According to people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that American International Group Inc's (NYSE: AIG) airplane-leasing unit is considering a split from the company. The people said International Lease Finance Corp have grown "increasingly concerned" the company will be hurt by AIG's financial troubles.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE: RDS.A) and Spain's Repsol YPF SA (NYSE: REP) are pulling out of one of Iran's biggest gas projects, the $10B-plus development of phase 13 of South Pars, the world's largest gas field, the Financial Times reported.
WEB SITES:
Bloomberg reported that HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) set aside a smaller-than-forecast $3.2B for bad loans in the U.S. The bank also said its Q1 profit was higher than Q107.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Southwest Gas, Hittite Microwave and Repsol SA were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Citigroup upgraded shares of Southwest Gas (NYSE: SWX) to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they believe the company's fundamentals have improved enormously over the last three years.
Thomas Weisel upgraded shares of Hittite Microwave (NASDAQ: HITT) to Overweight from Market Weight, as they believe the company is executing on its strategy of increasing new product introductions and growing its global sales efforts. They believe shares are undervalued and maintain a $43 target.
Repsol SA (NYSE: REP) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank as they expect good news to flow in 2008.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Goldman upgraded CNOOC (NYSE: CEO) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to their Conviction Buy List.
Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: World Wrestling, Novo Nordisk and Nestle were today's noteworthy downgrades:
B. Riley downgraded shares of World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) to Neutral from Buy on valuation with the stock only 1% below their target price. However, B. Riley admits shares may move higher during the next 30-35 days, due to the upcoming WrestleMania event in Orlando, FL.
Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill on valuation and a lack of near-term catalysts; shares were also lowered to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns.
ING lowered Nestle (OTC: NSRGY) to Hold from Buy as they expect organic growth to slow in 2008.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Banc of America downgraded Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) to Neutral from Buy.
HSBC downgraded Repsol SA (NYSE: REP) to Neutral from Overweight.
Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Teradyne, Omnivision and DemandTec were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Teradyne Inc (NYSE: TER) to Outperform from Perform after channel checks indicated several positive catalysts, including continued market share gains and that the company is benefiting from the inventory build of game consoles.
Jefferies upgraded Omnivision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI) to Buy from Hold and named the stock their Tuesday Value Pick, as they find the risk/reward favorable at current levels. Jefferies thinks fundamentals will likely bottom in the April quarter.
JMP Securities raised DemandTec Inc (NASDAQ: DMAN) to Strong Buy from Outperform, as they believe the company had a very strong close to the year and is seeing real traction with its Promotions product.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: eBay, Anworth Mortgage, Healthways, Coca-Cola and Mattel were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Soleil upgraded shares of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Hold from Sell following the Q3 results due to improving near term fundamentals with diversification of revenue streams.
JMP Securities raised estimates on Anworth Mortgage (NYSE: ANH) to Strong Buy from Market Outperform citing the lower cost of funding and the expected improvement in earnings.
Healthways (NASDAQ: HWAY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Broadpoint, as they believe the company's guidance implies it is well positioned into FY09.
Gabelli upgraded shares of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) to Buy from Hold as they believe strong international demand and the company's ability to execute will lead to double digit growth in coming years.
Mattel (NYSE: MAT) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. The firm views risk/reward as compelling.
OTHER UPGRADES:
WestLB upgraded Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to Hold from Reduce.
Keefe Bruyette upgraded Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) to Market Perform from Underperform.
Merrill Lynch upgraded Repsol SA (NYSE: REP) and Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) to Buy from Neutral.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Statoil (STO), BG Group (BRG), Repsol (REP), Flow International (FLOW) and the refining sector were today's more noteworthy downgrades:
Citigroup cut Statoil (NYSE: STO), BG Group (NYSE: BRG) and Repsol SA (NYSE: REP) to Sell from Hold due to valuation and the difficult operating environment.
Matrix USA downgraded Flow International (NASDAQ: FLOW) to Strong Sell from Hold, citing weak demand from Asian customers that led to slowing sales growth.
Bernstein downgraded the refining sector to Underperform and refiners Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) to Underperform from Market Perform...
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP) was cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse; RBC Capital downgraded CP shares to Sector Perform from Outperform.
Goldman downgraded Taiwan Semi (NYSE: TSM) to Neutral from Buy.
.gif){kind=logo}
MAJOR PAPERS: .gif){kind=logo}
.gif){kind=logo}
.gif){kind=logo}
Comfort Zone Investing: Getting beyond today
Stock picks and pans for troubled times: RIMM, ED, ISRG, GLW, LEA, SLB, GOOG ...
Is Berkshire Hathaway better than S&P Index?
