MOST NOTEWORTHY: CBS Corp., Thornburg Mortgage and DiamondRock Hospitality were among today's noteworthy downgrades:
CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia, citing the weak ad environment and potential M&A strategy to acquire growth, which will limit upside near-term.
Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Friedman Billings, which said the recent capital raise and related transactions result in 95% dilution, and questions how shares will trade when 2.9B restricted common shares are registered and start trading in mid- May.
DiamondRock Hospitality (NYSE: DRH) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Baird following the company's reduced guidance.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Savvis Inc. (NASDAQ: SVVS) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman following the company's Q1 report and guidance.
Memc Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan, who cited high Street expectations and a very tight capacity expansion schedule over the next few quarters.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Wilmington Trust, DiamondRock Hospitality and Omrix Biopharm were today's noteworthy initiations:
B. Riley initiated Wilmington Trust (NYSE: WL) with a Neutral rating and $33 target and points out the company has greater exposure to construction and development loans than most small- and mid-cap banks.
DiamondRock Hospitality (NYSE: DRH) was assumed with a Market perform rating and $13.50 target at Keefe Bruyette. The firm sees limited upside given expectations for continued moderation in RevPAR trends, limited operating margin expansion and an uncertain economic outlook.
Rodman & Renshaw believes that the issues that have plagued Omrix Biopharm (NASDAQ: OMRI) are now largely reflected in shares and that the company has improved visibility on business fundamentals with solid execution. The firm assumed coverage with an Outperform rating and $18 target.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
UBS initiated Millennium Pharma (NASDAQ: MLNM) with a Neutral rating and $16 target.
Credit Suisse initiated Ryanair (NASDAQ: RYAAY) with a Neutral rating.
Morgan Stanley started Brasken (NYSE: BAK) with an Underweight rating.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: DiamondRock Hospitality, Pzena Investment and Vodafone were today's noteworthy upgrades:
DiamondRock Hospitality (NYSE: DRH) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird, citing the newly-announced 4.8M repurchase plan, strong balance sheet and valuation.
Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of Pzena Investment (NYSE: PZN) to Market Perform from Underperform after the company announced February ending AUM.
Goldman added Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) to its Conviction Buy List following the recent weakness as they expect the company to benefit from growth in wireless data.