Analyst calls: SNV, BASFY, AKZOY, FUL, GA, WLT, AHD, OZM, HOG, MRK
Posted Nov 14th 2008 11:30AM by Laurie Pasternack
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Boeing Co (BA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Merck and Co (MRK), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Analyst initiations, Garmin Ltd (GRMN)
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Analyst upgrades:
- Friedman Billings upgraded Synovus (NYSE: SNV) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation following the recent weakness. BASF (OTC: BASFY) and Akzo Nobel (OTC: AKZOY) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS on valuation and believes cash flows can cover the company's dividend.
- JP Morgan upgraded H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL) to Overweight from Neutral citing benefits from lower raw material costs.
- CA, Inc (NASDAQ: CA) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
- Goldman removed Boeing (NYSE: BA) from the Conviction Sell List.
- WABCO Holdings (NYSE: WBC) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc.
Analyst downgrades:
- Oppenheimer downgraded Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) to Perform from Outperform following the company's Q3 results as they believe a recovery of revenue from ZT Online will take longer than expected.
- Friedman Billings cut Walter Industries (NYSE: WLT) to Market Perform from Outperform as they believe the decline in steel demand will pressure met coal prices. The company's target was lowered to $30 from $53.
- Citigroup downgraded shares of Atlas Pipeline (NYSE: AHD) Holdings to Sell from Hold as they believe the company could potentially be in violation of its debt covenants as early as Q1. The company's target was lowered to $4 from $31.
- Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
- Dover (NYSE: DOV) and Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) were downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
Analyst initiations:
- Jefferies initiated Och-Ziff Capital (NYSE: OZM) with a Buy rating and $8 target. The firm believes the company should gain significant market share from competitors as capital is re-allocated to larger, more experienced investment maVnagers.
- Deutsche Bank initiated Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) with a Hold rating and $18 target and wants to see signs of an improving consumer or a normalizing credit market before getting positive on the stock.
- Banc of America started Merck (NYSE: MRK) with a Neutral rating and $32 target. The firm believes investors can be patient in buying shares given the current valuation and potential headline risk out of Washington.
- Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) was initiated at Morgan Keegan with a Market Perform rating.
- VMWare (NYSE: VMW) was assumed with a Market Perform rating at JMP Securities.
- Barclays started Radian (NYSE: RDN) with an Underweight rating.
Tags: AHD, Akzo Nobel, AkzoNobel, AKZOY, Atlas Pipeline, AtlasPipeline, BA, BASF, BASFY, Boeing, CA, CA inc, CaInc, DOV, Dover, Emerson Electric, EmersonElectric, EMR, FUL, GA, Garmin, Giant Interactive, GiantInteractive, GRMN, H.B. Fuller, H.b.Fuller, Harley-Davidson, HOG, Merck, MRK, Och-Ziff, Och-Ziff Capital, Och-ziffCapital, Oracle, ORCL, OZM, Radian, RDN, SNV, Synovus, VMW, VMWare, WABCO Holdings, WabcoHoldings, Walter Industries, WalterIndustries, WBC, WLT
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