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Analyst upgrades:
- UBS upgraded Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) to Neutral from Sell and said liquidity is no longer a near-term concern. The firm lowered Pacific Sunwear's target to $1.50 from $3. Citigroup upgraded shares to Hold from Sell on valuation following the recent weakness and believes Pacific Sunwear has sufficient liquidity to remain a going concern.
- Calyon believes Reliant Energy (NYSE: RRI) will be successful in unwinding the Merrill Lynch Retail credit sleeve and obtaining alternative collateral. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Add.
- JP Morgan said Cogent's (NASDAQ: COGT) position in homeland security and the defense markets make it less sensitive to an economic downturn, making valuation attractive. JP Morgan upgraded shares to Overweight from Neutral and raised its target to $13 from $10.50.
- Goldman added Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to its Conviction Buy List and removed Riverbed (NASDAQ: RVBD) from the Conviction Sell List.
- J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) was raised to Buy from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
Analyst downgrades:
- Citigroup believes Ace Ltd.'s (NYSE: ACE) Net Amount at Risk increase over the past nine months will limit near-term upside. The firm cut shares to Hold from Buy and lowered their target to $54 from $68.
- WestLB downgraded shares of HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) to Sell from Reduce to reflect the deteriorating global economic outlook and the bank's lower than average Tier 1 Capital ratio.
- JP Morgan downgraded Century Aluminum (NASDAQ: CENX) to Neutral from Overweight citing lower aluminum prices and high costs.
- Goldman removed Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) from the Conviction Buy List.
- Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
- Arbitron (NYSE: ARB) was lowered to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
Analyst initiations:
- Jefferies initiated Resmed (NYSE: RMD) with a Buy rating and $41 target and expects the company's "strong" sales growth to continue. The firm feels Resmed is an attractive acquisition candidate.
- Jefferies believes St. Jude Medical's (NYSE: STJ) growth expectations are ambitious and finds the stock fairly valued at current levels. Shares were initiated with a Hold rating and $34 target.
- Banc of America assumed coverage of Tibco (NASDAQ: TIBX) with a Neutral rating and $6 target. The firm sees risk to the company's Q4 results but believes it has a solid recurring revenue model.
- Ticketmaster (NASDAQ: TKTM) was started at Thomas Weisel with a Market Weight rating and $9.25 target.
- Chemical Financial (NASDAQ: CHFC) was initiated with a Market Perform rating and $25 target at Keefe Bruyette.
- Usec (NYSE: USU) was reinitiated with a Neutral rating at Goldman.