Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ALU, MT, BBRY, BIP, BG, CAT, FSLR, GOV, HPQ, HD, ISRG, MCD, MDT, RFMD, S, TASR, TNK, PAY, VVUS, WEN, XRX, AGU, CF, MOS, POT, RNF)

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By Jon C. Ogg Updated Published
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These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) was given positive comments on its new CEO but the stock was maintained a Sell as a low value asset at Goldman Sachs.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) raised to Neutral at HSBC.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) cut to Sell from Neutral at MKM Partners.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP) named Bull of the Day at Zacks as the “high quality, diversified assets will continue to produce solid and consistent cash flows.”

Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG) was named by Zacks as the Bear of the Day and the firm said that bitter results for the recent quarter indicate more troubles ahead.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) raised to Outperform at Raymond James.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) cut to Underperform at Pac-Crest.

Government Properties Income Trust (NYSE: GOV) cut to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) raised to Neutral from Sell with $19 target at UBS and maintained Neutral but raised target price to $20 from $12 at Credit Suisse.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) raised to Outperform and target raised to $76 from $67 at Oppenheimer (full summary).

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) reiterated Outperform and raised target $2 to $104 at Credit Suisse.

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) reiterated Buy and raised target by $6 to $54 at Argus.

RF Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) raised to Buy at Lazard and cut to Market Perform at Raymond James last night.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) reiterated Buy with $7.50 price target at Argus as trading falls below Softbank offer price (full report summary).

TASER International Inc. (NASDAQ: TASR) raised to Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) cut to Hold at Argus after many downgrades and implosion yesterday.

Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) maintained Buy but lowered price target to $26 from $30 at BofA/Merrill Lynch after Qsiva denied approval in Europe.

The Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN) cut to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) reiterated Buy with $13 price target at Argus.

Dahlman Rose trimmed potash and fertilizer stock ratings: Agrium (NYSE: AGU) cut to Sell, CF Industries (NYSE: CF) cut to Sell, Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) cut to Hold, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) cut to Sell and Rentech Nitrogen Partners L.P. (NYSE: RNF) cut to Sell.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.

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