MOST NOTEWORTHY: The Restaurant Sector, Blockbuster and Plexus were today’s noteworthy upgrades:

• Bear Stearns upgraded the Restaurant Sector to Market Weight from Underweight citing better investor sentiment following Fed rate cuts and the profitable stimulus plan; upgraded shares include Brinker International (NYSE: EAT), Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) and Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI).
• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) to Overweight from Neutral ahead of the company’s Q4 results on March 6, as they believe the quarter will be at least in-line and 2008 guidance will be above Street expectations.
• Plexus (NASDAQ: PLXS) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse as they believe current quarter sales and bookings are tracking ahead.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Maxwell Technologies (NASDAQ: MXWL) was upgraded to Market Perform from Market Underperform at JMP Securities.
• The firm additionally raised Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID) to Market Outperform from Market Perform.
• Goldman Sachs added Allianz AG (NYSE: AZ) to its Conviction Buy List.

Original post by Eric Buscemi

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