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Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MET, COST, WAG, CAG...

Analyst upgrades:

Keefe Bruyette upgraded MetLife (NYSE: MET) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company's capital and liquidity profile are very solid relative to this week's sell-off.
The firm also upgraded shares of MSCI (NYSE: MXB) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation as they believe near-term challenges are already priced into shares.
Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan based on valuation and strong pricing outlook.
Costco (NASDAQ: COST) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
Pali Capital lifted Virgin Mobile (NYSE: VM) to Neutral from Sell.
Merrill upgraded Pall (NYS: PLL) and Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) to buy from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades:

Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Trimble Navigation (NASDAQ: TRMB) to Perform from Outperform as they believe the company's Engineering and Construction division is facing a challenging period due to the credit market strain.
Stephens downgraded Seacoast Banking (NASDAQ:SBCF) to Underweight from Equal Weight as they believe a dilutive capital raise is possible given future losses from real estate credits in coastal Florida.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Garmin, Thomson Reuters and Heritage-Crystal Clean were today's noteworthy initiations:

Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) was initiated with a Neutral rating at JP Morgan. The firm sees risk to 2008 Street estimates given the consumer slowdown in the U.S. and potential ASP and margin pressure as channel inventory is worked down.
Morgan Stanley assumed Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ: TRIN) with an Underweight rating and expects revenue growth in the company's financial business to slow sharply into 2009.
William Blair believes Heritage-Crystal Clean (NASDAQ: HCCI) has the opportunity to gain market share over the next several years as a result of its differentiated parts-cleaning programs, strong sales organization, and experienced management team. Shares were assumed with an Outperform rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

Lehman initiated Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) with Equal Weight ratings and targets of $20 and $17 and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), IBM Corp (NYSE: IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) with Overweight ratings and targets of $195, $144 and $59, respectively.
Pacific Growth started Spectranetics (NASDAQ: SPNC) with a Neutral rating.
Merrill reinstated Chevron (NYSE: CVX), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and Hess Corp (NYSE: HES) with Buy ratings and price targets of $110, $105 and $125, respectively.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Apple (AAPL), Spectranetics (SPNC), First Solar (FSLR) and Online Resources (ORCC) were today's noteworthy initiations:

ThinkEquity believes Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of the best-positioned hardware companies that can capitalize on the monetization of digital media consumption through PC, televisions and mobile devices. The firm transferred coverage with an Accumulate rating and $135 target.

Roth Capital said atherectomy procedures continue to grow in the high-teens and that Spectranetics (NASDAQ: SPNC) should be able to exceed these growth rates with its ability to treat certain complicated lesions as well as through new product introductions. The firm started shares off with a Buy rating and $15 target.