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Analyst calls: SNV, BASFY, AKZOY, FUL, GA, WLT, AHD, OZM, HOG, MRK

Posted Nov 14th 2008 11:30AM by Laurie Pasternack (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Boeing Co (BA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Merck and Co (MRK), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Analyst Initiations, Garmin Ltd (GRMN)

Analyst upgrades:

Friedman Billings upgraded Synovus (NYSE: SNV) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation following the recent weakness. BASF (OTC: BASFY) and Akzo Nobel (OTC: AKZOY) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS on valuation and believes cash flows can cover the company's dividend.
JP Morgan upgraded H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL) to Overweight from Neutral citing benefits from lower raw material costs.
CA, Inc (NASDAQ: CA) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
Goldman removed Boeing (NYSE: BA) from the Conviction Sell List.
WABCO Holdings (NYSE: WBC) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc.

Analyst downgrades:

Oppenheimer downgraded Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) to Perform from Outperform following the company's Q3 results as they believe a recovery of revenue from ZT Online will take longer than expected.
Friedman Billings cut Walter Industries (NYSE: WLT) to Market Perform from Outperform as they believe the decline in steel demand will pressure met coal prices. The company's target was lowered to $30 from $53.
Citigroup downgraded shares of Atlas Pipeline (NYSE: AHD) Holdings to Sell from Hold as they believe the company could potentially be in violation of its debt covenants as early as Q1. The company's target was lowered to $4 from $31.
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
Dover (NYSE: DOV) and Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) were downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.

Analyst initiations:

Continue reading Analyst calls: SNV, BASFY, AKZOY, FUL, GA, WLT, AHD, OZM, HOG, MRK

Newspaper wrap-up: Hedge fund industry dominated by big firms

Posted Jun 17th 2008 8:00AM by Laurie Pasternack (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, , Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Goldman Sachs Group (GS)

MAJOR PAPERS:

The Wall Street Journal reported that after years of rapid grows, many hedge funds are shutting their doors or merging with others, as expansion has dramatically slowed. As a result, the industry is being dominated mostly by big firms, such as Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE: OZM), D.E. Shaw & Co., and Paulson and Co.
Shares of Ctrip.com International Ltd (NASDAQ: CTRP), China's major Internet travel booker with about 58% of the country's online travel business, have dropped about 30% in the last six weeks alone creating a possible buying opportunity, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard in Asia". Travel in China is expected to grow solidly in the long-term and Ctrip.com said it expects revenue to grow 30% for the three months ending June 30 from a year earlier.
In a move that could potentially usher in a new phase in the credit crunch, the Financial Times reported that The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) is said to be close to finalizing a plan to restructure a $7B investment vehicle formerly run by Cheyne Capital, a London-based hedge fund.

OTHER PAPERS:

The Washington Post reported the proposed merger between XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI) was under fire yesterday by senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who said the deal does not provide enough opportunities for minority-owned programming.

Och-Ziff Capital joins hedge fund IPO rush

Posted Jul 2nd 2007 1:17PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Private Equity, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), , Initial Public Offerings

Och-Ziff Capital, a hedge fund with $26.8 billion in assets, got its start 13 years ago. The founders include Daniel Och, a former operator at Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), and members of the Ziff family. Apparently, now it's time to take some money off the table, and Och-Ziff has filed to go public.

The goal of the fund: "Deliver consistent positive, risk-adjusted returns throughout market cycles, with a focus on risk management and capital preservation." However, if you look at the average returns for the past three years -- 12.2% -- you could have actually done just as well with an S&P 500 index fund (and not have had to pay the hefty fees or agree to lockups). But, hey, in the rarefied world of the wealthy, things don't always make much sense.

The lead underwriters include Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH). The proposed ticker is OZM, and the prospectus can be reviewed on the SEC Web site.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.