Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: PRXL, ANF, DISH, INTC, HNZ, MA, MET ...
Posted Oct 10th 2008 11:25AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Intel (INTC), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Morgan Stanley (MS), Analyst Initiations, MetLife Inc. (MET)
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Analyst upgrades:
- William Blair upgraded Parexel (NASDAQ: PRXL) to Outperform from Market Perform on increased conviction in the company's earnings growth outlook following channel checks.
- Friedman Billings upgraded UDR Inc (NYSE: UDR) to Outperform from Market Perform and raised its target to $22 from $26 citing the company's approximate 8% implied cap rate on is vastly improved apartment portfolio.
- Citigroup upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to Hold from Sell on valuation as they believe weak fundamentals are now priced into the stock.
- Goldman upgraded Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to the Conviction Buy List.
- StellarOne (NASDAQ: STEL) and Union Bankshares (NASDAQ: UBSH) were upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Baird.
- Bernstein upgraded DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) to Market Perform from Underperform.
Analyst downgrades:
- Deutsche Bank downgraded Align Tech (NASDAQ: ALGN) to Hold from Buy as they believe macroeconomic pressures will limit the company's ability to reach longer term growth expectations. Align's target was lowered to $8 from $14.
- Jefferies downgraded shares of Advanced Medical (NYSE: EYE) to Underperform from Buy and lowered its target to $9 from $28 following the company's lowered guidance as they believe macroeconomic pressures affecting LASIK volumes and the unanticipated slowdown in lens care should put continued pressure on the stock.
- ThinkPanmure expects the macro slowdown and credit crunch to slow Intel's (NASDAQ: INTC) growth and IT capex spending. The firm downgraded shares to Sell from Buy, lowered its 2009 EPS estimate to $1.01 from $1.35, vs. consensus of $1.46, and cut Intel's target to $12 from $24.
- MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) was lowered to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.
- Charles River Labs (NYSE: CRL) was downgraded at William Blair to Market Perform from Outperform.
- Deutsche Bank cut Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) to Hold from Buy.
Analyst initiations:
- Old Second Bancorp (NASDAQ: OSBC) was initiated with a Market Perform rating and $17 target at Keefe Bruyette. The firm believes the company's exposure to strong markets should generate above-average returns.
- Susquehanna assumed Affiliated Computer (NYSE: ACS) with a Positive rating and $55 target and is positive on the company's low levels of customer concentration and high levels of geographic diversification.
- Cowen resumed coverage of AnnTaylor (NYSE: ANN) with a Neutral rating, citing the company's share loss to competitors and top-line weakness..
- MetLife (NYSE: MET) was assumed with an Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley.
- JMP Securities initiated HFF Inc (NYSE: HF) with a Market Perform rating.
- Genpact (NYSE: G) was initiated at Susquehanna with a Neutral rating.
Tags: acs, algn, anf, ann, crl, dish, eye, g, hf, hnz, intc, ma, met, mgm, osbc, por, prxl, stel, ubsh, udr
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