Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Monsanto (MON) upgraded to Buy at Jefferies by analyst Laurence Alexander, who said a greater than $130 per share takeover by Bayer (BAYRY) is "highly likely." Alexander said that Monsanto's response to Bayer was far from a full-throated defense and benign enough to open the door for more productive discussions. Bayer, meanwhile, was upgraded to Buy at Commerzbank citing a positive view of the company's potential acquisition of Monsanto. The firm sees the underlying growth potential in agriculture and a 60% likelihood of the merger going through. 2. CSC (CSC) upgraded to Outperform at BMO Capital and to Overweight at Barclays, with analysts citing material synergy opportunities and accretion from the merger with HP Enterprise (HPE). HPE Enterprise was also upgraded to Buy at Cross Research and Needham. Needham analyst Richard Kugele said HP enterprise will receive $1.5B in an immediate cash dividend, transfer $600M of net pension liabilities and a $300M EDS bond, and have $1.6B of the company's debt paid off. 3. Western Digital (WDC) upgraded to Overweight at Barclays by analyst Mark Moskowitz, who said the valuation is too low and valuation multiples can increase over the longer term as the company delivers 3D NAND products and reduces its debt load. 4. Applied Materials (AMAT) upgraded to Buy at Citi by analyst Atif Malik, who raised his 2016 and 2017 water fab equipment outlook to reflect higher China equipment spending. Malik added that China is set to become an important driver for equipment spending over the next five years. 5. Fleetmatics (FLTX) upgraded to Overweight at Pacific Crest with analyst Brad Erickson saying the firm's channel checks indicate the company has dominant mind share as the leader in the fleet management space. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage,
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