Analyst Upgrades

• Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Petrobras (PBR) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Silvercorp Metals (SVM) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• PROS (PRO) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Power Integrations (POWI) and Monolithic Power (MPWR) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Diodes (DIOD) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Whole Foods (WFMI) to hold from sell at Hapoalim.
• Sinclair Broadcast (SBGI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sappi (SPP) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Alpha Natural (ANR) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Watts Water (WTS) to buy from hold at Brean Murray.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ANR, CSCO, HUM, ITT, NYX, PBR, RL, WFMI, WMT, YHOO ...

Analyst Calls: ANR, CSCO, HUM, ITT, NYX, PBR, RL, WFMI, WMT, YHOO ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Downgrades

• Diodes (DIOD) to hold from buy at Benchmark.

Analyst Initiations

• General Motors (GM) with a buy at BofA/Merrill and Citigroup, with an overweight at Barclays and Morgan Stanley, and with an outperform at Credit Suisse and RBC Capital.
• LPL Investment (LPLA) with an overweight at Morgan Stanley, a buy at Goldman, a neutral at JPMorgan, and a market perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• Booz Allen (BAH) with a market perform at Wells Fargo.
• ValueVision (VVTV) with an overweight at Piper Jaffray.

Analyst Calls: BAH, DIOD, GM, LPLA, VVTV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Coca-Cola (KO) to overweight from neutral due to valuation and expectations that developed market volume should improve. The firm raised its target price for shares to $66.
• BB&T upgraded Nordson (NDSN) to buy from hold and has an $82 price target on the stock. The firm believes certain drivers of Nordson's Advanced Tech unit are becoming more secular vs. cyclical and that the company's EBIT margins can go higher.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Embraer (ERJ) to outperform from underperform, citing the positive announcements from the Famborough Air Show. The firm raised its price target to $37 from $21.
• Universal Health (UHS) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Mead Johnson (MJN) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Coventry Health (CVH) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Leerink.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ALU, CHL, EXC, GENZ, KO, NDSN, NSW, SJM, TXN ...

Analyst Calls: ALU, CHL, EXC, GENZ, KO, NDSN, NSW, SJM, TXN ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Diodes Incorporated (NASDAQ: DIOD) is engaged in the design, manufacture and marketing of semiconductor products, including diodes, transistors, and rectifiers. The firm focuses on devices with end user applications in the consumer electronics, computing, industrial, communications and automotive sectors. Customers include Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT).

The firm is expanding its reach, via the acquisition route. It completed its purchase of British chip maker Zetex, on June 9th. That led management to increase its guidance for Q2 revenues from $100-$106 million to $114-$117 million. The Street had been looking for $104.27 million. Guidance for gross profit was boosted from a sequential increase of 4-9% to a sequential increase of 18-21%.

Continue reading Diodes Incorporated (DIOD): Shares cycle in bullish 'pennant'

Diodes Incorporated (DIOD): Shares cycle in bullish 'pennant' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Trina Solar, Adtran and Elan Corp were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Friedman Billings upgraded Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) to Market Perform from Underperform citing expectations for improved FCF following the company's announcement to discontinue its in-house poly manufacturing.
  
• Thomas Weisel believes Adtran (NASDAQ: ADTN) is in a multi-year transition where new products are able to offset continued declines in the legacy products. Shares were raised to Overweight from Market WEight, and also upgraded at Raymond James to Strong Buy from Outperform.
  
• Goldman upgraded shares of Elan Corp. (NYSE: ELN) to Buy from Neutral to reflect their outlook for Tysabri and Bapineuzumab.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Suntrust upgraded BOK Financial (NASDAQ: BOKF) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Plains All American (NYSE: PAA) was upgraded at Morgan Stanley to Overweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Morgan Keegan upgraded Diodes (NASDAQ: DIOD) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades: Trina Solar, Adtran, Elan Corp. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In an electronic world of increasingly complex integrated circuits and programmable devices, some semiconductor outfits manage to get along just fine offering simple analog and discrete chips. Success at one such firm is a function of high standards. Its facilities have been awarded prized ISO certfications for superior quality-control techniques.

Diodes Incorporated (NASDAQ: DIOD) is engaged in the design, manufacture and marketing of semiconductor products, including diodes, transistors, and rectifiers. The firm focuses on devices with end user applications in the consumer electronics, computing, industrial, communications and automotive sectors. Customers include Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT).

Continue reading Diodes (DIOD): Good business at the fixed function end of the semiconductor spectrum

Diodes (DIOD): Good business at the fixed function end of the semiconductor spectrum originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.