foaty posts
FeedPosted Jan 12th 2009 12:36PM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Pfizer (PFE), Agilent Technologies (A), AutoZone Inc (AZO), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Analyst Initiations
Analyst upgrades:
- Baird upgraded Agilent (NYSE:A) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $24 from $22. The firm expects Agilent's YoY order declines to bottom in 1H09 and for growth to return in 1Q10.
- Despite downgrading the Equity REIT industry to Underweight from Market Weight, Friedman Billings upgraded Home Properties (NYSE:HME) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect the company's exposure to Washington, D.C. The firm thinks Washington has the potential for stable demand fundamentals.
- Keefe Bruyette raised Education Realty (NYSE:EDR) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect the company's improved liquidity outlook.
- Cullen/Frost (NYSE:CFR) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
- Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
- FPIC Insurance (NASDAQ:FPIC) was lifted at Piper Jaffray to Buy from Neutral.
Analyst downgrades:
- Credit Suisse downgraded Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT) to Neutral from Outperform and France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) to Underperform from Neutral in conjunction with cutting the European Telecommunications Services sector to Market Weight from Overweight.
- Goldman downgraded Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) to Sell from Neutral and added shares to its Conviction Sell List. The firm, which lowered its target to $11 from $30, said HOG shares do not fully reflect the impact from unprecedented headwinds in global luxury motorcycle demand and credit.
- Jefferies downgraded Precision Cast (NYSE:PCP) to Hold from Buy following the recent rally as they believe near-term EPS growth will be challenging. The firm lowered its target to $72 from $75.
- AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
- Tenneco (NYSE:TEN) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.
- Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI) was lowered to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
- Friedman Billings downgraded the Equity REIT sector to Underweight from Market Weight.
Analyst initiations:
- Ladenburg initiated Pentair (NYSE:PNR) with a Buy rating and $32 target. The firm believes the company's cost reduction and growth strategies will limit earnings declines from weak end markets.
- Fiat (Other OTC:FIATY) was initiated with a Hold rating at ING Group.
- Raymond James resumed coverage of Tailsman Energy (NYSE:TLM) with a Market Perform rating.