Analyst upgrades:

• Wachovia upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) to Outperform from Market Perform on expectations for greater pricing power given Goldman's position as the largest remaining independent securities firm.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Investment Technology Group Inc (NYSE: ITG) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company will take market share with the reshaping of the large wire-house brokerage community. The company's target was raised to $37 from $33.
• Broadpoint raised Hoku Scientific Inc (NASDAQ: HOKU) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the contract with Tianwei New Energy reduces financing risk.
• ACE Ltd (NYSE: ACE) and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Axcelis Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: ACLS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold and Evergreen Solar Inc (NASDAQ: ESLR) was lifted to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.

Analyst downgrades:

Continue reading Analyst calls: GS, ITG, HOKU, CME, QSII, TUP, ABFS, PSE, RAX

Analyst calls: GS, ITG, HOKU, CME, QSII, TUP, ABFS, PSE, RAX originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Before the bell: Microsoft's upbeat earnings should boost techs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Wachovia upgraded the trucking sector to Market Weight from Underweight, as they believe the negative sentiment towards the group is starting to bottom, also noting that trucking stocks tend to rally before fundamentals fully bottom. Wachovia upgraded Con-Way Inc (NYSE: CNW) and Covenant Transport 'A' NASDAQ: CVTI) to Outperform from Market Perform, and Arkansas Best (NASDAQ: ABFS), Heartland Express Inc (NASDAQ: HTLD), Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN), US Xpress Enterprises 'A' (NASDAQ: XPRSA) to Market Perform from Underperform.

• JP Morgan added PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) to their Focus List, as the firm believes the recent pullback due to concerns over commodities costs and margins is overdone.

• Janco upgraded Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) to Buy from Hold with a $69 target, citing valuation.

• Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $77 target at Bear Stearns; the firm views Amgen's risk/reward as favorable as the most reasonable of CERA's launch scenarios, owned by Roche Holdings AG (OTC: RHHBY), are priced into valuation, and sees significant upside if CERA does not launch.

• Caris upgraded LSI Logic (NYSE: LSI) to Buy from Above Average with a $12 target; they believe investors are underestimating the synergies involved with the Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR) deal. The broker sees upside to earnings estimates and raised their target of LSI Logic to $12 from $11.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of ImClone Systems (NASDAQ: IMCL) to Neutral from Sell, and sees a short-term trading opportunity due to the overly negative sentiment into the upcoming sales figures. The broker thinks Imclone could meet its Erbitux sales estimates despite weak prescription data.

Analyst upgrades 1-4-07: ERTS, trucking sector upgraded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Jan 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Notable companies from today's downgrade list include the New York Stock Exchange (NYX) and Nokia (NOK).

• JP Morgan downgraded the New York Stock Exchange Group Inc. (NYSE:NYX) to Neutral from Overweight based on valuation; they also foresee potential integration issues with Euronext.
• Nokia Corp. (NYSE:NOK) was downgraded to Hold from Add at West LB.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• YRC WorldWide Inc. (NASDAQ:YRCW) and Arkansas Best Corp. (NASDAQ:ABFS) were downgraded at Stephens to Underweight from Equal Weight, citing the deteriorating Less-Than-Truckload environment.
• Bear Stearns downgraded 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) to Peer Perform from Outperform citing increased execution; Lehman Brothers downgraded 3Coms (COMS) to Underweight from Equal Weight.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst downgrades 11-29-06: NYSE group, Nokia downgraded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.