Analyst upgrades:

• Friedman Billings upgraded Synovus (NYSE: SNV) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation following the recent weakness. BASF (OTC: BASFY) and Akzo Nobel (OTC: AKZOY) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS on valuation and believes cash flows can cover the company's dividend.
• JP Morgan upgraded H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL) to Overweight from Neutral citing benefits from lower raw material costs.
• CA, Inc (NASDAQ: CA) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
• Goldman removed Boeing (NYSE: BA) from the Conviction Sell List.
• WABCO Holdings (NYSE: WBC) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc.

• Oppenheimer downgraded Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) to Perform from Outperform following the company's Q3 results as they believe a recovery of revenue from ZT Online will take longer than expected.
• Friedman Billings cut Walter Industries (NYSE: WLT) to Market Perform from Outperform as they believe the decline in steel demand will pressure met coal prices. The company's target was lowered to $30 from $53.
• Citigroup downgraded shares of Atlas Pipeline (NYSE: AHD) Holdings to Sell from Hold as they believe the company could potentially be in violation of its debt covenants as early as Q1. The company's target was lowered to $4 from $31.
• Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
• Dover (NYSE: DOV) and Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) were downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

Continue reading Analyst calls: SNV, BASFY, AKZOY, FUL, GA, WLT, AHD, OZM, HOG, MRK

Analyst calls: SNV, BASFY, AKZOY, FUL, GA, WLT, AHD, OZM, HOG, MRK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• JP Morgan downgraded Palm, Inc (NASDAQ: PALM) to Underweight from Neutral citing product line, execution and competition concerns.

• New Century Financial Corp (NYSE: NEW) was downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies and suspended their estimates as they believe the 10-K filing delay indicates that the company's financial and operating situation continues to deteriorate.

• Matrix USA cut Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to Sell from Hold, providing an intrinsic value of $25. They believe strong competition, as well as rising popularity and accessibility of free social and entertainment content, is negatively impacting the company.

• Barrington downgraded Sirius Satellite Radio inc (NASDAQ: SIRI) to Market Perform from Outperform. The firm believes 2007 sub-growth target will lag previous forecasts.

• JP Morgan downgraded shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE: SMG) to Neutral from Overweight based on SMG's lower fundamental visibility with recent increases in raw materials and the company's underperformance during its peak-season.

• JP Morgan also downgraded Marvell Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ: MRVL) to reflect dilution concerns from the XScale acquisition, slow end-market growth and stock option uncertainty.

• Jefferies downgraded Humana Inc (NYSE: HUM) to Hold from Buy with a $60 target after checks confirmed concerns that recent budgetary analysis in Washington has heightened the risk for legislation to curb Medicare Advantage program growth.

• RBC cut Mediacomm Communications Corp (NASDAQ: MCCC) to Underperform from Sector Perform based on valuation.

• Wachovia downgraded Atlas Pipeline Partners (NYSE: APL) to Market Perform from Outperform following the company's Q4 shortfall.

Analyst downgrades 3-05-07: Palm, Yahoo! & Sirius all downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Mar 2007 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.