Analyst Upgrades

• Applied Materials (AMAT) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Air Products (APD) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Youku.com (YOKU) and Pinnacle West (PNW) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Stryker (SYK) and Zimmer (ZMH) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Zions Bancorp (ZION) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Alnylam (ALNY) to buy from hold at Needham.
• AK Steel (AKS) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wynn Resorts (WYNN) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Oracle (ORCL) and Alliance Data Systems (ADS) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Saint Joe (JOE) to outperform from market perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• Starwood Hotels (HOT) to neutral from underperform at RW Baird.
• Middlesex Water (MSEX) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Consol Energy (CNX) to buy from hold at BB&T.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: HealthSpring (HS), CoPart (CPRT), Multi Fineline Electronix (MFLX) and Global Traffic Network (GNET) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• HealthSpring (NYSE: HS) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $20 target at Banc of America, as the firm doesn't expect earnings growth to recover until 2009.

• Rochdale Research started CoPark (NASDAQ: CPRT) with a Buy and $36 target yesterday. The firm said CoPark is in an excellent competitive position and expects growth to re-accelerate as the company integrates and expands its non-U.S. platform.

• Needham reinstated shares of Multi Fineline Electronix (NASDAQ: MFLX) with a Buy rating and $13 target, as the firm believes the current valuation overly discounts the company's opportunities with Sony-Ericsson (SNE/ERIC), Apple (AAPL), and the likelihood of stability at Motorola (MOT).

• Oppenheimer initiated shares of Global Traffic Network (NASDAQ: GNET) with a Buy rating and $9.50 target as the firm believes the company's expansion into new territories such as Canada and the UK should enable double-digit revenue and cash flow growth for the long term.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Goldman Sachs reinstated shares of Qiagen (NASDAQ: QGEN) with a Neutral rating.

• Raymond James initiated shares of Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) with an Outperform rating and $275 target.

• NexCen Brands (NASDAQ: NEXC) was started at Lazard with a Buy rating.

• BMO Capital initiated shares of INVESTools (NASDAQ: SWIM) with an Outperform rating.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Dominion Resources (D), Digene (DIGE) and Deutsche Bank (DB) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• BMO Capital downgraded shares of Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) to Market Perform from Outperform citing the sale proceeds for its onshore U.S. E&P properties that were below expectations.
• Digene Corp. (NASDAQ: DIGE) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Ferris Baker Watts based on the acquisition by Qiagen (NASDAQ: QGEN). Digene was also downgraded at SummerStreet to Neutral from Buy, as the firm views the Qiagen's acquisition for $1.6B as reasonable.
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, as the firm sees better value in traditional credit-exposed banks.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Norsk Hydro (NYSE: NHY) and BP PLC (NYSE: BP) were downgraded to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
• Quiksilver Inc. (NYSE: ZQK) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W Baird due to valuation.
  
• Banc of America downgraded shares of SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI) to Neutral from Buy on valuation as they believe further sales of Coke may not be very accretive to EPS.
• LifePoint Hospitals Inc. (NASDAQ: LPNT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies based on valuation.
• Clear Channel Outdoors Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at DBAB on valuation.
• Matrix USA downgraded shares of Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) to Hold from Buy to reflect rising costs and lower enrollment rates.
• Matrix also downgraded True Religion Apparel Inc. (NASDAQ: TRLG) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

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