Analyst calls: OPTR, JEC, KFN, CAR, DISH, TSN, VMW, INFY, URBN, DKS
Posted Nov 11th 2008 12:12PM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Tyson Foods'A' (TSN), Analyst initiations, Urban Outfitters (URBN), KKR Financial (KFN)
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Analyst upgrades:
- Baird upgraded Optimer Pharm (NASDAQ: OPTR) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $13 from $8 citing the decidedly positive data from the OPT-80 trial.
- Banc of America upgraded Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) to Buy from Neutral on valuation and believes management has set expectations well.
- Credit Suisse views Jacobs Engineering (NYSE: JEC) as a high quality name given the quality of management, execution track record, and relationship business model. Shares were upgraded to Outperform from Neutral.
- Horizon Lines (NYSE: HRZ) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.
- Bancolombia SA (NYSE: CIB) was raised to Buy from Neutral.
- Great Lakes Dredge (NASDAQ: GLDD) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Morgan Joseph.
Analyst downgrades:
- Merriman downgraded shares of Sangamo BioSciences (NASDAQ: SGMO) to Neutral from Buy after the company announced Phase II SB-509 results which missed its endpoints on several measures of efficacy.
- Keefe Bruyette downgraded GLG Partners (NYSE: GLG) to Market Perform from Outperform to reflect lower net AUM and the negative market environment quarter-to-date.
- Citigroup cut KKR Financial (NYSE: KFN) to Sell from Hold to reflect the company's "weak" Q3 results and the continued dislocation in the credit markets. The company's target was lowered to $2 from $10. Friedman Billings downgraded KKR Financial to Market Perform from Outperform as they believe the company's CLOs will "trap" cash for an indeterminate period of time.
- Avis Budget Group (NYSE: CAR) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
- DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
- Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) was downgraded at JP Morgan to Underweight from Overweight.
Analyst initiations:
- Oppenheimer initiated VMware (NYSE: VMW) with a Perform rating. The firm prefers to wait on the sidelines given the worsening macro environment, difficult near term comps, and increasing competition from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
- Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY) was initiated with an Outperform rating at William Blair. The firm believes Infosys has the strongest brand in offshore IT services.
- Deutsche Bank initiated United Therapeutics (NASDAQ: UTHR) with a Buy rating and $105 target. The firm believes oral Remodulin will grow the company's Remodulin franchise and sees a near-term catalyst from Freedom-C expected mid-November.
- Cowen resumed coverage of Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) with a Neutral rating.
- Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) was started with an Underweight rating at Morgan Stanley.
- Roth Capital initiated HQ Sustainable Maritime (AMEX: HQS) with a Buy rating and $12 target.
Tags: car, cib, dgx, dish, dks, gldd, glg, hqs, hrz, infy, jec, kfn, optr, sgmo, tsn, urbn, uthr, vmw
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