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Posts with tag ANSS

Analyst downgrades: MNI, ANSS and FO

MOST NOTEWORTHY: McClatchy News, Ansys and Fortune Brands were today's noteworthy downgrades:
  • Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of McClatchy (NYSE:MNI) to Sell from Hold after transferring analyst coverage as they believe leverage issues will continue to pressure the stock.
  • Jefferies downgraded shares of Ansys (NASDAQ:ANSS) to Hold from Buy on valuation and their belief that a slow U.S. manufacturing economy may be impacting sales cycles at the margin.
  • Fortune Brands (NYSE:FO) was lowered to Market Perform from OUtperform at Wachovia following its lowered 2008 outlook.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:

BusinessWeek picks stocks that could double

Most of us would be thrilled to invest in a stock that doubles our money, but it certainly isn't easy to find these stocks. According to data provider Capital IQ, in the last year only 1.4% of 6,700 stocks trading on the U.S. exchanges were able to double their price.

BusinessWeek started hunting some of these potentially great stocks by asking fund managers to choose those firms expected to provide 100% returns in the next few years. Of course, the resulting list is by no means a sure thing, since major factors such as the ongoing credit crisis and challenging market conditions could affect results in unpredictable ways.

But let's look at some of the strategies used when picking high-potential stocks.

Mary Lisanti, portfolio manager at the Adams Harkness Small Cap Growth Fund, focuses on young companies in the small-cap segment. She points to stocks like Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN) and Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN), saying that investors can have a big advantage when they recognize potential before the market does.

Continue reading BusinessWeek picks stocks that could double

Analyst upgrades: UBS, AKAM, HANS, ANSS and AZN

MOST NOTEWORTHY: UBS AG, Ansys and AstraZeneca were today's noteworthy upgrades:
  • Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) to Buy from Hold after the company announced further write-downs and plans to boost capital.
  • Jefferies upgraded shares of Ansys (NASDAQ: ANSS) to Buy from Hold as they like the Ansoft (NASDAQ: ANST) acquisition and feel yesterday's sell-off creates an attractive entry point.
  • AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan following the positive Crestor study results.
OTHER UPGRADES:
  • Piper raised Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) to Buy from Neutral.
  • Goldman upgraded Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) to Buy from Neutral.
  • Vertex Pharma (NASDAQ: VRTX) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Wachovia and to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.

Google tops Forbes list of fastest growing tech stocks

Last week Forbes released its annual list of the fastest growing tech stocks, and it shouldn't be much of a surprise that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) topped the list, with nearly $15 billion in sales, representing five-year sales growth of 155%, and 30% EPS growth. To make the list, companies had to have significant sales growth over the past year and five years, as well as a good earnings forecast for the next three to five years. Companies with significant legal problems or corporate governance issues were excluded.

Rounding out the top five were Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), Ceradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: CRDN), Euronet Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: EEFT), and FalconStor Software Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC). Some other familiar names that made the list this year include Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT), L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL), Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), and Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ: CTSH). Cognizant has been on Forbes list since its inauguration six years ago. For the full list, see the Forbes article.

Also of interest was the Forbes Fast 15, companies that didn't make the list mentioned above, but which Forbes thought were worth keeping an eye on for their potential. Engineering software maker Ansys Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS), semiconductor maker Atheros Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR), Brubaker BioSciences Corp. (NASDAQ: BRKR), and scoreboard maker Daktronics Inc. (NASDAQ: DAKT) top that list. For the full list, see the Forbes article.

So if, like Aaron Katsman, Georges Yared, and Jim Cramer, you are bullish on tech stocks, then there's plenty on the Forbes lists worth taking a look at.

Analyst initiations: Infosys, Cognizant and Ansys

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Infosys Technologies, Cognizant and Ansys and were today's noteworthy initiations:
  • Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ: INFY) was initiated with a Buy rating and $54 target at Kaufman, as their checks indicate no signs of a slowdown in the Indian software services market. They believe the stock is getting no premium for its defensive nature.
  • Kaufman also initiated Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) with a Hold rating and $35 target and believes the company's less defensive revenue mix could cause its P/E multiple to trend below rivals.
  • Ansys (NASDAQ: ANSS) was initiated with a Hold rating and $39 target at Jefferies. The firm recommends waiting for a better entry point given the peak operating margins, a more challenging macro backdrop and tougher comps.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
  • Wachovia initiated Invesco (NYSE: IVZ) with a Market Perform rating.
  • Dynegy (NYSE: DYN) was assumed with a Buy rating and $9.50 target at Merrill.
  • Navios Maritime (NYSE: NMM) was started with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan.

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+73.0311,288.54
NASDAQ-6.082,245.38
S&P 500+1.381,262.90

Last updated: July 06, 2008: 11:30 PM

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