Stocks Upgrades and Downgrades 08-10-11

The trend continues… Analysts, going on historical patterns and price targets established by models that have been disturbed at the macro level, continue to upgrade more stocks than they downgrade as the broader market declines. But are they missing something, like that the bigger picture may affect the earnings of the firms they follow? Within these upgrades, I have no doubt there are some stocks that are going to prove unaffected by the economic decline I see ahead. The question is, which are they? Most of these upgrades should be affected by a deteriorated macro environment. Well, here’s today’s listing, so you sift through and find the real winners from the losers. I have one name I’ll be taking a closer look at already...

Stock Upgrades and Downgrades

Upgrades:

COMPANY	ANALYST’S FIRM	FROM	TO
Allstate (NYSE: ALL)	UBS	Neutral	Buy
Altria (NYSE: MO)	Davenport	Neutral	Buy
Brigham Exploration (Nasdaq: BEXP)	FBR Capital	Market Perform	Outperform
Brigham Exploration (Nasdaq: BEXP)	Global Hunter Securities	Accumulate	Buy
Check Point Software (Nasdaq: CHKP)	Macquarie	Neutral	Outperform
Cincinnati Financial (Nasdaq: CINF)	Deutsche Bank	Sell	Hold
Comerica (NYSE: CMA)	Compass Point	Neutral	Buy
Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR)	Morgan Keegan	Market Perform	Outperform
Cree (Nasdaq: CREE)	Canaccord Genuity	Hold	Buy
DCT Industrial Trust (NYSE: DCT)	FBR Capital	Underperform	Outperform
Ecolab (NYSE: ECL)	Deutsche Bank	Hold	Buy
Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY)	Argus	Hold	Buy
Ellington Financial (NYSE: EFC)	Deutsche Bank	Hold	Buy
Ensco (NYSE: ESV)	Global Hunter Securities	Accumulate	Buy
EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG)	Ticonderoga	Neutral	Buy
Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR)	FBR Capital	Underperform	Market Perform
Fossil (Nasdaq: FOSL)	The Benchmark Company	Hold	Buy
Itron (Nasdaq: ITRI)	Robert W. Baird	Underperform	Neutral
Laboratory Corp (NYSE: LH)	Maxim Group	Hold	Buy
Lorillard (NYSE: LO)	Davenport	Neutral	Buy
Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX)	UBS	Sell	Neutral
MaxLinear (NYSE: MXL)	Needham	Buy	Strong Buy
Mosaic (NYSE: MOS)	Ticonderoga	Neutral	Buy
Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM)	Stifel Nicolaus	Hold	Buy
Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT)	FBR Capital	Market Perform	Outperform
Northern Oil & Gas (AMEX: NOG)	Global Hunter Securities	Neutral	Accumulate
Oasis Petroleum (NYSE: OAS)	Morgan Keegan	Market Perform	Outperform
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)	Argus	Hold	Buy
Plum Creek (NYSE: PCL)	UBS	Sell	Neutral
ProLogis (NYSE: PLD)	FBR Capital	Market Perform	Outperform
Ralcorp Holdings (NYSE: RAH)	Stifel Nicolaus	Hold	Buy
Realty Income (NYSE: O)	FBR Capital	Market Perform	Outperform
Regency Centers (NYSE: REG)	FBR Capital	Market Perform	Outperform
RF Micro Device (Nasdaq: RFMD)	Needham	Hold	Buy
Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN)	Global Hunter Securities	Reduce	Neutral
Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN)	Barclays Capital	Equal Weight	Overweight
Spreadtrum Communications (Nasdaq: SPRD)	Needham	Buy	Strong Buy
Synnex (NYSE: SNX)	Stifel Nicolaus	Hold	Buy
Tortoise North American Energy (NYSE: TYN)	Robert W. Baird	Neutral	Outperform
TriQuint Semiconductor (Nasdaq: TQNT)	Needham	Hold	Buy
US Airways (NYSE: LCC)	Ticonderoga	Neutral	Buy
VMware (NYSE: VMW)	FBR Capital	Market Perform	Outperform
Westlake Chemical (NYSE: WLK)	UBS	Sell	Neutral
Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY)	UBS	Sell	Neutral
Woodward Governor (Nasdaq: WWD)	Robert W. Baird	Neutral	Outperform

Downgrades:

COMPANY	ANALYST’S FIRM	FROM	TO
China Automotive (Nasdaq: CAAS)	Maxim Group	Buy	Hold
Frontline (NYSE: FRO)	FBR Capital	Outperform	Market Perform
General Maritime (NYSE: GMR)	FBR Capital	Outperform	Market Perform
Global Traffic Network (Nasdaq: GNET)	Dougherty & Company	Buy	Sell
James River Coal (Nasdaq: JRCC)	Brean Murray	Buy	Hold
KAR Auction Services (NYSE: KAR)	Barrington Research	Outperform	Market Perform
Overseas Shipholding (NYSE: OSG)	FBR Capital	Outperform	Market Perform
PAETEC Holding (Nasdaq: PAET)	RBC Capital Markets	Outperform	Sector Perform
SatCon Tech (Nasdaq: SATC)	Ardour Capital	Buy	Hold
Ultra Petroleum (NYSE: UPL)	Howard Weil	Market Outperform	Market Perform
Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS)	Wunderlich	Buy	Hold

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