It’s official: We have reached the second half of 2013. And while you could hardly tell from trading action we saw in June, the first half of the year was the strongest for the S&P 500 in 15 years. This is also the first time in four years that the index has closed the second quarter with a gain. I expect this month (and the rest of the year) to offer plenty of new profit opportunities, but first we’ll have to get through second-quarter earnings season, which starts next Monday, July 8.
The first few weeks of earnings season are going to be crucial, and we’ll likely see a lot of changes in my Portfolio Grader stock rating system. When a company reports earnings, I import the latest financial results; the new data have a big impact on each stock’s Fundamental Grade. So I strongly recommend that you to continue running your stocks through Portfolio Grader; you can do this quickly and easily by saving your portfolio to the system.
In the meantime, we’re seeing plenty of upgrades and downgrades among Wall Street’s most popular stocks. So let’s look at the 38 big blue chips that have been upgraded and downgraded this weekend. After taking a close look at the latest data on institutional buying pressure and each company’s fundamental health, I decided to revise my Portfolio Grader recommendations for each of the stocks listed below.
Upgrades
Last Week’s Holds, Now Buys
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| AIG | American International Group Inc. | B | C |
| BCS | Barclays PLC ADS | B | C |
| DTE | DTE Energy Co. | B | B |
| GPC | Genuine Parts Co. | B | C |
| ICE | IntercontinentalExchange Inc. | B | C |
| ITW | Illinois Tool Works Inc. | B | B |
| KEY | KeyCorp | B | C |
| VIA | Viacom Inc. Cl A | B | C |
Last Week’s Sells, Now Holds
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| ADM | Archer Daniels Midland Co. | D | C |
| CHA | China Telecom Corp. Ltd. ADS | D | C |
| D | Dominion Resources Inc. (Virginia) | C | D |
| EIX | Edison International | D | B |
| HCP | HCP Inc. | D | B |
| HOG | Harley-Davidson Inc. | D | B |
| KMI | Kinder Morgan Inc. | C | C |
| SHPG | Shire PLC ADR | C | C |
| UAL | United Continental Holdings Inc. | C | C |
Downgrades
Last Week’s Buys, Now Holds
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| DEO | Diageo PLC ADS | C | B |
| HCA | HCA Holdings Inc. | B | D |
| IR | Ingersoll-Rand Plc | C | C |
| IVZ | INVESCO Ltd. | C | B |
| LLY | Eli Lilly & Co. | C | B |
| MON | Monsanto Co. | C | C |
| MRO | Marathon Oil Corp. | C | C |
| MUR | Murphy Oil Corp. | C | C |
| PHG | Royal Philips NV ADR | B | D |
| TGT | Target Corp. | B | C |
| TU | Telus Corp. | C | B |
| UN | Unilever N.V. (NY Reg Sh) | C | B |
Last Week’s Holds, Now Sells
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| BCE | BCE Inc. | D | B |
| BTI | British American Tobacco PLC ADR | D | B |
| DE | Deere & Co. | D | B |
| GE | General Electric Co. | D | C |
| KO | Coca-Cola Co. | D | C |
| PX | Praxair Inc. | D | C |
| SWN | Southwestern Energy Co. | D | C |
| TS | Tenaris S.A. ADS | D | C |
| XRX | Xerox Corp. | D | B |
Sincerely,
Louis Navellier