MOST NOTEWORTHY: Acergy, Casey's General and Corinthian Colleges were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Citigroup downgraded shares of Acergy (NASDAQ: ACGY) to Sell from Hold as they see risk to the company's backlog and believes the recent share rally is not supported by business operations.
Casey's General (NASDAQ: CASY) was downgraded at Friedman Billings to Underperform from Market Perform citing headwinds that include weak gas comps.
Banc of America downgraded shares of Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) to Neutral from Buy as they believe the post-legislation lending overhang will limit further share upside until COCO can show its students can access federal funds with minimal disruption.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Bernstein cut EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) to Market Perform from Outperform.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: GlaxoSmithKline, Equinix and Convergys were today's noteworthy initiations:
Societe Generale believes consensus estimates are underestimating the quality of GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE: GSK) base business. The firm started shares with a Buy rating.
Merriman believes Equinix's (NASDAQ: EQIX) data center footprint leaves it highly exposed to changing market dynamics, including virtualization, and initiated shares with a Neutral rating. They see limited upside over the next 12 months.
Convergys (NYSE: CVG) was reinstated with a Hold rating and $19 target at Kaufman Bros, as they are not confident in the company's 2008 new signings outlook and is concerned that the current restructuring and headcount cuts will prove disruptive over the medium term.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) was initiated with a Buy rating and $360 target at UBS.
Wachovia resumed coverage of News Corp (NYSE: NWS) with a Market Perform rating.
Baird initiated Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) with a Neutral rating.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH), RF Micro Devices Inc (RFMD), UTi Worldwide Inc (UTIW) and Viacom B (VIA, VIA.B) were some of today's more notable downgrades:
UBS cut UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE: UNH) to Neutral from Buy citing moderating fundamentals in commercial performance and large government exposure that will make it difficult for the company to outperform its peer group.
Jefferies downgraded RF Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: RFMD) to Hold from Buy with a $7 target as the firm believes the company's June guidance signals a slow down of second-half fundamentals.
Stephens cut UTi Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ: UTIW) to Equal Weight from Overweight based on ongoing cost issues.
Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Sanders Morris to reflect weak ad growth at MTV, digital revenues that the firm believes are a displacement rather than accretive to the revenue base and the lawsuit against Google's (GOOG) YouTube, which the firm feels is the wrong call.
Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Maguire Properties, Inc (NYSE: MPG) to Market Perform from Outperform citing the fallout from subprime-exposed office space.
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MOST NOTEWORTHY: Acergy, Casey's General and Corinthian Colleges were today's noteworthy downgrades:.gif){kind=logo}
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