Today may have been a federal holiday, but Wall Street opened for business as usual today. Good thing too, as the stock market closed up modestly today on cautious optimism that the Senate will hash out a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling and end the ongoing government shutdown.
Some investors clearly saw this as a signal to buy and I’m hopeful that this second wind will continue. Because all the while, third-quarter earnings season is shifting to the next gear, and this is opening up some prime buying opportunities. But as my long-time readers can tell you, before you buy any stock, you should always run it through my free Portfolio Grader ratings system. In Portfolio Grader, the Quantitative Grade you see measures the buying pressure. The Fundamental Grade you see evaluates the stock’s fundamentals. Blend those two grades together and what you get is the Total Grade.
To get a pulse on the latest buying opportunities (and the stocks you should now avoid), let’s look at the 43 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 |
| BWA | BorgWarner Inc. | B | B |
| CLX | The Clorox Company | B | C |
| CVS | CVS Caremark Corporation | B | C |
| DLTR | Dollar Tree, Inc. | B | C |
| DOW | The Dow Chemical Company | B | B |
| HMC | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | B | D |
| KEY | KeyCorp | B | C |
| LO | Lorillard, Inc. | B | C |
| MFC | Manulife Financial Corporation | B | D |
| NJ | Nidec Corporation | B | D |
| PAYX | Paychex, Inc. | B | C |
| PSA | Public Storage | B | B |
Last Week’s Sells, Now Holds
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| BAP | Credicorp Ltd. | C | D |
| BEAM | Beam Inc. | C | C |
| CL | Colgate-Palmolive Company | C | C |
| COV | Covidien Plc | D | C |
| DTV | DIRECTV | C | C |
| ENI | Enersis S.A. | D | B |
| NU | Northeast Utilitites | D | B |
| SNY | Sanofi | C | D |
| TTM | Tata Motors Limited | C | C |
Downgrades
Last Week’s Buys, Now Holds
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| AIG | American International Group, Inc. | C | B |
| ALL | The Allstate Corporation | C | B |
| DELL | Dell Inc. | B | C |
| KMX | CarMax, Inc. | C | B |
| LTD | L Brands, Inc. | C | C |
| MHFI | McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. | C | B |
| MUR | Murphy Oil Corporation | C | C |
| NBL | Noble Energy, Inc. | C | B |
| PUK | Prudential plc | C | C |
| STJ | St. Jude Medical, Inc. | C | C |
Last Week’s Holds, Now Sells
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| CAG | ConAgra Foods, Inc. | D | C |
| CEO | CNOOC Limited | D | B |
| CHK | Chesapeake Energy Corporation | D | C |
| CHU | China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited | D | B |
| CSX | CSX Corporation | D | C |
| CXO | Concho Resources Inc. | D | D |
| EBAY | eBay Inc. | D | C |
| FAST | Fastenal Company | D | C |
| LLY | Eli Lilly and Company | F | B |
| M | Macy’s Inc | D | C |
| PRU | Prudential Financial, Inc. | C | D |
| SYT | Syngenta AG | D | C |
Sincerely,
Louis Navellier