Bear Stearns upgraded its investment recommendation on shares of Yellow (YELL

), Arkansas Best (ABFS

), and Roadway (ROAD

) to peer perform from underperform. On Jan. 24, Yellow posted fourth-quarter EPS from continuing operations of 50 cents.

Analyst Ed Wolfe tells S&P MarketScope that Yellow, Arkansas Best and Roadway have reached his downside price targets. He thinks the $2.57 2003 EPS consensus estimate for Yellow probably remains too high, but suspects further modest downward EPS adjustments in the near-term are already priced into the stock. Wolfe thinks the risk from freight diversion is offset by valuation. He cut his $2.25 2003 EPS estimate on Yellow to $2.10 and his $2.43 forecast for 2004 to $2.40. The analyst also lowered his $24 12-month price target to $21-$22. He maintains his targets of $33 on Roadway and $23 on Arkansas Best.