UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-JP Morgan raises Cabot to overweight

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Aug 29 (Reuters) - J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded Cabot Corp (CBT.N), a maker of specialty chemicals, to "overweight" from "neutral," saying the company is now poised to grow earnings per share strongly over a multi-year period from a cyclical bottom.

Analyst Jeffrey Zekauskas said 2009 should prove to be a materially better year for the company with reductions in cost of carbon black raw materials and rise in carbon black contractual prices.

Cabot's major products are carbon black, fumed silica, inkjet colorants, capacitor materials and cesium formate drilling fluids.

Zekauskas said free cash flow for Cabot seemed "healthy" at 4.9 percent for 2009, but warned it was likely to be constrained due to a large capital program.

Shares of the Boston, Massachusetts-based company closed at $27.54 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Antonita Madonna Devotta in Bangalore; Editing by Himani Sarkar)