Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo upgraded its sector rating on large-cap U.S. banks to market weight from underweight to reflect improving economic data, valuations in the space and reduced concerns of regulatory changes.
• Soleil upgraded Disney (DIS) to buy from hold, citing better ESPN affiliate fee and cruise ship expectations. The firm upped its target price for shares to $42 from $30.
• Baird upgraded Huron (HURN) to outperform from neutral, citing the company's better-than-expected retention efforts of MDs in core segments and continued stabilization in its more cyclical segments. The firm raised its price target to $30 from $27.
• Schlumberger (SLB) was upgraded to strong buy from outperform at Raymond James.
• Dollar General (DG) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• UDR Inc (UDR) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.

Another day, another dollar. The difference is that yesterday's loss became today's gain. There was a weak wholesale inflation reading that kept the inflation hawks at bay and less-bad, or better than, expected earnings did the rest.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,214.54 +79.20 (0.87%)
S&P 500 989.53 +9.80 (1.00%)
Nasdaq 1,955.92 +25.08 (1.30%)

Top 10 Analyst Calls

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Wendy's/Arby's (NYSE: WEN) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $5.50 from $4.90 based on improving sales momentum at Wendy's and potential improvements at Arby's.
• Goldman upgraded 3M (NYSE: MMM) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $85 from $78. The firm cites 3M's short-cycle exposure and relative valuation for the upgrade.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) to Market Weight from Underweight citing comfort in the company's intermediate-term recovery potential.
• UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at ING Group.
• Gap (NYSE: GPS) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Alliance Healthcare (NYSE: AIQ) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to its Top Picks Live List. The firm believes RIMM's outlook is more secure given its unit growth trajectory and stabilizing margins. Citi raised its target on the stock to $100 from $65.
  
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Overweight from Equal Weight following the company's Q3 results it believes growth is accelerating and expectations are low. The firm raised its target on the stock to $24 from $21.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Huron (NYSE: HURN) to Buy from Hold as it believes bad news is already priced in and FY09 expectations are achievable. The firm keeps a $46 target on the stock.
• Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  
• Quicksilver (NYSE: KWK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Banc of America/Merrill.
  
• EIG Resources (NYSE: EOG) was lifted at Goldman to Conviction Buy from Neutral.

For all their best efforts, companies sometimes run into more problems than they can handle alone. Many turn to an outfit in Chicago skilled at dealing with various kinds of external challenges.

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ: HURN) helps clients address troubles associated with litigation, investigations, regulatory compliance, financial distress and other sources of conflict or change. The company also helps clients with customer and capital market performance, through implementation of operational changes. Huron provides services to both financially sound and distressed organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions and healthcare organizations.

The firm pleased investors earlier in the month, when it reported Q1 EPS of 55 cents and revenues of $116 million. Analysts had been looking for 51 cents $112.3 million. Management also guided Q2 EPS to 53-57 cents (50 cent consensus), Q2 revenues to $117-$121 million ($115.14M consensus), FY07 EPS to $2.24-$2.37 ($2.22 consensus) and FY07 revenues to $482-$495 million ($482.22M consensus). JMP Securities and UBS subsequently declared the stock a "buy" and issued price targets in the $74-$80 range. HURN shares popped into a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern on the news. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Altogether, brokers recommend the shares with three "strong buys" and three "buys." Analysts expect a 27% growth rate, through the next year. The HURN Sales Growth rate (86.50%), EPS Growth rate (66.67%), Return on Assets (13.82%), Return on Investment (17.45%) and Return on Equity (28.54%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages.

Institutional investors hold about 94% of the outstanding shares. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $28.70 and $70.12. A stop-loss of $57 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.