Analyst Upgrades

• Oppenheimer upgraded ConocoPhillips (COP) to outperform from perform after the company sold its stake in Syncrude. The firm has a $70 price target for shares.
• Leerink upgraded UnitedHealth (UNH) to outperform from market perform. The firm sees upside to the company's 2010 guidance and finds shares attractively valued at currently levels.
• Citigroup upgraded both Mirant (MIR) and RRI Energy (RRI) to hold from sell after the two companies agreed to merge.
• Cooper Companies (COO) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Expedia (EXPE) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• A123 Systems (AONE) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AA, COP, GWW, HAS, HOG, NATL, PCLN, UNH, UTX ...

Analyst Calls: AA, COP, GWW, HAS, HOG, NATL, PCLN, UNH, UTX ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Baird upgraded WinTrust (NASDAQ: WTFC) to Neutral from Underperform and raised its target to $20 from $13 citing the accretive purchase of AIG (NYSE: AIG) loans and reduced risk of a capital raise.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Coach (NYSE: COH) to Overweight from Neutral on expectations product sell-throughs and margin trends will improve in the coming quarters. The firm has a $32 target on the stock.
• RBC Capital upgraded Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB) to Sector Perform from Underperform and raised its target to $33 from $29. The firm cites Campbell's recent innovation, easy volume comps, and "reasonable" consensus estimates for its upgrade.
• Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AFL, COH, CPB, DOW, MS, TTM ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AFL, COH, CPB, DOW, MS, TTM ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Citigroup upgraded Phillips-Van Heusen (NYSE: PVH) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q1 results as it believes management is executing well in the current environment and that the company could meet the high end of guidance. The firm raised its price target to $24 from $19.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded Cliffs Natural (NYSE: CLF) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes capacity utilization has stabilized and CLF's valuation is attractive at current levels. The firm raised its price target to $27 from $23.
  
• Thomas Weisel believes demand at Microchip's industrial (NASDAQ: MCHP) customers has troughed and that market share loss concerns are unwarranted. The firm upgraded shares to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $27 from $19.
• CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
  
• U-Store It Trust (NYSE: YSI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• Ener1 (NASDAQ: HEV) was lifted at Banc of America/Merrill to Buy from Neutral.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: PVH, CBS, LDK, BIDU, DE ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: PVH, CBS, LDK, BIDU, DE ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: BioDelivery Sciences, Network Equipment, Barr Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceutical were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Merriman believes BioDelivery Sciences (NASDAQ:BDSI) is significantly undervalued given the positive results for BEMA Fentanyl and potential milestone payments of $60M, initiating shares with a Buy rating. They estimate fair value is in the $8-$10 range.
• Broadpoint believes Network Equipment (NYSE:NWK) is well-positioned for growth in the IP space, starting shares with a Buy rating.
• Banc of America started Barr Pharma (NYSE:BRL) with a Buy rating and $60 target, noting that the company's generic pipeline represents $30B in brand revenues and views Fosamax as the largest immediate opportunity. The firm also assumed coverage of Teva (NASDAQ:TEVA) with a Buy rating and $55 target, as they believe Teva's scale makes it the only generic company that can make a profit from aged generic products.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• JP Morgan initiated Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) with a Neutral rating.
• Credit Suisse initiated Psychiatric Solutions (NASDAQ:PSYS) with an Underperform rating and $30 target.
• UBS started Weight Watchers (NYSE:WTW) with a Neutral rating and $51 target.

Analyst initiations: BDSI, NWK, BRL and TEVA originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.