Stock Upgrades, Downgrades From TheStreet.com

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.

Knight Capital Group(NITE Quote) offers financial services through its two segments: asset management and global markets. It has been downgraded to hold from buy.

The company's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43 is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt, and it is stock is reasonably valued. However, revenue fell by 2.2% in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, and net income declined 19.6% to $24.38 million in the same time frame.

Knight Capital's stock price has drooped 34.40% in the past 12 months, and despite the large decline, the stock is still more expensive (compared with current earnings) than most other companies in its industries. The company had been rated a buy since October 2005.