On Tuesday, investors drove call option implied volatility levels higher in the Mortgage Investment industry, and drove put option implied volatility levels higher in the Rental & Leasing Services industry.

Bullish Volatility Skews:

Capstead Mortgage Corp. (CMO)---part of the Mortgage Investment industry---came in at the top with a volatility skew of 1.24. This may come as a surprise as CMO is down -2.22 percent for the past month.

Continue reading Bullish and Bearish Volatility Skews: CMO, SDXC, TDY, RCII, COLM, PZZA

Bullish and Bearish Volatility Skews: CMO, SDXC, TDY, RCII, COLM, PZZA originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) to Buy from Neutral and raised their target to $22 from $16 citing the renegotiated royalty agreement with Samsung.
• Goldman also upgraded Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) to Buy from Sell and raised their target to $27 from $11 citing strong operating leverage as RevPAR recovers.
• KeyBanc upgraded Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) to Hold from Underweight citing a recent improvement in freight demand.
• J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) was upgraded to buy from Underperform at Banc of America/Merrill.
• Savvis (NASDAQ: SVVS) was raised to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was upgraded at Citigroup to Buy from Hold.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: SNDK, HOT, CAT, HOG, ANF, ERTS ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: SNDK, HOT, CAT, HOG, ANF, ERTS ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 May 2009 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Citigroup upgraded Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) to Hold from Sell to reflect improving macro indicators and a belief negative earnings revisions are unlikely going forward. The firm raised its target price to $37 from $28.
  
• Royal Bank of Scotland upgraded Siemens (NYSE: SI) to Buy from Hold on expectations the company will benefit from an economic recovery.
  
• Banc of America/Merril upgraded State Street (NYSE: STT) to Buy from Neutral and raised their price target to $50 from $40 following stress test results that show the company does not need additional capital. The analyst said the news "clears one of the bars on capital concerns."
  
• Teradata (NYSE: TDC) was raised to Market Weight from Underweight at Thomas Weisel.
  
• Target (NYSE: TGT) was lifted to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
  
• Diageo (NYSE: DEO) was upgraded at UBS to Neutral from Sell.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: STT, TGT, PEP, V, WMT ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: STT, TGT, PEP, V, WMT ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 May 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cramer's SELL BLOCK on recent IPO picks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.