Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD) to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $5.50 from $4.25 citing valuation and expectations for the company's competitive position and gross margins to improve.
• Barclays upgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Overweight from Equal Weight citing long-term earnings growth as the company benefits from declining charge-offs and credit costs. The firm has a $38 target on the stock.
• JPMorgan upgraded Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) to Overweight from Neutral and raised its target to $22 from $19 citing the FTC approval for the acquisition of Jacobs Ranch mine and valuation.
• Bebe Stores (NASDAQ: BEBE) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.
• Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at Piper Jaffray.
• Ashland (NYSE: ASH) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Phillips-Van Heusen (NYSE: PVH) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q1 results as it believes management is executing well in the current environment and that the company could meet the high end of guidance. The firm raised its price target to $24 from $19.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded Cliffs Natural (NYSE: CLF) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes capacity utilization has stabilized and CLF's valuation is attractive at current levels. The firm raised its price target to $27 from $23.
  
• Thomas Weisel believes demand at Microchip's industrial (NASDAQ: MCHP) customers has troughed and that market share loss concerns are unwarranted. The firm upgraded shares to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $27 from $19.
• CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
  
• U-Store It Trust (NYSE: YSI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• Ener1 (NASDAQ: HEV) was lifted at Banc of America/Merrill to Buy from Neutral.

Despite large and growing declines in both the commercial and residential real estate markets, one part of the real estate sector is having a good year. Self-storage companies, which are often structured as REITs, are posting some good numbers. Face it, American's have way too much stuff and not enough space to store it at home. Americans move, go away to college, get divorced, join the military and/or lose their homes in foreclosure with alarming regularity. All of these life events require short-term storage. According to a survey in Investment News, self-storage REITs have generated total returns of 20% or more YTD. This compares very favorably with the 5% or more drop in the S&P 500 stock index YTD.

A snapshot of the sector shows four of the largest self-storage companies on the upswing. Sovran Storage Incorporated (NYSE: SSS) at $40.88 is up 1.95% YTD. Most other self-storage REITs have more impressive returns. Extra Space Storage (NYSE: EXR) at $15.11, up 6.90% YTD. Public Storage Incorporated (NYSE: PSA) at $83.55 is one of the most expensive self-storage stocks. It is up 7.59% YTD. The bargain in the self-storage sector is U Store It Trust (NYSE: YSI). At $11.54 the stock is up a whopping 28.82% YTD. Investors should call around to self-storage companies in their areas. Chances are they will not find many vacant units.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Luminent Mortgage (LUM), JetBlue (JBLU), Thornburg Morgtage (TMA) and Harmony Gold (HMY) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Luminent Mortgage (NYSE: LUM) was downgraded by a host of firms following suspension of its dividend and 10Q filing delay:
  
• UBS cut shares to Sell from Neutral.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Luminent to Sell from Buy.
  
• Friedman Billings and JMP Securities downgraded shares to Underperform from Market Perform. Keefe Bruyette downgraded Luminent to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Morgan Stanley downgraded JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) to Underweight from Equal Weight based on expected competition from Virgin American and their stretched balance sheet.

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) to Sell from Hold telling accounts it does not believe REIT taxable earnings will be able to support the dividend.

• Deutsche Bank and UBS cut shares of Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY) to Sell from Neutral after the company lowered its earnings forecast and the CEO resigned...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Thomas Weisel downgraded F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) to Market Weight from Overweight.

• AG Edwards cut Nuveen Investments (NYSE: JNC) to Sell from Hold.

• Pali Capital downgraded Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) to Neutral from Buy.

• Matrix USA downgraded PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG) to Buy from Strong Buy.

• Wachovia cut U-Store It Trust (NYSE: YSI) to Underperform from Market Perform.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Winn-Dixie Stores (WINN), TIB Financial Corp (TIBB), Energy East Corp (EAS), Baidu.com, Inc (BIDU) and SINA Corp (SINA) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Winn-Dixie Stores (NASDAQ: WINN) to Outperform from Market Perform citing valuation, sustainable Q3 margins, and share gains from both Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Publix.

• Sandler raised TIB Financial Corp (NASDAQ: TIBB) off the ground, to Hold from Sell, citing valuation.

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Energy East (NYSE: EAS) to Hold from Sell after Iberdrola agreed to acquire the company.

• Pacific Crest upgraded both Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) and SINA Corp (NASDAQ: SINA) to Outperform from Sector Perform following their trip to Asia, citing China's strong online ad market. They believe Baidu.com is benefiting from its sales-force integration and SINA Corp's brand strength should lead to further market-share gains...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Lehman upgraded Celgene Corp (NASDAQ: CELG) and Genzyme Corp (NASDAQ: GENZ) to Overweight from Equal Weight.

• Matrix USA upgraded Jo-Ann Stores (NYSE: JAS) to Sell from Strong Sell.

• Dolby Laboratories (NYSE: DLB) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

• Wachovia raised U-Store-It Trust (NYSE: YSI) to Market Perform from Underperform.

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

U-Store-It Trust (NYSE: YSI) is a company Wall Street does not love right now, and yet, I think its business has potential.

A self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), U-Store-It currently owns and operates nearly 400 self-storage facilities comprising more than 25 million rentable square feet in 27 states. Its top markets are in Florida, California, and Texas, states with growing populations, and thus, growing storage needs. But YSI has experienced management and administration problems of late.

An inquiry into improprieties involving employee non-solicitation agreements forced the chairman and COO to
resign over the last year, and in March, it announced it was restating its 2004 and 2005 results and delaying the filing of its 2006 annual report, due to incorrect classifications of $90 million worth of short-term investments. An unseemly large bonus (four times base salary) was paid out to its former CEO, despite his poor results, further eroding investor confidence in this company.

No question, the company has been poorly run. But founder and former chairman and CEO of Storage USA, Dean Jernigan, took over as YSI's new CEO this past year. Jernigan inspires confidence in Wall Street insiders, who think he may have the stuff to right the company's many wrongs.

Self-storage is a growing business. As construction slows, rents rise. People and business need to find rental space to store their junk (and let's face it, we Americans accumulate too much junk). So the housing bust is, oddly enough, good news for storage facilities. U-Store-It plans to drive growth both through increased rent and occupancy. It consolidates the much fragmented storage business to improve margins.

And I love YSI's focus, setting it apart from some of its competition: Convenience for the customer. Its storage
facilities are near retail centers, providing easy access for customers. Most facilities have onsite property managers. Its sites are also secure and most feature wide aisles to accommodate large trucks.

Type of Stock: Getting a beating of late due to poor management problems, U-Store-It may now be on track with a solid CEO and a good self-storage growth model.

Price Target: Wall Street doesn't like YSI right now, particularly after it announced in March that it has to restate results in 2004 and 2005. The stock price has fallen to $18.71, having reached $23.61 in the last 52-weeks. I
would think about picking this one up if it dips to $15 and then ride it back to $23, where I think YSI can certainly go under its new CEO.

Hilary Kramer is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing. Visit her at www.hilarykramer.com.