MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• ING Group upgraded shares of BT Group (NYSE: BT) to Hold from Sell to reflect the company's more stable revenue trend and improving cash flow generation.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Luminent Mortgage Capital (NYSE: LUM) to Hold from Sell, as they believe the company's portfolio is beginning to stabilize and its liquidity has improved.
  
• Goldman upgraded Cognos Inc (NASDAQ: COGN) to Buy from Neutral following its Q2 report.
  
• Thor Industries (NYSE: THO) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital Markets. The firm's checks indicate strengthening backlog and lower promotional spending.
  
• Roth Capital believes Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI) is about to enter a growth phase with Paul Bisaro at the helm and is positive on Silodosin potential. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Hold.

• Bank of the Ozarks (NASDAQ: OZRK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley.
  
• Bear upgraded Harman International (NYSE: HAR) to Outperform from Market Perform.
  
• Goldman upgraded Packagaing Corporation (NYSE: PKG) and Smurfit-Stone Container (NASDAQ: SSCC) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Friedman Billings raised Conseco Inc (NYSE: CNO) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades: BT, LUM, COGN, THO and WPI originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Bernstein upgraded Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Outperform from Market Perform, citing margins on 3rd party transactions that are close to eBay's (EBAY) and that the overseas merchants initiative will increase 3rd party units to 25% of sales. The move is expected to increase operating margins to 6.2% by 2011, above the previously expected improvement of 4.6% by the same time.

• JMP Securities said Luminent Mortgage's (NYSE: LUM) $64.9M emergency financing from Arco Capital may preserve some value for shareholders, and upgraded shares to Market Underperform from Sell.

• JP Morgan added Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) to its Focus List, and expects the Wild Oats (NASDAQ: OATS) acquisition to be a catalyst for shares.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) to Hold from Sell.

• Matrix USA raised Pediatrix Medical (NYSE: PDX) to Buy from Hold, citing valuation...

• AGL Resources (NYSE: ATG) and Atmos Energy (NYSE: ATO) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Calyon.

• Rowan Co (NYSE: RDC) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.

• Goldman raised O'Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY) to Buy from Neutral.

• BMO Capital upgraded General Mills (NYSE: GIS) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades 8-27-07: AMZN, GIS and WFMI originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Luminent Mortgage (NYSE: LUM) was downgraded by a host of firms following suspension of its dividend and 10Q filing delay:
  
• UBS cut shares to Sell from Neutral.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Luminent to Sell from Buy.
  
• Friedman Billings and JMP Securities downgraded shares to Underperform from Market Perform. Keefe Bruyette downgraded Luminent to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Morgan Stanley downgraded JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) to Underweight from Equal Weight based on expected competition from Virgin American and their stretched balance sheet.

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) to Sell from Hold telling accounts it does not believe REIT taxable earnings will be able to support the dividend.

• Deutsche Bank and UBS cut shares of Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY) to Sell from Neutral after the company lowered its earnings forecast and the CEO resigned...

• Thomas Weisel downgraded F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) to Market Weight from Overweight.

• AG Edwards cut Nuveen Investments (NYSE: JNC) to Sell from Hold.

• Pali Capital downgraded Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) to Neutral from Buy.

• Matrix USA downgraded PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG) to Buy from Strong Buy.

• Wachovia cut U-Store It Trust (NYSE: YSI) to Underperform from Market Perform.

Analyst downgrades 8-07-07: CLWR, FFIV, JBLU and LUM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Cowen downgraded Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) to Neutral from Outperform based on limited long-term limited visibility.

• JP Morgan downgraded shares of Luminent Mortgage (NYSE: LUM) to Underweight from Neutral citing difficult CMO and CDO market conditions.

• JP Morgan downgraded CheckFree (NASDAQ: CKFR) to Neutral from Overweight following the company's acquisition by FiServ (FISV).

• Matrix cut shares of EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) to Sell from Buy to reflect lower natural gas prices and increasing costs.

• Matrix believes soft demand for athletic shoes is leading to declining sales for K-Swiss (NASDAQ: KSWS), and cut shares to Sell from Buy...

• JMP Securities downgraded CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE) to Outperform from Strong Buy.

• Oppenheimer has turned negative on oil and gas names for the near-term, as they now believe the downside risk exceeds upside potential; they cut shares of Apache Corp (NYSE; APA), BP PLC (NYSE: BP), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), among others, to Neutral from Buy.

Analyst downgrades: BP, COP, CVX, WYE and XOM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 10:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Bernstein started Celgene Corp (NASDAQ: CELG) with an Outperform rating and $62 target. The firm believes Revlimid can achieve the company's global sales of more than $3.2B by 2012 and feels the recent low $50's is an excellent share entry point.

• JP Morgan initiated Luminent Mortgage Capital (NYSE: LUM) with an Overweight rating based on valuation.

• First Albany initiated CNET Networks inc (NASDAQ: CNET) with a Buy rating and $10 target, citing valuation.

• RBC initiated Multi-Fineline Electronix, Inc (NASDAQ: MFLX) with an Outperform rating and $23 target.

• Jefferies started Packeteer, Inc (NASDAQ: PKTR) with a Buy rating and $18.50 target on valuation.

• Jefferies also initiated Riverbed Technology, Inc (NASDAQ: RVBD) with a Hold rating and $28 target.

• UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) was started with a Buy rating and $79 target at Bank of America.

• Matrix USA initiated Transocean Inc (NYSE: RIG) with a Buy rating.

• Wedbush initiated both eFunds Corp (NYSE: EFD) and NCR Corp (NYSE: NCR) with Buy ratings.

Analyst initiations 3-13-07: Celgene, CNET Networks & Transocean initiated today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.