Continue reading Closing Bell: Big Blame Mucks Sentiment (AAPL, MELA, WMT, HD, PAA, AIB, HGSI)

Closing Bell: Big Blame Mucks Sentiment (AAPL, MELA, WMT, HD, PAA, AIB, HGSI) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• McAdams Wright expects Dendreon's (NASDAQ: DNDN) near-term momentum to continue but has long-term concerns that Street estimates are too high. The firm upgraded shares to Hold from Sell.
• JPMorgan upgraded Ameristar Casinos (NASDAQ: ASCA) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect valuation, potential catalysts from Colorado's easing gaming regulations, and the company's strong free cash flow. The firm raised its target on shares to $24 from $20.
• Citigroup upgraded Valspar (NYSE: VAL) to Hold from Sell after channel checks indicated paint demand is shifting to big-box retailers, the company's primary sales channel. The firm raised its target on shares to $22 from $19.
• Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
• Spectra Energy (NYSE: SEP) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ALU, BJ, CPB, KMX, PGR

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ALU, BJ, CPB, KMX, PGR originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Trina Solar, Adtran and Elan Corp were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Friedman Billings upgraded Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) to Market Perform from Underperform citing expectations for improved FCF following the company's announcement to discontinue its in-house poly manufacturing.
  
• Thomas Weisel believes Adtran (NASDAQ: ADTN) is in a multi-year transition where new products are able to offset continued declines in the legacy products. Shares were raised to Overweight from Market WEight, and also upgraded at Raymond James to Strong Buy from Outperform.
  
• Goldman upgraded shares of Elan Corp. (NYSE: ELN) to Buy from Neutral to reflect their outlook for Tysabri and Bapineuzumab.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Suntrust upgraded BOK Financial (NASDAQ: BOKF) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Plains All American (NYSE: PAA) was upgraded at Morgan Stanley to Overweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Morgan Keegan upgraded Diodes (NASDAQ: DIOD) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Analyst upgrades: Trina Solar, Adtran, Elan Corp. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Jefferies initiated shares of Melco PBL Entertainment (NASDAQ: MPEL) with a Buy rating and $21 target, as they believe the possibility of A-Max, a VIP junket consolidator, moving up to 10 junkets to the Crown Casino could lead to short-term gains and notes that MPEL is the only Macau pure play in the U.S. stock market.
  
• Jefferies also started shares of Helen of Troy (NASDAQ: HELE) with a Hold rating and $21 target, as they sees risks to near-term EPS from soft consumer demand and gross margin pressures.
  
• Credit Suisse expects LHC Group's (NASDAQ: LHCG) rural-focused strategy and joint venture partnerships to drive organic growth and started shares off with an Outperform rating and $26 target.
  
• Oriental Financial Group (NYSE: OFG) was initiated at B. Riley with a Neutral rating and $12.50 target. The firm does not expect significant multiple expansion from current levels given the slow Puerto Rican economy.

• JP Morgan initiated Eagle Rock Energy (NASDAQ: EROC), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP), MarkWest Energy Partners (NYSE: MWE) and Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE: PAA) with Neutral ratings.
  
• Bernstein initiated Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S), AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) with Market Perform ratings and targets of $21, $47 and $44, respectively.

Analyst initiations: MPEL, HELE, LHCG and OFG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.