MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Merrill expects the turnaround at K Swiss (NASDAQ: KSWS) to be difficult given weakening retail sales. Shares were downgraded to Sell from Neutral.
  
• Jefferies cut shares of BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ: BJRI) to Hold from Buy due to the company's high relative exposure to the subprime mortgage markets.
  
• Ford (NYSE: F) was downgraded to Underperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns. The firm recommends taking some profits following the recent rally in shares. Shares were also cut to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan, citing valuation, and to Sell from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

• Wachovia cut EastGroup Properties (NYSE: EGP) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Goldman removed SL Green Realty (NYSE: SLG) from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• RBC Capital lowered Developers Diversified Realty (NYSE: DDR) to Sector Perform from Outperform.
  
• Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) was downgraded at JP Morgan to Neutral from Overweight.

Analyst downgrades: KSWS, BJRI and F originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• After EastGroup (NYSE:EGP) reported slightly higher-than-expected Q1 FFO per share, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy on valuation. However, the firm still believes that the company's business model and dividend fundamentals are well-positioned.
  
• Citigroup downgraded Take-Two (NASDAQ:TTWO) to Hold from Buy citing balanced risk/reward as the firm does not expect an aggressive competing bid process.
  
• Raymond James downgraded Calumet (NASDAQ:CLMT) to Underperform from Market Perform following the company's reduction in distribution to 45c unit from 63c.

• Citigroup lowered XM Satellite (NASDAQ:XMSR) to Hold from Buy.
  
• Oppenheimer cut First Midwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMBI) to Perform from Outperform.
  
• Bernstein downgraded DirecTV (NASDAQ:DTV) to Market Perform from Outperform.

Analyst downgrades: EGP, TTWO and CLMT originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.