• Oppenheimer upgraded OceanFreight (NASDAQ:OCNF) to Perform from Underperform on valuation and a lack of negative catalysts following the recent weakness.
  
• UBS raised Micron (NYSE:MU) to Buy from Neutral citing supply cuts which should improve prices. The target remains $5.
  
• Jesup & Lamont upgraded Atlas Air (NASDAQ:AAWW) to Buy from Hold is positive on the company's 20 year blocked space agreement with DHL and expects the stock to continue higher.
• AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List and upgraded to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Goldman also upgraded Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Digital River (NASDAQ:DRIV) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Stanford.

• Stephens downgraded shares of Titan Machinery (NASDAQ:TITN) after their survey of farmers indicated declining sales of agricultural equipment. The firm lowered their target to $19 but believes Titan Machinery's long-term growth story remains intact.
  
• Jefferies downgraded Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) and Blyth (NYSE:BTH) to Underperform from Hold as they believe the further deterioration in the U.S. consumer macro environment could pressure near-term results. The firm lowered its target on Helen of Troy to $13 from $16.50 and on Blyth to $5.50 from $8.
  
• UBS cut Indevus (NASDAQ:IDEV) to Neutral from Buy and lowered its target to $5.50 from $5 following the acquisition offer by Endo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENDP).
• AECOM Tech (NYSE:ACM) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• Amerisafe (NYSE:AMSF) was downgraded at Oppenheimer to Perform from Outperform.
  
• Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray.

• KeyBanc initiated Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) with a Buy rating and $22 target. The firm believes the Urban Outfitters and Antropologie divisions are under penetrated and have visible growth.
  
• Kaufman Bros. started SuccessFactors (NASDAQ:SFSF) with a Hold rating and $7 target and believes the current demand backdrop could be worse than reflected in current consensus estimates.
  
• CarMax (NASDAQ:KMX) was initiated at Baird with a Neutral rating and $10 target. The firm is impressed with CarMax's business model but does not see a way around the near-term economic headwinds.
• Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) and Sunlife Financial (NYSE:SLF) were assumed with Equal Weight ratings at Morgan Stanley.
  
• Oppenheimer started Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ:PSUN) with a Perform rating.
  
• Kite Realty Trust (NYSE:KRG) was initiated with a Buy rating at Janney Montgomery.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MU, DRIV, HELE, URBN, AKS... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 8:30am.

• FOMC to hold two-day meeting.
• Jabil Circuits (NYSE: JBL) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.
• 3Com (NASDAQ: COMS) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 5:00pm.

• Second day of two-day FOMC meeting; announcement at 2:15pm.
• Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) to discuss valuation and accounting for recent financing transaction at 10:00am.
• Nike (NYSE: NKE) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 5:00pm.
  
• Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 5:00pm.
• Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 5:00pm.

• PDUFA date for Eli Lilly & Co's (NYSE: LLY) and Daiichi Sankyo's new drug application for Prasugrel.
• Palm Inc (NASDAQ: PALM) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.
• Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.

• PDUFA date for Indevus Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ: IDEV) New Drug Application for Nebido for treatment of male hypogonadism.
• PDUFA date for Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) and Eisai Co's (OTC: ESALY) Aciphex.
  

Market highlights for the week: ORCL, RIMM and PALM to report earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Sysco Corporation (NYSE: SYY) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 9:45am.
• PDUFA date for Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc's (NASDAQ: IDEV) Sanctura XR, an overactive bladder drug.

• The Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 9am. Home Depot is expected to post substantial Q2 revenue/EPS declines, but equally important will be the company's comments: with the housing sector expected to remain sluggish through at least late 2007, analysts will evaluate whether HD can overcome that headwind with a new focus on customer service, demographic trends that suggest increased home repair/remodeling, and 20-year high homeownership rates that suggest steady house goods demand.
• District Court California: Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) to request an injunction related to Qualcom Incorporated's (Nasdaq: QCOM) infringement of 3 Broadcom cellular baseband patents.

• Macy's Inc (NYSE: M) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 10:30am.
• PDUFA date for GPC Biotech's (NASDAQ: GPCB) Satraplatin for treatment of hormone refractory prostate cancer.

• JC Penney Co Inc (NYSE: JCP) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 9:30am.
• Hewlett Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 5pm. Analysts will evaluate HPQ's ability to maintain momentum in its innovative imaging/printing group, which is expected to help HPQ post solid Q3 revenue gains.

• Quantum Corporation (NYSE: QTM) to hold annual shareholder meeting at 12pm.
• PDUFA Date for Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc's (NASDAQ: ENDP) and Vernalis PLC's (OTC: VNLSY) Frova, for menstrually-related migraine headaches.

Market highlights for next week: Home Depot (HD), Macy's (M) to report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Cowen, as the firm believes it could face challenges in Q4 NAND flash memory demand given supply.

• Rodman & Renshaw initiated shares of Indevus (NASDAQ: IDEV) with a Market Outperform rating and $10 target. The firm believes Indevus Nebibo and Sanctura XR upcoming events provide an attractive entry point.

• Morgan Stanley initiated shares of Integra LifeSciences (NASDAQ: IART) with an Equal Weight rating and $55 target, citing competitive risks from larger competitors.

• Shares of Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) were initiated at Raymond James with an Underperform rating, as the firm believes estimates will be difficult to achieve given high debt levels and free cash flow.

• Cowen initiated shares of STEC Inc (NASDAQ: STEC) and Spansion (NASDAQ: SPSN) with Neutral ratings and shares of Silicon Motion Technology Corp (NASDAQ: SIMO) with an Outperform rating.

• Pacific Crest initiated shares of Universal Electronics (NASDAQ: UEIC) with a Sector Perform rating on valuation.

• Merrill Lynch started shares of FirstFed Financial (NYSE: FED) with a Sell rating.

• Goldman Sachs started shares of Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) with a Buy rating and $50 target.

Analyst initiations: HLF, LVLT and SNDK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.