Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of UBS (NYSE: UBS) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q3 update as they believe the quarter marks a turning point.
• Merill raised BP Plc (NYSE: BP) and Total SA (NYSE: TOT) to Neutral from Underperform.
• DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) was lifted to Hold from Sell at Soleil.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV) to Market Perform from Underperform as they believe the company's deposits are showing stability despite the massive sell-off.
  
• Kaufman Bros. raised Longtop Financial (NYSE: LFT) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they believe Chinese software service stocks now reflect the investment risks.
• Lear (NYSE: LEA) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.

• Morgan Stanley downgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing checks that indicate deteriorating trends are worst than expected.
  
• Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR) and Pediatrix Medical (NYSE: PDX) were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
  
• Merrill cut StatoilHydro (NYSE: STO) to Underperform from Neutral.
  
• HSBC (NYSE: HBC) was lowered to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette.

Continue reading Analyst calls: UBS, BP, TOT, DISH, EBAY, JNPR, HBC, HBAN ...

Analyst calls: UBS, BP, TOT, DISH, EBAY, JNPR, HBC, HBAN ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Jefferies initiated shares of Staples Inc (NASDAQ: SPLS) with a Hold rating and $22-$24 target. The firm finds the current valuation fair given the increased risk of excess store growth in the industry, increased promotional activity and deceleration of employment growth.
  
• Jefferies expects shares of Office Depot Inc (NYSE: ODP) to trade sideways given the company's accelerating store growth, greater promotional activity and execution issues. The firm resumed coverage with a Hold rating and $22-$24 target.
  
• Soleil started shares of GlobalSCAPE Inc (AMEX: GSB) with a Buy rating and $12 target, as they believe the company has the opportunity to grow revenues around 35%-40% annually and is an attractive acquisition candidate for suitors who address the corporate networking infrastructure marketplace.
  
• Cytrx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR) was initiated with a Buy rating and $6 target at Oppenheimer, as they are optimistic regarding the market potential of arimoclomol in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and sees several catalysts approaching over the next 12-18 months.

• Deutsche Bank started shares of Alliance Imaging Inc (NYSE: AIQ) and Pediatrix Medical Group Inc (NYSE: PDX) with Hold ratings and target of $10.50 and $70, respectively.
  
• Credit Suisse started shares of Accenture Ltd (NYSE: ACN), Genpact Limited (NYSE: G) and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSH) with Outperform ratings and targets of $50, $20 and $53, respectively.

Analyst initiations: SPLS, ODP, GSB and CYTR originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Church remakes itself in the image of Starbucks: God and coffee DO mix

Church remakes itself in the image of Starbucks: God and coffee DO mix originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:54:00 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:

• Wedbush initiated XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: XMSR) with a Hold rating and $15 target, expecting a few tough quarters due to market share loss.
• Wedbush also initiated shares of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI) with a Buy rating and $5 target. The firm believes Q4 subscriber tallies suggest market share gains to over 60% in retail channels.
• Pediatrix Medical (NYSE: PDX) was initiated with a Top Pick rating and $60 target at RBC. The firm believes Pediatrix could experience accelerating growth over the next several years due to adding anesthesiology to its core newborn franchise.

• Rochdale initiated Maxwell Tech Inc (NASDAQ: MXWL) with a Buy rating and $20 target.
• AG Edwards started Genentech Inc (NYSE: DNA) with a Hold rating, as the firm believes shares are fairly valued.
• Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc (NASDAQ: TRMP) was started with a Buy rating at Goldman Sachs.
• Deutsche Bank initiated Ariba Inc (NASDAQ: ARBA) with a Buy rating and $12 target.
• Alcatel-Lucent ADS (NYSE: ALU) was initiated with a Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.

Analyst initiations 2-08-07: Sirius & XM Satellite initiated at Wedbush originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In my hometown of Portland, Ore., Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is seen as the interloper, even though the company's headquarters are only a few hours' drive away. Starbucks gets none of the important descriptors. It's not "local." It's not "independent." And it's very, very not "hippie."

Coffee People, on the other hand, has historically received all of those storied monikers. Founded in 1970s as a booth in Eugene, Oregon's Saturday Market (oh you have never known hippy until you've known the Eugene Saturday Market), the owners burst in the coffeeshop scene in 1983 with a store in the very center of hippy Portland hip-ville, NW 23rd Avenue. When I was a teenager, Coffee People was a mecca of caffeine and I, too, sipped Black Tiger milkshakes (full of ground-up chocolate-covered coffee beans) and munched on Hippie Cookies.

In 1999, Diedrich Coffee Inc. bought Coffee People and the hippiness slowly began to drain away. Quality diminished and the chains lost much of their verve. On Thursday, Starbucks announced it had purchased every last one of the Coffee People retail stores, 40 total and 15 in Portland, for $13.5 million. Deidrich is exiting the company-owned retail business entirely, but will retain the Coffee People brand names, including Black Tiger espresso, its Gloria Jean's Coffee brand, and the franchising arm of 168 retail locations.

As it has with so many other acquisitions, Starbucks plans to conduct rapid-fire conversion, keeping all 40 locations open even though it will mean a bit of cannibalization in some neighborhoods. Coffee People stores will be converted to Starbucks in a few months' time and the hippieness will be lost forever. Good thing Coffee People founder Jim Roberts is still hippy-happening at the little Jim & Patty's Coffee in NE Portland. Will Starbucks soon own every single chain coffee store in the U.S.? It seems not a bit unlikely. And the very antithesis of hippie.

Starbucks buys Coffee People stores, hippies mourn originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Sep 2006 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.