Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AAPL, AXP, AMZN, KSU, IPG
Posted Dec 17th 2008 12:38PM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), American Express (AXP), Allegheny Technologies (ATI), Analyst Initiations
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Analyst upgrades:
- UBS upgraded Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) to Buy from Neutral and lowered its target to $26 from $35 citing valuation.
- Gabelli upgraded Media General (NYSE:MEG) to Hold from Sell because the firm thinks that Harbinger Capital has sold most of its shares in the company. As a result, the firm thinks the stock will be under less selling pressure.
- Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ:EGLE) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
- Centene (NYSE:CNC) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
- Ralcorp (NYSE:RAH) was upgraded at Credit Suisse to Outperform from Neutral.
- Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Analyst downgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette downgraded Healthcare Realty(NYSE:HR) to Market Perform from Outperform on concerns the company's development activity could be dilutive to near-term earnings.
- Citigroup downgraded Satyam (NYSE:SAY) to Sell from Buy as they believe the company's acquisition plans, and subsequent cancellation of the deals, will lessen investor confidence in the name.
- Oppenheimer downgraded Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to Perform from Outperform citing Steve Jobs cancellation of his annual key note speech at Macworld on January 6. The analyst said the unexpected announcement underscores Apple's long-term dependence on Job's health and its lack of succession plan.
- Baird downgraded Carlisle NYSE:CSL)to Neutral from Outperform.
- Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ:ROCK) was downgraded at Piper Jaffray to Sell from Buy.
- NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was cut to Accumulate from Buy at ThinkPanmure.
Analyst initiations:
- Citigroup believes the acquisition of Barr enhances Teva's (NASDAQ:TEVA) growth. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $52 target.
- Suntrust initiated American Express (NYSE:AXP) with a Reduce citing slowing growth and greater-than-industry deterioration in credit quality.
- Roth Capital initiated The Buckle (NYSE:BKE) with a Hold rating and $17 target citing the deteriorating macro environment.
- Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Allegheny Tech (NYSE:ATI) were assumed with Neutral ratings and targets of $52 and $26, respectively, at UBS.
- Digital Realty (NYSE:DLR) was initiated at Piper Jaffray with a Buy rating.
- Mylan (NYSE:MYL) was started with an Overweight rating and $15 target at JP Morgan.
Tags: aapl, amzn, analyst downgrade, analyst initaitions, analyst upgrades, AnalystDowngrade, AnalystInitaitions, AnalystUpgrades, ati, axp, bke, cnc, csl, dlr, egle, hr, ipg, ksu, meg, myl, ntap, rah, rock, say, teva
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