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.

High-income equity portfolio management firm Cohen & Steers(CNS Quote) has been downgraded to a hold from a buy. The company shows mixed financial results. Its revenue increased by 64.5% in the second quarter of 2007, compared with the same period last year. That growth swung EPS from a loss of 95 cents per share in the second quarter of 2006 to a profit of 44 cents a share in the same period this year.

Its stock price has appreciated by 33.1% in the past 12 months, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 during that same timeframe. Looking ahead, however, TheStreet.com Ratings cannot assume that the stock's past performance is going to drive future results. The company has shown volatile EPS recently, but is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. Still, Cohen & Steers' recent stock price appreciation is one of the factors that should prompt investors to seek better opportunities elsewhere. It had been rated a buy since April 2007.