Continue reading E*TRADE, Amgen and Others Heating Up in Google Searches

E*TRADE, Amgen and Others Heating Up in Google Searches originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (APC) to overweight from neutral on valuation as it views the recent pullback in shares as excessive. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $82 from $90.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Office Depot (ODP) to perform from underperform and upped its target for shares to $7 from $3 after raising its estimates for companies in the Office Products Retail space. The firm expects trends to accelerate for the sector due to moderating unemployment pressures. In conjunction with the upgrade, Opco raised its target for OfficeMax (OMX) to $26 from $21 and target for Staples (SPLS) to $30 from $28. Both stocks remain outperform rated.
• C.K. Cooper upgraded iRobot (IRBT) to buy from hold with a $30 price target following the company's analyst day.
• Seadrill (SDRL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vodafone (VOD) was upgraded to neutral from reduce at Nomura.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: APC, ODP, IRBT, NFLX, POM, MMSI, NTAP, LULU, LNCE ...

Analyst Calls: APC, ODP, IRBT, NFLX, POM, MMSI, NTAP, LULU, LNCE ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 May 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Earlier in the week I talked about action some money market funds were having to take to protect their value and avoid having to "break the buck" thanks to the problems in the mortgage market. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the number of money market funds admitting to trouble is increasing {subscription required]. Today's story focuses on FAF Advisors, a unit of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) , which operates the First American Prime Obligations Fund. This fund posted a notice on its website that alerts its investors to the fact that the fund "entered into an agreement that provides that if a loss is realized on the notes issued by Cheyne Finance LLC, an affiliate of FAF Advisors will contribute capital to the fund, up to the amount of the loss, in an amount necessary to preserve the fund's price at $1.00 per share and to preserve the fund's AAA rating."

Cheyne Finance LLC is an SIV that went into receivership, so that's the one most are focusing on publicly, but as I've discussed before many money market funds hold assets from other SIVs in trouble. Five other fund groups that have moved to protect their funds or developed a plan under agreement with the SEC include Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) Columbia Management Group, Credit Suisse Asset Management,. Wachovia's (NYSE: WB) Evergreen Investments, SEI Investments Co. and STI Classic Funds. Other funds that held Cheyne-related assets in recent SEC filings include Valic II Company fund, offered by a unit of American International Group, and RiverSource Cash Management fund.

Continue reading More money market funds seek protection

More money market funds seek protection originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Banc of America downgraded shares of both Nike and Foot Locker to Neutral from Buy, as the firm believes industry pressures in the U.S. could more than offset the potential turn in Europe and benefit from the 2008 Olympics.
• Cowen downgraded shares of ADTRAN, Bookham and Tellabs to Neutral from Outperform.
• Goldman Sachs also downgraded shares of Tellabs, to Sell from Neutral, as the firm believes the stock fully discounts the expected sales and margin improvement.

• Allergan Inc (NYSE: AGN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley citing limited upside.
• Friedman Billings removed The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ: CAKE) from its Top Picks and maintained its Outperform rating.
• Lehman downgraded shares of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF) to Equal-Weight from Overweight on increasing risk to the company's title margin and regulatory concerns.
• Matrix USA downgraded shares of Lowe's Companies Inc (NYSE: LOW) to Buy from Strong Buy on valuation.

Analyst downgrades 6-08-07: NKE, FL, TLAB, ADTN and BKHM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.