TheStreet.com Ratings: Stock Upgrades, Downgrades

Each weekday, TheStreet.com Ratings updates its ratings on the stocks it covers. The model projects a stock's total return potential over a 12-month period including both price appreciation and dividends. The buy, hold or sell ratings designate how TheStreet.com Ratings expects these stocks to perform against a general benchmark of the equities market and interest rates.

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

Some recent rating changes are highlighted below.

Casual dining restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse(TXRH Quote) has been upgraded to buy from hold. The company's revenue grew by 29.7% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. These results seem to have trickled down to the bottom line, resulting in an 11.1% increase in earnings per share during that same time period. Texas Roadhouse had been rated a hold since July 2006. ...