Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: URBN, ACAS, CAT, F, A, COF ...
Posted Dec 12th 2008 10:55AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Ford Motor (F), Caterpillar (CAT), Agilent Technologies (A), Analyst initiations, Urban Outfitters (URBN)
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Analyst upgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded IberiaBank (NASDAQ: IBKC) to Market Perform from Underperform following the company's capital raise, which the firm believes strengthens IberiaBank's balance sheet. Baird upgraded IberiaBank to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation following weakness related to the $100M capital raise.
- Pali upgraded shares of Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) to Neutral from Sell on valuation as they believe the company's comp slowdown is largely priced in at current levels.
- Morgan Keegan upgraded Casey's General Store (NASDAQ: CASY) to Outperform from Market Perform based on valuation, healthy SSS, and easing comps.
- Cabot OIl & Gas (NYSE: COG) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) were added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
- American Capital (NASDAQ: ACAS) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Friedman Billings.
- CIBC lifted Manulife (NYSE: MFC) to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer.
Analyst downgrades:
- Goldman downgraded Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) to Sell from Neutral based on expectations for reduced capex spending by mining and oil & gas companies and the impact from the credit crunch.
- Deutsche Bank downgraded auto companies and suppliers as they believe the failed government bailout increases risks. Ford (NYSE: F), American Axle (NYSE: AXL), Magna International (NYSE: MGA) and Lear (NYSE: LEA) were downgraded to Sell from Hold.
- SAP (NYSE: SAP) was cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies to reflect the "deteriorating" corporate IT spend environment.
- Waters (NYSE: WAT) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
- Agilent (NYSE: A) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays; the firm also downgraded Varian (NASDAQ: VARI) to Underweight from Equal Weight.
Analyst initiations:
- Jefferies believes Core Laboratories (NYSE: CLB) is well positioned to benefit from the increasing need for reservoir optimization services. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $70 target.
- Deutsche Bank initiated Capital One (NYSE: COF) with a Sell rating and $24 target, citing the difficult economic environment and the potential for higher credit losses.
- Soleil started Hexcel (NYSE: HXL) with a Buy rating and $10 target and expects the company's military business to remain strong through 2010.
- On Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ONNN) was assumed with a Neutral rating and $3.80 target at UBS.
- Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY) was initiated at Oppenheimer with a Perform rating.
- Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) was started with a Neutral rating at Piper Jaffray.
Tags: A, ACAS, AXL, BRCD, CASY, CAT, CBEY, CLB, COF, COG, F, HXL, IBKC, LEA, MFC, MGA, ONNN, RDS.A, SAP, URBN, VARI, WAT
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