Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AA, BIIB, JCP, KBH, WW ...

Analyst Upgrades

Merriman upgraded Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC) to Buy from Neutral as the analyst is less concerned about Q2 box office performance following the Transformers 2 opening weekend.
Baird upgraded Ball (NYSE: BLL) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $52 from $46 citing cost cutting initiatives, a volume trough in Q1, and expected earnings growth.
Morgan Stanley upgraded JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) to Overweight from Equal Weight. The firm cites valuation and gross margin opportunity for the upgrade. The firm has a $35 target on shares.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Wachovia.
Lloyds Banking (NYSE: LYG) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

Analyst Downgrades

FBR Capital downgraded Alcoa (NYSE: AA) to Underperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent rally and concerns the aluminum market is structurally oversupplied. The firm raised its target on shares to $8.50 from $8.
Citigroup downgraded Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) to Hold from Buy following the merger announcement with Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby.
JPMorgan downgraded Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) to Neutral from Overweight to reflect uncertainty surrounding the company's diabetes drug Lantus.
Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Healthways (NASDAQ: HWAY) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman.

Analyst Initiations

SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) was initiated with an Overweight rating by Thomas Weisel. The firm believes the company's comprehensive, easy-to-use, and affordable products will allow it to successfully target SMBs and remote offices of large companies.
Citigroup initiated OpenTable (NASDAQ: OPEN) with a Hold rating and $34 target. The firm prefers to wait for a better entry point into OpenTable shares.
Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $21 target at JPMorgan.
Central European Media (NASDAQ: CETV) coverage was reinstated with a Buy rating and $21.70 target at Deutsche Bank.
Homex (NYSE: HXM) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Goldman.

Tags: AA, AKAM, Alcoa, BIIB, BLL, CETV, CTSH, downgrades, HWAY, HXM, initiations, JCP, KBH, LYG, OPEN, RGC, SNY, SWI, upgrades, WW

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