Analyst Upgrades

• Barclays upgraded GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to overweight from equal weight and said investor concerns regarding Advair and Avandia are overdone.
• Leerink upgraded Bristol-Myers (BMY) to outperform from market perform, citing management's pipeline execution. Shares were also upgraded at Citigroup this morning to buy from hold.
• Goldman upgraded Medco Health (MHS) to buy from neutral and raised its price target on shares to $76 from $67. The firm cites valuation and expectations that earnings will accelerate in 2H10 driven by a stronger generic outlook.
• U.S. Steel (X) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Blyth (BTH) was upgraded to hold from underperform at Jefferies.
• IPC The Hospitalist Co. (IPCM) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo upgraded Home Properties (HME) to outperform from market perform. The firm thinks that rental rate in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic are poised to increase, while Home Properties provides relatively cheap access to these markets.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded VeriSign (VRSN) to buy from hold after the company sold its authentication business to Symantec (SYMC). The firm upped its target for VRSN shares to $35 from $25.
• Macquarie upgraded Nexen (NXY) to outperform from neutral following the company's divestiture of its noncore heavy-oil properties in Western Canada.
• UPS (UPS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Dell (DELL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Standpoint Research.
• Emerson Electric (EMR) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.

The shares of oil/natural gas company Nexen Inc. (NXY), first discussed here on June 26, 2010 at a price of $20.76, have broken out of a trading range, and appear to be headed for higher ground.

An independent, Canada-based global energy company, Nexen explores, develops and produces crude oil, natural gas, and related products in the U.K.'s North Sea, U.S.'s Gulf of Mexico, western Canada, Yemen, Colombia, offshore West Africa and in Norway.

Oil/natural gas company Nexen Inc.'s (NXY) is a play that's not for the squeamish; with the aforementioned publicized, I'm reiterating my buy rating for the company's shares, first recommended on July 26, 2009 at a price of $20.76.

Nexen posted Q3 2009 revenue of $1.36 billion versus $2.24 billion in Q3 2008, largely due to a lower aver price for crude oil, $68 per barrel versus $118 a year ago.

Oil and natural gas company Nexen Inc.'s (NYSE: NXY) has not progressed as much as expected when first recommended on July 26, 2009 at a price of $20.76, but given the company's business model and oil market conditions, investors should look on the NXY's relatively low price as an extended opportunity to accumulate shares, hence I'm reiterating my Buy rating.

Nexen, an independent, Canada-based global energy company, explores, develops and produces crude oil, natural gas, and related products in the U.K. North Sea, U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Western Canada, Yemen, Colombia, offshore West Africa and Norway.

Alternative fuels and renewable energy are gaining market share as energy sources, but oil will nevertheless remain a dominant fuel for at least the next 15-20 years, which is why Nexen Inc. (NYSE: NXY) is worth a review.

Nexen, an independent, Canada-based global energy company, explores, develops and produces crude oil, natural gas, and related products in the U.K.'s North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Western Canada, Yemen, Colombia, offshore West Africa and Norway.

While other earnings may have disappointed last week, the news was good for oil giant ConocoPhilips (NYSE: COP). In what some took as a good sign for big oil, the Houston-based company reported that third quarter net income surged 41% year over year to $3.39 per share, and that revenue also surged 52% to $70 billion. We'll see whether the good news extends to other petroleum giants scheduled to report quarterly results this week.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are looking for BP (NYSE: BP) profits to have grown 43.2% in the most recent quarter to $2.34 per share on revenue of $109.7 billion, and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) to post earnings up 39.4% to $3.25 per share on revenue of $86.8 billion. Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO), ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) likewise are expected to report higher net income of $2.33 per share (sales of $23.4 billion), $2.40 per share (sales of $131.4 billion), and $2.65 per share, respectively. Even Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is expected to post earnings slightly higher to $1.46 per share (sales of $36.4 billion), despite the effects of Hurricane Ike. Among these companies, only BP and Valero beat earnings expectations in the previous quarter. Not surprisingly, analysts on average recommend buying all except Valero, and shares of all of these companies have recently hit 52-week lows.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Staples, Evergreen Solar and Genzyme were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) to Buy from Hold following the company's raised bid for Corporate Express based on the increased chance the deal gets deal done and SPLS achieves meaningful EPS accretion.
  
• Jefferies also raised Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ: ESLR) to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they believe concerns regarding capital needs are now priced into the stock and that the company continues to take risk out of its growth story through execution.
  
• Bernstein upgraded Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ) to Outperform from Market Perform citing increased confidence in GENZ's product portfolio, geographic and therapeutic diversification, improved outlook, and valuation.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
  
• BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) was upgraded at Goldman to Neutral from Sell.
  
• Lehman upgraded Nexen (NYSE: NXY) to Overweight from Equal Weight.