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Analyst upgrades:- Jefferies upgraded Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company is taking the right steps to turn its operations around. The firm raised its target price to $13 from $11.
- Pali upgraded Whole Foods to Buy from Sell following the Q1 report based on better than expected cost containment, labor costs, capex cuts, and plans to rationalize the store base.
- Thomas Weisel upgraded Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to Overweight from Market Weight. The firm believes HPQ's risk/reward has improved given overdue reduced FY09 guidance and attractive valuation.
- Bernstein upgraded Talisman (NYSE: TLM) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuation.
- Navistar (NYSE: NAV) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
- Sovran Self Storage (NYSE: SSS) was upgraded to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer.
- Suncor (NYSE: SU) was upgraded at Barclays to Overweight from Equal Weight.
Analyst downgrades:
- Citigroup downgraded BioMarin (NASDAQ: BMRN) to Hold from Buy to reflect management's "disappointing" guidance and a lack of near-term catalysts. The firm lowered its target price to $17 from $22.
- Collins Stewart downgraded BioMarin following the weak Q4 report and guidance to Hold from Buy.
- Bernstein cut Occidental (NYSE: OXY) to Underperform from Market Perform citing relative valuation.
- Morgan Joseph downgraded Jakks Pacific (NASDAQ: JAKK) to Hold from Buy following the weak Q4 report.
- Comcast (NYSE: CMCSA) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
- Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays and to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
- LeapFrog (NYSE: LF) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray.
- Maxim recommends Questcor (NASDAQ: QCOR) based on Acthar's sustainable revenues, potential share buybacks and low valuation. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $11 target.
- Morgan Joseph believes Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is well positioned for growth given its strong stable of product lines and hit movie releases. Shares were started with a Buy rating and $28 target.
- SAP (NYSE: SAP) was started at HSBC with a Neutral rating.
- Keegan Resources (AMEX: KGN) was initiated at Canaccord with a Speculative Buy.
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