• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) to Overweight from Neutral as they believe the company's market share gains in the e-commerce sector will continue and that new product lines are adding diversification of revenue streams.
  
• Wachovia upgraded Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) to Outperform from Market Perform citing new market launches that should drive subscriber growth and reduced ARPU deterioration.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Pride International (NYSE:PDE) to Buy from Hold as they believe investors will view the stock as a pure deepwater play beginning in Q2.
• PDL BioPharma (NASDAQ:PDLI) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
  
• Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Altera (NYSE:ALTR) was upgraded at Wachovia to Outperform from Market Perform.

• Keefe Bruyette downgraded Southside Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBSI), Prosperity Bancshares (NASDAQ:PRSP), Cullen/Frost (NYSE:CFR) and BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) to Underperform from Market Perform on valuation and the weakening economic outlook in the Southwest.
  
• Oppenheimer cut Varian Medial (NYSE:VAR) to Perform from Outperform as they believe U.S. hospitals could reduce capital spending budgets by 15%-25% in 2009.
  
• Dress Barn (NASDAQ:DBRN) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at SunTrust based on valuation and lack of near-term catalysts.
• JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) was downgraded at Jesup & Lamont to Hold from Buy.
  
• Credit Suisse cut Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS) to Underperform from Neutral.
  
• Helen of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

• Merriman initiated Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ:CPST) with a Neutral rating and finds the stock fairly valued at current levels.
  
• Leerink sees a high likelihood that Momenta's (NASDAQ:MNTA) lead product candidates M-Enoxaparin and M-356 clear regulatory and legal hurdles. The firm has an Outperform rating and $16 fair value estimate on shares.
  
• NCI (NASDAQ:NCIT) was initiated with a Market Perform rating at Wachovia based on valuation.
• Teradyne (NYSE:TER) was assumed at Barclays with an Overweight rating and $6 target.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AMZN, LEAP, BBY, BANF, JBLU originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

NCI, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCIT) is an information technology firm, providing engineering and professional services to U.S. federal government agencies. Company expertise involves enterprise systems management, network engineering, legacy migration, information assurance, systems integration, logistics and training. NCI employs 2,200, at nearly 100 locations worldwide.

The firm pleased investors late last month, when it reported Q1 EPS of 27 cents and revenues of $91.5 million. Analysts had been looking for 26 cents and $87.9 million. Total backlog passed the $1 billion mark. Management also guided Q2 EPS to 27-29 cents (27 cent consensus), Q2 revenues to $92-$96 million ($90.85M consensus), FY08 EPS to $1.14-$1.22 ($1.13 consensus) and FY08 revenues to $385-$395 million ($372.16M consensus).

Continue reading NCI, Inc. (NCIT): Shares cycling in positive trading channel

NCI, Inc. (NCIT): Shares cycling in positive trading channel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 May 2008 12:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.