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Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BRCM, D, FRED, INTC, LAZ, SCSC ...

Analyst upgrades:

  • Pali Capital upgraded Lazard (LAZ) to buy from neutral, citing a healthy restructuring environment, improving M&A and strength in the asset management segment. The firm has a $46 target on shares.
  • Baird upgraded Scansource (SCSC) to outperform from neutral, citing strength in the channel business and growth drivers from improved telephony and security. The firm has a $30 target on shares.
  • Citigroup upgraded Liberty Interactive (LINTA) to buy from hold, citing the company's QVC unit's return to growth. The firm raised its target on shares to $13.25 from $12.
  • Hess Corp (HES) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
  • Vulcan Materials (VMC) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
  • Dillard's (DDS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BRCM, D, FRED, INTC, LAZ, SCSC ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ACOR, BHI, HAL, LAZ, SLB, TRV ...

Analyst upgrades:

  • Citigroup upgraded Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) to Buy from Hold on valuation and the company's exposure to a potential upturn in international drilling. The firm raised its target on shares to $80 from $56.
  • UBS upgraded Allegheny Tech (NYSE: ATI) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $43 from $31 and believes the end of jet engine and other destocking will result in an initial recovery into 2010, even before an order ramp into 2011.
  • Merriman upgraded Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACOR) to Buy from Neutral based on the favorable FDA panel outcome and set a $30-$33 target range on the stock. Baird upgraded Acorda to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $28 from $24. Following the panel review, Baird expects Amaya to be approved in 1H10 and would be buyers into the mid/high $20s.
  • Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  • PG&E (NYSE: PCG) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  • Newfield Exploration (NYSE: NFX) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ACOR, BHI, HAL, LAZ, SLB, TRV ...

Lazard gets an IPO all star

While it's still early, the signs are positive that we'll see a nice comeback in the IPO market. For example, Avago (NASDAQ: AVGO) and Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD) had strong offerings. Moreover, recently we've seen some large IPO filings, such as for Dole Food and Hyatt.

No doubt, Wall Street will make some juicy fees. So, to get a piece of the action, Lazard (NYSE: LAZ) has made a big move: it has hired IPO banker, Tom Tuft. He was the equity capital markets group chairman at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). He joined the firm in 1976.

Continue reading Lazard gets an IPO all star

M&A revving for a comeback?

So far this year, it's been miserable for M&A bankers, which makes sense. If you look back at prior recessions, there was always a big fall in M&A activity. Buyers don't want to take the risks and sellers want higher valuations.

According to Reuters, global M&A volume was about $968 billion this year as of June. This is down more than 40% since 2007, which was a peak in dealmaking.

Continue reading M&A revving for a comeback?

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: CLX, ED, JBHT, HMC, PCG ...

Analyst upgrades:
  • Deutsche Bank upgraded Spartech (NYSE: SEH) to Buy from Hold as it sees further upside following the company's "strong" Q2 results. The firm raised its target on shares to $10 from $2.50.
  • Oppenheimer upgraded Clorox (NYSE: CLX) to Outperform from Underperform. The firm believes the company's FY10 outlook is conservative, providing room for upside, and that the valuation is compelling at current levels. Opco set a $70 price target on the stock.
  • Goldman upgraded Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $20 from $16, citing reduced balance sheet concerns following the capital raise. Note that AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy.
  • PG&E (NYSE: PCG) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
  • Pool Corp. (NASDAQ: POOL) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair.
  • Liberty Property Trust (NYSE: LRY) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: CLX, ED, JBHT, HMC, PCG ...

KKR sees big bucks in infrastructure

With its plans to become a public company in Q4, the folks at KKR have a lot on their plate. However, the company realizes it needs to keep bolstering the firm.

In light of the credit crunch and slowing economy, this is a tough thing. After all, much of KKR's business comes from its buyout business, which has been mostly frozen for the past year.

But, KKR understands that private equity is a long-term proposition, and there are certainly some great investment opportunities. One attractive area is infrastructure. In fact, in May KKR announced plans to raise a $10 billion infrastructure fund and retained a top Lazard (NYSE: LAZ) executive, George Bilicic, to manage things.

Well, this week there was more activity on this initiative. KKR retained John Bryson as a Senior Advisor. No doubt, he's a maestro about infrastructure. He was formerly the CEO of Edison International (he joined the firm in 1984) where he had to deal with complex regulations as well as find ways to grow operations. Before this, he was a partner at the law firm, Morrison & Foerster and even served as the president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

Of course, KKR is facing lots of competition in the infrastructure category, such as from other tier-1 private equity operators and even sovereign wealth funds. Take a look at TPG, which has recently made a preliminary $6.5 billion bid for Australia's Asciano (a port and rails firm).

Yet, infrastructure is a massive space with room for many players. More importantly, private equity firms are bulging with cash and need to find places to put it.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Earnings highlights: General Motors, Motorola, Disney, Sony, Visa, CBS and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

For more highlights from this week, see: Exxon, Starbucks, Viacom, Comcast, Sirius, Kraft and others

Upcoming quarterly reports include Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Jack-in-the-Box (NYSE: JBX), Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI), Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), and Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Lazard finds opportunities in this market

The credit crunch should be bad news for investment banks, right? Not necessarily. After all, strategic buyers have been aggressive lately, perhaps because there's not much competition from private equity operators.

One of the beneficiaries is Lazard (NYSE: LAZ), which reported its Q2 numbers. Eearnings came to $64.6 million, or 54 cents per share, which compares to $61.5 million, or 53 cents per share in the same period a year ago.

Simply put, Lazard has been snagging some choice client engagements. For example, Q2's revenues on merger assignments spiked 37% to $225.1 million.

In fact, the firm is an advisor on InBev's $52 billion deal to purchase Anheuser-Busch Cos. (NYSE: BUD). Another high-profile assignment is Gaz de France's 44.6 billion euro deal with Suez.

Keep in mind that Lazard has worked on about $100 billion in announced deals in July alone. This is certainly a nice momentum boost.

Besides, Lazard has a strong restructuring division. While the business is still fairly small – at $32.7 million – there should be lots of potential for growth. Just look at some of the major bankruptcies lately, such as Mervyn's, Steve & Barry's, Linen 'n Things and so on.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Newspaper wrap-up: UBS reportedly hires Lazard to conduct strategic review

MAJOR PAPERS:
  • The stock is up 150% over the last year but with its move into the consumer marker BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) is entering the fickle world of consumer trendiness, reported the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street". Analysts are concerned about how big the consumer market can be for them, and then there's Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) beating down the consumer path. Smart products will help, but price is an issue, and the shares could face a hard fall.
  • The Wall Street Journal reported that Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) acknowledged it has hired The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) to study its troubled portfolios of mortgages, a move which many believe indicates the bank is gauging the market value of the loans in order to eventually sell them.
OTHER PAPERS:
  • Lazard Ltd (NYSE: LAZ) was hired by UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) to undertake a strategic review of the Swiss bank's businesses, the New York Post learned.
  • The New York Post also reported some reported turmoil at Live Nation Inc (NYSE: LYV), following the abrupt departure of the concert promoter's chairman, Michael Cohl. Employees in the unit that was led by Cohl fear that the company will lay some of them off, and CEO Michael Rapino is accused of not being strongly committed to the company's mega-deal strategy.
  • The Boston Herald reported that its unions were told the newspaper will lay off 130 to 160 workers, under its new plan to outsource printing operations elsewhere in the state.

Earnings highlights: AIG, Fannie Mae, Toyota, Warner Music, Qwest, MGM and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Continue reading Earnings highlights: AIG, Fannie Mae, Toyota, Warner Music, Qwest, MGM and others

Lazard drops a notch

Despite the volatility in the global financial markets, Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) has held up nicely. But according to its Q1 report, there are now signs of weakness.

Net income came to $7.8 million, or $0.14 per share, which was a 71% drop from the same period a year ago. A big culprit was the fall-off in M&A activity. Such revenues dropped 15% to $166 million.

Another issue was the corporate debt portfolio, which sustained a $28.5 million write-down. However, compared to other investment banks, this does look fairly minor. What's more, Lazard has been taking actions to improve things.

Interestingly enough, Lazard has snagged some plum advisory assignments on large capital infusions -- such as from sovereign wealth funds -- for financial institutions. This is a business that should continue to grow. And with Lazard's focus on advisory services, the firm should be in a nice position to be a major player in the space.

But in today's trading, Lazard's shares are down 2.59% to $36.53.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Perella sees some silver linings for investment banks

Joseph Perella is an uber investment banker. He has structured a variety of multi-billion dollar deals and has worked for firms like Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).

Then, back in June 2006, Perella created a new investment bank, Perella Weinberg Partners. In fact, he raised a cool $1 billion for the venture. The vision: to provide unbiased advice on major transactions.

But, with the slowdown in Wall Street dealmaking, is Perella Weinberg in trouble? Well, according to a piece in Reuters, things may actually be OK.

After all, since Perella Weinberg is a pure advisor, there is no need to deal with credit risk from financing deals. Also, the firm hasn't been focused on private equity deals. Instead, the firm's kind of high-end advice is primarily for strategic buyers. Keep in mind that other boutiques -- such as Lazard (NYSE: LAZ) -- have fared well.

What's more, Perella Weinberg knows how to be creative, providing advice that goes beyond pure M&A deals. For example, the firm has advised the New York insurance regulators for bond insurers as well as the sovereign wealth investments for Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER). And with the complexities of the current financial environment, I'm sure Perella Weinberg will have no shortgage of problems to solve.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Did Steve Jobs push the Apple board to break the law?

Fortune (which shares parent Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) with BloggingStocks) provides at least two examples which raise questions about whether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs pushed the Apple board into violating the law.

Two revelations in the article -- that Apple's board decided not to disclose Jobs's pancreatic cancer, for which he delayed surgery because he wanted to try a diet cure, and that Jobs set a backdated options date of January 16, 2001 which the board rubber-stamped, giving recipients a profit of either $1.6 million or $3.9 million -- make me wonder whether Jobs convinced Apple's board to break the law.

As I posted in 2006, Lazard, Ltd.'s (NYSE: LAZ) board may have failed to disclose the illness of its CEO, Bruce Wasserstein, when reports surfaced that he was out of the office with a heart ailment. A lawyer I spoke with said that if a CEO is unable to do his or her job due to illness, the board must disclose it. If Jobs's pancreatic cancer surgery kept him away from doing the CEO's job, how did Apple's lawyers defend the failure to disclose? It surely couldn't have been the lack of materiality -- some estimated that if his illness had been disclosed, Apple stock would have lost 20% of its value.

Continue reading Did Steve Jobs push the Apple board to break the law?

Earnings highlights: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others

The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Exxon, Boeing, Halliburton, Sony, UPS, Honda, and others and McDonald's, Kraft, P&G, Verizon, MasterCard, 3M, and others.

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others

Is Lazard's Bruce Wasserstein one of Wall Street's biggest losers?

Bruce Wasserstein's New York Magazine published a list of Wall Street titans who have seen their personal net worth decline in the last year. One name was conspicuously absent from that list: Bruce Wasserstein, who would rank second on the list of biggest losers if he not decided to exclude himself from his own publication. This type of omission has a proud history, as I have never seen Steve Forbes's name on his magazine's rich list.

Nevertheless, here are the top three biggest losers when Wasserstein's name is added accompanied by the amount they have lost:

  • The Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC) former CEO James Cayne saw his net worth plummet $467 million
  • Lazard Ltd.'s (NYSE: LAZ) CEO Bruce Wasserstein's net worth has fallen fallen $260 million. (This is calculated by multiplying Wasserstein's 11,394,504 shares by Lazard's stock tumble -- from its May 2007 high of $56.90 to January 24, 2008's $34.09); and
  • The Goldman Sachs Group's (NYSE: GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein has suffered a $100 million decline.

It's nice to own the means of production over at New York Magazine -- and that ownership clearly influences what it chooses not to publish.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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DJIA-46.6310,404.32
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S&P 500-3.811,102.43

Last updated: November 24, 2009: 02:11 PM

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