Raymond James upgraded Accredo Health (ACDO

) to strong buy.

Analyst John Ransom upgraded from market perform on a surprising earnings per share release. He says the primary reason for his opinion change is that the earnings damage estimated for Accredo's April 8 pre-announcement isn't nearly as severe as he had originally thought. Ransom says he slashed his fiscal 2003 (June) and fiscal 2004 estimates by 12% and 20% respectively, as Accredo cited sales weakness across several lines.

Now, he raised his $1.20 fiscal 2003 earnings per share estimate to $1.33, and upped the $1.32 fiscal 2004 estimate to $1.55. Ransom set a $24 target. He agrees that there's still some unanswered questions regarding volatility in Accredo's guidance, and he says he'll look for more detail on a conference call Monday afternoon.