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Analyst upgrades:- Friedman Billings upgraded LSI Corp (NYSE: LSI) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes the risk/reward is attractive at current levels as the company's near-term business trends are stabilizing. The firm maintains a $4 target on the stock.
- Merriman upgraded shares of Medarex (NASDAQ: MEDX) to Neutral from Sell on valuation following the stock's 40% decline year-to-date.
- Morgan Stanley upgraded ITT Educational (NYSE: ESI) to Overweight from Equal Weight. The firm believes valuation appropriately discounts risks from its internal lending program.
- Noble (NYSE: NE) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and added to the Conviction Buy List.
- Energizer (NYSE: ENR) was raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
- Arch Chemicals (NYSE: ARJ) was upgraded at KeyBanc to Hold from Underweight.
Analyst downgrades:
- Citigroup downgraded shares of Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ) to Hold from Buy to reflect a lack of visibility for the timeline of Lumizyme's approval. The firm lowered its target price to $61 from $81.
- Bernstein downgraded shares of UBS (NYSE: UBS) and Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) to Underperform from Market Perform as it believes the outlook for private wealth management remains weak.
- RBC Capital downgraded Max Capital (NASDAQ: MXGL) to Sector Perform from Outperform and lowered its target to $18 from $21 following the merger announcement with IPC Holdings (NASDAQ: IPCR). Note that the firm downgraded IPCR to Sector Perform from Outperform.
- Career Education (NASDAQ: CECO) was cut to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
- Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE: RBS) was lowered to Sell from Nuetral at WestLB.
- D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
- Jefferies initiated Qiagen (NASDAQ: QGEN) with a Buy rating and $20 target and believes the company's exposure to the molecular diagnostics market will drive double-digit sales and EPS growth.
- Suntrust initiated Bob Evans (NASDAQ: BOBE) with a Neutral rating citing Mimi's Cafe underperformance and exposure to states with large numbers of foreclosures and unemployment.
- Baird believes near-term expectations for Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR) may be too high. Shares were started with a Neutral rating and $19 target.
- FPL Group (NYSE: FPL) was assumed with a Buy rating and $55 target at Soleil.
- Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR) was initiated with an Overweight rating and $30 target at Morgan Stanley.
J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) was initiated at BMO Capital with a Market Perform rating.
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