Analyst calls: ERIC, AMLN, DIS, IBM, CRM, FSLR, NOK, ALU ...
Posted Oct 7th 2008 11:25AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Walt Disney (DIS), International Business Machines (IBM), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), Analyst Initiations, salesforce.com inc (CRM)
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Analyst upgrades:
- Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was upgraded to Add from Hold at WestLB.
- JP Morgan upgraded Shire Plc (NASDAQ: SHPGY) to overweight from Neutral to reflect Vyvanse share gains and valuation.
- Wachovia upgraded Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) to Market Perform from Underperform because they believe that the recent collapse of the large cap bank sector, Jefferies' cash equity business, and the company's partial privatization as a result of its Leucadia investment will shield shares.
- Canaccord upgraded Amylin Pharma (NASDAQ: AMLN) to Hold from Sell.
- ADC Telecomm (NASDAQ: ADCT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Kaufman Bros. on valuation following the recent weakness.
- STEC Inc (NASDAQ: STEC) and Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) were raised to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley.
Analyst downgrades:
- Merrill downgraded Disney (NYSE: DIS) to Underperform from Neutral and cut its target to $27 from $34 citing the impact from the current economic climate on earnings.
- Barclays downgraded IBM (NYSE: IBM) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing the impact from the weakening economy and the company's large exposure to the financial services industry. IBM's target was cut to $108 from $130.
- Jefferies downgraded Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) to Underperform from Buy on increased risks of deteriorating payment terms and price pressure on renewals. The company's target was lowered to $36 from $75.
- Goldman downgraded First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) and added shares to the Conviction Sell List.
- United Community Banks (NASDAQ: UCBI) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at Suntrust.
- G&K Services (NASDAQ: GKSR) was cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
Analyst initiations:
- Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) were initiated at Morgan Stanley with Overweight ratings.
- Rodman & Renshaw believes Dusa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: DUSA) is positioned for robust sales growth of its Levulan-PDT therapy for precancerous skin lesions. Shares were initiated with an Outperform rating and $6 target.
- Keefe Bruyette started Lakeland Bancorp (NASDAQ: LBAI) with a Market Perform rating and $11 target and sees the potential for further deterioration in the company's national-brokered commercial leasing portfolio.
- Jefferies believes International Coal (NYSE: ICO) will continue investing in organic projects to improve operations and expects increasing realized coal prices to support earnings growth. The firm assumed coverage with a Buy rating and $8 target.
- Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) was assumed with a Hold rating at Stanford.
- RBC Capital initiated Cypress Bioscience (NASDAQ: CYPB) with an Outperform rating and $13 target.
Tags: adct, alu, amln, bpop, crm, cypb, dis, dusa, eric, fslr, gksr, ibm, ico, inthenews, jef, lbai, nok, sgen, shpgy, stec, ucbi
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