Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. SunPower (SPWR) upgraded to Outperform from Perform by Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch, who thinks challenging solar conditions are priced into the shares at current levels. While solar data points "continue to drift modestly lower," the pace of declines has slowed materially, Rusch tells investors, but admits that solar cycle bottoms are difficult to call. 2. ITT (ITT) upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer by analyst Jim Giannakouros, who said momentum in the shares can continue due to increased visibility into the company's earnings power build. 3. MDC Partners (MDCA) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies by analyst John Janedis, who sees the company's balance sheet as "significantly" de-risked following the $95M investment through the purchase of convertible preferred shares. The analyst, who expects shares to move higher as investors refocus on the business and management executes, raised his price target for the shares to $12 from $4. 4. Argus analyst David Coleman upgraded Hershey (HSY) to Buy from Hold with a $125 price target based on valuation and what he sees as the company's strong 2017 guidance. 5. NetApp (NTAP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Lake Street. Eric Martinuzzi also raised his price target for the shares to $43 from $32 following the company's Q3 results. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

SunPower told employees today it was eliminating 1,000 positions, more than 25% of its workforce. In a letter to staff, Tom Werner stated: "I'm writing to share difficult news with you as we implement changes across our organization in the days and weeks to come. To position SunPower for the future, we need to achieve financial viability, which includes simplifying our business structure, transitioning away from areas where we have been unable to sustain profitable operations, and improving financial controls. As such, we are moving to a low fixed-cost model that we believe we will be able to better flex when the market is up or down. Specifically, we are winding down our SunPower Residential Installation locations and closing SunPower Direct sales. We are also reducing our workforce to better align our business with our new focus. With this shift, we will reduce our workforce by approximately 1,000 people in the coming days and weeks. While we worked hard to avoid this outcome, the market has been slower to recover than we initially expected. Additionally, we have dedicated resources to improving our financial controls, and will continue to do so. We believe this shift in our strategy is necessary to safeguard the company's future." Reference Link