Analyst upgrades 3-05-07: Apple upgraded to Overweight at Prudential
Posted Mar 5th 2007 11:13AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Before the bell, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Good news, Apple Inc (AAPL), Chicago Merc Exch Hld'A' (CME), Comcast Cl'A' (CMCSA)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Some of today's notable upgrades were Apple Inc (AAPL), Comcast Corp (CMCSA) and Crosstex Energy LP (XTEX):
- Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Prudential and raised their target to $105 from $100 after their checks indicated a late March launch of Leopard, which is sooner than expected. Prudential believes Leopard will serve as a catalyst for Mac sales.
- Matrix USA upgraded shares of Comcast Corp (NASDAQ: CMCSA) to Hold from Sell as they believe the successful roll out of "triple play" product offering is driving sales growth.
- Crosstex Energy LP (NASDAQ: XTEX) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse based on valuation.
OTHER UPGRADES:
- Citigroup upgraded shares of Seagate Technology Holdings (NYSE: STX) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they believe Friday's sell-off on concerns that Apple will use NAND Flash rather than disk drives in the next-generation video iPod was overdone. Citigroup doubts Apple will broadly move to NAND flash this year.
- Jefferies upgraded shares of Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE: UHS) to Buy from Hold with a $67 target as they believe industry fundamentals are strong for behavioral health and the valuation is attractive at current levels.
- Brean Murray upgraded shares of Scientific Games Corp (NASDAQ: SGMS) to Hold from Sell. The firm does not expect Scientific Games to hit its 2008 guidance of $2.00, but recognizes the long-term growth prospects should begin to flow to the bottom line.
- Credit Suisse upgraded the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc (NYSE: CME) to Outperform from Neutral on valuation.
- Baird upgraded Thomas Properties Group (NASDAQ: TPGI) to Outperform from Neutral.
- Bear Stearns upgraded Group Danone ADS (NYSE: DA) to Outperform from Peer Perform.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required). Tags: aapl, apple, chicago merc, ChicagoMerc, cmcsa, cme, comcast, crosstex, da, danone, rating, scientific games, ScientificGames, seagate, sgms, stx, theflyonthewall.com, thomas properties, ThomasProperties, tpgi, uhs, universal health, UniversalHealth, upgrade, xtex
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