TSC Upgrades, Downgrades: Lions Gate

Each business day, 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.

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The following ratings changes were generated on June 13.

Minerals Technologies(MTX), which develops, produces and markets a range of specialty mineral, mineral-based and synthetic mineral products worldwide, has been upgraded to buy. Minerals Technologies' revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 4.9%. Minerals Technologies 'debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.18 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. To add to this, Minerals Technologies has a quick ratio of 1.91, which demonstrates the ability of the company to cover short-term liquidity needs.

The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has greatly exceeded that of the S&P 500, but is less than that of the chemicals industry average. The net income increased by 59.0% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $10.82 million to $17.21 million. Mineral Technologies has improved earnings per share by 35.4% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, Mineral Technologies swung to a loss, reporting -$1.35 a share, vs. $2.62 a share in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($3.75 a share vs. -$1.35 a share). Mineral Technologies had been rated a hold since November 2007.