Up/Downgrades (APKT, AWH, CL, CSX, MWE, MDC, CRM, TWTC, TSN, AMGN, BCS, CBS, CTRP, EV, KSU, PFE, RNOW)

Published on Monday, 14 November 2011 08:05 Written by Danny Miller

New York, November 14^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Following are some of the top upgrades and downgrades before the market open.

Upgrades

Acme Packet (NASDAQ:APKT) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest.

Allied World Assurance (NYSE:AWH) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL), the maker of consumer oral, personal, and household care products, was upgraded to Underperform from Sell at Credit Agricole.

CSX Corp. (NYSE:CSX), the provider of rail, intermodal and domestic container shipping, was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee. The firm set its target price at $26.

MarkWest Energy (NYSE:MWE) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

MDC Holdings (NYSE:MDC) was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), the provider of Internet based customer relationship management software, was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Tw telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

Downgrades

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), the biotechnology company, was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink Swann.

Barclays plc (NYSE:BCS) was downgraded to a Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS), the owner and operator of the CBS television network, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Nomura.

Ctrip.com (NASDAQ:CTRP), the one-stop China travel service provider, was downgraded to a Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna. Ctrip was also downgraded to a Hold from Buy at Brean Murray.

Eaton Vance (NYSE:EV) was downgraded to a Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.

KC Southern (NYSE:KSU) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink Swann.

Rightnow Technologies (NASDAQ:RNOW) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities.