Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: GTI, NAV, MON, MER, POT...
Posted Sep 5th 2008 10:55AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Analyst Initiations
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Analyst upgrades:
- Jefferies upgraded shares of GrafTech (NYSE: GTI) to Buy from Hold as they believe electrode pricing increases should more than offset the increase in raw material costs over the next year. The firm raised their target to $30 from $22.
- JP Morgan upgraded Navistar (NYSE: NAV) to Overweight from Neutral following the strong Q3 report and raised outlook.
- Goldman added Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN), Quest Software (NASDAQ: QSFT) and Transocean (NYSE: RIG) to the Conviction Buy List.
- Monsanto (NYSE: MON) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Analyst downgrades:
- Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) to Sell from Neutral and added the stock to the Conviction Sell List as they expect additional write-downs and believe the stock has the highest price to book multiple among the large cap brokers they cover. Goldman lowered their target on MER shares to $22 from $28.50.
- UBS cut STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) to Sell from Neutral on concerns over excess inventories and the company's joint venture with Ericssono (NASDAQ: ERIC).
- B. Riley downgraded Captaris (NASDAQ: CAPA) to Neutral from Buy to reflect the acquisition by Open Text (NASDAQ: OTEX), as they do not expect a materially higher bid to emerge.
- Allied Irish Bank (NYS: AIB) was lowered to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
- Astec Industries (NASDAQ: ASTE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Piper.
Analyst initiations:
- Jefferies believes FGX International's (NAS: FGXI) market-leading position in over-the-counter readers should benefit from favorable demographics and a mix shift from more expensive Rx glasses. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $17 target.
- Baird initiated Felcor Lodging (NYSE: FCH) with a Neutral rating and $8 target, citing slowing industry trends and its higher cost balance sheet.
- Friedman Billings reinitiated AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) with a Market Perform rating and $131 target. The firm believes the company's slowing earnings growth and likely peak margins make the valuation fair at best at current levels.
- Morgan Stanley started Potash (NYSE: POT) and Waters (NYSE: WAT) with Overweight ratings and target of $280 and $81, respectively.
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