Analyst calls: NVS, DWA, APC, RF, GE, MTB, BYD, NWL ...
Posted Sep 23rd 2008 11:00AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, General Electric (GE), Novartis AG ADS (NVS), Regions Financial (RF), Newell Rubbermaid (NWL), Analyst initiations, Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Analyst upgrades:
- Credit Suisse upgraded shares of Novartis (NYSE: NVS) to Neutral from Underperform as they believe the stock's defensive characteristics justify a premium valuation.
- Merrill raised Dreamworks (NYSE: DWA) to Buy from Neutral and has increased confidence in DWA's sustainable success following the performance of Kung Fu Panda and new revenue streams.
- Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stanford on valuation.
- Goldman upgraded Smurfit-Stone (NASDAQ: SSCC) and Canadian National (NYSE: CNI) to Buy from Neutral and added International Paper (NYSE: IP) to the Conviction Buy List.
- Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill.
Analyst downgrades:
- Jefferies downgraded shares of Savvis (NASDAQ: SVVS) to Hold from Buy and lowered the target to $17 from $20 to reflect decreasing visibility from economic headwinds and expectations for increased capex.
- Citigroup downgraded Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) to Sell from Hold as they believe fundamentals are not in-line with the current valuation following the recent rally.
- Merrill lowered their General Electric (NYSE: GE) estimates below consensus and downgraded shares to Neutral from Buy citing increased fundamental pressures on the company's GE Capital unit. GE's target was cut to $28 from $37.50.
- M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB) was lowered to Underperform from Neutral at Baird.
- Silgan Holdings (NASDAQ: SLGN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
- Roth Capital cut Cache (NASDAQ: CACH) to Hold from Buy.
Analyst initiations:
- Jefferies initiated McCormick & Schmick's (NASDAQ: MSSR) with a Buy rating and $12 target. The firm expects stabilizing fundamentals and EPS growth in 2009 to drive multiple expansion.
- Jesup & Lamont believes O'Reilly Automotive's (NASDAQ: ORLY) dual-marketing strategy toward professionals and do-it-yourselfers provides a competitive advantage. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating and $36 target.
- Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) was started with a Buy rating and $15 target at Soleil. The firm admits gaming fundamentals are weak but believes investors are ignoring the company's raw land value on the Las Vegas, which they estimate could be worth $3-$7/share.
- Oppenheimer initiated Advanced Analogic (NASDAQ: AATI) with an Outperform rating and $8 target.
- Newell Rubbermaid (NYSE: NWL) was assumed with a Neutral rating at SunTrust.
- Baird initiated SonicWALL (NASDAQ: SNWL) with an Outperform rating and $8 target.
Tags: aati, apc, byd, cach, cni, dwa, ge, ip, mssr, mtb, ntrs, nvs, nwl, orly, rf, slgn, snwl, sscc, svvs
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