Analyst calls: CBY, MRX, EMC, WSM, TSRA, DAI, PALM, RTP, INTU, BHP, RGC ...
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 11:11AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Daimler (DAI), Medicis Pharmaceutical (MRX), Palm Inc (PALM), Intuit Inc (INTU), Analyst initiations, EMC Corp (EMC), BHP Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP), Rio Tinto plc ADS (RTP)
.gif)
Analyst upgrades:
- Citigroup upgraded shares of Cadbury (NYSE: CBY) to Hold from Sell on the company's pricing initiatives and their expectations for margin expansion.
- Jefferies upgraded shares of Medicis (NYSE: MRX) to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $16 from $12.50 as they believe the company's settlement with Impax should lift valuation and drive higher earnings.
- Cowen upgraded Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) to Neutral from Underperform on valuation. Shares were also upgraded at Merrill Lynch to Buy from Underperform.
- Signet Group (NYSE: SIG) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
- EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) was upgraded to Buy from Accumulate at ThinkPanmure.
- DSP Group (NASDAQ: DSPG) was upgraded at RBC Capital to Sector Perform from Underperform.
Analyst downgrades:
- Jefferies downgraded VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI) to Hold from Buy after checks indicated new order activity has decreased markedly in the second half of 2008. The firm now believes revenue growth in 2009 will be difficult to achieve and lowered their target to $10 from $12.
- Piper cut Tessera (NASDAQ: TSRA) to Neutral from Buy after an initial ruling by the ITC found no infringement of Tessera patents in the Wireless ITC case.
- WestLB downgraded Daimler (NYSE: DAI) to Reduce from Hold to reflect the further weakening of market conditions.
- The Clean Energy Sector was cut to In-Line from Attractive at Morgan Stanley.
- Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) was reduced to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.
- Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) was lowered to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
Analyst initiations:
- Merriman believes the Regal Entertainment's (NYSE: RGC) screen network will enable the company to better participate in the continued growth of the domestic box office. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating. B.
- Riley initiated Umpqua Holding (NASDAQ: UMPQ) with a Neutral rating and $12 target, citing the company's exposure to construction and development loans as well as the weakening U.S. economy.
- KeyBanc believes Volcom (NASDAQ: VLCM) will generate better than expected relative performance givens its brand popularity among its targeted demographic. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $11 target.
- Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) was initiated with an Overweight rating at Barclays.
- BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) was assumed with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan.
- HelmerichPayne (NYSE: HP) was started at Jesup & Lamont with a Hold rating.
Tags: bhp, cby, dai, dspg, emc, hp, intu, mrx, palm, rgc, rtp, sig, tsra, umpq, vdsi, vlcm, wsm
Closing Bell: Economic Catapult for Thanksgiving & Black Friday (WMT, TGT, GRMN, GOOG, MSFT)
Deere up on Q4 earnings performance
Reid Hoffman: LinkedIn will go public (at some point)
