Analyst upgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) to Outperform from Market Perform due to valuation and the company's capital position. The firm has an $8 target price on the stock.
- BofA/Merrill upgraded its view of the semiconductor sector and upgraded Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) to Buy from Neutral, LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI) to Buy from Underperform, and Maxim (NASDAQ: MXIM) and National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) to Neutral from Underperform. The firm now sees 2010 revenue growth of 21% vs. its prior estimate of 14% due to improving electric demand and lean inventories.
- Thomas Weisel upgraded Vital Images (NASDAQ: VTAL) to Overweight from Market Weight based on compelling valuation and potential upside from its new ViTAL Enterprise product offering.
- Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
- Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
- Nationwide Health (NYSE: NHP) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Analyst downgrades:
- Baird downgraded AmSurg (NASDAQ: AMSG) to Neutral from Outperform to reflect a lack of catalysts and expects shares to trade in a range.
- Barrington downgraded Astec (NASDAQ: ASTE) to Market Perform from Outperform on expectations Congress and the Obama administration will push out the highway spending bill to 2011, causing lower demand for the company's products.
- Lazard Capital downgraded Hansen Medical (NASDAQ: HNSN) to Hold from Buy following the weak preliminary Q2 results.
- BJ's Wholesale (NYSE: BJ) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman.
- MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.
Analyst initiations:
- Piper Jaffray initiated Obagi Medical (NASDAQ: OMPI) with an Overweight rating and $9 target. The firm sees limited downside in Obagi shares as it believes consumer weakness is already priced in.
- Jefferies expects 3M (NYSE: MMM) to turn with the economy and believes the recovery rally in shares is only half done. Shares were started with a Buy rating and $76 target.
- Lazard Capital views Callaway Golf's (NYSE: ELY) valuation as attractive. The firm assumed coverage with a Buy rating and $12 target.
- Epicor Software (NASDAQ: EPIC) was initiated with a Buy rating and $8 target at B. Riley.
- ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN) was initiated with an Outperform rating and $12 target at Oppenheimer.
- Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Morgan Keegan.
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