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

Scholastic(SCHL Quote), publisher of the blockbuster "Harry Potter" series, has been upgraded to buy. The company has a largely solid financial position with a solid stock price performance and expanding profit margins. These strengths should outweigh the company's somewhat disappointing return on equity. On Sunday, Scholastic said Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final volume of J.K. Rowling's series, sold 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale in the United States.

Earlier this month, the company posted an increase in fourth-quarter earnings, but fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Looking ahead, the company said it expects significant sales of the final Harry Potter book, primarily in the first quarter. The company had been rated a hold since March.