Analyst Upgrades

• Red Hat (RHT) and American Public (APEI) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• KBR (KBR) and Foster Wheeler (FWLT) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Bio-Rad (BIO) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Oceaneering (OII) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• ASM International (ASMI) and Avid Technology (AVID) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Dominion Resources (D) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Nationwide Health Properties (NHP) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vivus (VVUS) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Intersil (ISIL) to buy from hold at Canaccord.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ALTR, CBOE, D, ETR, JCI, KBR, MMM, NFLX, OII, RHT, WY ...

Analyst Calls: ALTR, CBOE, D, ETR, JCI, KBR, MMM, NFLX, OII, RHT, WY ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Bear Stearns downgraded Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Underperform from Outperform to reflect the company's margin erosion, lack of near-term earnings leverage and valuation. They note that margins declined for the fourth consecutive quarter year-over-year in Q4.

• Wachovia downgraded Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) to Market Perform from Outperform citing the higher bid of $56 for Equity Office Properties Trust (NYSE: EOP), which increases the company's risk profile.

• Citigroup downgraded shares of Apache Corp (NYSE: APA) to Hold from Buy on concerns that the company's poor 2006 reserve replacement cost in the Gulf of Mexico may suggest maturing project inventory.

• JP Morgan downgraded Avid Technology Inc (NASDAQ: AVID) to Underweight from Overweight to reflect the company's weak forecasting and execution after disappointing fourth-quarter results and guidance.

• Matrix USA downgraded J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ: JBHT) to Buy from Strong Buy on valuation.

Analyst downgrades 2-02-07: Bear Stearns downgrades Amazon.com originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.