Analyst Calls: AAPL, ALL, AOL, AVP, AZPN, BMY, COO, F, K, MSFT, PENN, UAL ...

Eric Buscemi — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EST

Analyst Upgrades

Merriman upgraded Penn National (PENN) to buy from neutral, citing the company's strong balance sheet and management team. The firm also raised its target range for shares to $34 to $37.60.
BMO Capital upgraded Cooper Companies (COO) to outperform from market perform and raised its price target to $55 from $46. The firm sees upside to Street estimates and increased visibility.
Argus upgraded Watson Pharma (WPI) to buy from hold based on valuation.
Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
Allstate (ALL) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
Weingarten Realty (WRI) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: GOOG, HOG, NOK, SWY, WAG, WSM ...

Eric Buscemi — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:40:00 EST

Analyst upgrades:

Keefe Bruyette upgraded Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) to Outperform from Market Perform on expectations that derivatives trading will increase in the coming quarters.
NutriSystem (NASDAQ: NTRI) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Janney Montgomery, which believes that the company's earnings have hit bottom, while the company could report better-than-expected Q1 results.
Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital. The firm thinks the company is an early-cycle story that has significant upside potential.
UBS upgraded Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) to Buy from Neutral citing cost cutting efforts and slowing store growth.
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Benchmark Co.
Safeway (NYSE: SWY) was upgraded to Buy from Hold by BB&T.
Needham upgraded Targacept (NASDAQ: TRGT) to Buy from Hold.
Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jesup & Lamont.