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 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.

Telecomunic Sao Paulo(TSP Quote), which provides fixed-line local and long-distance telephone services in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, has been upgraded to a buy from a hold. The company's return on equity improved 26.2% in the first quarter of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006, which can be construed as a sign of strength in the organization. Its stock price increased 38.7%, exceeding that of the S&P 500, and should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already seen a large gain in the past year. Telecomunic Sao Paulo had been rated a hold since December 2005. ...