

• Merrill Lynch cut Wendy's International (NYSE: WEN) to Sell from Neutral.

• Stanford downgraded shares of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI) to Hold from Buy with a $3 target.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Strattec Security Corp (STRT), Palm, Inc (PALM), Netflix, inc (NFLX), J.C. Penney Co, Inc (JCP) and Marriott International Inc (MAR) were some of today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Baird upgraded shares of Strattec Security Corp (NASDAQ: STRT) to Neutral from Underperform following its Q3 report.

• Shares of Palm, Inc (NASDAQ: PALM) were raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Lehman Bros.

• Banc of America upgraded Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Neutral from Sell based on valuation.

• J.C. Penney Co Inc (NYSE: JCP) was raised to Strong Buy from Accumulate with a $105 target at Buckingham, citing strategic merchandise, flow and cycle-timing initiatives.

• Wachovia believes that as the lodging cycle matures, Marriott International's (NYSE: MAR) diversified fee-based, unit-driven model will outperform relative to pure hotel-owned companies, and upgraded shares to Outperform from Market Perform.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman Sachs upgraded CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) to Buy from Neutral.

• JMP Securities raised Packeteer, Inc's (NASDAQ: PKTR) rating to Market Perform from Underperform.

• Oppenheimer upgraded Playtex Products, Inc (NYSE: PYX) to Buy from Neutral on its acquisition of Tiki Hut, strong fundamentals and realistic investor expectations.

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of American Standard Cos Inc (NYSE: ASD) to Overweight from Neutral.

• Matrix USA raised the rating of Hecla Mining Co (NYSE: HL) to Hold from Sell.

• Shares of VCA Antech, Inc (NASDAQ: WOOF) were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.

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