Analyst upgrades:
- Jefferies upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to Buy from Hold on a favorable risk/reward profile. The firm thinks sentiment is negative, estimate revisions have troughed, and compares ease in the second half of 2009. Jefferies upped its target price to $35 from $22.
- Citigroup upgraded Home Depot (NYSE: HD) to Buy from Hold on expectations for positive earnings surprises in 2009. The firm thinks home merchandise sales are picking up and consensus estimates could prove conservative. Citi raised its target price on the stock to $32 from $26.
- Bernstein upgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) to Market Perform from Underperform and raised their price target to $23 from $10 based on its credit agreement amendment and valuation.
- SunTrust (NYSE: STI) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman. Fiat (OTC: FIATY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
- Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
Analyst downgrades:
- Jefferies downgraded Foundation Coal (NYSE: FCL) to Hold from Buy following the company's merger agreement with Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR). The firm keeps a $28 price target on the stock.
- Oppenheimer downgraded Overseas Shipholding (NYSE: OSG) to Perform from Outperform on concerns that deteriorating tanker day rates in the summer could drive weaker than expected earnings.
- Deutsche Bank downgraded Gramercy Capital (NYSE: GKK) to Hold from Buy on valuation and liquidity concerns, but raised its target price to $2.50 from $1.80.
- GT Solar (NASDAQ: SOLR) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray. Kaman (NASDAQ: KAMN) was downgraded at Stephens to Equal Weight from Overweight.
- Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) was lowered to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
Analyst initiations:
- Morgan Joesph is positive on Nuance's (NASDAQ: NUAN) leading market position, diversified revenue stream, and available synergies, among other reasons. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $20 target.
- Needham believes 3PAR (NYSE: PAR) provides a differentiated enterprise class storage solution for "next-generation" computing characterized by cloud computing and virtualized data centers. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $11 target.
- Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) was initiated with an outperform rating and $29 target at Raymond James.
- Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) was assumed with a Perform rating and $35 target at Oppenheimer.
- State Street (NYSE: STT) was started at Rochdale with a Buy rating and $52 target.
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