Analyst Upgrades

• Sprint (S) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at Piper Jaffray.
• Cree (CREE) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Brocade (BRCD) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• JPMorgan upgraded WuXi PharmaTech (WX) to overweight from neutral.
• Barclays upgraded ITC Holdings (ITC) to overweight from equal weight.
• Centene (CNC) was upgraded to outperform from underperform at Oppenheimer.
• Senior Housing (SNH) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• UBS upgraded Hovnanian (HOV) to neutral from sell.
• GeoResources (GEOI) was upgraded to accumulate from neutral at Madison Williams.
• Compellent (CML) was upgraded to hold from sell at Canaccord.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Dynamic Materials, Allergan and Sun Micro were among today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Dynamic Materials (NASDAQ: BOOM) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan following the Q1 report based on margin risk from steel costs and availability.
  
• Allergan (NYSE: AGN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies ahead of the Q1 report on May 7 based on potential deceleration in Botox and breast implants, which could result in multiple contractions.
• Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear, citing the disappointing earnings report for the downgrade.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• ManTech (NASDAQ: MANT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Cowen based on valuation and expectations for decelerating growth in 2H08.
  
• Silver State Bancorp (NASDAQ: SSBX) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Sandler O'Neil.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Kenexa Corp (KNXA), CACI International (CAI), SI International (SINT), Tyco Electronics (TEL) and YUM! Brands (YUM) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• ThinkEquity started Kenexa Corp (NASDAQ: KNXA) with an Accumulate rating, citing the company's attractive business model that can deliver high-value, high-margin content, but questions the company's plans to compete with best-of-breed vendors.

• Banc of America initiated CACI International (NYSE: CAI) with a Neutral, citing the challenging budget environment and margin trends.

• Banc of America believes shares of SI International (NASDAQ: SINT) offers a compelling risk/reward given the improving civilian funding environment and upside potential from recent M&A activity, and assumed coverage with a Buy rating and $38 target.

• Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL) was started with a Hold rating at Deutsche Bank, citing risks to the company's potential turnaround.

• Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) was re-initiated with an Outperform rating at Friedman Billings on valuation and considers any stock price weakness from the increased costs as a buy opportunity.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Banc of America assumed the following Government IT Services companies with Buy ratings: SRA International (NYSE: SRX) and SI International.

• Banc of America assumed the following Government IT Services companies with Neutral ratings: CACI International, MTC Technologies (NASDAQ: MTCT), SAIC (NYSE: SAI), and ManTech International Corp (NASDAQ: MANT).

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