Analyst initiations 5-18-07: BNI, CSX, ITT, NSC and UNP

Posted May 18th 2007 11:19AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Before the Bell, Analyst Initiations

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Select railroads were popular initiations today:

Morgan Keegan started shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (NYSE: BNI) with an Outperform rating and believes the stock should trade at a premium to Class 1 railroad peers, as the company consistently ranks above its peers in terms of operating ratio and return on invested capital.
Morgan Keegan believes Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) de Mexico provides KSU a tremendous growth opportunity, starting shares with an Outperform rating.
Morgan Keegan also believes Norfolk Southern Corp (NYSE: NSC) is undervalued, despite having some of the best operating metrics in the industry, initiating shares with an Outperform rating.
Union Pacific Corp (NYSE: UNP) was started with an Outperform rating as Morgan Keegan believes earnings estimates and management guidance may be conservative.
Finally, CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Morgan Keegan as the firm believes there is more risk to the current share price than the potential upside...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

Citigroup started Gaylord Entertainment Co (NYSE: GET) with a Buy rating and $68 target.
Morgan Joseph initiated shares of Jakks Pacific, Inc (NASDAQ: JAKK) with a Buy rating.
ITT Corp (NYSE: ITT) was given an Equal Weight rating by Morgan Stanley.
Banc of America started Healthways, Inc (NASDAQ: HWAY) with a Buy rating and Matria Healthcare, Inc (NASDAQ: MATR) with a Neutral rating.