Apartment Investment and Management Co. has been moved up from a Buy to Attractive due to expectations that it will produce double-digit FFO over the next two years. Currently trading at $47, the Bear Stearns target price is now $53, which implies a total return just below 20%, including a current 6% dividend yield.

Archstone Communities Trust has been elevated from Neutral to Attractive based, in part, on the firm's growing confidence in management based on how it handled a complex relationship with Security Capital Group. The revised 2001 FFO estimate is $2.35 per share, and the preliminary 2002 FFO is $2.58 per shared, a 9.8% gain over 2001.

Essex Property Trust, which was up 71.1% last year on a total return basis, has been shifted from Buy to Attractive. The analysts approve the firm's business model and, with current high-occupancy levels, do not see a significant reduction in revenue or growth in FFO even in the economy slows down.