Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski upgraded Morgan Stanley to Outperform from Perform with a $62 price target following this morning's Q3 results. The stock in morning trading is up 4%, or $1.67, to $45.13. Morgan Stanley continues to perform well, "and the market has not cared about this," Kotowski tells investors in a research note titled "Stock Down, Earnings Up!" The analyst views the Q3 report as a "clean beat" and upped his 2019 earnings per share estimate to $5.17 from $5.04 as a result. Despite a string of estimate upticks, shares of Morgan Stanley are down 25% since early March, Kotowski points out. He thinks the market's attitude that it is late in the cycle and that financial stocks "are not safe at any price" will prove wrong.

As previously reported, Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo upgraded Morgan Stanley (MS) to Outperform from Market Perform, noting that this means he now recommends 5 out of 5 of the largest U.S. wholesale banks. Morgan Stanley has evolved its business mix more than any other large bank, having increased its wealth and asset management to half of the firm, said Mayo, who sees the bank's EPS beating consensus by 2020 even assuming only 5% total revenue growth over that period. Mayo expects Morgan Stanley to increase its financial targets in January and believes it should fare better under the next CCAR in June, he added. Mayo raised his price target on Morgan Stanley shares to $60 from $56.

Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Lockheed Martin (LMT) upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs with analyst Noah Poponak raising his price target for the shares to $394 from $391. 2. Paccar (PCAR) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray with analyst Alexander Potter saying Paccar's brands boasted the highest level of brand loyalty in his firm's survey of 743 U.S.-based fleets. 3. Morgan Stanley (MS) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo with analyst Mike Mayo saying this means he now recommends 5 out of 5 of the largest U.S. wholesale banks. 4. 3D Systems (DDD) upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at Piper Jaffray with analyst Troy Jensen saying while Piper's Q3 survey "showed another poor performance" from 3D Systems' resellers, the company's "significant direct sales win" with Align Technology (ALGN) will continue to allow 3D Systems to report "impressive" year-over-year product growth for the next few quarters. 5. Lululemon (LULU) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord with analyst Camilo Lyon saying he recommends taking advantage of the recent 15% pullback as he believes the risk/reward is now skewed to the upside. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.