Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Abbott Lab (NYSE: ABT) to Hold from Sell on valuation following the stock's recent underperformance. The firm maintains a $48 price target.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Pepsi Bottling (NYSE: PBG) and Dr. Pepper Snapple (NYSE: DPS) to Buy from Hold as they believe carbonated soft drinks market is showing signs of stabilization. The firm raised its price target on Pepsi Bottling to $28 from $25 and on Dr. Pepper Snapple to $22 from $20.
  
• Baird upgraded CommScope (NYSE: CTV) to Outperform from Neutral and raised their target to $19 from $10 as they expect fundamentals to bottom in Q1 and ramp strongly in Q2 as wireless capex outlook improves.
• Sinopec Shanghai (NYSE: SHI) was raised to Buy from Sell at Goldman.
  
• TRW Automotive (NYSE: TRW) was upgraded at JP Morgan to Neutral from Underweight.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ABT, DPS, BDK, AMZN, GS ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ABT, DPS, BDK, AMZN, GS ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

World-class scientific instrument manufacturer and data monitoring company Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) was recently chosen to supply measuring instruments and data capture expertise to Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemicals Co. (ADR) (NYSE: SHI), China's largest producer and supplier of oil and petrochemical products.

Monetary details of the deal were not disclosed in the press release but Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has over $9 billion in annual revenue and serves more than 350,000 biotech companies, hospitals and various research institutions that capture and/or monitor data in real time.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has been involved in data collecting in the petrochemical industry for more than two decades. Its laboratory information management system (LMS) will be the standard for all data manipulation at Sinopec. Such standardization will enhance cost efficiencies, improve real-time data monitoring and reduce time to market. Thermo Fisher Scientific instruments and processes are already in use at multiple Sinopec laboratories in China.

Shares of both Thermo Fisher Scientific and Sinopec rose on the news. Thermo Fisher Scientific closed at $47.45, up $0.73, while shares of Sinopec were up $0.68 to close at $53.78.

In unrelated news, Thermo Fisher Scientific sold one of its divisions, Genevac, to Riverlake Equity Partners LP for an undisclosed sum. Genevac makes equipment used in pharmaceutical research.

Thermo Fisher Scientific sets standard for China originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.