Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of Colonial Bancgroup (NYSE: CNB) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent weakness and believes the company will be eligible to receive TARP funds. Morgan Stanley believes the company's valuation adequately reflects risk to the loan portfolio; the firm raised shares to Equal Weight from Underweight.
• Merrill upgraded Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) to Buy from Underperform and believes their valuation reflects the worst-case for bad news.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Trimble Navigation to Outperform from Perform on valuation as they believe the company's long-term growth story is intact.
• Celestica (NYSE: CLS) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.
• KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
• Wachovia raised EastGroup Properties (NYSE: EGP) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• UBS cut Barclays (NYSE: BCS) to Neutral from Buy as they believe capital raises could negatively impact earnings and that the dividend is likely to be cut.
• JP Morgan downgraded Discovery Holdings (NASDAQ: DISCA) to Underweight from Neutral based on valuation and the deteriorating economic outlook.
• Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS) to Underperform from Market Perform and lowered its target to $7 from $23 as they see further risk to the downside following the company's weaker-than-expected results.
• LKQ Corp (NASDAQ: LKQX) was cut to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital.
• Affymetrix (NASDAQ: AFFX) was lowered to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• RightNow Tech (NASDAQ: RNOW) was downgraded at Baird to Neutral from Outperform.

Continue reading Analyst calls: CNB, ERIC, ASML, TRMB, BCS, DISCA, JNS, RGEN, GPS and NTY

Analyst calls: CNB, ERIC, ASML, TRMB, BCS, DISCA, JNS, RGEN, GPS and NTY originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and Sprint Nextel (S) top today's list of downgrades.

• Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ:WYNN) and Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) were downgraded by Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. to Hold from Buy on valuation.
• A.G. Edwards downgraded Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S) to Hold from Buy on valuation. The firm said shares are nearing their $21 target and they highlighted low subscriber additions and high churn remains as contributing factors.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• AU Optronics (NYSE:AUO) was downgraded at Deutsche Bank to Hold from Buy. The firm lowered its estimates to reflect earlier-than-expected weakness from both LCD TVs and LCD monitors, and it believes shares will be range-bound with the company's weaker earnings outlook.
• Finally, ThinkEquity downgraded RightNow Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNOW) to Source of Funds from Buy citing recent executive losses and competition ahead of the important 2007 product cycle.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst downgrades 11-14-06: Sprint, Wynn and Las Vegas Sands downgraded to Hold originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.