UPDATE: Jefferies Upgrades A.O. Smith to Buy

Jefferies is out with its report today on A.O. Smith AOS, upgrading AOS from Hold to Buy. In a note to clients, Jefferies writes, "We are upgrading AOS to BUY due to the stability of its core business and our expectations of the potential earnings benefits from the EPC divestiture and purchase of Lochinvar." At the time of posting, shares of AOS were trading pre-market at $44.20, up 2.43% from Tuesday's close.