- Credit Suisse upgraded AT&T (T) to outperform from neutral and has a $35 target on the stock. Credit Suisse believes the impact from AT&T's loss of iPhone exclusivity will be less than expected and that the stock should benefit from its earnings growth and dividend yield.
- Goldman upgraded Freeport McMoRan (FCX) to buy from neutral and raised its price target to $94 from $79 based on improving copper fundamentals.
- Benchmark Co. upgraded Valueclick (VCLK) to vuy from hold on expectations Google Instant (GOOG) could drive marketing traffic. The firm raised its target price for Valueclick shares to $15 from $11.
- Best Buy (BBY) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
- Research In Motion (RIMM) was upgraded to buy from sell at Societe Generale.
- CarMax (KMX) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
JRN posts
FeedAnalyst Calls: BBY, FCX, KMX, NUE, PRGS, RIMM, T, USG, VCLK, X ...
Continue reading Analyst Calls: BBY, FCX, KMX, NUE, PRGS, RIMM, T, USG, VCLK, X ...
Analyst initiations: Mako Surgical, ArcSight, ICU Medical
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Mako Surgical, ArcSight and ICU Medical were today's noteworthy initiations:
- Mako Surgical (NASDAQ: MAKO) was initiated with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan. The firm believes Mako has the most compelling system for navigated, robotic assisted orthopedic surgery to date.
- After ArcSight (NASDAQ: ARST) reported better-than-expected results for its Q3 and guidance for Q4 that Wachovia views as positive, the firm, which initiated shares with an Outperform rating, expects that regulatory compliance initiatives such as SOX will help protect the company from the slowdown, and help result in upward revisions to Wachovia's estimates in the future, as well as margin expansion.
- Soleil believes ICU Medical's (NASDAQ: ICUI) close distributor relationship with Hospira (NYSE: HSP) will drive its CLAVE/Custom IV franchises. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $33 target.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
- Bear initiated Journal Comm (NYSE: JRN) with an Outperform rating and $10.25 target.
- Royal KPN (NYSE: KPN) was initiated at Societe Generale with a Sell rating.
- Broadpoint assumed Nuance Comm (NASDAQ: NUAN) with a Buy rating and $22 target.
Early analyst calls: JBL, JPM, BSC ...
JP Morgan downgraded Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) from "overweight" to "underweight," according to Briefing.com. The news service also writes that Moody's will not change its ratings on JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) after its buy-out of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC).
Journal Communications (NYSE: JRN) has been started as "outperform" at Bear Stearns, according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports that Waters (NYSE: WAT) was raised to "overweight" from "neutral" at JPMorgan.
Newspaper wrap-up: FTC expected to approve Google-DoubleClick deal
MAJOR PAPERS:- General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) is expected to announce as soon as today that it is selling its medium-duty truck unit to Navistar International Corporation (OTC: NAVZ), reported the Wall Street Journal.
- Its balance sheet is clean and straight forward, debt is less than 25% of capital, it produces over $70M a year in operating cash, pays a 3.5% dividend and buys back its stock, but, asks the Wall Street Journal's "Smartmoney Stock Screen" about Journal Communications Inc (NYSE: JRN), is this stock a bargain or perhaps a takeover candidate?
- According to two people familiar with the matter, the FTC is expected to approve the proposed $3.1B acquisition of DoubleClick by Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), the Washington Post reported.
- According to an inside source, Earthlink Inc (NASDAQ: ELNK) executives, including an executive VP and a VP, have left the company over the last week, DSLreports.com noted. The company is also cutting VOIP and Muni-Wifi services, in addition to the previously announced job cuts.
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