Analyst Upgrades

• inContact (SAAS) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.

Analyst Downgrades

• Ericsson (ERIC) to neutral from buy at Goldman.
• Hovnanian (HOV) to underperform from buy at BofA/Merrill.
• PrivateBancorp (PVTB) to market perform from outperform at BMO Capital.
• Logitech (LOGI) to neutral from outperform at Exane BNP Paribas.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AGN, ERIC, HOV, LOGI, MMI, SAAS, SOL, TSLA ...

Analyst Calls: AGN, ERIC, HOV, LOGI, MMI, SAAS, SOL, TSLA ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Privatebancorp Jumps 11% on Smaller Q4 Loss

Privatebancorp Jumps 11% on Smaller Q4 Loss originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Bernstein upgraded Merck (NYSE: MRK) to Outperform from Market Perform and raised its target to $30 from $27 citing valuation and its decision to buy Schering-Plough, at what appears to be a reasonable price.
  
• RBC Capital upgraded Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) to Outperform from Sector Perform and raised its target to $12 from $5 as it believes webOS has increased its chances for Smartphone leadership and will increase its attractiveness as an acquisition target.
  
• RW Baird upgraded Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to Outperform from Neutral on valuation as it believes balance sheet risks are overly discounted in the stock, creating a buying opportunity. The firm has a $3 target on shares.
• Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus.
  
• France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) was upgraded at Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight from Underweight.
  
• Foster Wheeler (NASDAQ: FWLT) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MRK, PALM, DNA, WMT, TEVA ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MRK, PALM, DNA, WMT, TEVA ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Given the current economic and regulatory environment, we felt this was a prudent step to take to further enhance our capital position and our liquidity," said President and CEO Larry D. Richman in a statement.

Continue reading PrivateBancorp plummets after slashing its quarterly dividend

PrivateBancorp plummets after slashing its quarterly dividend originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Intevac (NASDAQ: IVAC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral. Piper downgraded Intevac citing delays in Gen2 upgrades following Q1 results.
  
• Sandler downgraded PrivateBancorp (NASDAQ: PVTB) following its Q1 earnings results.
  
• RBC Capital downgraded Potash (NYSE: POT), and advised taking some profits.

• Soleil downgraded Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) based on weak East Coast refining margins and low marketing and chemical margins.
  
• Calyon downgraded UAL (NASDAQ: UAUA) based on higher fuel costs and the failed merger with Continental (NYSE: CAL).

Analyst downgrades: IVAC, SUN, UAUA, CAL, PVTB and POT originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) completed its acquisition of the parent of Chicago's LaSalle Bank in the beginning of October, a move that significantly increased Bank of America's presence in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. LaSalle had 400 banking centers, 17,000 commercial customers, and 1.4 million retail customers.

Now, most of LaSalle Bank's former senior leadership has defected to Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB). Bank of America said that it would defend its customer base from PrivateBancorp or any lender that tries to poach customers from the biggest business lender in Chicago. They plan to start with visits to LaSalle customers: "We will be blanketing the market with calls starting today," said a Bank of America spokesperson.

Experts have drawn distinctions between LaSalle's commercial banking model and Bank of America's retail model. LaSalle allowed front-line lenders to make more credit decisions and handle virtually all of the clients' needs, but Bank of America says that credit decisions in most cases will still be made locally.

Meanwhile, former LaSalle Bank CEO, Larry Richman, will take over as CEO of PrivateBancorp on Monday. "Larry is a proven business and civic leader whose passion for clients and the Chicago area has been demonstrated in his past successes," said Richman's predecessor, PrivateBancorp's cofounder, Ralph Mandell. In turn, Richman said, "There is an extraordinary opportunity for us to build and expand client relationships to become the premier middle market commercial and private bank not only in Chicago, but also in all of the markets we serve."

LaSalle Bank leadership defects after BAC merger -- are customers next? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Merrill downgraded Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) to Neutral from Buy to reflect greater earnings risk stemming from the slowdown in securitization and mortgage. Merrill also finds it "inevitable" that revenue from underwriting and advising on takeovers will slow.

• Stanford downgraded shares of Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI) to Sell from Hold as they believe the premium valuation is unjustified given the Lummus acquisition.

• Merrill Lynch cut Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) to Sell from Neutral based on slowing secular growth...

• Goldman downgraded Zale (NYSE: ZLC) to Sell from Neutral.

• PrivateBancorp (NASDAQ: PVTB) was cut from JP Morgan's Focus List.

• Banc of America downgraded Maxim Integrated (NASDAQ: MXIM) to Neutral from Buy.

• Stanford cut Oceaneering Int'l (NYSE: OII) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades 8-28-07: BBBY, BSC, C and LEH originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.