Analyst upgrades:

• 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.
  
• United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) was upgraded at UBS to Buy from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades:

Continue reading Analyst calls: BP, HD, SOLR, UTX, X, VOD . . .

Analyst calls: BP, HD, SOLR, UTX, X, VOD . . . originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Solarfun Power (NASDAQ:SOLF) is up 19% on good earnings.

Adolor (NASDAQ:ADLR) is up 19% after getting approval for marketing of one of its drugs.

Red Robin Gourmet (NASDAQ:RRGB) is down almost 7% on poor earnings.

Carnival (NYSE:CCL) is off 3.5% without any visible news.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Pre-market movers (SOLF) (CCL) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 May 2008 07:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Happy Cinco de Mayo!
• Day one of the two-day FDA Anesthetic/Life Support Drugs & Drug Safety/Risk Management Advisory Committees meeting: Purdue Pharma's NDA for Oxycontin.
  
• Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) to report Q1 earnings; conference call Tuesday at 10:00am.

• Day two of the two-day FDA Anesthetic/Life Support Drugs & Drug Safety/Risk Mgmt Advisory Committees meeting: Cephalon's (NASDAQ:CEPH) sNDA for Fentora.
• Molson Coors (NYSE:TAP) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 12:00pm.
• Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.

• Marsh & McLennan (NYSE:MMC) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 8:30am.
• Transocean (NYSE:RIG) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 10:00am.
• Hot Topic (NASDAQ:HOTT) and Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) to report April sales at 4:00pm.

• Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) to report April sales at 8:00am. Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) to report sales at 8:15am. Target (NYSE:TGT) to report sales at 8:30am.
  
• NVidia (NADAQ:NVDA) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 5:00pm.

• PDUFA date for Adolor Corp (NYSE:ADLR) and GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE:GSK) Entereg for management of Post-operative Ileus.
• American International Group (NYSE:AIG) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 8:30am.
• Sotheby's (NYSE:BID) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 9:00am.

Market highlights for next week: April sales results coming out originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 May 2008 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Before the bell: MER, AAPL, INTC, F, GE, XMSR ...

Before the bell: MER, AAPL, INTC, F, GE, XMSR ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Matrix downgraded National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) to Buy from Strong Buy because inventory oversupply conditions have dissipated more rapidly than expected. Matrix believes National Semi will see price stability and orders increase as excess products continue to move through the supply chain.
• Needham cut Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) to Buy from Strong Buy following the company's lowered guidance as the firm believes margin improvement has been "temporarily derailed"; however, the firm believes valuation limits downside at current levels.
• Adolor Corp (NASDAQ: ADLR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings, to Neutral from Outperform at Cowen, to Neutral from Buy at First Albany, to Sell from Hold at Citigroup and to Hold from Buy at both American Technology and W.R. Hambrecht, after reporting additional safety issues related to Entereg.
• Elsewhere, Roth Capital downgraded shares of Conexant Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CNXT) following lowered Q2 guidance and cited weakness in end markets and lack of near-term catalysts.
• Stanford cut Blyth, Inc (NYSE: BTH) to Sell from Hold on valuation.

• Matrix cut Nike, Inc (NYSE: NKE) to Hold from Buy.
• Goldman took Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) off its Conviction Buy List.
• JP Morgan took CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) down to Neutral from Overweight based on valuation.
• Prudental downgraded Groupe Danone (NYSE: DA) to Neutral from Overweight.
• ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ: ASML) was downgraded to Market Weight from Overweight.

Analyst downgrades 4-10-07: NSM, STX, NKE, MSFT downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• SanDisk Corp (NASDAQ: SNDK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS with a $53 target, as they believe Apple's (AAPL) new 16GB & 32GB iPod Video products will be NAND flash based. The firm expects SanDisk shares to perform as Apple's products ramp.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of CVS Corp (NYSE: CVS) to Buy from Hold with a $42 target as they believe the bidding process for Caremark Rx, Inc (NYSE: CMX) is over, reducing concerns.

• Prudential upgraded shares of Dow Jones & Co (NYSE: DJ) to Neutral from Underweight to reflect valuation and the company's strong 2007 outlook.

• Piper Jaffray upgraded DaVita Inc (NYSE: DVA) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $59 target on valuation.

• Citigroup upgraded Adolor Corp (NASDAQ: ADLR) to Hold from Sell with a $10 target to reflect GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE: GSK) plans for an additional advanced study of Entereg.

• Wachovia upgraded shares of Symmetry Medical Inc (NYSE: SMA) based on analysis that shows inventory levels have fallen at large-cap orthopedics firms while capital expenditures have stabilized, competitors are more upbeat on market outlook, and checks that indicate the supplier market has stabilized.

• Foundry Networks, Inc (NASDAQ: FDRY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America.

• JP Morgan upgraded Alaska Communications Systems Group (NASDAQ: ALSK) to Outperform from Neutral on valuation.

• Goldman Sachs upgraded PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG) to Buy from Neutral with an $82 target.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Expedia, Inc (NASDAQ: EXPE) to Buy from Neutral with a $27 target.

• Matrix USA upgraded AMR Corp (NYSE: AMR) to Hold from Sell on valuation.

Analyst upgrades 3-13-07: CVS Corp, Expedia and SanDisk upgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Adolor Corp. (NYSE:ADLR) market cap was nearly halved this morning. ADLR share price plunged over 43% this morning in heavy trading as it went from yesterday's close of $13.94 to $7.91.

The Food and Drug Administration asked Adolor to supply it with more information regarding the company's Entereg drug, dealing it a major blow. Analysts were expecting an FDA approval of the drug this week.

Entereg, a drug aimed at helping patients recover after bowel surgery, needs to be tested further, the FDA said, and requested more safety data. The analysis involves serious cardiovascular events and a risk management plan study should be completed in the first quarter of 2007, with data available in the second.

While GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE:GSK) is also a developer of the Entereg, its shares are actually up 0.71% despite this latest delay being one of many lately. One of GSK's big hopes, its cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix, had seen delay in U.S. filing last month, and diabetes drug Redona showed poor results. A few others had troubles lately.

Meanwhile, Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CTIC) shares also lost over 10% of their value. CTIC announced on Friday that it temporarily suspended enrollment in its Pioneer lung cancer, Xyotax, clinical trial on recommendation of the Data Safety Monitoring Board as it awaits follow up-data of recently enrolled patients. Some of the patients in the study had died, but the company needs to study the reason -- natural disease progression or some other effect.

Adolor plunges 43% on FDA approval delay, CTIC down 10% originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sapient (SAPE) tops today's minute list of initiations.

• Rochdale considered 2007 consensus estimates on Sapient Corp. (NASDAQ:SAPE) to be too low and considers the company to be an attractive acquisition target. The firm initiated Sapient with a Buy rating and $7 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Citigroup initiated two Biotech stocks: Adolor Corp. (NASDAQ:ADLR) and Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGNX) with Buy ratings, and noted both companies are developing two novel drugs in the attractive constipation market.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst initiations 11-3-06: Sapient initiated with Buy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Nov 2006 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.