MOST NOTEWORTHY: Applied Materials (AMAT), Southern Union (SUG), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), Lamar (LAMR) and Trump Entertainment (TRMP) led the noteworthy upgrade list today:
- UBS upgraded shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) to Buy from Neutral as they expect the company to benefit from increased capital spending by Rexchip, the joint venture of Elpida and Powerchip. After speaking to contacts, UBS believes shipments to Rexchip will total around $640M in 2007.
- Credit Suisse upgraded shares of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to Outperform from Neutral on improved earnings visibility and the potential for incremental cost savings.
- SMH Capital upgraded shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR) to Buy from Neutral after the conference call indicated the run rate for digital deployment is increasing, while capex per board is declining. The firm thinks the Street may be overlooking the potential for significant earnings acceleration into 2008.
OTHER UPGRADES:
- Raymond James raised Steak n Shake (NYSE: SNS) to Market Perform from Underperform.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).
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MOST NOTEWORTHY: U.S. Auto Parts, DealerTrack and AspenBio Pharma were today's noteworthy downgrades:
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