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PepsiCo's upgrade -- should you buy?

According to reports, both PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) and Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG) received an upgrade from Stifel Nicolaus. Both are now placed in the "buy" category. I'm sure the companies are happy to be away from the depressing "hold" moniker. The price targets on Pepsi and Pepsi Bottling Group are $64 and $37, respectively. As of this writing, Pepsi was priced at $54.82 while Pepsi Bottling Group's last bid was $33.71.

As can be seen, if Stifel Nicolaus turns out to be right, then traders might have a winning transaction on their hands. But one thing that must be remembered is the arbitrage game going on here. Pepsi wants to buy Pepsi Bottling Group. The latter is, of course, arguing for a higher purchase price.

Continue reading PepsiCo's upgrade -- should you buy?

Analyst upgrades 6-06-07: MCO, NGS; BAS and CPX

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Oil and gas services companies, mining companies and Moody's Corporation (NYSE: MCO) were today's noteworthy upgrades:
OTHER UPGRADES:
  • Inverness Medical Innovations Inc (AMEX: IMA) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
  • Credit Suisse upgraded shares of Johnson Controls Inc (NYSE: JCI) to Outperform from Neutral, citing growth outlook in the company's building efficiency business.
  • Allianz SE (NYSE: AZ) was upgraded to Buy from Add at WestLB on valuation and the company's strong Q1 results.

Second analyst cautions on Sirius (SIRI) numbers

Yesterday, Banc of America's satellite analyst Jonathan Jacoby issued a cautionary statement on Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI), stating that there was a weakening of Sirius compared to 2005 holiday sales. Jacoby also noted manufacturing issues would be important this year and that channel checks indicate a weaker environment than 2005. He maintained a Neutral rating on SIRI and maintained a Buy on XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR).

If you will recall, just yesterday Jim Cramer hogwashed this and said it was too soon to make that call even if it was true. This morning , however, we were sent an alert that Pacific Crest has made some similar comments to Jacoby's on Sirius (SIRI). Pacific Crest also has said that the initial trends are looking better for XM Satellite (XMSR), which also mirrors the Banc of America comments.

This is a boutique research call so it may not get much coverage today, but it could be the start of some commenting on the potential for new subscribers for the dominant holiday quarter.

It should be noted that Stifel Nicolaus put odds at 75% yesterday for a merger between XM & Sirius within 18 months. If we get anything more solid out of the report or on other issues we'll follow-up on it. The stock is down 1/2% on this pre-market, but investors should recall that this is only a $0.02 move to the downside since investors aren't rifling the shares of SIRI on "cautionary comments" if there is no outright downgrade.

With such a large number of analysts covering the name you will probably get quite a bit research either confirming this theory or refuting it in the coming days.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-47.2410,244.02
NASDAQ-7.042,159.86
S&P 500-6.071,092.44

Last updated: November 12, 2009: 12:10 PM

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