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Analyst upgrades:- Societe Generale upgraded shares of Veolia Environment (NYSE: VE) to Buy from Hold as they believe the company's new finance chief implement additional cost savings.
- Citigroup upgraded shares of Sun Healthcare (NASDAQ: SUNH) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to their Top Picks Live List as they believe the market is pricing in a more severe Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement outlook than is probable. The firm has a $14 target on the stock.
- Calyon believes in 2010, American Express (NYSE: AXP) will have easy comps, reserve releases, and income statement leverage. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Underperform.
- Societe Generale (OTC: SCGLY) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
- Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) was raised to neutral from Sell at UBS.
- Goldman upgraded Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to the Conviction Buy List; Goldman also added Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) to the Conviction Buy List.
Analyst downgrades:
- Thomas Weisel lowered BTU International (NASDAQ: BTUI) to Market Weight from Overweight due to the sharp decline in both the solar and semi markets.
- Oppenheimer cut Genco (NYSE: GNK) to Perform from Outperform after the company eliminated its dividend as they expect several weeks of share underperformance.
- Friedman Billings downgraded Torchmark (NYSE: TMK) to Market Perform from Outperform to reflect increased credit and rating agency risks. The firm has a $30 target on the stock.
- Layne Christensen (NASDAQ: LAYN) was lowered to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
- Weatherford (NYSE: WFT) was downgraded at Calyon to Outperform from Buy.
- Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) was cut to Sell from Hold at Collins Stewart.
- ThinkEquity said Human Genome's (NASDAQ: HGSI) Albuferon will arrive to the market late and believes its LymphoStat-B will fail this summer. The firm started shares with a Sell rating and $1.50 target.
- Cantor initiated Deltek (NASDAQ: PROJ) with a Buy rating and $6 target. The firm believes the current earnings multiple discount level is overdone and thinks shares could benefit from renewed momentum in the construction industry.
- Johnson Rice believes TXCO Resources (NASDAQ: TXCO) will face funding gaps in 2009 and 2010, which will decide the pace of drilling programs. Shares were assumed with an Equal Weight rating.
- Reed Elsevier (NYSE: RUK) was initiated at Jefferies with an Underperform rating.
- Adtran (NASDAQ: ADTN) was started with an Equal Weight rating and $15 target at Barclays.
- Community Health (NYSE: CYH) was initiated with an Outperform rating and $24 target at RBC Capital.
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