Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BIDU, POT, SUN, KR, CS, BAC, UBS ...
Posted Dec 16th 2008 10:50AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Bank of America (BAC), Kroger Co (KR), Analyst initiations
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Analyst upgrades:
- Goldman upgraded Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to its Conviction Buy List. The analyst expects Baidu to benefit from growth in paid search in China, where growth is expected to be 30% annually.
- Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Corporate Office Properties (NYSE: OFC) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect the company's exposure to the "sound" Washington, D.C., market and "favorable" liquidity position.
- Soleil upgraded Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $45 from $38 on the strength of the company's non-refining segment.
- Mosaic (NYSE: MOS), Potash (NYSE: POT), Intrepid Potash (NYSE: IPI) and Terra Industries (NYSE: TRA) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
- Kroger (NYSE: KR) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
Analyst downgrades:
- Jefferies downgraded shares of Bronco Drilling (NASDAQ: BRNC) to Underperform from Hold and lowered its target to $4.50 from $7.50 on valuation and their expectations for a rig decline in U.S. drilling activity.
- Morgan Stanley cut Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) to Equal Weight from Overweight into reporting season on concerns of further impairment charges.
- Deutsche Bank downgraded Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to Sell from Hold to reflect challenges in the handset market.
- Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) was lowered to Sell from Hold at WestLB.
- BT Group (NYSE: BT) was slashed at JP Morgan to Underweight from Neutral.
- Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette.
Analyst initiations:
- Roth Capital believes shares of International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) are fairly valued given competitive pressures, large gaming operations exposure, and expected financing activities. Shares were initiated with a Hold rating and $10 target.
- Friedman Billings believes Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) will have to raise a "substantial" amount of new capital, which will dilute shareholders. The firm started shares with an Underperform rating and $9 target.
- Jefferies assumed Allianz (NYSE: AZ) with an Underperform rating and $8 target. The firm believes the shares "lack momentum" due to minimal restructuring benefits, M&A risk and the deteriorating macro environment..
- Fossil (NASDAQ: FOSL) was initiated at SunTrust with a Neutral rating.
- Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR) was assumed with a Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
- Coverage of UBS (NYSE: UBS) was resumed with an Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Tags: ALU, AZ, BAC, BIDU, BRNC, BT, CS, ERIC, FOSL, IGT, IPI, KR, MOS, OFC, POT, SEPR, SOV, SUN, TRA, UBS
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