Stock Upgrades: The Force is with Disney

WalletPop Editor

By Justin Sharon
Minyanville

Clocks and stocks both went back last week, with the Dow's (^DJI) daylight savings being depleted 0.11% as markets endured their first weather-related shutdown for 27 years. (An unimaginably distant age, back when 8-bit computer consoles were all the rage.) ACCO Brands (ACCO), which makes those other '80′s icon Trapper Keepers - able to hold "binders full of women" - surged some 26.41%, which should please the top of the GOP ticket. Wisconsin native Paul Ryan, meanwhile, will espy a looming power shift in that state's Generac (GNRC) gaining 31.06% to the highest level in its history in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

The San Francisco Giants swept Detroit's Tigers in baseball's World Series, but Motown hero General Motors (GM) had the last laugh, rising 11% even as Bay Area heartthrob Facebook (FB) fell a further 3.5%. Taser (TASR) jumped 23.62%, its second straight big up week, but the 10-year old hit with its 50,000 volts could be forgiven for shorting the stun gun stock. And K-Swiss (KSWS), which does a fine line of running shoes, gained 35.2% even as the New York City Marathon was abruptly cancelled.

Today in economics, October's Institute for Supply Management services index is out at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. On the corporate front, quarterly earnings are expected out of Consolidated Edison (ED), Humana (HUM), IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), Sysco (SYY), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Toyota Motor (TM), Transocean (RIG), and Zillow (Z).

Aeropostale (ARO): ARO is upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform by FBR Capital, whose target is $16.

Amazon (AMZN): The stock is added to the Buy list at Evercore.

Brookfield Properties (BPO): BPO is upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.

Cardtronics (CATM): Shares are now Buy from Neutral at Compass Point.

CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS): CBS is upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Evercore.

El Paso Pipeline Partners (EPB): Shares are upgraded to Buy from Hold at Goldman Sachs.

Equity One (EQY): The stock is upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Raymond James.

Flagstar Bancorp (FBC): FBC is upgraded to Outperform from Perform at FBR Capital.

Foxconn International (FXCNY): Shares surged in Asia overnight on a Citigroup upgrade to Buy from Hold.

Genworth Financial (GNW): The insurance outfit gets upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie.

Hess (HES): HES is upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Global Hunter.

Mannkind (MNKD): Shares are upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

Qualcomm (QCOM): The stock is upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura.

Redwood Trust (RWT): RWT is upgraded to Outperform from Perform with Wells Fargo.

Regional Banks: Northern Trust (NTRS) is upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Evercore, which increases State Street (STT) to Overweight from Equal Weight.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts (BEE): BEE is moved to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.

Target (TGT): Shares are up before the bell after being taken to Overweight from Equal Weight at JPMorgan.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS): The stock is now Buy from Hold at Argus, which likes its acquisition of Lucasfilm's Star Wars franchise. The price target is $60.