Analyst Action: New Stock Ratings

* Bebe Stores Inc. (ticker: BEBE; Monday close and change: $35, up $2.50) was rated “buy” in new coverage by Michael T. Glover at Raymond James Financial Inc.

* General Motors Corp. (GM; $85.94, unchanged) was downgraded to “neutral” from “attractive” by Michael P. Ward at PaineWebber Inc.

* Home Depot Inc. (HD; $55.50, down 38 cents) was rated “buy” in new coverage by Lauren Cooks Levitan at BancBoston Robertson Stephens.

* KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC; $58.06, up $4.19) was raised to “strong buy” from “neutral” by Jay Deahna at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, with a price target of $77 per share, and raised to near-term “buy” from near-term “accumulate” by Mark F. Fitzgerald at Merrill Lynch & Co. (long-term rating remained “buy”).

* Nokia Corp. (NOK/A; $135, up $4.63) was raised to near-term “accumulate” from near-term “neutral” by Neil Barton at Merrill Lynch & Co. (long-term rating was raised to “buy” from “accumulate”).

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Test Your Savvy

Question: What is the best-performing stock in the Dow Jones industrial average so far this year?

Answer Appears Wednesday.