"Our rating upgrade to Outperform from Perform reflects a short-term, speculative call on shares and is predicated on our view that the market is currently underpricing the potential for CONN to successfully divest its loan portfolio," the analysts wrote. "Fundamental risks remain for CONN. That said, we expect that investors would look more favorably upon potentially enhanced EPS and cash flow prospects of a CONN business model unencumbered by an at-times volatile in-house sub-prime lending division."  Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates CONN'S INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate CONN'S INC (CONN) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed -- some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks.