Analyst Upgrades

• Raymond James upgraded Research in Motion (RIMM) to outperform from market perform based on valuation. The firm has a $70 price target on the stock.
• Macquarie upgraded Halliburton (HAL) to outperform from neutral and has a $40 price target on the stock. The firm said recent pressure pumping activity is above their expectations and pricing has firmed.
• Canaccord upgraded Baldor Electric (BEZ) to buy from speculative buy, citing improving business trends and the upcoming mandatory transition to premium efficiency motors. The firm has a $47 price target on the stock.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Williams-Sonoma (WSM) to outperform from market perform.
• Medco Health (MHS) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Repsol (REP) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Yesterday's announcement by Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) to cut but not eliminate its dividend payment got me wondering if there were other companies out there with absurdly high dividend yields that hadn't cut their payments. High-dividend yields are an old-fashioned way to look at companies and one that's fallen out of fashion as tech companies plowed their profits into research. But a 10% yield -- hey even a 7% yield -- is something we'd all be happy to find these days.

Traditionally, companies with high-dividend yields were those with low-growth potential, like utilities. Like Freddie, many of the current high-yield companies were created by a falling stock price. And like Freddie, they could always cut the dividend to keep the yield from getting out of whack. But, if they think the stock will rebound, maybe they won't cut it for fear the dividend cut would be yet another thing to drive off investors.

The highest yielding big company I found was Biovail (NYSE: BVF), Canada's biggest drug maker. The company was hit with an SEC complaint that key executives were lying about earnings. The company and the founder just settled a fight over the future direction of the company -- with the founder stepping aside. The stock, at about $10, has been cut in half in the last year. In May the company declared a quarterly dividend of 37.5 cents a share, which gives it a 15% yield at the current price.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Wyeth, 3SBio Inc, Cellcom Israel and Partner Communications were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Citigroup initiated Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) with a Hold rating and $49 target. The firm believes the upside potential from bapineuzumab is masking the company's unfavorable average EPS and revenue growth forecast versus the industry.
  
• Piper believes 3SBio Inc (NASDAQ: SSRX) is the market leader in a largely underpenetrated EPO market in China and sees limited downside risk. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating and $12 target.
  
• RBC Capital initiated Cellcom Israel (NYSE: CEL) and Partner Communications (NASDAQ: PTNR) with Outperform ratings and targets of $40 and $30, respectively. RBC said they have defensive appeal given their predictable earnings stream.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• HCP (NYSE: HCP), Nationwide Health Properties (NYSE: NHP) and Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW) were initiated with Market Perform ratings at Wachovia.
  
• SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) was assumed with an Above Average rating and $20.50 target at Caris.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Siemens, Con-Way, Old Dominion Freight and Yahoo! were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Goldman added Siemens (NYSE: SI) to their Conviction Buy List on valuation, as they believe investors are overlooking potential catalysts for the stock, such as the company's buyback and margin expansion opportunities. Shares remain Buy rated.
  
• Baird upgraded LTLs Con-Way (NYSE: CNW) and Old Dominion Freight (NASDAQ: ODFL) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuations, less fuel exposure, and better business models than TLs.
  
• Soleil upgraded Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to Hold from Sell on valuation, as the stock is near their $22 target.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Partner Communications (NASDAQ: PTNR) was upgraded at UBS to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.
  
• Soleil upgraded Continental (NYSE: CAL) to Buy from Hold.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Oracle Corp (ORCL), Helicos BioSciences (HLCS), Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) and China Sunergy (CSUN) topped today's noteworthy initiations:

• Benchmark started Oracle Corp (NASDAQ: ORCL) with a Hold rating.

• JP Morgan initiated Helicos BioSciences (NASDAQ: HLCS) with a Neutral rating based on the potential of its single-molecule genetic sequencing platform but noted that commercialization carries near-term risk.

• Hambrecht believes Clean Energy Fuels' (NASDAQ: CLNE) total addressable market is over $20B given the company's focus on natural gas vehicle fuel for return-to-base applications and started shares with a Buy rating.

• Jefferies wants to see China Sunergy (NASDAQ: CSUN) demonstrate that its silicon wafer suppliers can meet aggressive ramping plans before becoming more positive on the stock, starting shares off with a Hold rating...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Lehman started Greenlight Capital Re (NASDAQ: GLRE) with an Equal Weight rating.

• Cellcom Israel (NYSE: CEL) and Partner Communications (NYSE: PTNR) were initiated with Buy ratings at Citigroup.

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