Analyst upgrades: LINC, SONS and NVS

Posted May 9th 2008 10:56AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Novartis AG ADS (NVS), Burger King Hldgs (BKC)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Lincoln Educational, Sonus Networks and Novartis were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Lehman upgraded Lincoln Educational (NASDAQ: LINC) to Overweight from Equal Weight based on improving student enrollment growth and valuation.
  
• Merriman upgraded Sonus Networks (NASDAQ: SONS) to Buy from Neutral on the company's strong AT&T (NYSE: T) outlook and near-term upside potential from Japan. They believe shares can trade towards the $5-$6 range.
  
• Bernstein raised Novartis (NYSE: NVS) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company's diversification position it well to withstand future generic expiries.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman Sachs added Burger King (NYSE: BKC) to its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Credit Suisse upgraded Imperial Tobacco (NYSE: ITY) to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• FreightCar America (NASDAQ: RAIL) was upgraded at Jefferies to Buy from Hold.

Tags: analyst, bkc, burger king, BurgerKing, freightcar, imperial tobacco, ImperialTobacco, ity, linc, lincoln, novartis, nvs, rail, sons, sonus, upgrade