Analyst Upgrades

• TCF Financial (TCB) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Exelon (EXC) to market perform from underperform at Wells Fargo.
• Nvidia (NVDA) and Boyd Gaming (BYD) upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Estee Lauder (EL) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Webster Financial (WBS) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Skilled Healthcare (SKH) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• NCR Corp. (NCR) to outperform from neutral at Wedbush.
• Barnes & Noble (BKS) to neutral from underperform and Pioneer Natural (PXD) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Autodesk (ADSK) to buy from neutral at Goldman.

Things will be pretty quiet on the earnings front again this week as the quarter winds down. But here's a look at what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting from a few of the stragglers that are scheduled to report results.

In the three months that ended in February, Mosaic Co. (MOS) declared a quarterly dividend and denied that the company was for sale. Analysts expect this potash and phosphate producer to report that fiscal third-quarter earnings surged nearly 80% from the same period of last year to $0.63 per share. Revenue for the period is expected to be 31.6% higher to $1.8 billion. So far, analysts anticipate sequential and year-over-year EPS and revenue growth in the fourth quarter. However, Mosaic's earnings results have fallen short of expectations in three of the past four quarters, by as much as 11 cents per share.

Today felt like a road to nowhere all day. The DJIA went into negative territory six times or more today after trying to hold gains in the early hours. And there was no solid economic news to run the markets one way or another. News out of the National Association for Business Economics calling for a rate hike and a deficit watch had no real impact.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

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Computer storage concern Xyratex (XRTX) reported Q4 results Tuesday after the bell. The tech company had a lot of pressure on its back going into the release. As Trey Thoelcke observed in his earnings preview, there were high expectations in terms of the bottom line. The market was looking for 38 cents per share.

Unfortunately, management wasn't able to deliver on those expectations, posting instead an adjusted per-share profit of 26 cents. The top line also had a tough time, decreasing roughly 15%.

Expectations are high for specialty chemicals maker H.B. Fuller Co. (FUL) and computer storage company Xyratex Ltd. (XRTX) when they release their quarterly numbers Tuesday after the market closes.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for fourth-quarter earnings of 42 cents per share from H.B. Fuller, nearly double last year's 24 cents per share. But revenue is expected to fall 5.8% from a year ago to $329.9 million. The company easily beat earnings estimates in the previous two quarters. Its earnings multiple is 15x, which is far less than the industry average, but the First Call consensus recommendation remains to hold FUL. But Benzinga sees an upside surprise as likely.

Even if the national headlines weren't already providing enough focus on the economy, plenty of economic data is due out as the month and the quarter wind down. U.S. economic data scheduled to be released this week include:

• Personal income (Aug. 2008): Monday 8:30 AM
• Consumer confidence index (Sept, 2008): Tuesday 10:00 AM
• Challenger job cut announcement (Sept, 2008): Wednesday 7:30 AM
• ISM manufacturing survey (Sept. 2008): Wednesday 10:00 AM
• Construction spending (Aug. 2008): Wednesday 10:00 AM
• New motor vehicle sales (Sept. 2008): Wednesday 4:00 PM
• Monster employment index (Sept. 2008): Thursday 6:00 AM
• Factory orders (Aug. 2008): Thursday 10:00 AM
• Employment situation (Sept. 2008): Friday 8:30 AM
• ISM nonmanufacturing survey (Sept. 2008): Friday 10:00 AM

Other economic events scheduled for this week include:

• Fed's Hoenig speaks on "The Economy and Monetary Policy": Monday 9:45 PM
• Fed's Lockhart speaks on the economic outlook: Tuesday 1:00 PM
• Ford Motor Co. September 2008 Sales Conference Call: Wednesday 1:00 PM
• AMETEK Inc. at Oppenheimer Industrials Conference: Thursday 8:00 AM
• DuPont at Citigroup Ethanol on the Cob Conference: Thursday 12:50 PM
• Fed's Evans speaks at Agricultural Markets and Food Price Inflation conference: Thursday 1:00 PM
• Fed's Bullard speaks at Indiana University Department of Economics: Thursday 7:00 PM
• Fed's Hoenig speaks on "The Economy and Monetary Policy": Thursday 9:45 PM
• National Association for Business Economics 50th Annual Meeting to address Future Economic Challenges: Friday 9:00 PM

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Abbott Labs, Barclays, SanDisk, Mission West Properties and Texas Instruments were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Wachovia downgraded shares of Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) to Market Perform from Outperform reflect several challenges to the company's key franchises. In particular, Wachovia cites the potential delay of the drug-eluting stent Xience launch in the U.S. and decelerating growth of Humira.
  
• ABN Amro downgraded shares of Barclays (NYSE: BCS) to Hold from Buy to reflect the capital markets, lower UK bank non-interest income and higher bad debts.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded shares of SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) to Neutral from Buy as they expect many of the advantages that drove shares to unwind in Q4 and into 1H08.
  
• Mission West Properties (NYSE: MSW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel, as they now believe the possibility of a sale is 50%/50% and could be pushed back to 1H08.
  
• Think Equity downgraded shares of Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) to Source of Funds from Accumulate as they believe competition could hinder Q4 and 2008 growth for wireless.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Citigroup downgraded Xyratex Ltd (NASDAQ: XRTX) and Valueclick (NASDAQ: VCLK) to Hold from Buy.
  
• Piper downgraded Nasdaq Stock Market (NASDAQ: NDAQ) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Lehman downgraded Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (NYSE: BNI) to Equal Weight from Overweight and CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX) to Underweight from Equal Weight.
  
• UBS downgraded Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP) to Neutral from Buy.

An important measure of the excellence of an original equipment manufacturer's products and services is the reputation of the companies on its client list. When it comes to computer storage devices, there is an English OEM that serves the biggest names in the business.

Xyratex Ltd (NASDAQ: XRTX) is engaged in the design, development and manufacture of data storage subsystems, controllers and PCI cards that analyze and manage network data. These are based on RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) and SBOD (Switched Bunch of Disks) technologies, in support of a range of performance specifications. The firm also develops production test systems, servo writers and disk automation systems for disk drive manufacturers. Customers include Network Appliance (NASDAQ: NTAP), Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) and Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC).

The firm pleased the Street last week, when it reported fiscal Q1 EPS of 40 cents and revenues of $236.4 million. Analysts had been looking for 30 cents and $229.1 million. Management also guided Q2 EPS to 9-19 cents (16 cent consensus) and Q2 revenues to $203-218 million ($210.52 million consensus). Needham and Caris subsequently rated the issue a "buy."

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Hard-disk drive makers Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC) and Xyratex Ltd (NASDAQ: XRTX) were upgraded by Citigroup to Buy from Hold to reflect improving fundamentals; namely easing concerns related to inventory levels and pricing.
• New Century Financial Corporation (NYSE: NEW) was upgraded by UBS to Neutral from Reduce. UBS said New Century's credit outlook is reflected in the shares and its liquidity risk is ok near-term.
  
• The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley to Overweight from Equal Weight on valuation and improving fundamentals, with a price target of $56.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) was upgraded by Merrill Lynch to Buy from Sell.