Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MU, DRIV, HELE, URBN, AKS...

Posted Jan 7th 2009 11:58AM by Eric BuscemiEric Buscemi RSS Feed
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Analyst Initiations, Urban Outfitters (URBN)

More

Analyst upgrades:
  • Oppenheimer upgraded OceanFreight (NASDAQ:OCNF) to Perform from Underperform on valuation and a lack of negative catalysts following the recent weakness.
  • UBS raised Micron (NYSE:MU) to Buy from Neutral citing supply cuts which should improve prices. The target remains $5.
  • Jesup & Lamont upgraded Atlas Air (NASDAQ:AAWW) to Buy from Hold is positive on the company's 20 year blocked space agreement with DHL and expects the stock to continue higher.
  • AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List and upgraded to Buy from Neutral.
  • Goldman also upgraded Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) to Buy from Neutral.
  • Digital River (NASDAQ:DRIV) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Stanford.
Analyst downgrades:
  • Stephens downgraded shares of Titan Machinery (NASDAQ:TITN) after their survey of farmers indicated declining sales of agricultural equipment. The firm lowered their target to $19 but believes Titan Machinery's long-term growth story remains intact.
  • Jefferies downgraded Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) and Blyth (NYSE:BTH) to Underperform from Hold as they believe the further deterioration in the U.S. consumer macro environment could pressure near-term results. The firm lowered its target on Helen of Troy to $13 from $16.50 and on Blyth to $5.50 from $8.
  • UBS cut Indevus (NASDAQ:IDEV) to Neutral from Buy and lowered its target to $5.50 from $5 following the acquisition offer by Endo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENDP).
  • AECOM Tech (NYSE:ACM) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  • Amerisafe (NYSE:AMSF) was downgraded at Oppenheimer to Perform from Outperform.
  • Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Analyst initiations:
  • KeyBanc initiated Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) with a Buy rating and $22 target. The firm believes the Urban Outfitters and Antropologie divisions are under penetrated and have visible growth.
  • Kaufman Bros. started SuccessFactors (NASDAQ:SFSF) with a Hold rating and $7 target and believes the current demand backdrop could be worse than reflected in current consensus estimates.
  • CarMax (NASDAQ:KMX) was initiated at Baird with a Neutral rating and $10 target. The firm is impressed with CarMax's business model but does not see a way around the near-term economic headwinds.
  • Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) and Sunlife Financial (NYSE:SLF) were assumed with Equal Weight ratings at Morgan Stanley.
  • Oppenheimer started Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ:PSUN) with a Perform rating.
  • Kite Realty Trust (NYSE:KRG) was initiated with a Buy rating at Janney Montgomery.

Tags: aaww, acm, aks, amsf, bth, driv, endp, hele, idev, kmx, krg, mfc, mu, ntrs, ocnf, psun, sfsf, slf, titn, tsco, urbn

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+157.3510,065.74
NASDAQ+24.872,150.92
S&P 500+13.291,070.03

Last updated: February 09, 2010: 03:11 PM

Hot Stocks

DailyFinance Headlines

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

BioHealth Investor Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

  • My Portfolio
  • Create a New Portfolio

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

WalletPop Headlines