Analyst upgrades 2-16-07: Coke & Pepsi upgraded at Goldman

Posted Feb 16th 2007 11:28AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Before the Bell, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Good news, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Avon Products (AVP), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), General Mills (GIS)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Rivals Coca-Cola Co (KO) and PepsiCo Inc (PEP), as well as General Mills (GIS), were today's notable upgrades.

Goldman Sachs upgraded both The Coca-Coca Co (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo Inc (NYSE: PEP) to Buy from Neutral: The upgrade for Coca-Coca was to reflect the company's recent strong results, and Pepsi's upgrade was to reflect Gatorade's expected profit re-acceleration by the second half of 2007.

General Mills Inc (NYSE: GIS) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets with a $58 target based on achievable outlook and absence of any negative catalysts.

OTHER UPGRADES:

Bank of America upgraded Colgate-Palmolive Co (NYSE: CL) to Buy from Neutral with a $74 target. The firm believes Colgate's long-term growth rate can accelerate to 12-13% from 10% on margin upside.

Prudential upgraded shares of Avon Products Inc (NYSE: AVP) to Neutral from Underweight to reflect the company's improving fundamentals; the firm believes that news over the last six months has been getting more positive.

Buckingham upgraded Tween Brands Inc (NYSE: TWB) to Accumulate from Neutral.

CIBC upgraded Cablevision Systems Corp (NYSE: CVC) to Buy from Hold. Raymond James raised Lithia Motors (LAD) to Strong Buy from Market Perform following its Q4 report and guidance.

First Albany upgraded Stamps.com Inc (NASDAQ: STMP) to Buy from Neutral, with a $19 target.

Deutsche Bank upgraded International Paper Co (NYSE: IP), Packaging Corp of America (NYSE: PKG) and Smurfit-Stone Container Corp (NASDAQ: SSCC) to Buy from Hold. The firm believes momentum is turning and backlogs and pricing are emerging from the winter doldrums stronger than expected.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Tags: avon, avp, cablevision, cl, coca-cola, coke, colgate, cvc, general mills, GeneralMills, gis, international paper, InternationalPaper, ip, ko, packaging corp of america, PackagingCorpOfAmerica, palmolive, pep, pepsi, pkg, rating change, RatingChange, ratings, smurfit-Stone, sscc, stamps, stmp, theflyonthewall.com, twb, tween, upgrade

Print this

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-16-2007 @ 1:02PM

Michael Schneider said...

It's a surprise that they didn't have "buys " on Pepsi and Coke before this. Both companies have moved up. Coke just raised their dividend 10%. The Goldman Sachs upgrades had something to do with their perception of risks from the soda bottlers.