Analyst Upgrades

• Exxon Mobil (XOM), Netflix (NFLX), Noble Corp. (NE), Pioneer Natural (PXD) and Noble Energy (NBL) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Cenovus Energy (CVE) to conviction buy from neutral and Atwood Oceanics (ATW) to neutral from sell at Goldman as well.
• Southern Company (SO) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Chevron (CVX) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Ryder (R), Entergy (ETR) and Seaspan (SSW) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Gerdau (GGB), Crown Castle (CCI) and American Tower (AMT) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Aon (AON) and Willis Group (WSH) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Ryland Group (RYL) to buy from neutral at Ticonderoga.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AON, CVX, HBI, MUR, NBL, NFLX, NVDA, SO, XOM ...

Analyst Calls: AON, CVX, HBI, MUR, NBL, NFLX, NVDA, SO, XOM ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Our recommendations center on a collection of five stocks that we believe, as a group, will outperform the market this month. The Buyback Premium Portfolio is beating the S&P 500 by more than 65% since its inception (August 2, 2000)! This portfolio is up 54.48% since inception (August 2, 2000) vs. a decline of 10.56% in the S&P 500 over the same time frame. We hope that you are participating in these profits. For the month of January 2011, The Buyback Premium Portfolio gained 1.18% vs. a gain of 2.27% in the S&P 500.

Continue reading David Fried's Buyback Premium Portfolio: Mid-Month Update

David Fried's Buyback Premium Portfolio: Mid-Month Update originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Ryder (R) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• HCP (HCP) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Hertz Global (HTZ) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Lincoln National (LNC) to buy from neutral and T. Rowe Price (TROW) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Protective Life (PL) and Janus Capital (JNS) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Newell Rubbermaid (NWL) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• National Instruments (NATI) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Team Health (TMH) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: BBT, BBY, EV, GDP, HTZ, JNS, LZB, NWL, R, TMK, TROW ...

Analyst Calls: BBT, BBY, EV, GDP, HTZ, JNS, LZB, NWL, R, TMK, TROW ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: GFI Group, Wells Fargo and Cirrus Logic were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Goldman downgraded GFI Group Inc (NASDAQ: GFIG) to Neutral from Buy following the company's announcement that credit chief, Donal Fewer, left the company to go to a rival firm and that about two dozen brokers may defect to follow him.
• Oppenheimer cut Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) to Underperform from Perform as they believe the company is under-reserved by at least $4.5B and that there is significant room for multiple contraction.
• Cirrus Logic Inc (NASDAQ: CRUS) was downgraded at Jefferies to Hold from Buy on valuation, as they believe the risk/reward is no longer favorable at current levels.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Baird cut Ryder System Inc (NYSE: R) to Neutral from Outperform.
• Caterpillar Incorporated (NYSE: CAT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia and to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
• Goldman removed Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) from its Conviction Buy List.

Analyst downgrades: GFI Group, Wells Fargo, Cirrus Logic originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ryder System agrees to buy Gator Leasing

Ryder System agrees to buy Gator Leasing originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ryder System (R) puts earnings forecast in reverse originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• WestLB upgraded shares of DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX) to Buy from Add after the company raised the profit margin forecast for its Mercedes unit.

• Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) was upgraded by Piper Jaffray to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's strong revenue momentum and expanding margins.

• Wedbush upgraded Convergys (NYSE: CVG) to Hold from Sell on valuation.

• Citigroup raised shares of Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) to Buy from Hold on valuation...

• Bear Stearns upgraded shares of Ryder System (NYSE: R) to Outperform from Underperform.

• Lehman raised EnCana Corp (NYSE: ECA) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• USG Corp (NYSE: USG) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Buckingham.

• Morgan Keegan upgraded shares of Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• Citigroup raised Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE: CFR) to Hold from Sell.

Analyst upgrades 7-26-07: BIDU, DCX, EXPE and USG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cigarettes can kill you, or at least assist in the project. But, in the interest of equal attention I must mention that french fries, alcohol, stress, and overexertion can assist in killing you also. Perhaps now this blog post needs a rating of X. In the ever-present mind-set of those who are paid to protect you from the bad choices you can make that might harm you, the Motion Picture Association of America has again taken up the daunting task of sculpting artistic creation to better fit within its own concepts of what you need protection from. This time the MPAA wishes to include certain smoking scenes as criteria for an "R" movie rating.

As a smoker I haven't minded being relegated to the status of second-class citizen while being summarily tossed to the street in the interest of protecting others from my habit. In fact, I don't even smoke in my own home because I don't want to expose my daughter to secondhand smoke. It's my habit, it's dangerous and I have no right to expose anyone else to the stuff. I do however find it disconcerting that a regulatory agency wishes to take it upon itself to demonize approximately 30% of the American population by declaring that our nicotine addiction is unfit for general public viewing. Excuse me please but I'm a human being too you know, and 90 percent of the nonsmokers I know have no problem with my habit as long as I do not force them to inhale my smoke.

So here's my answer to the MPAA's declaration that as smokers we are evil people who need to be labeled so that parents may protect their children from looking at us:

The American Medical Association has determined that obesity is at least as detrimental to the public health as smoking is. In fact, a majority of health studies make clear that people who are overweight face greater health risks in a shorter time span than even the heaviest smokers do. Obesity places a greater burden on health care resources than tobacco does, and being chronically overweight exposes one to more vast and varied health concerns than smoking ever will. Additionally, excessive consumption of calories assists in depriving the rest of the world from adequate nutritional sustenance. Therefore, it is my solemn duty to inform the MPAA that being overweight is a life choice that poses greater risks to society than smoking does, and I demand that it does something about it. Never mind the fact that probably two-thirds of its own board meet the criteria for being chronically overweight. MPAA owes it to society to protect us from the dangers of being overweight, and it should restrict the viewership of motion pictures that display obese people.

Now stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

This smoking blog post rated R originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 12 May 2007 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.