Jefferies upgraded Legg Mason (NYSE: LM) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent sell-off, as they find the risk/reward attractive at current levels. However, the firm lowered their target to $23 from $44.
Merriman raised First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) to Buy from Neutral after the company showed "industry leading growth" in Q3. The firm has a 12-month price target range of $185 to $195 per share.
Ladenburg upgraded KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) to Buy from Neutral.
Citigroup upgraded shares of Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB) to Buy from Hold on valuation and expects the company to post above average industry growth in 2009.
Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: International Rectifier, Wolseley and ProLogis were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Citigroup downgraded shares of International Rectifier (NYSE: IRF) to Sell from Hold after checks in Asia indicated LCD TV display weakness outside Sony/Samsung and signs of slowing China consumer demand.
Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Wolseley (OTC: WOSLY) to Underweight from Equal Weight to reflect a more negative outlook for the company's Nordic business and U.S. housing starts.
Banc of America cut ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) to Neutral from Buy on long-term growth concerns given the economic slowdown.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Ingram Micro (IM), SYNNEX Corp (SNX), Yahoo! (YHOO), Macquarie Infrastructure (MIC) and Polypore International (PPO) were today's noteworthy initiations:
Banc of America assumed coverage of Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) with a Buy rating and $23 target, as the firm is positive on the company's balanced growth and margin expansion.
Banc of America also initiated shares of SYNNEX Corp (NYSE: SNX) with a Buy rating and $24 target, as they believe cost synergies and mix in 2007 will drive 2008 leverage and share appreciation.
ThinkEquity transferred coverage of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) with an Accumulate rating and cut its target to $27. ThinkEquity believes Yahoo!'s challenges, which include employee turnover risk, slower user growth, competitive pressures and limited upside in search, are unlikely to be fixed near-term by the new team of management.
Macquarie Infrastructure (NYSE: MIC) was initiated with a Buy rating and $51 target at Citigroup, as the firm believes management fee concerns are priced into shares and that the recent acquisition of Mercury Air and San Jose Jet Center will drive a 6% increase in dividend by the end of 2007.
Just call it the last equity blast before summer. Wall Street's equity market offers a full schedule this week, as lead managers and companies attempt to capture as much buy-side demand as possible a week before the shorter 4th of July week, which is traditionally the start of a lighter syndicate period on Wall Street.
All told, 11 IPOs and 8 Secondaries are on the docket. Those deals tentatively scheduled to price include:
IPOs:
Tuesday
GSC Acquistion (GGA), a 15M-share IPO for this business financing company. Ladenburg, Thalman & Co. and I-Bankers Securities are the lead managers. Filing price: $10.00.
Spectra Energy Partners LP (SEP), a 10M-share IPO for this natural gas MLP. Citigroup and Lehman Brothers are the lead managers. Filing range: $19.00-$21.00.
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Analyst upgrades:
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