Stock Upgrades, Downgrades From TheStreet.com Ratings

Each weekday, TheStreet.com Ratings updates its ratings on the stocks it covers. The proprietary ratings model projects a stock's total return potential over a 12-month period including both price appreciation and dividends. Buy, hold or sell ratings designate how the Ratings group expects these stocks to perform against a general benchmark of the equities market and interest rates.

While the ratings model is quantitative, it uses both subjective and objective elements. For instance, subjective elements include expected equities market returns, future interest rates, implied industry outlook and forecasted company earnings. Objective elements include volatility of past operating revenue, financial strength and company cash flows.

TheStreet.com Ratings has initiated coverage of the biotechnology firm Omrix Biopharmaceuticals(OMRI Quote) with a sell rating. The company's earnings per share fell 31% in the first quarter of fiscal 2007 compared with the year-earlier period. TheStreet.com Ratings feels there will be further EPS declines in the future. Omrix's net profit margin of 23.9% trails the industry average.

Another biotech company, Geron(GERN Quote), has been upgraded to hold from sell. Geron is developing biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases such as diabetes and HIV/AIDS. The company's revenue jumped 57.1% in the first quarter of 2007 over the year-earlier period. The industry average was just 21.1% over that time period.

Geron has reported a pattern of positive EPS growth over the past two years, and TheStreet.com Ratings expects this trend to continue. GERN had been rated a sell since May 2005.