• UBS upgraded Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to Buy from Neutral as it believes the company's product portfolio is recovering.
  
• Canaccord upgraded Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $450 from $300. The analyst said industry checks indicate deteriorating search conditions have started to improve in late March and notes that the market is already pricing in a weak Q1.
  
• Wachovia upgraded CGI (NYSE: GIB) to Outperform from Market Perform. In addition to valuation, the firm cited the company's defensive profile, comfort with its fiscal 2009 estimates, and its expectation that the company will continue to have strong signings.
• Siliconware Precision (NASDAQ: SPIL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
  
• Matrixx Initiatives (NASDAQ: MTXX) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: NOK, GOOG, IHG, PETS ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: NOK, GOOG, IHG, PETS ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: General Motors, Anheuser-Busch and GlaxoSmithKline were today's noteworthy downgrades.

• Citigroup downgraded shares of General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) to Hold from Buy to reflect reduced earnings power and cash burn risks and recommends swapping into American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc (NYSE: AXL).
• Deutsche Bank cut Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc (NYSE: BUD) to Hold from Buy on valuation following the recent rally spurred by takeover speculation. The firm believes the reported $65/share cash takeover offer by Inbev requires aggressive cost reduction and could harm the brands.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of GlaxoSmithKline Plc (NYSE: GSK) to Underweight from Equal Weight as they see risk to Street expectations for a U.S. Cervarix approval in 2009.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Wachovia downgraded Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ: ODFL) to Market Perform from Outperform.
• Lehman downgraded Yara International (OTC: YARIY) to Equal Weight from Overweight.
• Goldman downgraded China Mobile Limited (NYSE: CHL) to Sell from Neutral and added shares to the Conviction Sell List.

Analyst downgrades: General Motors, Anheuser-Busch, GlaxoSmithKline originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 May 2008 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.