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Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: GT, BCS, PAS, UPS, HSBC ...

Eric Buscemi — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EST

Analyst upgrades:

Stephens upgraded Arris (NASDAQ: ARRS) to Overweight from Equal Weight following the company's Q1 results and raised its target on shares to $15 from $8.
Goldman upgraded Goodyear Tire (NYSE: GT) to Neutral from Sell and raised their target to $11 from $7 citing better earnings prospects and stabilizing volumes.
KeyBanc upgraded Parkway Properties (NYSE: PKY) to Hold from Underweight citing the company's improved balance sheet and valuation.
Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) was raised to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer.
Barclays (NYSE: BCS) was raised to Buy from Sell at Royal Bank of Scotland.
First Potomac (NYSE: FPO) was upgraded at RBC Capital to Sector Perform from Underperform.

Eric Buscemi — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST

Analyst upgrades:

Piper upgraded shares of Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) to Buy from Neutral following the company's negative Q3 pre-announcement as it believes the launch of Pre will drive longer term profitability. Piper raised its target price on shares to $10 from $4.
Jefferies upgraded Monotype Imaging (NASDAQ: TYPE) to Buy from Hold as it believes the valuation is compelling at current levels and the company's debt is manageable. Despite upgrading, Jefferies lowered its target price to $4 from $6.
Citigroup raised Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) to Hold from Sell as it believes the company's productions cuts and lower dividends are positive.
Celanese (NYSE: CE) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and added to the firm's Conviction Buy List.
Aegon (NYSE: AEG) was lifted at UBS to Neutral from Sell.
Sun Healthcare (NASDAQ: SUNH) was upgraded at Stephens to Overweight from Equal Weight.

Eric Buscemi — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:55:00 EST

Analyst upgrades:

Societe Generale upgraded shares of Veolia Environment (NYSE: VE) to Buy from Hold as they believe the company's new finance chief implement additional cost savings.
Citigroup upgraded shares of Sun Healthcare (NASDAQ: SUNH) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to their Top Picks Live List as they believe the market is pricing in a more severe Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement outlook than is probable. The firm has a $14 target on the stock.
Calyon believes in 2010, American Express (NYSE: AXP) will have easy comps, reserve releases, and income statement leverage. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Underperform.
Societe Generale (OTC: SCGLY) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) was raised to neutral from Sell at UBS.
Goldman upgraded Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to the Conviction Buy List; Goldman also added Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) to the Conviction Buy List.

Eric Buscemi — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:55:00 EST

MOST NOTEWORTHY: ComScore, Duke Realty, Nordstrom and Sun Healthcare were among today's noteworthy upgrades:

ComScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer to reflect the strong Q1 report and strong customer additions.
Duke Realty (NYSE: DRE) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia upgraded based on valuation.
Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Sun Healthcare (NASDAQ: SUNH) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings based on valuation and notes the Medicare rate cuts will be as drastic as feared.

OTHER UPGRADES:

MedAssets (NASDAQ: MDAS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper, which thinks the company's acquisition of Accuro will strengthen its revenue cycle management offering, and the firm believes the tight credit markets make the company's MedAssets a compelling product in the short-term. In addition, Piper notes that the company has recently had success with large hospital systems.
Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill citing sales expectations for the l.e.i. brand at Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and margin improvements from leaner inventories.
Affiliated Computer (NYSE: ACS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies based on valuation and expectations for better bookings.

Eric Buscemi — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:10:00 EST

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Ford Motor Co, Advanced Micro Devices, Brocade, Netflix and Equinix were today's noteworthy upgrades:

Bear Stearns believes Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) could also benefit from similar deal to General Motors Corporation's (NYSE: GM) potential VEBA healthcare restructuring with the UAW. The firm upgraded Ford shares to Outperform from Peer Perform.
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan. The firm expects AMD's Barcelona server chip will help close the gap vs. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC).
Citigroup upgraded shares of Brocade Communications Systems (NASDAQ: BRCD) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to their Global Tech Conviction List on expectations for market share gains and margin upside in 2008.
Thomas Weisel upgraded shares of Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Overweight from Market Weight, citing reduced pressure from competitor Blockbuster Inc (NYSE: BBI), which could lead to upside in subscribers.
Needham upgraded shares of Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) to Buy from Hold to reflect improving fundamentals and potential upside from the IXEurope acquisition.

OTHER UPGRADES:

UBS upgraded shares of Sun Healthcare Group (NASDAQ: SUNH) and CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX) to Buy from Neutral.
Susquehanna raised Tween Brands Inc (NYSE: TWB) to Positive from Neutral.
FTN Midwest upgraded Hudson City Bancorp (NASDAQ: HCBK) to Buy from Neutral.
Bebe Stores (NASDAQ: BEBE) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.