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Analyst upgrades:
- Goldman upgraded shares of British Sky Broadcasting (NYSE: BSY) to Buy from Neutral and added the company to the Conviction Buy List as they find the stock oversold at current levels.
- Goldman also added Publicis (OTC: PUBGY) to the Conviction Buy List and upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral as they find the stock cheap at current levels.
- Oneok (NYSE: OKE) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.
- UBS raised Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods (NYSE: WBD) to Buy from Neutral.
Analyst downgrades:
- Baird downgraded Amylin Pharma (NASDAQ: AMLN) to Neutral from Outperform and said they are incrementally more cautious on the commercial performance of Amylin's Byetta following the yesterday's update. Amylin's target was lowered to $27 from $37. Soleil recommends investors avoid Amylin with the disclosure last night of four additional cases of mortality associated with pancreatitis in patients who were on Byetta. The firm cut shares to Sell from Hold and lowered their target to $20 from $25.
- Citigroup downgraded shares of AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) to Sell from Hold on valuation as they find the stock expensive following the recent run-up. The firm raised their target to $9 from $6.70 to reflect the drop in crude prices.
- J Crew (NYSE: JCG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Brean Murray following the weak Q2 report and guidance.
- JMP Securities downgraded Quality Systems (NASDAQ: QSII) to Market Perform from Outperform.
- National Grid (NYSE: NGG) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman.
Analyst initiations:
- Goldman initiated Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ: TRIN) with a Neutral rating. The firm is cautious on the markets division due to the current weakness in global financial markets.
- B. Riley expects Preferred Bank's (NASDAQ: PFBC) asset quality deterioration to slow and that it will begin to rebuild its earnings in 2009. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $11.50 target.
- Merriman believes eHealth (NASDAQ: EHTH) offers a strong value proposition to insurance carriers and thinks should be valued in the $17-$20 range; shares were assumed with a Buy rating.
- ASML Holdings (NASDAQ: ASML) was initiated at Piper with a Buy rating and $48 target.
- Oppenheimer assumed Penford Corp. (NASDAQ: PENX) with an Outperform rating and $20 target.
- Citigroup initiated Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RIGL) with a Buy rating and $32 target.
Closing Bell: Can't go up every day (BAC, HE, HPW, COMS, BRCD, WMT, AMD)
Wal-Mart grows profit and cash flow in Q3, but comps still ailing
Chasing Value: Ten stocks for 2010 -- Part 2
