JB Hunt (JBHT) misses expectations; Analysts remain positive originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Rochdale upgraded Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) to Buy from Hold, as they have increased confidence in the company's ability to achieve estimates.
  
• Piper upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) as they believe the bad news is behind the company with a U.S. turnaround expected in 2008.
  
• Jefferies raised shares of BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) to Hold from Underperform on valuation as they believe the risk/reward is neutral following the recent pullback.
  
• Fortis (OTC: FORSY) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns. The firm upgraded shares on valuation as they believe the recent weakness is overdone.

• Goldman Sachs added Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Commercial Metals (NYSE: CMC) to its Conviction Buy List.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Varian Semiconductor (NASDAQ: VSEA) to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• Bear upgraded Bruker Biosciences (NASDAQ: BRKR) and Hutchison Telecom (NYSE: HTX) to Outperform from Peer Perform.
  
• Banc of America upgraded Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) and J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) to Neutral from Sell.

Analyst upgrades: PII, EW, BE and FORSY originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Home Depot (NYSE: HD) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Hold with a $50 target at Raymond James, expecting that the worst is over in the housing market with hopes 2007 will be a better year.

• Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was added to Stifel Nicolaus' Select List while maintaining its Buy rating, citing Google's growth rate as compared to its peers. Note that Stifel removed eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) from their Select List.

• Bear Stearns upgraded JB Hunt Transport (NASDAQ: JBHT) to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $27 target; the firm expects JB Hunt to Outperform its pure truckload competitors during the downturn and for a potential buyer to surface.

• Bear Stearns also upgraded Merck (NYSE: MRK) to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $53 target, based on improved sales growth for Vytorin/Zetia, growth from Junuvia and vaccines, along with pipeline catalysts.

• Piper Jaffray upgraded shares of Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $25 target, believing that tight inventory management favors margin improvement and that business at core stores have stabilized.

• Calyon upgraded UAL Corp (NASDAQ: UAUA) to Add from Neutral and raised their target to $48 from $35 based on good prospects for 2007.

Analyst upgrades 1-3-07: Home Depot, Google at the top originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Today's notable initiations include NetFlix (NFLX) and Diamond Foods (DMND):

• Bank of America started NetFlix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) with a Sell rating and $24 target, as they expect increasing subscriber acquisition costs and decreasing average revenue per subscriber to be challenging for the long-term;
• Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) was initiated with a Buy rating and $23 target at Oppenheimer, as the firm believes Diamond Foods has a solid core business and sees healthy growth with the Emerald products division.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• JB Hunt Transort Services Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) was initiated with a Hold rating at McDonald.
• Duke Energy Corp. Holding Co. (NYSE:DUK) was initiated with a Hold rating and $35 target at Deutsche Bank, citing valuation.
• JP Morgan initiated shares of International Coal Group Inc. (NYSE:ICO) with an Underweight rating, citing difficult business conditions for Central Appalachian coal miners.
• Rochdale initiated Cypress Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE:CY) with a Buy rating and $21 target; the firm believes new business, operating efficiencies and the SunPower (SPWR) investment will improve profitability in 2007.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst initiations 12-14-06: NetFlix with Sell originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Dec 2006 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Circuit City (CC), Best Buy (BBY) and Eli Lilly (LLY) top today's list of downgrades.

• Prudential downgraded Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE:CC) to Underweight from Neutral, with a $22 target, citing concerns of flat-panel TV price erosion and the high cost structure as compared with Best Buy and other retailers.
• In addition, Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) was also downgraded by the firm to Neutral from Overweight with a $50 target, citing third-quarter margins that were below expectations.
• Credit Suisse removed Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) from their U.S. Focus List.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded L-T-L transporters JB Hunt Transportation Services Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) and YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:YRCW), citing valuation.
• Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) was downgraded at Bernstein to Market Perform from Outperform, based on the lower subs forecasts and the fact that Sirius is more reliant in the retail after-market than competitor XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR).
• AG Edwards downgraded Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE:MU) to Sell from Hold, citing the DRAM pricing risk; the firm said prices are currently running at more than twice its projected trend and it sees a risk of a correction in the next few months.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst downgrades 12-13-06: Best Buy, Sirius, Eli Lilly originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.