Analyst Upgrades

• Wunderlich upgraded Inergy (NRGY) to buy from hold on valuation after the stock sold off following the proposed merger with Inergy Holdings (NRGP). The firm raised its target for shares to $46 from $40.
• Soleil upgraded Applied Industrial (AIT) to buy from gradually accumulate following the company's better-than-expected Q4 results and raised its target for shares to $42 from $36.
• Citigroup upgraded Starwood Property (STWD) to buy from hold with a $21 price target, citing a pick-up in CRE loan sales.
• Family Dollar (FDO) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Intercontinental Hotels (IHG) was upgraded to buy from sell at Societe Generale.
• Yucheng Technologies (YTEC) was upgraded to buy from hold at Roth Capital.

Analyst Upgrades

• Oppenheimer upgraded Citigroup (C) to outperform from perform, citing an attractive valuation following the recent pullback in shares. The firm has a $4.58 price target for the stock.
• Macquarie upgraded Transocean (RIG) to to outperform from neutral and has price target of $85 on the stock. The firm believes bad news is already priced into shares.
• JPMorgan upgraded U.S. Bancorp (USB) to overweight from neutral, citing the recent pullback in shares and a lower impact from the financial reform bill. The firm has a $31.50 price target for the stock.
• Boeing (BA) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Health Net (HNT) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Vale (VALE) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at HSBC.

While it's still early, the signs are positive that we'll see a nice comeback in the IPO market. For example, Avago (NASDAQ: AVGO) and Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD) had strong offerings. Moreover, recently we've seen some large IPO filings, such as for Dole Food and Hyatt.

No doubt, Wall Street will make some juicy fees. So, to get a piece of the action, Lazard (NYSE: LAZ) has made a big move: it has hired IPO banker, Tom Tuft. He was the equity capital markets group chairman at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). He joined the firm in 1976.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), which is a real estate investment trust, struck gold last night. The company issued 40.5 million shares for its public offering, raising a cool $810 million (this was 35% more than expected). The offering price came to $20.

Why the excitement? Basically, Starwood wants to capitalize on the low valuations in the commercial real estate markets. The main approach will be to purchase debt securities -- and perhaps wind up owning some choice properties.