"Silvercorp Metals (SVM), based in Vancouver, Canada, produces silver from mines in China and Canada; annual revenues are $153 million," notes Leo Fasciocco.

The editor of Ticker Tape Digest explains, "SVM's stock has ridden rides the wave of rising prices for silver and the stock has broken out from a three-month, cup-and-handle base.

"Silvercorp mined 406,754 tons of ore in the past fiscal year. It sold 4.6 million ounces of silver, 62.4 million pounds of lead and 14.7 million pounds of zinc.

Analyst Upgrades

• Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Petrobras (PBR) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Silvercorp Metals (SVM) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• PROS (PRO) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Power Integrations (POWI) and Monolithic Power (MPWR) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Diodes (DIOD) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Whole Foods (WFMI) to hold from sell at Hapoalim.
• Sinclair Broadcast (SBGI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sappi (SPP) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Alpha Natural (ANR) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Watts Water (WTS) to buy from hold at Brean Murray.

Analyst Upgrades

• BP (BP) to buy from hold at RBS.
• Symantec (SYMC) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• GenOn Energy (GEN) and Nationwide Health Properties (NHP) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Logitech (LOGI) and Patriot Coal (PCX) to neutral from sell, as well as ARM Holdings (ARMH) to buy from neutral, at Goldman.
• Silvercorp Metals (SVM) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Cinemark (CNK) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Smith & Nephew (SNN) to market perform from underperform at Bernstein.
• Molex (MOLX) to overweight from underweight at JPMorgan.

"You've undoubtedly noticed gold's run up; but you may have missed the serious gains coming from gold's underappreciated sister -- silver," suggests Keith Fitz-Gerald.

The editor of The New China Trader explains, "To play this trend, we are buying Silvercorp Metals (SVM), which engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of silver mining properties in Canada and China.

"Silver currently shows a powerful 'cup-and-handle' formation; we've seen similar formations for gold over the past couple of years, and each time the metal subsequently rallied to new all-time highs," notes Brien Lundin.

The editor of The Gold Newsletter -- and the host of the annual New Orleans Gold Conference -- explains, "This pattern is a potent indication of a rally ahead.

In short, silver is shining right now, and seems ready to gleam even more brightly, especially in comparison to gold. Meanwhile, one of our favorite silver stocks is Silvercorp Metals (SVM).

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that The ServiceMaster Company (NYSE: SVM) has shelved its $1.15B sale of junk bonds that would help to pay for the LBO of the company due to "investor nervousness."
• The Wall Street Journal reported that eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) has quietly opened a classified ad site in the U.S., which would rival Craigslist.
• According to people familiar with the situation, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) has approached several private-equity firms that are involved in the bidding for Cadbury Schweppes plc's (NYSE: CSG) U.S. drinks business, reported the Wall Street Journal.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) has been given clearance to sell its BlackBerry device in China, reported the New York Times.
• Big names like International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM), Infosys Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: INFY), TCS and The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) are opting out of the bidding race for Citigroup Incorporated's (NYSE: C) BPO arm, reported the Times of India.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Amgen (AMGN), Wendy's (WEN), webMethods (WEBM), Global Crossing (GLBC) and International Securities Exchange (ISE) topped out today's noteworthy downgrades:

• A host of companies shot down Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN) today:
• Lazard cut the drugmaker to Sell from Buy while Citigroup cut them to Sell from Hold. JP Morgan and HSBC downgraded Amgen to Neutral from Overweight while Morgan Stanley cut shares to Equal-Weight from Overweight.

• Elsewhere, Wendy's Int'l (NYSE: WEN) was downgraded by Citigroup to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Deutsche Bank cut shares of webMethods Inc (NASDAQ: WEBM) to Hold from Buy as they expect the software AG merger to go through.

• Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank following the company's Q1 miss and revised guidance.

• The International Securities Exchange (NYSE: ICE) was downgraded at Banc of America given potential risks to the Eurex bid. They are not counting on rival bids and recommend moving to the sidelines...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• HSBC downgraded Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) to Neutral from Overweight.

• Morgan Stanley downgraded King Pharma (NYSE: KG) to Equal Weight from Overweight. Pacific

• Crest downgraded Actions Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ACTS) to Sector Perform from Outperform.

• Raymond James downgraded ServiceMaster Co (NYSE: SVM) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Soliel downgraded Tweeter Home Entertainment (NASDAQ: TWTR) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required)

Back in late November, I wrote on BloggingStocks.com that ServiceMaster Company (NYSE:SVM) was "in play" as the stock surged 10% to $13.14. At that time, the company retained Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) to explore strategic alternatives.

Well, now we have a deal. The private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice says will it pay $4.8 billion for ServiceMaster. The stock jumped 12% to $15.12 on the news.

ServiceMaster is the kind of deal that is tantalizing to private equity firms. The company has a collection of top brands, such as Terminix, Merry Maids and TruGreen Chemlawn. The cash flows are also good.

As a result, it looks like there was some heavy bidding for this deal. The valuation is a rich 26X earnings. Yes, it's a pretty good bet there will not be another bid on this one.

For Clayton, it looks like the strategy is to sell off a myriad of the assets to help pay off the debt. But, in light of the valuation, it's going to take a lot of work to make this deal a winner.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Stock futures are positive in early morning trade, indicating to a similar start for stocks as new merger and acquisition possibilities are in the air. The possible positive start would be at the heels of a week that closed Friday with stock markets posting losses as economic data surprised investors as it pointed to inflationary pressures and lowered possibilities of a rate cut by the Fed this week.

Overseas, Asian and European stocks started the week on a positive note with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closing up 1.6% and European markets trading higher with London's FTSE 100 gaining 0.4% and the German DAX gaining 0.8%.

Contributing to European stocks sentiment this morning were speculations that British bank Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) may make an offer for Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV (NYSE:ABN). ABN shares surged 7.2% shares opened 1.4% higher in London.

While there isn't much economic data due today, the home builders' index will be released 1 p.m. Eastern and will probably closely monitored following the recent subprime mortgage woes and the continued slump in the housing market.

While oil prices fell further, falling below $57 a barrel this morning, the dollar strengthened against the yen and the euro.

In other corporate news:

ServiceMaster Co. (NYSE:SVM) agreed to be bought for around $4.48 billion in cash in a deal worth $5.5 billion after including the assumption of about $1.02 billion in debt. The buyers, a group led by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc., will pay SVM stockholders $15.625 in cash for each outstanding share, a 16% percent over ServiceMaster's closing price of $13.47 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE:NT) could open lower after it traded down 3% in after-hours trading on Friday. While it reported a narrower net loss, it also said it expects flat revenue growth in 2007.

While DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE:DCX) might run into opposition from unions regarding the sale of its Chrysler Group unit, Goldman Sachs upgraded DCX to Neutral from Sell, believing in a potential upside.