Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ANF, WFMI, MIC, SNY, BMY, PFE, JNJ ...
Posted Nov 7th 2008 11:30AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Pfizer (PFE), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), Analyst initiations
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Analyst upgrades:
- Jefferies upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to Hold from Underperform on valuation. The stock has gone down 40% since they initiated coverage on September 19. The firm maintains a $29 target.
- Citigroup upgraded EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG), Quicksilver (NYSE: KWK) and Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN) to Buy from Hold on their belief U.S. natural gas-focused E&P companies have near-term upside.
- Barclays upgraded Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) to Equal Weight from Underweight citing the $425M private equity investment, which reduces liquidity risk, and its reduced cost structure.
- Brandywine Realty (NYSE: BDN) and AvalonBay (NYSE: AVB) were upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
- tw telecom (NASDAQ: TWTC) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
- AmeriCredit (NYSE: ACF) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Friedman Billings.
Analyst downgrades:
- Jefferies downgraded Macquarie Infrastructure (NYSE: MIC) to Hold from Buy to reflect the company's sensitivity to the economic slowdown and funding risk. The firm lowered their target to $9 from $40 after the company announced a dividend reduction.
- Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was cut to Sell from Neutral at UBS due to the company's exposure to potential generic competition and a lack of new products.
- Friedman Billings downgraded Cleveland Cliffs (NYSE: CLF) to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered their target to $42 from $50 to reflect the risk of further production cuts.
- Credit Suisse lowered Acme Packet (NASDAQ: APKT) to Neutral from Outperform.
- Delta Petroleum (NASDAQ: DPTR) was downgraded at Deutsche Bank to Sell from Hold.
- Siemens (NYSE: SI) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at UBS.
Analyst initiations:
- Goldman initiated Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) with a Buy rating and $27 target as they believe it is making progress in becoming a mid-sized specialty biopharmaceutical company. The firm expects the company to be active in M&A and to spin-off or divest its slow-growth or fast-growing assets, such as virology and oncology.
- Goldman believes Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) needs a "radical transformation" and restructuring that includes a break up, spin and merger in order to outperform over the next several years. Shares were assumed with a Sell rating and $19 target.
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $65 target at Banc of America. The firm prefers to be on the sidelines given uncertainties surrounding 2009 revenue growth and the potential for negative rhetoric out of Washington on pharma costs.
- Acorda (NASDAQ: ACOR) was started at RBC Capital with an Outperform rating and $30 target.
- Cavium Networks (NASDAQ: CAVM) and NetLogic (NASDAQ: NETL) were initiated with Neutral ratings at Cowen.
- Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) was assumed with a Buy rating and $61 target at Piper Jaffray.
Tags: ACF, ACOR, ANF, APKT, AVB, BDN, BMY, CAVM, CLF, DPTR, EOG, EW, JNJ, KWK, MIC, NETL, PFE, SI, SNY, SWN, TWTC, WFMI
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-07-2008 @ 11:58AM
Michael said...
What role do Hedge funds play in our economy and more importantly what Value do the bring to the economy?
Could someone enlighten me ?