Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) to Buy from Hold on valuation with the stock down 65% in two months as they believe the company has a "best-in-class fundamental story." The firm lowered its target to $25 from $30.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) to Overweight from Equal Weight on valuation and believes near-term cost reductions could provide a positive catalyst.
• Citigroup upgraded New York Times (NYSE: NYT) to Hold from Sell and lowered its target to $5.50 from $7 on valuation and believes the dividend cut will boost the company's liquidity.
• Pantry (NASDAQL PTRY) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings.
• LECG Corp (NASDAQ: XPRT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) was upgraded at RBC Capital to Outperform from Sector Perform.

• Jefferies downgraded Suntech (NYSE: STP) to Hold from Buy and lowered its target to $6 from $25 as they believe concerns about a convert refinancing in February 2010 will continue to weigh on the stock.
• Credit Suisse cut Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to Underperform from Outperform due to expectations for a decline in wireless infrastructure spending.
• ING downgraded shares of Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) to Hold from Buy as they believe it will be challenging for the company to execute asset sales planned at reducing debt in the current environment.

Continue reading Analyst calls: BWLD, SNY, NYT, STP, ERIC, RTP, KTOS, ZGEN

Analyst calls: BWLD, SNY, NYT, STP, ERIC, RTP, KTOS, ZGEN originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) CEO Alan Mulally isn't done cost-cutting. According to people close to the situation, Mulally is considering more job cuts, selling its Volvo brand and closing the troubled Mercury brand.
• BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) CEO Marius Kloppers strongly criticized Rio Tinto Plc (NYSE: RTP) and its CEO yesterday, the Financial Times reported. BHP Billiton has outperformed Rio Tinto in several areas, including share price appreciation and EPS growth, said Kloppers, adding, "On every metric I can envisage they [Rio] have been beaten."

• According to the Economic Times, AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) is reportedly in preliminary talks with Malaysia's Maxis Communications about buying its 74% stake in Indian cellular phone company Aircel, sources said.
• The United Auto Workers union has rejected several "generous" benefit and wage proposals, according to American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc (NYSE: AXL). In a statement yesterday, the Detroit News reported that American Axle said while tentative agreements had been reached on several issues, the UAW "repeatedly rejected" other proposals that were "considerably higher than the market rate."

Newspaper wrap-up: BHP CEO lashes out at Rio Tinto originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last night on MAD MONEY Cramer gave a stock to avoid as a scary stock on Halloween. He said that beverage maker Hansen Natural Corp. (NASDAQ:HANS) is that scary stock. He said that even after the sell-off, it is up 150% and it has nothing proprietary about it.

For a backgrounder with Cramer on HANS: On September 13, 2006 Cramer gave the same call saying its trajectory made it a broken stock. It closed at $29.76 back then, but a dueling analyst call with a big upgrade the next morning caused HANS to rise 10% immediately. Today, HANS shares closed up 1.3% at $31.75.

HANS will report earnings next week, but Cramer thinks you need to get out before the report. He reminded about the 20+% drop after last earnings. He also said that Budweiser took over its distribution. Cramer said that the medical profession may even turn on these companies because kids are using their products to get high.

Cramer also went over his Best of Breed picks in Brazil. Cramer says it is nirvana down there with high growth and decent inflation. A socialist who is becoming a great quiet capitalist was recently elected there. He said that the situation in Brazil merits that investors need to be there.

CVRD-Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (NYSE:RIO) just bought Inco, and this is a great company for Cramer. He said the stock was beaten up for the acquisition of Inco, but he thinks the it is highly accretive and it should have been bought instead of sold off. Cramer also likes the cost containment they are doing, and he thinks the estimates are too low for 2007.

He said BHP Billiton Ltd (NYSE:BHP) & Rio Tintoplc (NYSE:RTP) are the stocks that are popular now with money managers, but he thinks money managers will turn this into a core holding soon. He isn't calling it a double, and investors need to know that it already has a $61.8 Billion market cap. He thinks there may be 1 or 2 months before the Street switches its stance.

Cramer on Halloween: Avoid scary HANS and go to Brazil originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Nov 2006 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.