Analyst calls: KMB, GLW, TOL, DHI, BBY, WB, EBAY ...

Societe Generale upgraded shares of Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) to Buy from Sell as they believe the company is the European investment bank investors should own as sentiment gradually improves.
Societe Generale also raised Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) to Hold from Sell as they believe it has managed the credit crisis well and that the government bailout of the GSEs will improve investor sentiment.
Citigroup upgraded shares of Kimberly Clark (NYSE: KMB) to Buy from Hold as they expect the company to benefit from falling materials and energy prices. The firm raised their target to $71 from $60.
UST Inc (NYSE: UST) was lifted at Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight from Underweight.
Corning (NYSE: GLW) was upgraded to Overweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.

Analyst downgrades:

Credit Suisse downgraded the U.S. Homebuilders sector to Market Weight from Overweight to reflect deteriorating traffic trends and higher valuations. In addition, the firm cut Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM), D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) and KB Home (NYSE: KBH) to Neutral from Outperform.

Merriman downgraded shares of tw telecom (NASDAQ: TWTC) to Neutral from Buy after the company's 8-K disclosed it continues to see pressure in the Midwest and is now seeing similar pressure in the Southeast; Citigroup downgraded shares to Hold from Buy and lowered their target to $17 from $20.
Piper cut Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) to Neutral from Buy after channel checks indicated an oversupply of flat panel TVs across the supply chain, which they feel will have a negative impact on margins. Piper lowered their target to $49 from $54.
Wachovia (NYSE: WB) was cut to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill.
Big 5 Sporting Goods (NASDAQ: BGFV) and Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL) were downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley.

Analyst initiations:

Morgan Keegan said Regency Energy's (NASDAQ: RGNC) relationship with General Electric (GE) provides "an edge" over the competition and that the company's shale play assets are well-positioned. Shares were initiated with an Outperform rating.
Janney started Navigant Consulting (NYSE: NCI) with a Buy rating and $23 target. The firm believes the company is well-positioned in the specialty consulting space.
Stanford assumed eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) with a Hold rating and $26 target, pointing to the company's decelerating growth and shares losses to Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).
MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) was initiated at Piper with a Neutral rating and $17 target.
Mechel Steel (NYSE: MTL) was initiated with an Equal Weight rating at Thomas Weisel.
Oppenheimer assumed China Distance Education (NYSE: DL) with an Outperform rating and $9 target.

Tags: bby, bgfv, cs, db, dhi, dl, ebay, finl, glw, inthenews, kbh, kmb, mtl, nci, pcs, phm, rgnc, tol, twtc, ust, wb

Print this

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-10-2008 @ 11:45AM

Mozelle said...

eBay being compared to Amazon.com is nuts! Auctions verses Retail should be the real comparison here! eBay was great because IT WAS AUCTIONS ONLY! There are millions and millions of online retailers selling retail. There was only ONE EBAY AUCTION!

I hope eBay makes it! My money is tied up in eBay stock!

Stock holders don't want to hear a bunch of BS they want to see a profit!

eBay needs to start paying a dividend to their investors to show they are serious about their company and not another ENRON who with the help of Several Huge Banks and Investment Firms duped investors all the way to the end!