MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Banc of America downgraded shares of Andersons Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) to Neutral from Buy, as well as VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE), Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ: PEIX) and Aventine Renewable Energy (NYSE: AVR) to Sell from Neutral. The firm believes new ethanol supply will depress ethanol's premium to gasoline, drive corn prices higher and pressure distillers' grains values.
• Novacea Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVC) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns based on valuation and lack of catalysts until 2H08; the firm believes the company's deal with Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) is a positive.
• Aimco Properties (NYSE: AIV) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Lehman, as the firm does not view AIV as an attractive takeover target.

• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns based on valuation.
• UBS downgraded shares of Iomai Corp. (NASDAQ: IOMI) and ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN) to Neutral from Buy.
• Goldman Sachs downgraded Parexel Intl. (NASDAQ: PRXL) to Neutral from Buy and PRA International (NASDAQ: PRAI) to Sell from Neutral.
• Janus Capital Group (NYSE: JNS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.
• Security Bank (NASDAQ: SBKC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Sandler, O'Neill & Partners on valuation.
• Bradley Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: BDY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy on valuation at Matrix USA.

Analyst downgrades 5-31-07: Ethanol producers to Sell originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 31 May 2007 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Reynolds American Inc (NYSE: RAI) to Neutral from Underweight to reflect the company's solid 2007 outlook and improved cigarette mix.

• Baird raised PRA International (NASDAQ: PRAI) to Neutral from Underperform.

• Wendy's International (NYSE: WEN) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight with a $26 target at Prudential.

• 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Prudential...

• Bear Stearns upgraded shares of ArvinMeritor, Inc (NYSE: ARM) to Outperform from Underperform.

• Roth Capital raised WPT Enterprises (NASDAQ: WPTE) to Hold from Sell.

• Soleil upgraded the semiconductor sector to Overweight from Underweight, believing a recovery in fundamentals is likely over the next 6 months and expecting shares to outperform over the next 12 to 18 months.

• First Albany upgraded shares of Xilinx, Inc (NASDAQ: XLNX) to Buy from Neutral to reflect operating leverage and the end of the inventory concern.

• Wachovia upgraded shares of Agco Corp (NYSE: AG) to Market perform from Outperform.

• Deutsche Bank raised Dover Corp (NYSE: DOV) to Buy from Hold.

• Corning (NYSE: GLW) was upgraded at Goldman to Buy from Neutral with a $31 target.

Analyst upgrades 4-26-07: ARM, GLW, MMM, RAI and WEN originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• JP Morgan downgraded Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE: LMT) to Underweight from Neutral, citing Lockheed's outperformance as well as expectations for a more challenging environment for defense stocks.

• Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE: HET) was downgraded to Neutral from Add at Calyon based on the expected buyout.

• Thomas Weisel downgraded Avaya Inc (NYSE: AV) to Underweight from Market Weight based on increased concerns that shares are not sufficiently discounting transition risks associated with AV's strategic shift from telephony hardware to software and applications, driven by the shift towards VoIP from TDM technology.

• JP Morgan removed Dover Corp (NYSE: DOV) from its Focus List.

• Baird downgraded PRA International (NASDAQ: PRAI) to Underperform from Neutral following a disappointing Q4 report.

• Syniverse Holdings Inc (NYSE: SVR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James and Avondale Partners; Kaufman Bros cut Syniverse to Hold from Buy, while Bear Stearns downgraded Syniverse to Underperform from Peer Perform.

• Roth Capital downgraded Shuffle Master (NASDAQ: SHFL) to Hold from Buy.

• Lazard cut Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades 2-28-07: Lockheed Martin enters more challenging waters originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.