Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) to Buy from Hold and raised the target to $79 from $52.50 on valuation and believes the company can use its strong cash flow position to acquire assets.
  
• Baird said The Corporate Executive Board Company's (NASDAQ: EXBD) valuation is discounting a miss and that the company is well positioned as an early-cycle story with a new CFO, continued mid-market traction, and likely better than feared 2009 results. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $38 from $41.
  
• Merrill upgraded Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE: NVS) to Buy from Neutral and Sanofi-Aventis SA (ADR) (NYSE: SNY) and Shire Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ: SHPGY) to Buy from Underperform on valuation and defensive earnings.
• Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette.
  
• Barclays Plc (ADR) (NYSE: BCS) was raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
  
• Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) was upgraded at Soleil to Buy from Hold.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Chico's FAS (CHS), MetroPCS (PCS), Federated Investors (FII) and Tibco (TIBX) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Roth Capital believes Chico's FAS (NYSE: CHS) growth will be back on track given the changes within the merchandise organization and recent infrastructure investments, and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $24 target.

• Pacific Crest believes MetroPCS's (NYSE: PCS) low-cost business model creates opportunities and that its large market focus should drive outperformance, and initiated shares with an Outperform rating.

• JMP Securities believes near-term upside in Federated Investors (NYSE: FII) could be seen with hurricane season and resumed coverage of Federated Investors with an Overweight rating and $178 target.
  

• Pacific Crest believes 2007 is a transition year for Tibco (NASDAQ: TIBX) and started shares with a Sector Perform rating...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• BWS Financial initiated Rentrak (NASDAQ: RENT) with a Buy rating and $20 target.

• HSBC started Lukoil (OTC: LUKOY) with an Overweight rating.

• Pacific Crest started shares of On Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ONNN) with an Outperform rating and $16 target.

• BMO Capital initiated Ares Capital (NASDAQ: ARCC) with an Outperform rating and $18 target.

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

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is getting tired of explaining to advertisers why it has fewer viewers. One reason ad performance is dropping has nothing to do with the networks losing audience. It is a technology issue. Viewers with digital video recorders can skip the ads.

Disney has a way to claw some of the audience back. It can refuse programming licenses to cable systems for on-demand applications unless the ads run as they were placed in the shows. This philosophy is at the heart of a new deal with Cox Cable. Disney will license [subscription required] its ESPN and ABC networks to Cox, but the cable system must ensure that the cable customers see all of the markets' messages.

Rentrak, a research firm, estimates that cable on-demand orders have gone from under 200 million per quarter in 2004 to over 700 million in Q107. So, Disney has real leverage by threatening to hold back valuable content. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Media research firm Convergence Consulting predicts VOD revenue will total $1.6 billion this year, with the business growing to $3.9 billion by 2010."

The digital video recorder business had traditional broadcasters on the ropes. They could no longer guarantee their huge advertisers that their commercials would be seen. With the Cox deal, the networks are beginning to push the pendulum the other way.

Douglas A. McIntyre a partner at 24/7 Wall St.