Analyst upgrades 3-14:07: Southwest gets some LUV, raise your glass to Boston Beer Co
Posted Mar 14th 2007 11:07AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Before the bell, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Good news, Chevron Corp (CVX), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Southwest Airlines (LUV), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), JetBlue Airways (JBLU)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Some of today's most notable upgrades include Qualcomm, Inc (QCOM), Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) and Chevron Corp (CVX):
- JP Morgan upgraded Qualcomm, Inc (NASDAQ: QCOM) to Neutral from Underweight, to reflect the company's re-accelerating business fundamentals and positive pre-announcement on Tuesday.
- Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Countrywide Financial Corp (NYSE: CFC) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company remains among the premiere mortgage originators and will be the ultimate beneficiary of the mortgage market shakeout.
- Susquehanna upgraded shares of American Eagle Outfitters Inc (NYSE: AEO) to Positive from Neutral based on a strong spring assortment and long-term earnings power from new brand concepts aerie and MARTIN+OSA.
- Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) to Hold from Sell based a backlog of resources that keeps growing and increased pressure on the need for delivery.
OTHER UPGRADES:
- Lehman upgraded Darden Restaurants, Inc (NYSE: DRI) to Equal-Weight from Underweight to reflect the company's strong management team and what they believe to be "very achievable" guidance.
- Cadbury Schweppes plc (NYSE: CSG) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs as they believe the company may break up Nelson Peltz acquired a stake in the company.
- AG Edwards upgraded El Paso Corp (NYSE: EP) to Buy from Hold with a $16 target.
- Gladstone Capital Corp (NASDAQ: GLAD) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Wachovia.
- Gabelli upgraded shares of Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) to Buy from Hold following the strong fourth quarter report.
- Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE: LUV) and JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ: JBLU) were upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required). Tags: aeo, american eagle, AmericanEagle, analyst, boston beer, BostonBeer, cadbury, cfc, chevron, countrywide, csg, cvx, darden, dri, el paso, ElPaso, ep, glad, gladstone, jblu, jetblue, luv, qcom, qualcomm, rating, sam, southwest, theflyonthewall.com, upgrade
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