Analyst upgrades 4-13-07: LLL, MRK, NLS and PSUN upgraded today

Posted Apr 13th 2007 11:06AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Good news, Merck and Co (MRK)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Merck & Co (MRK), Intersil Corp (ISIL), Nautilus Group (NLS) and Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) were some of today's more noteworthy upgrades:

Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK ) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs to reflect the company's continued revenue strength and raised guidance. They believe strong execution continues.
JP Morgan upgraded Intersil Corp NASDAQ: ISIL) to Overweight from Neutral based on improving fundamentals.
Matrix USA upgraded shares of Nautilus Group (NYSE: NLS) to Hold from Strong Sell after this week's sell-off.
Pacific Sunwear of California (NASDAQ: PSUN) was added to Freidman Billing's Top Picks List, believing the turnaround is taking hold following strong March comps.

OTHER UPGRADES:

Goldman added L-3 Communications Hlds (NYSE: LLL) to its Conviction Buy List and raised its target to $105 from $95.
McCormick Corp (NYSE: MKC) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia citing core performance in both Industrial and Consumer, including a nominal boost in long-term growth outlook.
Bear Stearns upgraded shares of Ventana Medical Systems (NASDAQ: VMSI) to Outperform from Peer Perform, citing the company's solid base business outlook and Symphony potential.
Piper Jaffray upgraded Ocwen Financial (NYSE: OCN) to Outperform from Market Perform.
JP Morgan upgraded TJX Cos (NYSE: TJX) to Neutral from Underweight expecting merchandising initiatives and marketing spending to drive growth.