Analyst Upgrades

• Expedia (EXPE) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Weatherford (WFT) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• MDC Holdings (MDC) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• AutoNavi (AMAP) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Ciena (CIEN) and Nvidia (NVDA) to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Canadian Pacific (CP) to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
• First Midwest (FMBI) and Quiksilver (ZQK) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Sonic (SONC) to neutral from negative at Susquehanna.
• MIPS Technologies (MIPS) to buy from hold at Benchmark Co.
• Arrow Electronics (ARW) and Avnet (AVT) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ANF, BBBY, CIEN, CP, EXPE, ICE, NVDA, QCOM, SONC ...

Analyst Calls: ANF, BBBY, CIEN, CP, EXPE, ICE, NVDA, QCOM, SONC ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Piper Jaffray upgraded Dreamworks (DWA) to overweight from neutral following the company's Q2 results. The firm also raised its target for shares to $38 from $30.
• Stephens upgraded Global Payments (GPN) with a $50 price target following the company's Q4 results. Note, shares were downgraded this morning at Janney Montgomery.
• BMO Capital upgraded Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) to outperform from market perform, citing the company's planned exploration activity. The firm raised its price target to $27 from $23.
• eHealth (EHTH) was upgraded to perform from underperform at Oppenheimer and to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• NASDAQ OMX (NDAQ) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• C.H. Robinson (CHRW) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ACL, CLR, COF, CRZO, DWA, GPN, MOTR, NDAQ, OMI, ONE ...

Analyst Calls: ACL, CLR, COF, CRZO, DWA, GPN, MOTR, NDAQ, OMI, ONE ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• FBR upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to reflect strong channel checks over the Black Friday weekend. The firm raised its target on shares to $46 from $39.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Safeway (SWY), citing improvements in pricing.
• Baird upgraded US Bancorp (USB) based on valuation. The firm raised its target price to $29 from $25.
• HSBC Holdings (HBC) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Genzyme (GENZ) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Deere (DE) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ANF, BIDU, DE, FCX, HBC, SWY, USB ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ANF, BIDU, DE, FCX, HBC, SWY, USB ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Jefferies upgraded Home Depot (NYSE: HD) to Buy from Hold as they expect significant multiple expansion as earnings revisions start to bottom out and the market starts to factor in a recovery. The firm raised its price target to $24 from $18-$20.
  
• Goldman upgraded HSBC (NYSE: HBC) to Neutral from Sell and removed the stock from their Asia Pacific Sell List given the company's plans to stop making new loans at its U.S. unit.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Ensco International (NYSE: ESV) to Hold from Sell on valuation as it believes weakening shallow water demand is priced into shares at current levels. The firm raised its target price to $32 from $30.
• Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) was lifted to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: HD, HBC, GS, MS, BAC, JPM, C ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: HD, HBC, GS, MS, BAC, JPM, C ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded shares of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent weakness and expects positive seasonality in the second half of 2008.
  
• Gilat Satellite (NASDAQ: GILT) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair on valuation.
• Cott Corp (NYSE: COT) was raised at UBS to Neutral from Sell.
  
• EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein.
  
• Integra LifeSciencues (NASDAQ: IART) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus.

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) to Hold from Buy on HDD inventory concerns and share loss at Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) after checks indicated MRVL likely lost the design for the RIM Javelin to Freescale. The firm lowered their target to $15 from $22.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Integrated Device (NASDAQ: IDTI) to Perform from Outperform as they believe the upcoming Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) server memory transition will pressure shares for several quarters.
  
• Broadpoint downgraded shares of Healthaways (NASDAQ: HWAY) to Neutral from Buy as they see few near-term catalysts.

Continue reading Analyst calls: CRM, COT, EOG, MRVL, MNST, COMV, V

Analyst calls: CRM, COT, EOG, MRVL, MNST, COMV, V originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• In a deal that values Global Ship Lease at about $500M, the Wall Street Journal reported that Marathon Acquisition Corp. (AMEX: MAQ) is expected to acquire a majority stake, or 66%, in the firm that acquires and charters vessels to container shipping companies.
• Activist investors are moving in on Circuit City Stores Inc (NYSE: CC), which is expected to result in a change of management as the company's turnaround efforts have failed and many investors have jumped ship, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street".

• JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) was in talks last night about raising its bid for The Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE: BSC) by 500% in order to appease angry Bear shareholders who have vowed to fight the deal, the New York Times reported.

• The mining industry is consolidating, Business Week noted, and investment pro Richard Steinberg, sees Anglo American Plc (NASDAQ: AAUK) as a possible takeover target due to its sizable deposits of platinum and ferrous and nonferrous metals.
• Perfect World Co Ltd (NASDAQ: PWRD), a big player in China for online gaming, has seen its share price shoot up to $37 in October, up from $16 back in July, Business Week reported, and then slide back down to $21.90, attracting investors again.
• Business Week reported that investors are flocking to overseas investments and opportunities as they have become spooked by Bear Stearns' collapse, and the prospect of a protracted U.S. financial crisis or recession. John Maloney, president of M&R Capital Management says it makes sense to put money in non-U.S. investments, particularly in Liberty Global Inc (NASDAQ: LBTYA), a major cable company.

Newspaper wrap-up: JPMorgan in talks to increase offer for Bear originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Liberty Global Inc's (NASDAQ: LBTYA) John Malone may bid on Virgin Media Inc (NASDAQ: VMED), the UK's biggest cable company, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• The controlling shareholders of Dow Jones & Company Inc (NYSE: DJ) -- the Bancrofts -- are still debating whether or not to accept Rupert Murdoch's New Corporation's (NYSE: NWS) $5B offer to buy the company, and the debate is still too close to call, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• Even a nine cents a drink price hike may not help Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) slumping share price, down about 20% this year, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• Dutch bank ABN Amro Holdings NV's (NYSE: ABN) boards today refused to endorse either of two competing bids for the bank, effectively taking a neutral position on the issue, reported the Financial Times.

• Theme park operator Cedar Fair Entertainment (NYSE: FUN) has reportedly entered into quick- moving negotiations with investment firm Destiny Capital Solutions about a $4.1B takeover of the theme park operator, reported the New York Post.
  

Newspaper wrap-up 7-30-07: Cedar Fair in takeover talks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Seeking to put some of our capital back to work, today we're going to step up and purchase shares of DirecTV (NYSE: DTV)," says Bill Martin.

In his FindProfit newsletter, he explains, "We believe that investors are beginning to realize that the competitive worries for satellite are overdone. In fact, satellite has actually picked up market share over the past year.

Via technology upgrades and strategic partnerships, he notes that DTV is poised to accelerate its competitive edge in the high-definition TV marketplace, while increasing the penetration of a variety of product 'add-ons,' such as high-definition boxes, DVRs, etc., that should boost margins.

He suggests, "As John Malone has done at other entities where he has significant influence such as Liberty Capital (NASDAQ: LCAPA), Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA), Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE), and IAC\Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI), we expect DTV to move to buy-in significant amounts of stock over the coming year as it re-levers its balance sheet."

Continue reading Tune in to DirectTV

Tune in to DirectTV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. ADS (NASDAQ:ACTS) was the only noteworthy initiation today. Shares of the fabless semiconductor company were started with an Outperform rating and $10 target at Pacific Crest. The firm believes Actions is a cheap way to play the world's largest MP3-controller vendor.

• Lazard started Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMU) with a Buy rating and $6 target.
• SuperValu, Inc. (NYSE:SVU) was initiated at Morgan Stanley with an Equal Weight rating.
• CIBC started Cameco Corp. (NYSE:CCJ) with a Sector Outpeformer rating, with expectations for uranium demand to stay robust.
• HSBC Holdings initiated shares of Liberty Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:LBTYA) with an Overweight rating.
• AG Edwards initiated Spectra Energy Corp. (NYSE:SE) with a Hold rating.

Analyst initiations 2-20-07: Actions Semi started with Outperform originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.