• Morgan Keegan upgraded Copano Energy (CPNO) to Outperform from Market Perform based on the $300M capital infusion it received from TPG Capital.
• Wells Fargo upgraded SunTrust (STI) to Market Perform from Underperform following the company's Q2 results citing improving credit quality trends and valuation.
• UBS upgraded Baidu (BIDU) to Buy from Neutral based on solid fundamentals following the strong Q2 report and guidance and valuation. The firm raised its price target to $92 from $69.
• Baxter (BAX) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• JetBlue (JBLU) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Soleil.
• Penn Virginia GP (PVG) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.

• Piper Jaffray downgraded Beckman Coulter (BEC) to Neutral from Overweight following the company's weaker than expected Q2 results and lowered guidance. The firm lowered its target for shares to $60 from $74. Shares were also downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies and to Neutral from outperform at Baird following the company's reduced guidance.
• Keefe Bruyette cut AmeriCredit (ACF) to Market Perform from Outperform following the acquisition by General Motors (GM, MTLQQ).
• FBR Capital downgraded SunTrust (STI) to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered its price target to $27 from $34. The analyst believes larger banks are better positioned than regionals due to greater prospects of reserve releases.
• Travelers (TRV) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
• Lender Processing (LPS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.
• Penn Virginia Resource (PVR) was downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC Capital.

• ThinkEquity assumed coverage of SanDisk (SNDK) with a Buy rating.
• Macquarie initiated Allergan (AGN) with an Outperform rating and $75 price target.
• Macquarie also initiated Cooper Companies (COO) with an Outperform rating and $45 price target.
• NCR Corp (NCR) was initiated with a Hold rating at KeyBanc.
• CryoLife (CRY) was started at Benchmark Co. with a Buy rating and $8 target.
• China New Borun (BORN) was initiated with an Overweight rating and $7.40 target at Piper Jaffray.

Analyst Calls: STI, BIDU, BAX, JBLU, TRV, SNDK, AGN, COO, BEC originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Stephens upgraded shares of Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) to Overweight from Equal Weight to reflect the company's restructuring program, reductions in inventory and share repurchase program.
  
• AIMCO (NYSE: AIV) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  
• UBS upgraded D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) to Neutral from Sell.
• Argus believes BigBand Networks (NASDAQ: BBND) is succeeding by adding new customers and driving new business with existing customers. Shares were upgraded to Buy from Hold.
  
• ThinkPanmure expects Capella Education (NASDAQ: CPLA) to attract students at a faster rate in the coming quarters and to improve operating margins. The firm raised shares to Buy from Accumulate and raised its target to $60 from $62.
• Advanced Medical (NYSE:EYE) was lifted to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies.

Continue reading Analyst calls: ANN, AIV, DHI, BA, BT, LINTA, B, WW ...

Analyst calls: ANN, AIV, DHI, BA, BT, LINTA, B, WW ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For speculators, Martin Weiss has uncovered a stock that benefits from rising home foreclosures. In the higher risk section of his The Safe Money Report he looks at Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS).

"We have a new speculative pick: Lender Processing Services. This company was spun off from Fidelity National Information Services a couple of months ago.

"It is the biggest outsourcing firm in the business of processing home loan defaults and foreclosures.

"As you might imagine, that business is booming due to the massive flood of troubled mortgages -- revenues in the company's default services unit soared 90% to $197.2 million in the second quarter from a year earlier.

"LPS also has a division that helps investors, banks and other clients model prepayments, defaults and other characteristics of mortgage-related securities.

"With everyone trying to figureout the value of all the troubled paper out there, the demand for those services should also ramp up. We emphasize, however, that this is a speculative play."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

A stock that profits from foreclosures originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• JMP Securities upgraded Vertex Pharma (NASDAQ: VRTX) to Outperform from Market Perform following better-than-expected interim data for telaprevir.
  
• Lazard Capital upgraded shares of Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) to Buy from Hold on valuation after their physician survey indicated solid sales growth in the company's MS franchise.
  
• Calyon upgraded Data Domain (NASDAQ: DDUP) to Add from Neutral based on positive channel checks and valuation.
• Goldman added Buckeye GP (NYSE: BGH) to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) was upgraded to Hold from Sell and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was raised to Hold from Reduce at WestLB.
  
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Cowen Group (NASDAQ: COWN) to OUtperform from Market Perform.

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Lloyds TSB Group (NYSE: LYG) to Sell from Hold as they believe loan loss risk will outweigh synergies from the acquisition of HBOS (HBOOY).
  
• Citigroup downgraded shares of National Financial Partners (NYSE: NFP) to Hold from Buy and removed the stock from the Top Picks Live List after the company announced July and August revenues and said pressure continues. The firm lowered their target to $20 from $28.

Continue reading Analyst calls: BIIB, ALU, LYG, MAR, HOT, JCP, MYL, CBS ...

Analyst calls: BIIB, ALU, LYG, MAR, HOT, JCP, MYL, CBS ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Vinyl records making a surprise return originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Next time my Mom threatens my Dad to toss his hundreds of vinyl LPs that he's collected over the last 20+ years, I am going to direct him to the latest in turntables -- one that allows users to convert LPs to digital files directly from the platter onto one's hard drive.

Today's Sunday New York Times reports on two new consumer turntables on the market at $200 that will let one's memories re-live in a digital format, including the iPod.

One of the new turntables is called the Ion iTTUSB Turntable with USB Record and it is listed for $199, but can be bought for around $150 on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). This turntable is compatible with Macs and PCs. However, one downside is that the process of converting these old LPs can be time-consuming. The turntable has to be assembled properly and the LPs must be thoroughly cleaned. The recording software which comes on a CD takes about a half hour to set up properly, and may take even longer if you have a slower learning curve.

I know my Mom will be relieved to know that there's hope that the many apple crates packed with LPs gathering dust in our basement may soon be gone. (Though I think my Dad cherishes the album cover art as much as he does the music, so the battle may not be totally won.)

Amazon.com sells hope for the vinyl crowd originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 21 Jan 2007 21:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.