Up/Downgrades (ALL, ADI, BAH, HFC, LOW, LULU, SINA, SLF, WNR, AEE, BECN, CM, CSH, CLS, BEN, GES, PPG)

Published on Friday, 02 December 2011 08:32 Written by Danny Miller

New York, December 2^nd (TradersHuddle.com) – Following are some of the top upgrades and downgrades before the market open.

Upgrades

Allstate (NYSE:ALL), the car and homeowners insurance company was upgraded to a Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analog Devices (NYSE:ADI), the maker of integrated circuits for instrumentation, was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH), the provider of management and technology consulting services, was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

HollyFrontier (NYSE:HFC) was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill.

Lowe's (NYSE:LOW), the second largest home improvement retailer, was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs and to a Buy from Underweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

lululemon athletica (NASDAQ:LULU), the designer and retailer of athletic apparel, was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Sina Corp. (NASDAQ:SINA), the Chinese online media company and owner of the Weibo microblogging service commonly referred to as the Twitter of China, was upgraded to a Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Sun Life (NYSE:SLF) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Western Refining (NYSE:WNR) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Downgrades

Ameren (NYSE:AEE), the Missouri and Illinois utility company, was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill.

Beacon Roofing Supply (NASDAQ:BECN), the residential and non-residential building materials distributor, was downgraded to a Hold from Buy at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) (NYSE:CM) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Cash America (NYSE:CSH) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.

Celestica (NYSE:CLS), the electronics manufacturing services provider, was downgraded to a Sell from Neutral at Ticonderoga. The firm set its target price at $5.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN), the investment manager firm, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Ticonderoga.

Guess? (NYSE:GES), the denim and cotton casual clothing maker and retailer, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG), the maker of protective and decorative coatings, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.