Analyst upgrades:

• Wachovia upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) to Outperform from Market Perform on expectations for greater pricing power given Goldman's position as the largest remaining independent securities firm.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Investment Technology Group Inc (NYSE: ITG) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company will take market share with the reshaping of the large wire-house brokerage community. The company's target was raised to $37 from $33.
• Broadpoint raised Hoku Scientific Inc (NASDAQ: HOKU) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the contract with Tianwei New Energy reduces financing risk.
• ACE Ltd (NYSE: ACE) and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Axcelis Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: ACLS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold and Evergreen Solar Inc (NASDAQ: ESLR) was lifted to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.

Analyst downgrades:

For those who love to follow the business of Hollywood -- count yours truly as one of the many -- the following Reuters article contains data of interest. It appears that 2007 was a banner year for Tinsel Town, according to numbers released by the Motion Picture Association of America. Revenues at multiplexes worldwide jumped 4.7% to $26.7 billion. In the United States, the growth was even better -- theaters at home took in $9.6 billion, good for an appreciation rate of over 5%.

But there's another side to the story. Ticket prices, you see, increased 5% in the U.S. This inflationary aspect is what essentially led to the domestic growth, for while approximately 1.4 billion tickets were sold, there was no rise in the number of tickets sold. That should be ultimately disappointing to studios at Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), TWX (NYSE: TWX), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal. Oh, and here's another not-so-impressive item: the average cost to produce a film and then promote it came in at nearly $107 million. This statistic represented an increase of 6.3%.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Leap Wireless (LEAP), Cergaon Networks (CRNT), Cinemark (CNK), Regal Entertainment (RGC) and Ocean Power Tech (OPTT) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) was initiated with an Outperform rating and $103 target at Pacific Crest, as the firm believes the company's long-term opportunity with new-market expansion is underappreciated.
• Pacific Crest also initiated shares of Ceragon Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: CRNT) with an Outperform rating and $12 target, as the firm believes accelerating wireless data growth is driving backhaul demand.
• Cinemark Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CNK) was initiated with an Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley, a Buy rating and $21 target at Banc of America and a Buy rating at Merrill Lynch; Banc of America believes the current box office strength could drive upside to estimates.
• Morgan Stanley also initiated shares of Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) with an Equal Weight rating.
• Ocean Power Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTT) was initiated with a Buy rating and $24 target at Banc of America and a Neutral rating at First Albany.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Telanetix Inc. (NASDAQ: TNXI) was initiated with a Buy rating and $8.50 target at Kaufman Bros, as the firm believes the company's market opportunity is significant and thinks it could be an interesting acquisition target if the telepresence market development accelerates.
• Banc of America initiated shares of OceanFreight Inc. (NASDAQ: OCNF) with a Buy rating and $23 target.
• Goldman Sachs initiated shares of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) with a Neutral rating and $54 target and shares of Kinder Morgan Management (NYSE: KMR) with a Neutral rating and $53 target.
• Deutsche Bank initiated shares of Guess Inc. (NYSE: GES) with a Buy rating and $49 target.

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