Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded shares of British Sky Broadcasting (NYSE: BSY) to Buy from Neutral and added the company to the Conviction Buy List as they find the stock oversold at current levels.
  
• Goldman also added Publicis (OTC: PUBGY) to the Conviction Buy List and upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral as they find the stock cheap at current levels.
• Oneok (NYSE: OKE) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.
  
• UBS raised Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods (NYSE: WBD) to Buy from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades:

• Baird downgraded Amylin Pharma (NASDAQ: AMLN) to Neutral from Outperform and said they are incrementally more cautious on the commercial performance of Amylin's Byetta following the yesterday's update. Amylin's target was lowered to $27 from $37. Soleil recommends investors avoid Amylin with the disclosure last night of four additional cases of mortality associated with pancreatitis in patients who were on Byetta. The firm cut shares to Sell from Hold and lowered their target to $20 from $25.
  
• Citigroup downgraded shares of AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) to Sell from Hold on valuation as they find the stock expensive following the recent run-up. The firm raised their target to $9 from $6.70 to reflect the drop in crude prices.
  
• J Crew (NYSE: JCG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Brean Murray following the weak Q2 report and guidance.
• JMP Securities downgraded Quality Systems (NASDAQ: QSII) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• National Grid (NYSE: NGG) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman.

Analyst initiations:

Continue reading Analyst calls: AMR, JCG, AMLN, NGG . . .

Analyst calls: AMR, JCG, AMLN, NGG . . . originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Jefferies believes British Sky Broadcasting's (NYSE:BSY) exposure to discretionary household expenditure seems more dangerous than it is. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating.
  
• Oppenheimer assumed ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) with a Perform rating and said it is waiting for margins to re-accelerate before becoming more constructive on shares.
  
• Chordiant Software (NASDAQ: CHRD) was initiated at B. Riley with a Buy rating and $7 target and believes the recent sell-off is overdone.

• JMP Securities initiated American Capital (NASDAQ:AGNC) with an Outperform rating and $23 target.
  
• UBS assumed Omnicom Group (NASDAQ: OMC) and Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) with Neutral ratings and targets of $50 and $9.50, respectively.
  
• Real Goods Solar (NASDAQ: RSOL) was assumed at Broadpoint with a Buy rating and $10 target.

Analyst initiations: BSY, SOL and CHRD originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman downgraded U.S. Brokers to Neutral from Attractive since they can not find a catalyst to move the group significantly higher over the next few months given the continued deterioration in fundamentals. Goldman added Citigroup (NYSE:C) to their Conviction Sell List as they expect additional write-downs of $8.9B in Q2 and see the potential for additional capital raises. Goldman lowered their target price on Citigroup shares to $16 and recommends a pair trade of long Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), short Citigroup.
  
• Wachovia downgraded Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) shares to Market Perform from Outperform on renewed economic fears, a likely slower pace of substantial capital raises, seasonally slower prime brokerage, and valuation.
  
• Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities following the weaker-than-expected Q1 report and guidance and lowered FY09 EPS estimates on increased spending.

• Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) was downgraded to Market Weight from Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
  
• JP Morgan lowered British Sky Broadcasting (NYSE:BSY) to Underweight from Overweight.
  
• WuXi Pharma (NYSE:WX) was downgraded at Oppenheimer to Perform from Outperform.
  
• General Motors (NYSE:GM) was downgraded at Goldman to Sell from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades: U.S. brokers, GS and RIMM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) was cut to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, citing deteriorating fundamentals in several of SNN's key business lines.
  
• Goldman removed British Sky Broadcasting (NYSE: BSY) from its Conviction Buy List and said shares continue to trade at all-time low multiples and that the timing with Sky-Virgin dispute remains unclear. Shares remain Buy rated.
  
• Friedman Billings downgraded Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS) to Market Perform from Outperform based on valuation following the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) news.

• Goldman downgraded J Sainsbury (OTC: JSAIY) to Neutral from Buy and removed shares from the Conviction Buy List.
  
• Goldman also removed Hewlett-Packard from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Citigroup cut BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) to Hold from Buy.
  
• Wachovia downgraded LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) to Market Perform from Outperform.

Analyst downgrades: SNN, BSY, JSAIY, BE, LHCG and EDS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 May 2008 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Valueclick (NASDAQ:VCLK) to Outperform from Perform following the company's Q4 upside, as they believe the FTC investigation completed with no material penalties and that lead generation is stabilizing.
  
• Citigroup upgraded shares of The Medicines Co (NASDAQ:MDCO) to Buy from Hold following the solid Q4 results to reflect a better risk/reward profile and stabilizing PCI volume.
  
• Goldman raised its rating on British Sky Broadcasting (NYSE:BSY) to Buy from Sell and added shares to their Conviction Sell List as they see above-average upside at tough valuations.

• Goldman upgraded the U.S. Trucking Sector to Attractive from Cautious, also upgraded YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ:YRCW) and Arkansas Best (NASDAQ:ABFS) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• ING upgraded Novartis (NYSE:NVS) to Buy from Hold.

Analyst upgrades: VCLK, MDCO and BSY originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Lehman downgraded the brokers and asset managers sector to Neutral from Positive and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) to Equal Weight from Overweight. The firm cited weakness in the credit markets for the Bear Stearns downgrade and potential further write downs at Merrill Lynch for its downgrade.
  
• Bear Stearns downgraded shares of Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) to Peer Perform from Outperform as they see risks to 2008 estimates from an expected decline in investment-banking revenue.
  
• Barclays (NYSE: BCS) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral and HBOS PLC (OTC: HBOOY) was downgraded to Underweight from Overweight at HSBC to reflect the potential for higher write downs on debt securities and slower revenue growth.

• British Airways (OTC: BAIRY) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at ABN Amro.
  
• Merrill downgraded British Sky Broadcasting (NYSE: BSY) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Merriman downgraded Zoran (NASDAQ: ZRAN) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades: Brokers and asset managers, CS, BCS and HBOOY originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• UBS cut UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE: UNH) to Neutral from Buy citing moderating fundamentals in commercial performance and large government exposure that will make it difficult for the company to outperform its peer group.

• Jefferies downgraded RF Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: RFMD) to Hold from Buy with a $7 target as the firm believes the company's June guidance signals a slow down of second-half fundamentals.

• Stephens cut UTi Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ: UTIW) to Equal Weight from Overweight based on ongoing cost issues.

• Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Sanders Morris to reflect weak ad growth at MTV, digital revenues that the firm believes are a displacement rather than accretive to the revenue base and the lawsuit against Google's (GOOG) YouTube, which the firm feels is the wrong call.

• Matrix USA cut Total Systems Services (NYSE: TSS) to Sell from Hold and NIC Inc (NASDAQ: EGOV) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Sealed Air Corp (NYSE: SEE) was taken down to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia citing valuation.

• HSBC downgraded shares of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (NYSE: BSY) to Underweight from Neutral.

• Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Maguire Properties, Inc (NYSE: MPG) to Market Perform from Outperform citing the fallout from subprime-exposed office space.

Analyst downgrades 3-29-07: Viacom, UnitedHeatlth and RF Micro downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.