Benzinga's Morning Upgrade Summary for June 4, 2012

Listed below are today's Top Upgrades covered by Benzinga:

Stifel Nicolaus Upgrades Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) to Buy:

Stifel Nicolaus comments, "The overall market may be weak, but we think there is strength in the aerospace cycle. Boeing management's reaffirmation of build rate increases through 2014 is a positive. Following Friday's price decline to a level we believe represents an attractive entry point, we are raising our rating to Buy from Hold and establishing a target price of $80."

Rodman & Renshaw Upgrades PharmAthene (NYSE: PIP) to Market Outperform:

Rodman & Renshaw notes, "The Delaware Chancery Court issued a Final Judgment with favorable economics to PharmAthene. Therefore, we are upgrading our rating from Market Perform (no Target Price) to Market Outperform with a new 12-month Target Price of $7/share. …We estimate that PharmAthene could derive over $150MM in royalties from the initial 1.7MM-treatment course contract that is in place between defense agency BARDA and SIGA. In our calculation, a further $965MM could be collected, if the government orders additional 12MM courses."

DA Davidson Upgrades Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ: COLB) to Buy:

DA Davidson notes, "Over the last two months and since the time of our downgrade to Neutral, COLB shares have declined nearly 25%. This compares to the NASDAQ Bank Index decline of ~9% over the same period. Disappointing Q1'12 results (reported EPS of $0.22 was $0.09 below consensus) in late April and the sudden departure of the company's CFO in mid-May likely contributed to the underperformance."

Piper Jaffray Upgrades Inphi Corporation (NYSE: IPHI) to Overweight:

Piper Jaffray notes, "We are upgrading shares of IPHI as we believe valuation has become attractive at 2x cash of $4/share, new management has reset estimates to reasonable levels, and we believe trends are set to improve for infrastructure in 2H:12. In particular, we expect the new high end Romley-based server introductions to pick up in 2H. Moreover, LRDIMM is being listed as a standard option for new servers which should help penetration, a key catalyst for the company."

Canaccord Genuity Upgrades Smart Balance (NASDAQ: SMBL) to Buy:

Canaccord Genuity comments, "We continue to believe that Smart Balance has a favorable financial model and platform for growth in the healthier foods arena that is enhanced by the Udi's acquisition. We are upgrading SMBL shares to BUY from Hold following the announced agreement to acquire Udi's Healthy Foods, the leading gluten-free brand in the US. Expected to be accretive to F2013E cash EPS (ex. intangible amortization), and we estimate $0.03 of cash EPS accretion. Guidance to be updated in the Q2 call post-financial close."

All of Benzinga's Upgrade coverage can be viewed here.