Will they pull out of the dive, or nose into the dirt?

It may be a fantastic opportunity.

A timeless approach to a very current problem.

It's hard to resist the lure of a big payout. Here are companies whose dividends look secure.

R.W. Baird sticks a fork in Copart, declares it "done."

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Boeing Co (BA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Merck and Co (MRK), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Analyst initiations, Garmin Ltd (GRMN)

Analyst upgrades:

• Friedman Billings upgraded Synovus (NYSE: SNV) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation following the recent weakness. BASF (OTC: BASFY) and Akzo Nobel (OTC: AKZOY) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS on valuation and believes cash flows can cover the company's dividend.
• JP Morgan upgraded H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL) to Overweight from Neutral citing benefits from lower raw material costs.
• CA, Inc (NASDAQ: CA) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
• Goldman removed Boeing (NYSE: BA) from the Conviction Sell List.
• WABCO Holdings (NYSE: WBC) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc.

Analyst downgrades:

• Oppenheimer downgraded Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) to Perform from Outperform following the company's Q3 results as they believe a recovery of revenue from ZT Online will take longer than expected.
• Friedman Billings cut Walter Industries (NYSE: WLT) to Market Perform from Outperform as they believe the decline in steel demand will pressure met coal prices. The company's target was lowered to $30 from $53.
• Citigroup downgraded shares of Atlas Pipeline (NYSE: AHD) Holdings to Sell from Hold as they believe the company could potentially be in violation of its debt covenants as early as Q1. The company's target was lowered to $4 from $31.
• Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
• Dover (NYSE: DOV) and Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) were downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

Analyst initiations:

Continue reading Analyst calls: SNV, BASFY, AKZOY, FUL, GA, WLT, AHD, OZM, HOG, MRK

Analyst calls: SNV, BASFY, AKZOY, FUL, GA, WLT, AHD, OZM, HOG, MRK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Harley Davidson was surveyed this week. We asked 28 respondents at various stores around the country which motorcycle sells best? Are they sold out of any models? How is business compared with last year and have they seen a spike in sales in recent months? 32% reported that the Sportster was the bestselling motorcycle. 14% said it was the Dyna and 11% said it was the Road King. While 82% said they weren't sold out of any models, 18% said they were. Also, promising was that 64% reported that business was up from a year ago. 18% said business was just the same and the same ratios said it had dropped. Also surprising was that 75% said sales had jumped in the past month. Only 25% said they had slumped.

Tom Dorsey and Tammy DeRosier - Changes are a Comin'

Harley-Davidson's best selling motorcycle is the Sportster, according to TickerMine's latest survey. Thirty-eight percent of Harley-Davidson stores said the Sportster is their most popular motorcycle. The XL 1200C was also popular, with 23% of stores naming it their top seller. Sixty-five percent of Harley-Davidson stores are fully stocked; only thirty-five percent are sold out of any bikes, with responses including the VRSC Night Rod, the FLTR Road-Glide, Sporties, the FLSTC Heritage Softail, and the XL 883. Forty-six percent of stores said business is stronger than last year. Twenty-seven percent said business is the same as last year; the same proportion said business is worse. Just over half of stores contacted (54%) said they've seen an increase in sales this month.

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