MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Komag was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Craig-Hallum, to Market Perform from Outperform at Piper Jaffray, to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank and to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W Baird & Co following the announcement it would be acquired by Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC).
  
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Commercial Mortgage REITs to Underweight from Neutral. Specifically, the firm downgraded shares of Capital Trust, Inc (NYSE: CT) to Equal Weight from Underweight and Gramercy Capital Corp (NYSE: GKK) to Underweight from Equal Weight, citing increased credit spreads and subordination levels.
  
• Getty Images was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Matrix as the firm believes margins are declining and sees downside to their $40/share intrinsic value calculation.
  
• Rural/Metro was downgraded by Ferris, Baker Watts to Neutral from Buy on valuation.

• PMI Group Inc (NYSE: PMI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Palm, Inc (NASDAQ: PALM) to Sell from Hold.
  
• BMO Capital downgraded shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas Incorporated (NASDAQ: CRZO) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Cemex (NYSE: CX) to Equal Weight from Overweight.
  
• Barnes & Noble Inc (NYSE: BKS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Matrix.

Analyst downgrades 6-29-07: KOMG, GYI and RURL originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Research in Motion was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Morgan Keegan. RBC Capital upgraded shares to Top Pick as they see continued upside from product momentum. Banc of America upgraded to Buy from Neutral following the company's Q1 results and announced stock split. JMP Securities upgraded to Market Outperform from Market Perform, saying confidence in demand and recent checks indicate very strong backlog and forecasts.
  
• Komag was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan following the buyout offer from Western Digital.
  
• Western Digital was upgraded to Strong Buy from Buy at Needham, as the firm believes Western Digital's acquisition of Komag is a strategic positive and that accretion will likely be significantly better than guidance.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Rohm and Haas Company (NYSE: ROH) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Robbins & Meyers Inc (NYSE: RBN) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Robert W Baird & Co.
  
• Heelys Inc (NASDAQ: HLYS) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC World Markets.
  
• BMO Capital upgraded the educator sector to Market Perform from Underperform, and Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ: APOL) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades 6-29-07: RIMM's quad upgrade originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Matrix believes lower selling prices and volumes are negatively affecting Christopher & Banks' (NYSE: CBK) margins and downgraded to Sell from Hold.

• Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at HSBC based on valuation.

• Suntrust downgraded shares of Sterling Financial (NASDAQ: SLFI) to Reduce from Neutral given the charge from an ongoing investigation into the irregularities discovered with certain financing contracts of affiliate Equipment Finance LLC.

• Komag (NASDAQ: KOMG) was cut to Hold from Strong Buy at Needham after the company pre-announced lower-than-expected second quarter results. Bear Stearns downgraded shares of Komag to Peer Perform from Outperform...

• First Albany downgraded Iomai Corp (NASDAQ: IOMI) to Neutral from Buy.

• Calyon cut Apache Corp (NYSE: APA) to Add from Buy.

• Morgan Joseph downgraded Stein Mart, Inc (NASDAQ: SMRT) to Hold from Buy.

• Societe General cut BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) to Hold from Buy and Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) to Sell from Hold.

Analyst downgrades 5-25-07: APA, BHP, TIF and RTP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 May 2007 11:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY

• First Albany cut Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Neutral from Buy to reflect weak industry subscriber additions.

• Blockbuster Inc (NYSE: BBI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Soleil.

• Citigroup cut The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) to Sell from Hold on expectations for a sharp DAP price decline and valuation.

• Domino's Pizza Inc (NYSE: DPZ) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns, citing valuation.

• Merrill Lynch downgrade BP Plc (NYSE: BP) to Neutral from Buy on valuation.

• Smith Micro Software, Inc (NASDAQ: SMSI) was cut to Hold from Buy with a $21 target.

• Pacific Crest downgraded Linear Technology Corp (NASDAQ: LLTC) to Sector Perform from Outperform based on secular headwinds and an increase in DOI to 82 days.

• Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd (NYSE: TNP) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Citigroup on valuation.

• Piper Jaffray downgraded Compuware Corp (NASDAQ: CPWR) to Market Perform from Outperform following the disappointing Q4 guidance.

• Brean Murray downgraded Komag, Inc (NASDAQ: KOMG) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades 4-19-07: BBI, BP, CPWR, DPZ and NFLX downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Freidman Billings cut Medimmune inc (NASDAQ: MEDI) to Market Perform from Outperform on valuation. Prudential downgraded shares to Neutral from Overweight and recommended investors take profits in the company.
• J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ: JBHT) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns citing valuation.
• Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) was removed from Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List and prefers L-3 Communication (LLL) over the large-cap aerospace/defense company.
• Komag Inc (NASDAQ: KOMG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at American Technology as they believe industry fundamentals have weakened and that the Seagate (STX) preannouncement will increase pricing pressure.

• Stifel downgraded Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ: MBWM) to Hold from Buy at Stifel.
• Soliel downgraded shares of Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD) to Hold from Buy.
• Matrix USA cut DSP Group (NASDAQ: DSPG) to Strong Sell from Hold.
• Brean Murray downgraded shares of Keithley Instruments (NYSE: KEI) to Sell from Buy with a $13 target following the company's Q2 pre-announcement.
• Needham cut Semitool Inc (NASDAQ: SMTL) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades 4-13-07: JBHT, LMT, LTD and MEDI downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you are old enough, you can remember when PCs did not have disk drive storage. Those were hard days. They are over though and we are much indebted to the companies that make the disks. One such firm has repeatedly set records, with the highest performing thin-film disks in the market. It's headquartered in San Jose, California.

Komag Inc. (NASDAQ:KOMG) is a leading independent supplier of the thin-film disks used in hard disk drives. The firm combines U.S. research and development with Asian manufacturing operations to produce high-volume disks at competitive costs. Komag sells most of its products to drive makers Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX) and Western Digital (NYSE:WDC). They are ultimately used in computers, enterprise storage systems, digital video recorders, game boxes and consumer electronic storage systems.

The firm pleased investors last week, when it said it expects Q1 revenues to be "slightly above" the $255.9 million posted in the fourth quarter. That was better than the two to three percent decline it previously anticipated and topped the consensus Wall Street view of $250.1 million. Also, the Komag board approved a plan to buy back up to $200 million of the company's shares. The stock broke through 30-day and 50-day moving average resistance on the news and has since been defining a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Stocks frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with four "strong buys," six "buys," seven "holds" and two "sells." The KOMG P/E ratio (7.22), PEG ratio (0.60), Price to Sales ratio (1.14), Price to Book ratio (1.71), Price to Cash Flow ratio (4.50), Sales Growth rate (32.66%), Net Profit Margin (16.80%), Return on Assets (18.43%), Return on Investment (26.53%) and Return on Equity (30.86%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages.

The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 600 SmallCap Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $30.18 and $50.29. A stop-loss of $29.25 looks good here. Note that the firm is expected to report Q1 results in late April.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

Komag: Drive disks for the mass electronics market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.