Analyst calls: WFMI, SOV, STD, QI, NWS, ENS, GILD, ADBE
Posted Nov 6th 2008 11:31AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Adobe Systems (ADBE), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), News Corp'B' (NWS), Analyst initiations, Gilead Sciences (GILD)
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Analyst upgrades:
- Citigroup upgraded shares of Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV) to Buy from Hold on their belief Sovereign will merge with Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) according to the terms on their October 13 agreement.
- Jefferies upgraded Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) to Hold from Underperform on valuation as they believe the capital infusion from Leonard Green limits downside risk. The company's target was raised to $11 from $9.50.
- Banc of America upgraded Max Capital (NASDAQ: MXGL) to Buy from Neutral on valuation, the company's strategic changes to lower earnings volatility and their belief it is well positioned to benefit from an improved P&C marketplace.
- Qimonda (NYSE: QI) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Cowen.
- Health Net (NYSE: HNT) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
- Parkway Properties (NYSE: PKY) was lifted to Market Perform from Underperform at Wachovia.
Analyst downgrades:
- JP Morgan does not expect News Corp (NYSE: NWS.A) to outperform its peers due to its asset mix, which makes it more vulnerable to macroeconomic pressures. Shares were cut to Neutral from Overweight.
- Jefferies downgraded shares of EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) to Hold from Buy as they believe the company's lower than expected Q3 guidance suggests that rapid demand deterioration could continue near-term. The firm lowered their target to $11 from $35.
- Baird downgraded Syniverse (NYSE: SVR) to Neutral from Outperform citing Sprint (NYSE: S) and Alltel's decision to in-source mobile data roaming, which will impact 2009 revenue by $28M, and worse than expected Verizon (NYSE: VZ) contract renewal pricing. The company's target was lowered to $16 from $21.
- Liberty International (OTC: LBYIY) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
- General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
- Capital Source (NYSE: CSE) was downgraded at JMP Securities to Market Perform from Outperform.
Analyst initiations:
- Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) was assumed with an Outperform rating at Wachovia.
- Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) was initiated at Thomas Weisel with an Overweight rating and $34 target.
- Morgan Stanley started NuStar Energy (NYSE: NS) with an Equal Weight rating and $49 target.
- Optimer Prime (NASDAQ: OPTR) was initiated at Rodman & Renshaw with an Outperform rating.
- Deutsche Bank initiated H&E Equipment (NASDAQ: HEES) with a Hold rating and $9 target.
- Merchant Bancshares (NASDAQ: MBVT) was assumed with a Market Perform rating and $23 target at Keefe Bruyette.
Tags: adbe, cse, ens, ggp, gild, hees, hnt, inthenews, lbyiy, mbvt, mxgl, ns, nws.a, optr, pky, qi, sov, std, svr, wfmi
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