Analyst upgrades:- Deutsche Bank upgraded Lloyds Banking (NYSE: LYG) to Buy from Sell as it believes shares are attractively valued based on the company's earnings potential post recession.
- Susquehanna upgraded MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) to Positive from Neutral based on valuation and improving macro trends. The firm has a $29 target on the stock.
- Piper Jaffray upgraded Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) to Buy from Neutral on valuation following the recent pullback.
- MetLife (NYSE: MET) and Torchmark (NYSE: TMK) were upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.
- Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
Analyst downgrades:
- Merriman downgraded Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC) to Neutral from Buy on concerns consensus estimates may need to come down due to near-term box office uncertainty.
- Benchmark Co. downgraded Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) after channel checks indicated a softening in online advertising trends. The firm downgraded Google to Hold from Buy and maintains a $430 price target on shares.
- Goldman downgraded Idenix (NASDAQ: IDIX) to Sell from Neutral based on valuation and financing risk.
- StatoilHydro (NYSE: STO) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
- Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV) was cut to Underperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
- Williams Pipeline Partners (NYSE: WMZ) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America/Merrill.
- Longbow initiated Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) with Neutral ratings.
- Airgas (NYSE: ARG) was initiated with a Buy rating at Piper Jaffray.
- Sasol Limited (NYSE: SSL) was initiated with a Neutral rating at UBS.
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