Analyst Upgrades

• Cisco (CSCO) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Cognizant (CTSH) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Polypore (PPO) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Elan (ELN) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Millicom (MICC) and NuStar GP Holdings (NSH) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Teekay LNG (TGP) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• American Railcar (ARII) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) to buy from neutral at Sterne Agee.

"Energy prices are beginning to firm up again. And one opportunity we see in this sector is NuStar Energy (NS); there has been heavy insider buying here," says Mark Skousen.

In his High Income Alert, the advisor explains, "Insiders have purchased 622,000 shares of NuStar during the last six months. They have sold exactly none.

"Last month, for example, Director William Greehey of NuStar purchased 350,000 shares at $65.55, an investment of nearly $19.8 million. Directors Rodman Patton, Dan Hill and Jesse Bates have bought lately, too.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: NDS Group plc (NNDS), Payless ShoeSource, Inc (PSS), Southern Union Co (SUG) and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc (TTWO) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• B. Riley believes NDS Group (NASDAQ: NNDS) is in an attractive space with 42M digital TV subscribers, increasing competition between TV service providers and declining digital deployment costs, starting shares with a Buy rating and $66.50 target.
• KeyBanc McDonald initiated shares of Payless ShoeSource Inc (NYSE: PSS) with a Buy rating and $42 target.
• Calyon started Southern Union Co (NYSE: SUG) with a Buy rating and $38 target and sees positive catalysts over the next 12-18 months, including a potential takeover or monetization and the formal creation of an MLP.
• Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO) was started with a Hold rating at Needham. The firm finds it unlikely that shares will outperform until new management sets forth their new plan, which is expected to take 3-6 months.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Credit Suisse imitated Akamai Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: AKAM) with an Outperform rating and $65 target.
• American Technology believes Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc's (NASDAQ: CADX) two late-stage products fill an important, unmet medical need and started the company with a Buy rating and $24 target.
• UBS started shares of NuStar GP Holdings, LLC (NYSE: NSH) with a Neutral rating and $30 target.
• TeleTech Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: TTEC) was initiated with a Buy rating at Merrill Lynch.

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