Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations

Eric Buscemi — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:31:00 EST

Analyst upgrades:

UBS upgraded Safeway (NYSE:SWY) to Buy from Neutral based on valuation.
AthroCare (NASDAQ:ARTC) was raised to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna on valuation.
BT Group (NYSE:BT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) was upgraded at Goldman to Buy from Neutral.
China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Analyst downgrades:

Jefferies downgraded shares of Albany Molecular (NASDAQ:AMRI) to Underperform from Hold on concerns regarding the company's exposure to small biopharma as their checks suggest biopharmaceutical companies that rely on the capital markets to fund operations are cutting back significantly on R&D projects. The firm lowered their target to $8 from $10.
Baird downgraded Sirona Dental (NASDAQ:SIRO) to Neutral from Outperform and lowered their target to $15 from $21 due to lack of catalysts and better options in dental.
Stephens cut Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) to Equal Weight from Overweight on the expectation that weaker volumes will lead to pricing pressure. The firm lowered their target to $24 from $36.
Teco Energy (NYSE:TE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at KeyBanc.
RF Micro Devices (NASDAQ:RFMD) was lowered to Underperform from Buy at Merrill Lynch.
Energy Conversion (NASDAQ:ENER) was cut to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.