kaufman bros

This report is an intraday check of some of the more notable stocks that have hit a 52-week high or low so far today. 52-Week High:

• Sprint Nextel Corp.
  
  (NYSE: S) high of $5.35.

UPGRADES Kaufman Bros. upgrades First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) from Hold to Buy, while maintaining a $165 price target. Click Here for more color.

RBC Capital lifts Cardiome Pharma (Nasdaq: CRME) from Sector Perform to Outperform, increasing its price target to $8.40.

Although shareholders didn't respond too well to Google's first quarter earnings report - Google's stock dipped afterward, and is now down 5.80 percent - analysts generally liked what they saw.  A roundup determined that four brokerages raised their price targets, while just two cut them.

UPGRADES: Deutsche Bank upgrades Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Hold.

Price target increased from $60 to $75. Click Here for more color.

J.P. Morgan is upgrading Dana Holding (NYSE: DAN) to Overweight from Neutral while raising their price target to $16 (prev.

$7).

Last week, Yahoo experienced a small win on the financial front as an analyst gave its stock a "buy" rating and increased his price target from $19 to $20.  Today, Google achieved a rather bigger victory as another analyst raised his price target from $600 to $695.

Just in time for the holidays, a financial expert has given a sort of present to Yahoo.  Or, perhaps, given everybody else a way to spend whatever cash they receive.  Regardless, Kaufman Bros. analyst Aaron Kessler has upgraded his rating on the search company from "hold" to "buy."

UPGRADES: Kaufman Bros. upgrades Yahoo!

(NASDAQ: YHOO) from Hold to Buy with a $20 price target. Click Here for more color.

Societe Generale upgrades Nokia (NYSE: NOK) from Sell to Hold. Ticonderoga Securities upgrades Corning (NYSE: GLW) to Buy.

Price target $22.50 J.P. Morgan upgrades NCR (NYSE: NCR) from Neutral to Overweight. Price target lowered from $16 to $15.

UPGRADES: Janney Montgomery Scott upgrades Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) from Neutral to Buy.

Fair value increased from $33 to $43. Click Here for more color.

Stephens & Co upgrades Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) from Equalweight to Overweight. Price target increased from $12 to $17.

FBR Capital upgrades Force Protection, Inc.

In about 74 hours' time, Google is supposed to announce its third quarter financial results.  Holding a sort of countdown seems appropriate, too, as a lot of analysts and onlookers expect that the figures will be worth celebrating.

There's something to be said for precedent, first of all; since Google's IPO in 2004, it's been very rare for the search giant to not make a positive quarterly report.  A quick glance at how Google's stock has performed over the past three months also proves that the company has done all right in recent days. 

UPGRADES: Goldman Sachs upgraded Nike (NYSE: NKE) from Neutral to Buy with a $75 price target.

Deutsche Bank upgrades Huntington Bank (Nasdaq: HBAN) from Hold to Buy. Price target increased to $5.50. Click here for the full report.

Kaufman Bros. upgrades American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) from Hold to Buy. Price target increased to $36.