Monster Worldwide (MWW) shares are up sharply this morning after William Blair analyst Thomas McHugh upped his rating on the stock to Outperform from Market Perform.

McHugh concedes that “demand for online recruiting companies remains weak,” but says that in the U.S., “the pace of weakness…does not appear to be accelerating as quickly as it was late last year and appears generally in line with our existing expectations.” He adds that while Monster’s Q1 results will “certainly be weak,” they shouldn’t be drastically worse than he has modeled. And he says the Street consensus that the company’s earnings this year will be basically nil appears “achievable.”

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Quite an eventful afternoon for Monster Worldwide (MNST).

For starters, the company announced that it has reached a tentative settlement of a securities class action connected with the its previous stock option-granting practices. Defendants will pay $47.5 million; Monster’s share net of insurance and a contribution from another defendant will be $25 million.

Monster also said a state court has granted approval of a previously announced preliminary settlement of related securities derivative lawsuits. The company will receive $10 million “from various individuals.” Also, the Class B shares held by former chairman and CEO Andrew McKelvey will be converted to ordinary common stock, restricted stock units will be canceled and the exercise price of certain options will be increased.

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