Today's noteworthy upgrades include: BioCryst (BCRX) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill... Callon Petroleum (CPE) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust... Capital Product (CPLP) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill... Coeur Mining (CDE) upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at Scotia Capital... Compania Cervecerias Unidas (CCU) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman... CubeSmart (CUBE) upgraded at Evercore ISI... Danske Bank (DNSKY) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays... Fortuna Silver Mines (FSM) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James... General Mills (GIS) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman... HSBC (HSBC) upgraded to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman... Impala Platinum (IMPUY) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse... Intersil (ISIL) upgraded to Positive at Susquehanna... J.B. Hunt (JBHT) upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill... MGIC Investment (MTG) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse... Marathon Oil (MRO) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley... Pernod Ricard (PDRDY) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse... RenaissanceRe (RNR) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank... Symantec (SYMC) upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies... Synchrony Financial (SYF) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BTIG... Unilever (UL) upgraded on improvement in business at RBC Capital.

BMO Capital analyst James Fotheringham raised the firm's price target on Synchrony to $41 from $40 and keeps a Market Perform rating on the shares after its Q1 earings beat. The company's lower-than-previously modeled RSA payments more than offset higher expected credit and operating costs, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

Says receivables growth consistent with expectations, payment rate slightly lower than expectations and purchase volume below expectations. Says net interest income growth higher than expectations due to lower than expected payment rate and lower than expected deposit betas. Says credit, RSA and other expense largely in-line with expectations. Says expects typical seasonality in purchase volume, loan receivables, net interest income and in credit performance. Says expects net charge-offs to peak mid-year. Says expects reserve coverage at year-end to be lower than '23 year-end rate. Says expects RSA to align to program performance and function as designed. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

Reports Q1 revenue $4.8B, consensus $4.45B. Reports Q1 CET1 capital ratio 12.6%. Reports Q1 net charge-offs 6.31%. "Synchrony's first quarter performance highlights the resiliency of our business model and focus on delivering sustainable, strong results for each of our stakeholders," said Brian Doubles, Synchrony's President and Chief Executive Officer.