- FBR Capital upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect upcoming catalysts and the company's opportunity in subsalt. FBR raised its target on shares to $60 from $50.
- Citigroup upgraded Marvel (NYSE: MVL) to Hold from Sell on expectations the acquisition by Disney (NYSE: DIS) will close. The firm raised its target on shares to $50 from $31.
- JPMorgan upgraded Cubic (NYSE: CUB) to Overweight from Neutral on expectations the company will benefit from the Vix ERG acquisition and increased sales visibility. The firm raised its target on shares to $43 from $38.
- Siemens (NYSE: SI) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.
- Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
- Thompson Creek (NYSE: TC) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.
Axe posts
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Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ANF, BJS, CBE, GENZ, ROK, SI ...
- Citigroup upgraded Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) to Buy from Hold on valuation as it believes commercial construction concerns are well known. The firm raised its target on shares to $40 from $37, and coupled the upgrade with a downgrade of Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) to Sell from Hold.
- Credit Suisse upgraded BJ Services (NYSE: BJS) to Neutral from Underperform following its acquisition by Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI). The firm raised its target to $17.
- Credit Suisse also upgraded Amkor Technology (NASDAQ: AMKR) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $8 from $7. The firm expects Amkor to benefit from near-term strength in the supply chain and the mix shift towards higher value packaging.
- Textron (NYSE: TXT) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
- Siemens (NYSE: SI) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
- Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ANF, BJS, CBE, GENZ, ROK, SI ...
This week in Advertising Age
A freebie tool, TrialPay, is a new web tool created to serve the desires of customers to get free stuff, and companies wishing to push its product by giving away freebies. For example, if while browsing a participating retail site you found an MP4 player you'd like, but don't want to pay for, you can select Checkout by TrialPay, which might respond with an offer from an online music sales site offering to buy the MP4 for you if you buy X number of songs from them. You end up paying, for sure, but you might save a few bucks along the way.
Viral marketing, creating web content appealing enough that it inspires peer to peer recommendations, is a hot segment of web marketing. AA lists the 10 most prolific viral marketers, according to Competitrack -- Nike (NYSE: NKE), Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Volkswagen, Axe, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Adidas, PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) and McDonald's (NYSE: MCD). Getting ready to move? Be prepared for an onslaught of pitches. AA finds that pre-movers are also big spenders, fixing up their houses, buying new furniture and appliances, and so on.
Time to ban perfumes from high school?
When I think back to high school, and all the odors that bothered me, perfumes and cologne are pretty low on the list. The kid who had trouble paying attention in English class after lunch, and had that thick herbal smell? That was annoying. The disheveled Latin teacher whose breath was so bad I had to turn away when he talked? Or how about the kid who only smelled decent the day of his monthly shower?
No, according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), some people insist that the real culprit is perfume. I'm serious. As designers roll-out new scents with colorful packaging to attract the back-to-school crowd, some schools are fighting back. They charge that excessive-cologne/perfume is an "air-quality issue." One principal interviewed feels, "Kids don't shower the way they used to." He complains that students are spraying Axe, a potent bodyspray, in lieu of showering after gym. But isn't that better than the alternative of spraying nothing?
The article also points out that a lot of teens are shelling out $50 for a bottle of designer stuff, in an effort to gain some affectation of a brand they can't really afford -- Marc Jacobs perfume instead of a Marc Jacobs bag. That's just silly. I have several bottles of knock-off designer cologne that I got at the Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) -- 66% off, for 33 cents per bottle. I get compliments on it constantly.




