Analyst Upgrades

• BB&T (BBT) and Aflac (AFL) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Kodiak Oil & Gas (KOG) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Zhongpin (HOGS) to neutral from reduce at Global Hunter.
• Marathon Oil (MRO), Noble Energy (NBL) and Manulife Financial (MFC) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Comerica (CMA) to buy from neutral at Rochdale.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AAPL, AFL, BBT, CMA, ENER, HERO, IBM, LVS, MRO, NE ...

Analyst Calls: AAPL, AFL, BBT, CMA, ENER, HERO, IBM, LVS, MRO, NE ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Bears head to rehab (GE, KFT, CBY, ORCL, ADBE, FLEX, KERX)

Closing Bell: Bears head to rehab (GE, KFT, CBY, ORCL, ADBE, FLEX, KERX) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman downgraded the Managed Care sector to Neutral from Attractive following WellPoint's (NYSE: WLP) reduced 2008 outlook. The firm said WellPoint's issues reflect a company specific underwriting error but also industry-wide pricing pressures which increase the risk of a cyclical slowdown in managed care. WellPoint was also downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
  
• Banc of America cut Keryx Biopharma (NASDAQ: KERX) to Neutral from Buy and lowered their target to $1.00 after Sulonex failed to meet its primary endpoint.
  
• Jefferies downgraded shares of Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Hold from Buy, as they believe the first half of 2008 will be a tough year for software and are increasingly worried about the macro environment.

• Level 3 Comm (NASDAQ: LVLT) was downgraded to Underweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
  
• Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray.
  
• Credit Suisse removed Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) from its U.S. Focus List.

Analyst downgrades: LVLT, TXN, BG, WLP, KERX and CTXS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) to Underperform from Hold after the company said it is unable to meet margin calls despite asset sales and will restate 2007 earnings.
  
• Keryx Biopharma (NASDAQ: KERX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill, to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan, to Underperform from Market Perform at Rodman & Renshaw, to Hold from Buy at Jefferies and to Underperform from Outperform at Bear Stearns after the company announced the Sulonex SUN-MICRO Phase 3 trial failed to meet the primary endpoint.
  
• Citigroup lowered Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) to Sell from Hold as they believe inventory levels are building and that there is downside risk to Q1 estimates.

• Deutsche Bank cut Lincare Holdings (NASDAQ: LNCR) to Sell from Hold.
  
• RBC Capital lowered J2 Global (NASDAQ: JCOM) to Sector Perform from Outperform.
  
• Goldman removed Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) from its Conviction Buy List.

Analyst downgrades: TMA, KERX, ARO and WMT originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.