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

Midwestern electric and gas utility Ameren(AEE Quote) has been downgraded to a hold from a buy. Although the company's earnings and revenue were up overall in the first quarter of fiscal 2007 compared with the year-earlier period, the latest report revealed weaknesses in some areas. Gas revenue declined 4.6% to $561 million from $589 million during that time period. Earnings from Ameren's Missouri regulated operations fell to 23 million from 35 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2006 because of costs incurred in the January ice storms. Ameren had been rated a buy since March 2005.

Another utility, Arizona-based Unisource Energy(UNS Quote) has been downgraded to a hold from a buy. The company's net income fell 70.6% in the first quarter of fiscal 2007 compared with the year-earlier period. TheStreet.com Ratings considers Unisource's gross profit margin of 22.9% to be rather low. Along with this, the company's net profit margin of 1.6% trails that of the industry average. UNS had been rated a buy since March 2006. ...