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

Lawn and garden products maker Scotts Miracle-Gro(SMG Quote) has been downgraded to hold from buy. The company's fourth-quarter revenue grew by 3.4% compared with the same period last year, but it trailed the industry average growth rate of 10.3%. Its return on equity improved to 24.32% in the quarter, a signal of significant strength within the corporation.

Scotts' return on equity exceeds that of both the S&P 500 and the chemicals industry. However, the company has reported somewhat volatile earnings in the past year, and its debt-to-equity ratio of 2.35 in the fourth quarter is higher than the industry average. Its stock price has dropped 22.73% in the 12 months prior to Nov. 8. Scotts Miracle-Gro had been rated a buy since November 2005....