Analyst Upgrades

• Ryder (R) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• HCP (HCP) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Hertz Global (HTZ) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Lincoln National (LNC) to buy from neutral and T. Rowe Price (TROW) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Protective Life (PL) and Janus Capital (JNS) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Newell Rubbermaid (NWL) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• National Instruments (NATI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Team Health (TMH) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst Upgrades

• Bernstein upgraded Boeing (BA) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation. The firm also raised its price target to $81 from $80.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Thomas & Betts (TNB) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation and an expected recovery in North American nonresidential construction.
• RBC Capital upgraded Susquehanna (SUSQ) to outperform from sector perform and has a $14 target on the stock. The firm thinks the stock's valuation is attractive as its decline in response to the European debt crisis and financial regulatory reform has been overdone.
• Priceline.com (PCLN) was upgraded to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Genzyme (GENZ) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• RightNow (RNOW) was upgraded to overweight from market weight at Thomas Weisel.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the new rules on short-selling could move us higher on this expiration day.

Today will be a huge test of the new short-selling rules because we are starting from a higher plateau.

The brokers now know that it may not pay to short financials that have no mortgage exposure because they might rid themselves of it, and because they might not be able to get unlimited puts because the brokers won't provide them in fear that they will be caught without a borrow because major institutions are taking their stock out of the stock loan vault.

The specter of a total ban on shorting would make being short totally unpalatable. Make no mistake about it, a total ban on shorting, even a temporary ban on shorting would be horrible and destroy the markets outright. That's right -- destroy them.

I can expect that from this commissioner because he is that bad. (Did McCain just get my vote?) But anyone with any sophistication knows that if you can't short or hedge with shorting, you can't trust a market. It will break both ways, up and down. That has to be taken off the table. Almost all of the unintended consequences wreck whatever "good" it could accomplish.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: ExxonMobil, Susquehanna and BJ's Wholesale were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded shares of ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect the company's best of industry returns and high credit rating, which they feel makes for a safe investment in the current environment.
  
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of Susquehanna (NASDAQ: SUSQ) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation and believes the company is unlikely to have to raise capital.
  
• JP Morgan raised BJ's Wholesale (NYSE: BJ) to Overweight from Neutral citing improvement in the company's ability to convert free trial customers to paid members and strong June sales, which could result in EPS upside for Q2-Q4.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  
• France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
  
• Baird raised Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) to Outperform from Neutral.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc (SHO), Under Armour, Inc (UA), Crocs, Inc (CROX) and Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc (SUSQ) were today's more noteworthy initiations:

• RBC Capital initiated Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE: SHO) with an Outperform rating.

• ThinkEquity started Under Armor Inc (NYSE: UA)and Crocs Inc (NASDAQ: CROX) with Accumulate ratings. The firm believes both companies can continue to grow market share, expand its product line and distribution and earn high ROIC.

• Stifel started Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ: SUSQ) with a Sell rating...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Barrington started Continuecare Corp (NYSE: CNU) with an Outperform rating.

• Raymond James initiated JA Solar Holdings Co, Ltd (NASDAQ: JASO) with an Outperform rating.

• Thomas Wiesel started Inovio Biomedical Corp (NYSE: INO) with an Overweight rating and $8.

• Both BMO Capital and William Blair started FCStone Group, Inc (NASDAQ: FCSX) with a Market Perform rating; Banc of America started FCStone with a Neutral rating.

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