Analyst Upgrades

• BP (BP) to buy from hold at RBS.
• Symantec (SYMC) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• GenOn Energy (GEN) and Nationwide Health Properties (NHP) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Logitech (LOGI) and Patriot Coal (PCX) to neutral from sell, as well as ARM Holdings (ARMH) to buy from neutral, at Goldman.
• Silvercorp Metals (SVM) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Cinemark (CNK) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Smith & Nephew (SNN) to market perform from underperform at Bernstein.
• Molex (MOLX) to overweight from underweight at JPMorgan.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AB, ARMH, BP, DANG, JNS, LOGI, PCX, SYMC, YHOO, YOKU ...

Analyst Calls: AB, ARMH, BP, DANG, JNS, LOGI, PCX, SYMC, YHOO, YOKU ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Baird upgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT), Host Hotels (NYSE: HST) and Marriott (NYSE: MAR) to Outperform from Neutral based on valuation and indications that negative sentiment has reached a bottom.
• Citigroup upgraded Torchmark (NYSE: TMK) to Buy from Hold as they find the valuation attractive and think management can grow earnings and book value in 2009/2010. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered their target price to $37 from $45.
• ASM International (NASDAQ: ASMI) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
• Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) was upgraded at Natixis to Buy from Hold.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: HOT, GOOG, WPI, LYG ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: HOT, GOOG, WPI, LYG ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Mueller Water, ASM International and Kensey Nash were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Baird upgraded shares of Mueller Water (NYSE: MWA) to Outperform from Neutral following recent channel checks, as they believe the company has seen a cyclical trough in earnings and downside is limited at current levels. The company's target was raised to $12 from $9.
  
• Jefferies upgraded shares of ASM International (NASDAQ: ASMI) to Buy from Hold as they believe a break-up is likely following bids for the company's front-end business.
  
• Susquehanna said Kensey Nash's (NASDAQ: KNSY) sale of its endovascular products division was the best outcome and will allow the company to focus on being a pure-play OEM biomaterials platform company. Shares were upgraded to Positive from Neutral.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman added Vistaprint (NASDAQ: VPRT) to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• UBS upgraded Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.

Analyst upgrades: Mueller Water, ASM International, Kensey Nash originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of Webster Financial (NYSE: WBS) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation as they feel the company is adequately capitalized and in a position to withstand the weakening credit markets.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Eaton (NYSE: ETN) to Overweight from Neutral citing bullish management comments at its conference last week.
  
• Piper upgraded Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN) to Buy from Neutral citing the closure of the Gemstar deal.

• Lehman upgraded U.S. stocks to Overweight from Underweight.
  
• Goldman added Hess Corp (NYSE: HES) and Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) to its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) was raised at HSBC to Neutral from Underweight.
  
• Jefferies upgraded ASM International (NASDAQ: ASMI) to Hold from Underperform.

Analyst upgrades: WBS, ETN and MVSN originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Before the bell: Futures steady ahead of payroll report

Continue reading Before the bell: WMT, AAPL, VZ, TM, AMAT, GE ...

Before the bell: WMT, AAPL, VZ, TM, AMAT, GE ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• If the financial crisis hasn't crippled banks enough, the cost to build bank loan reserves may be just as painful, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street". The need for larger reserves is eating away at earnings and is showing up in first quarter reports for banks such as Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), whose results took an additional hit because of a $6B addition to its loan loss reserve.
• Just four months after Journal parent Dow Jones & Co. was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (NYSE: NWS), Wall Street Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli is expected to resign, according to the Wall Street Journal. Journal publisher Robert Thomson may temporarily take over until a new managing editor is hired.
• The Financial Times reported that Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) is seeking advice from IT group Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) on how to overcome a crisis without breaking up the company.

• According to Reuters, activist shareholders in ASM International (NASDAQ: ASMI) believe, by giving more equity to top managers, that they can boost its value by $1.6B.

Newspaper wrap-up: The cost of bad loan reserves originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.