Salomon Smith Barney raised its investment opinion on shares of EMC Corp. (EMC

) to buy from outperform.

Analyst Clinton Vaughan says the upgrade reflects belief EMC has moved past its fundamental bottom and is beginning to recover (albeit at a slow pace). He thinks the company is on the verge of many new product releases and partnership announcements; he also expects to see more M&A activity. Vaughan says upside from these factors is not reflected in his model. He narrowed his $0.09 fourth-quarter loss per share estimate to $0.08 on $1.3 billion in revenue, but thinks there is upside to these numbers. He maintains his $20 price target.