• Lehman downgraded the airline sector to Neutral from Positive, citing higher fuel costs and the weakening economy. AirTran (NYSE: AAI) and U.S. Airways (NYSE: LCC) were downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight. UBS said it can no longer recommend airline stocks due to weakening economy, high fuel prices, and less likely industry consolidation. The firm downgraded Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL), Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) and U.S. Airways to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Goldman removed shares of Siemens (NYSE: SI) from their Conviction Buy List as they believe the company may book additional charges of $1.2B this year.
  
• Jefferies cut Internap (NASDAQ: INAP) to Underperform from Buy as they believe the 10-K filing delay and revenue quality questions reduce visibility into the health of the business.

• Wachovia lowered Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• SI International (NASDAQ: SINT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Cowen.
  
• Citigroup cut Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades: Airline stocks, SI and INAP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• ThinkEquity started Kenexa Corp (NASDAQ: KNXA) with an Accumulate rating, citing the company's attractive business model that can deliver high-value, high-margin content, but questions the company's plans to compete with best-of-breed vendors.

• Banc of America initiated CACI International (NYSE: CAI) with a Neutral, citing the challenging budget environment and margin trends.

• Banc of America believes shares of SI International (NASDAQ: SINT) offers a compelling risk/reward given the improving civilian funding environment and upside potential from recent M&A activity, and assumed coverage with a Buy rating and $38 target.

• Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL) was started with a Hold rating at Deutsche Bank, citing risks to the company's potential turnaround.

• Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) was re-initiated with an Outperform rating at Friedman Billings on valuation and considers any stock price weakness from the increased costs as a buy opportunity.

• Banc of America assumed the following Government IT Services companies with Buy ratings: SRA International (NYSE: SRX) and SI International.

• Banc of America assumed the following Government IT Services companies with Neutral ratings: CACI International, MTC Technologies (NASDAQ: MTCT), SAIC (NYSE: SAI), and ManTech International Corp (NASDAQ: MANT).

Analyst initiations 7-03-07: CAI, MANT and YUM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• IBM Corp (NYSE: IBM) was cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman to reflect the slowdown in domestic technology spending. Credit Suisse downgraded shares of IBM Corp to Neutral from Outperform and ThinkEquity cut IBM to Accumulate from Buy on the same rationale.

• Wendy's International (NYSE: WEN) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wachovia, citing valuation.

• Needham downgraded Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to Hold from Buy on valuation and the firm's belief that the 2H07 acceleration implied in consensus revenue forecasts could be difficult to exceed given the recent slowdown in display ad growth.

• WR Hambrecht downgraded shares of Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) to Hold from Buy as the firm believes there could be more downside to forward estimates given the aggressive pricing and softer demand environment. The firm sees too many industry risks following Seagate Technology's (STX) earnings conference call.

• Keefe Bruyette cut TD AmeriTrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Raymond James and BMO Capital downgraded U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) to Market Perform from Outperform following its Q1 report.

• First Albany downgraded Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc (NASDAQ: JOSB) to Sell from Neutral.

• ThinkEquity cut Evergreen Solar, Inc (NASDAQ: ESLR) to Source of Funds from Accumulate on valuation.

• Matrix USA downgraded SI International, Inc (NASDAQ: SINT) to Sell from Neutral.

• Goldman Sachs cut Intervac, Inc (NASDAQ: IVAC) to Sell from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades 4-18-07: AMTD, IBM, WEN & YHOO downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.