Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of UBS (NYSE: UBS) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q3 update as they believe the quarter marks a turning point.
Merill raised BP Plc (NYSE: BP) and Total SA (NYSE: TOT) to Neutral from Underperform.
DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) was lifted to Hold from Sell at Soleil.
Friedman Billings upgraded Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV) to Market Perform from Underperform as they believe the company's deposits are showing stability despite the massive sell-off.
Kaufman Bros. raised Longtop Financial (NYSE: LFT) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they believe Chinese software service stocks now reflect the investment risks.
Lear (NYSE: LEA) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
Analyst downgrades:
Morgan Stanley downgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing checks that indicate deteriorating trends are worst than expected.
Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR) and Pediatrix Medical (NYSE: PDX) were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Merrill cut StatoilHydro (NYSE: STO) to Underperform from Neutral.
HSBC (NYSE: HBC) was lowered to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette.
Goldman upgraded shares of BP Plc (NYSE: BP) to Buy from Neutral on valuation as they believe the recent pullback provides an attractive entry point.
VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse citing its acquisition platform and international growth. The company's target was increased to $100 from $88.
Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) to Buy from Hold and increased its target to $8.50 from $7 to reflect increased confidence in the company's ability to beat expectations over the next 12 months and reduce its net debt.
US Steel (NYSE: X) was raised to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: American International Group, Energy East and BG Group Plc were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Citigroup upgraded shares of American International Group (NYSE:AIG) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they see limited downside at current levels. They believe the stock is "poised for over 35% upside in the next twelve months" and raised their target price to $42 from $41.
Jefferies raised Energy East (NYSE:EAS) to Hold from Underperform to reflect the growing pressure from politicians to influence the final NYPSC order in the merger approval proceeding. The firm raised their target price to $25.50 from $16.50.
Bernstein upgraded shares of BG Group (NASDAQ:BRGYY) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company should benefit from the tightness in the global liquefied natural gas market.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Total SA (NYSE:TOT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and added to the Conviction Buy List.
Wachovia lifted CarMax (NYSE:KMX) to Market Perform from Underperform.
Pike Electric (NYSE:PEC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Hershey Foods, Genentech and Garmin were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Bernstein downgraded Hershey Foods (NYSE: HSY) to Market Perform from Outperform, citing commodity cost pressures & slowing volume growth.
Thomas Weisel downgraded Genentech (NYSE: DNA) to Market Weight from Overweight after the company reported Q1 results, due to Avastin growth concerns and a lack of meaningful drivers of long-term revenue growth until 2009.
Oppenheimer cut Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) to Perform from Outperform on concerns regarding PND pricing and the company's profitability dynamics.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Blackrock (NYSE: BLK) was downgraded at Goldman to Neutral from Buy and to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: DirecTV, Salesforce.com and Total SA were today's noteworthy upgrades:
DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman, as they believe it is well positioned to outperform in the difficult macro environment.
UBS believes Salesforce.com's (NYSE: CRM) Force.com platform has strong differentiation in the marketplace and will help CRM benefit from spending outside of the customer management area. The firm raised its rating to Buy from Neutral.
ING upgraded Total SA (NYSE: TOT) to Buy from Hold as they believe positive results from the company's downstream operations in Europe will support the stock.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Total SA, HLTH Corp, Aflac First Solar and Town Sports were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Citigroup upgraded Total SA (NYSE: TOT) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q3 results. JP Morgan upgraded shares to Overweight from Neutral, as they believe the company's Q3 results underlined the strength of exploration and production growth prospects versus peers.
Friedman Billings raised its rating on HLTH Corporation (NASDAQ: HLTH) to Outperform from Market Perform following the company's proposal to merge into WebMD Health Corp (NASDAQ: WBMD) for a combination of cash and stock.
The firm also added shares of Aflac (NYSE: AFL) to its Top Picks List, as they believe Aflac is the only high quality, defensive growth story in the Life Insurance sector.
CIBC upgraded shares of First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer following the Q3 upside and set a $230 target on the stock.
Banc of America upgraded shares of Town Sports (NASDAQ: CLUB) to Neutral from Sell on valuation as they believe the downside risk is now priced into the stock.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Credit Suisse upgraded Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) to Neutral from Underperform.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Ericsson, Total SA, Research in Motion, MasterCard and Sun Microsystems were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Goldman upgraded shares of Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to Buy from Neutral and added the company to their pan-Europe Conviction Buy List, as they believe the factors that lead to the October earnings miss will be rectified and the company will report upside to Q4 estimates.
Credit Suisse upgraded Total SA (NYSE: TOT) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation and expectations for a return in upstream volume growth in 2008.
Credit Suisse also upgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Outperform from Neutral, citing RIMM's expanding international market share.
MasterCard (NYSE: MA) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, as they believe the company's margin potential is yet to be fully priced into shares or Street estimates.
Citigroup raised shares of Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's improving product line, restructuring, and share buyback. They find the risk/reward attractive and expect solid Q2 results.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Goldman added Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) to its Conviction Buy List.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says names in this group are now trading vehicles, not long-term investments, but that doesn't mean they're any less critical to own.
Here we are again in the weeklong pullback in oil where the stocks all get thrown out and no one wants to touch them. We will soon hear from the chartists (as I call technical analysts) that these stocks were unable to take out their highs, or they are getting the right -- and cold --shoulder.
Dubai World, a holding company for the Persian Gulf state, will purchase a 9.5% stake in MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM), the Kirk Kerkorian controlled Las Vegas casino company, for $5B. The deal will also give Dubai World 50% ownership in CityCenter, MGM's most ambitious development project, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street Journal reported that almost 10 months after Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) acquired YouTube for $1.65B, the video-sharing site is rolling out its first advertisements in the videos.
The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that private equity firm WL Ross is looking to get involved in the subprime lending business, said the firm's owner, Wilbur Ross. WL Ross may look to acquire lenders, mortgage portfolios or even companies that service loans, Ross added.
OTHER PAPERS:
The New York Times reported that Kazakhstan's government is threatening to suspend one of the world's largest oil projects, due to environmental damage it says the work is causing in the Caspian Sea. The consortium developing the field includes Eni, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), and Total SA (NYSE: TOT).
On tonight's MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer made his final "Investing In Europe" series pick. He went to France and named Total SA (NYSE: TOT) as a good oil stock. He likes their global footprint and well they operate even in Russia and Africa. Their refineries are also being upgraded to process the more sour crude that needs more refining, and this one is cheap compared to some of its US counterparts and is even trading more off its highs. Cramer made other stock picks from Europe all week in his series, and here they are:
This series that Cramer did was all full of the big cap stocks in Europe that either compete with us or work with us. What this will prove in the end if these all go up is not so much that these were just incredible stock picks. It will prove we are in a major bull market and the market is willing to buy big cap stocks again. You could go make the exact same strategy picks out of Asia and probably come back with the same sort of results. Interestingly enough, in Cramer's game plan for next week he ran more of a cautious note and suggested taking at least some profits. So it doesn't seem he's just going to chase winners endlessly.
Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Novartis AG (NVS), Intel (INTC), Total S.A. (TOT), Syniverse Holdings, Inc (SVR) and Kindred Healthcare (KND) were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Merrill cut Novartis (NYSE: NVS) to Neutral from Buy based on a lack of near-term catalysts. Credit Suisse downgraded shares of the company to Underperform from Neutral on expectations of slowing sales growth in 2H07.
JMP Securities downgraded Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) to Market Perform from Outperform based on valuation and lower estimates.
JP Morgan cut Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) to Neutral from Overweight on valuation.
Syniverse (NYSE: SVR) was cut to Strong Sell from Sell at Matrix USA as competition in North America is creating a cut in Network Services and Number Portability Services revenue.
Kindred Healthcare (NYSE: KND) was cut to Underperform from Market Perform at Wachovia based on valuation...
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
DaVita (NYSE: DVA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
This did cause me to wonder what stocks are so stigmatized. Missouri uses a screen developed by the Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG). On its no-spend list are companies that deal with the countries on the U.S. government's list of terrorist states: Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria and Sudan.
While the names of the companies that appear on CSAG's screen is proprietary, Missouri's 'don't-own' list includes Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), Gazprom, Siemens (NYSE: SI), Hyundai, Total (NYSE: TOT), and ENI (NYSE: E), all foreign-owned. However, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) does show up on some lists.
A leader in this effort is New York Comptroller William Thompson. With the cooperation of the ultra-well connected Conflicts Security Advisory Group, he has convinced American corporations such as Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) to refuse deals with the aforementioned countries rather than fight shareholder resolutions on the matter.
For personal investors concerned about this issue, the Roosevelt Anti-terror Multi-Cap Fund touts itself as 100% free of companies that deal with or support terrorists.
The Wall Street Journal's "Ahead of the Tape" column wrote that Best Buy Co., Inc.'s (NYSE: BBY) Q1 earnings report, due out today, will help the Street deduce whether Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC) cost cutting measures announced last week were company issues, or if it was a sign of a larger industry problem.
The Financial Times reported that U.S. authorities are planning to interview Total (NYSE: TOT) CEO Christophe de Margerie as part of an inquiry into whether his company violated U.S. bribery laws.
OTHER PAPERS:
According to the U.K. Times, citing research by Prudential Equity Group and AXA Framlington, AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) could lose 38% of its revenue because key drug patents, including Arimi-dex, Seroquel and Symbicort, will expire in the next five years.
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Analyst upgrades:
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TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says names in this group are now trading vehicles, not long-term investments, but that doesn't mean they're any less critical to own.
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