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Analyst upgrades:- Royal Bank of Scotland upgraded shares of Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's dividend yield.
- JMP Securities expects HFF Inc. (NYSE: HF) to benefit from increased U.S. commercial real estate sales and mortgage volumes. Shares were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm has a $5 target on shares.
- Oppenheimer upgraded Church & Dwight (NYSE: CHD) to Outperform from Perform as it believes Church & Dwight's value-oriented portfolio should continue to benefit from the consumer trade-down and that concerns over distribution are overblown. The firm set a $62 price on shares.
- Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
- Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
- AMB Property (NYSE: AMB) was lifted to Neutral from Underperform at Banc of America/Merrill.
Analyst downgrades:
- Societe Generale downgraded shares of Barclays (NYSE: BCS) to Sell from Hold as it believes the company needs more tangible common equity to address its leverage despite passing the stress test.
- Banc of America/Merrill cut Peugeot (OTC: PEUGY) to Underperform from Neutral on valuation as it believes the recent outperformance is not supported by fundamentals.
- UBS downgraded CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS) to Sell from Neutral and lowered its target to $3.80 from $5.50 citing lower advertising estimates through 2010 and near-term credit rating risk.
- Cadbury (NYSE: CBY) was cut to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
- Emulex (NYSE: ELX) was lowered at Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital.
- Granite Construction (NYSE: GVA) was downgraded at Goldman to Neutral from Buy.
- Rochdale's Dick Bove started Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) with a Hold rating as he believes shares "may pause" pending greater earnings following the recent run-up in the stock. Further, Bove believes the company may use the recent stock rally to issue additional equity. Bove set a $28 price target on the stock.
- Leerink believes NuVasive (NYSE: NUVA) continues to gain share in the worldwide spine market. The firm started shares with an Outperform rating and has a $42 target on the stock.
- Pali Capital initiated Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) with a Sell rating and $60 target citing the weak economic environment and weak volume trajectory and valuation.
- EMC Insurance (NASDAQ: EMCI) was assumed with a Hold rating at Sandler O'Neill.
- Anglogold (NYSE: AU) was initiated with a Buy rating at Deutsche Bank.
- NewMarket (NYSE: NEU) was started at Davenport with a Buy rating and $51 target.
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Closing Bell: Stock bulls and dollar death (DDRX,GMCR, PEET, SBUX, EBAY, CI, TECD)
So long peak oil, here comes peak uranium
