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 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 company earnings forecasts. Objective elements include volatility of past operating revenue, financial strength and company cash flows.

Boots & Coots International Well Control(WEL Quote) has been downgraded to hold from buy. Its debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80 is high compared with the industry average. While the company saw revenue increase by 93.2% in the first quarter of 2007 over the year-earlier period, this growth does not seem to have trickled down to its bottom line, as earnings per share actually declined during the period.

Boots & Coots' stock price fell 5.5% in the 12 months prior to July 13, and TheStreet.com Ratings does not see anything in the company's numbers to suggest the stock price will reverse its downward trend. Boots & Coots had been rated a buy since March 2007.

Frequency Electronics(FEIM Quote) designs and manufactures high-precision timing, frequency control and synchronization products for space and terrestrial voice, video and data telecommunications. It has been downgraded to a sell from a hold.

The company's net income underperformed that of the S&P 500 and of the electronic equipment and instruments industry. Its return on equity for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 was down 0.36% over the year-earlier period -- a clear sign of weakness within the company. Frequency Electronics had been rated a hold since August 2006.