Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AIZ, RIMM, ING, URBN ...
Posted Sep 26th 2008 11:30AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Analyst Initiations
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Analyst upgrades:
- Merrill believes Assurant (NYSE: AIZ) is well-positioned to weather the turmoil in the capital markets environment and cites the company's defensive characteristics for the upgrade. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral.
- Deutsche Bank upgraded R.H. Donnelly (NYSE: RHD) to Hold from Sell to reflect the company's cost cuts and its ability to buy back bonds at discounted prices.
- Citigroup raised Consol Energy (NYSE: CNX) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they are seeing no fundamental deterioration in coal.
- Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Raymond James raised shares to Outperform from Market Perform.
- Penske Automotive (NYSE: PAG) was upgraded to Add from Neutral at Calyon.
- ICF International (NASDAQ: ICFI) was lifted to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.
Analyst downgrades:
- Deutsche Bank downgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Sell from Hold after the company reported Q2 results to reflect a deceleration in growth and margin pressures. RIMM's target was lowered to $70 from $120. RBC Capital downgraded Research in Motion to Sector Perform from Outperform citing reduced margin visibility and the slowing macroeconomic environment.
- Stephens downgraded Vitran (NASDAQ: VTNC) and Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA) to Equal Weight from Overweight to reflect the companies' deteriorating demand and pricing environment. Vitran's target was cut to $15 from $22 and Saia's was lowered to $16 from $24.
- Mentor (NYSE: MNT) was downgraded to hold from Buy at Jefferies to reflect continued weakness in the breast implant market and the potential for lowered guidance. Mentor's target was lowered to $31 from $36.
- Merrill cut ING Group (NYSE: ING) to Underperform from Neutral.
- CF Industries (NYSE: CF) was downgraded at Citigroup to Hold from Buy.
- Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA) was lowered to Sell from Hold at Natixis.
Analyst initiations:
- Suntrust initiated Idexx Laboratories (NASDAQ: IDXX) with a Neutral rating, citing slowing organic revenue growth, valuation and a slowing lab business.
- Jefferies initiated Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) with a Hold rating and $33 target. The firm prefers to stay on sidelines due to valuation and macro risks.
- Hersha Hospitality (NYSE: HT) was assumed with a Market Perform rating and $7.50 target at Keefe Bruyette. The firm believes near-term demand trends in New York City could slow.
- Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) was initiated at Baird with a Neutral rating and $54 target.
- KeyBanc assumed ENGlobal (NASDAQ: ENG) with a Hold rating.
- Piper initiated Pentair (NYSE: PNR) with a Neutral rating and $39 target.
Tags: AIZ, CF, CNX, ECL, ENG, HT, ICFI, IDXX, ING, LINTA, MNT, PAG, PNR, RHD, RIMM, SAIA, URBN, VTNC
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