Up/Downgrades (ALTR, AXS, BYI, BA, DQ, EW, EZCH, RBA, RBCN, TPX, WPI, ARX, AVGO, LEN, OXY, PNM, CRM, STO, TOL)

Published on Monday, 12 December 2011 08:22 Written by Danny Miller

New York, December 12^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Following are some of the top upgrades and downgrades before the market open.

Upgrades

Altera Corp. (NASDAQ:ALTR), the maker of programmable logic devices, was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.

Bally Technologies (NYSE:BYI) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

Boeing (NYSE:BA), the world’s second largest commercial aircraft maker, was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) was upgraded to a Neutral from Sell at Collins Stewart.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW), the maker of tissue replacement heart valves, heart valve repair products, and hemodynamic monitoring devices, was upgraded to a Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

EZchip (NASDAQ:EZCH) was upgraded to a Buy from Hold at Auriga.

MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS), the pay as you go wireless carrier, was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE:RBA) was upgraded to a Neutral from Underperform at Bank of America Merrill.

Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ:RBCN), the high-quality sapphire substrates and optical windows, was upgraded to a Neutral from Underperform at Sterne Agee.

Tempur-Pedic (NYSE:TPX), the maker of pressure relieving foam mattresses and pillows, was upgraded to Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:WPI), the generic and brand name pharmaceutical company, was upgraded to a Buy from Outperform at Credit Agricole.

Downgrades

Aeroflex (NYSE:ARX) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Avago Technologies (NASDAQ:AVGO) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN), the single-family attached and detached homebuilder was downgraded to a Hold from Buy at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), the crude oil and natural gas producer based in Los Angeles, CA, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

PNM Resources (NYSE:PNM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), the provider of Internet based customer relationship management software, was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Cowen. 

Statoil ASA (NYSE:STO), the Norwegian energy giant, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL), the luxury homebuilder, was downgraded to a Hold from Buy at KeyBanc Capital Markets.