Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Colgate (CL) and Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) to buy from hold.
• Wells Fargo upgraded IDACORP (IDA) to outperform from market perform.
• Union Pacific (UNP) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Goldman upgraded Quicksilver (KWK) to neutral from sell.
• Republic Airways (RJET) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded GAMCO Investors (GBL) to neutral from underperform.
• Senior Housing (SNH) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.

"Considering that the 73 utility stocks in the S&P 1500 Index combine to represent just 4% of the index's market value, they certainly occupy a big place in the hearts of investors," notes Richard Moroney.

The editor of Dow Theory Forecasts -- a newsletter that has been published for nearly 60 years -- explains, "Here, we offer a diversified 12-stock utility portfolio, as well as our top utility choice for investors who only wish to buy one stock in the sector.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Taser Int'l (TASR), Motorola (MOT), Advantest (ATE), STMicroelectronics (STM) and Joy Global (JOYG) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Merriman upgraded shares of Taser Int'l (NASDAQ: TASR) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the 25% decline in price since late July, accelerating law enforcement demand and upside potential from the recently launched personal TASER C2.

• Lehman upgraded shares of Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Overweight from Equal Weight as they believe increased production and opex progress in Q3 could signal a turnaround at the company's phone unit.

• Jefferies upgraded Advantest (NYSE: ATE) to Hold from Underperform on valuation.

• STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation at Bernstein.

• Stifel upgraded shares of Joy Global (NASDAQ: JOYG) to Buy from Hold following the in line Q3 report as they believe bad news is reflected in valuation...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Idacorp (NYSE: IDA) was upgraded to Market Perform from Under Perform at Wachovia.

• UBS upgraded TDK Corp (NYSE: TDK) to Neutral from Sell.

• Wedbush raised Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) to Buy from Hold, with a $35 target, and DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) to Hold from Sell, with a $29 target.

• LabCorp (NYSE: LH) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Cowen.

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