MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman removed shares of Air France (NYSE: AKH) from its Conviction Buy List due to the increase in the price of fuel and the possibility of an economic slowdown.
  
• The firm also removed Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) from the list after the company suspended two studies of its anti-clotting drug. The company was also downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• UBS downgraded shares of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) to Neutral from Buy as it believes the company's exposure to problem asset classes will remain under pressure and possibly lead to further write-downs. UBS lowered its Q4 estimate to $1.12 from $1.18 and 2008 estimate to $7.00 from $7.85. Shares were also downgraded at Wachovia to Market Perform from Outperform. The firm sees increased risk to the MER story given expected pressure on compensation to keep people, speculation around turnover in senior ranks, and the ability to retain and motivate people. Additionally, the firm sees further risk to MER's exposure to ABS, CDOs and sub-prime asset declines.
  
• Rochdale downgraded shares of Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) to Hold from Buy citing lack of catalysts from the company's two-day analyst meeting.
  
• WestLB downgraded shares of GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) to Sell from Add to reflect the company's growth prospects in Q4 and 2008.

• Sirenza Microdevices (NASDAQ: SMDI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
  
• Piper Jaffray lowered its rating on Talbots (NYSE: TLB) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Bear Stearns downgraded Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) to Underperform from Peer Perform.

Analyst downgrades: AKH, LLY, MER, WMT and GSK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Websence (NASDAQ: WBSN) to Overweight from Underweight ahead of the renewal period starting in the December quarter and expects this momentum to drive shares higher.

• RF Micro Devices (NASDAQ: RFMD) was raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup, who said the Sirenza Microdevices (SMDI) deal gives the company its first real prospect for gross margin expansion in years.

• Matrix USA upgraded Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) to Buy from Sell, and expects the company to benefit from the Checkfree (CKFR) acquisition.

• Lehman upgraded shares of Qwest (NYSE: Q) to Overweight from Equal Weight, citing the hiring of industry veteran Ed Mueller as CEO. The firm believes the new CEO removes an overhang and could lead to a change in strategic direction and significantly increase capital spending.

• JP Morgan upgraded OSI Pharma (NASDAQ: OSIP) to Overweight from Underweight based on valuation and upcoming catalysts for Tarceva that should be seen in the next year...

• UBS upgraded Allstate (NYSE: ALL) to Neutral from Sell.

• ThinkEquity raised Hansen Medical (NASDAQ: HNSN) to Buy from Accumulate.

• Stanford upgraded Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) to Buy from Hold.

• FTN Midwest upgraded shares of Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) to Neutral from Sell.

• Hambrecht upgraded NetGear (NASDAQ: NTGR) to Buy from Hold.

Analyst upgrades: ALL, LXK, RFMD, Q and WBSN originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.