MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman removed shares of Air France (NYSE: AKH) from its Conviction Buy List due to the increase in the price of fuel and the possibility of an economic slowdown.
  
• The firm also removed Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) from the list after the company suspended two studies of its anti-clotting drug. The company was also downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• UBS downgraded shares of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) to Neutral from Buy as it believes the company's exposure to problem asset classes will remain under pressure and possibly lead to further write-downs. UBS lowered its Q4 estimate to $1.12 from $1.18 and 2008 estimate to $7.00 from $7.85. Shares were also downgraded at Wachovia to Market Perform from Outperform. The firm sees increased risk to the MER story given expected pressure on compensation to keep people, speculation around turnover in senior ranks, and the ability to retain and motivate people. Additionally, the firm sees further risk to MER's exposure to ABS, CDOs and sub-prime asset declines.
  
• Rochdale downgraded shares of Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) to Hold from Buy citing lack of catalysts from the company's two-day analyst meeting.
  
• WestLB downgraded shares of GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) to Sell from Add to reflect the company's growth prospects in Q4 and 2008.

• Sirenza Microdevices (NASDAQ: SMDI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
  
• Piper Jaffray lowered its rating on Talbots (NYSE: TLB) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Bear Stearns downgraded Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) to Underperform from Peer Perform.

Analyst downgrades: AKH, LLY, MER, WMT and GSK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Websence (NASDAQ: WBSN) to Overweight from Underweight ahead of the renewal period starting in the December quarter and expects this momentum to drive shares higher.

• RF Micro Devices (NASDAQ: RFMD) was raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup, who said the Sirenza Microdevices (SMDI) deal gives the company its first real prospect for gross margin expansion in years.

• Matrix USA upgraded Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) to Buy from Sell, and expects the company to benefit from the Checkfree (CKFR) acquisition.

• Lehman upgraded shares of Qwest (NYSE: Q) to Overweight from Equal Weight, citing the hiring of industry veteran Ed Mueller as CEO. The firm believes the new CEO removes an overhang and could lead to a change in strategic direction and significantly increase capital spending.

• JP Morgan upgraded OSI Pharma (NASDAQ: OSIP) to Overweight from Underweight based on valuation and upcoming catalysts for Tarceva that should be seen in the next year...

• UBS upgraded Allstate (NYSE: ALL) to Neutral from Sell.

• ThinkEquity raised Hansen Medical (NASDAQ: HNSN) to Buy from Accumulate.

• Stanford upgraded Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) to Buy from Hold.

• FTN Midwest upgraded shares of Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) to Neutral from Sell.

• Hambrecht upgraded NetGear (NASDAQ: NTGR) to Buy from Hold.

Analyst upgrades: ALL, LXK, RFMD, Q and WBSN originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last December, over 100 stocks were featured in our Top Picks for 2007 report. Now, at mid-year, we turn to the 20 advisors whose picks showed the strongest gains to get an update on their previous picks, as well as a new favorite stock for the second half of the year.

Vahan Janjigian, editor of The Forbes Growth Investor, chose Sirenza Microdevices (NASDAQ: SMDI) as his top pick. Although the stock rose 35% as of June 1, 2007, the issue no longer meets the requirements of his quantitative model and has thus been dropped from his coverage.

His new top stock pick for the rest of 2007 is AT&T (NYSE: T). The advisor explains, "As measured by revenue, AT&T is the world's largest telecommunications company. It provides both wireline and wireless phone and data communications services.

"The company realized cost savings of $300 million in Q1 from the BellSouth acquisition. The November 2005 acquisition of SBC Communications yielded an additional $600 million in savings in Q1.

"Better-than-expected synergies have led management to increase the 2007 operating profit margin target to 23-24%. The Wireless segment added 1.2 million net new subscribers in Q1, bringing the total to 62.2 million. Average monthly revenue per user increased 1.4% year-over- year to $49.21 per month.

"Total churn improved to 1.7%, down from 1.9% in the prior year period and 1.8% in Q4. Churn for postpaid customers hit a record low of 1.3%. These improvements helped the Wireless segment expand its operating profit margin to 38.9%.

Continue reading Top 20 advisors: Vahan Janjigian dials up AT&T

Top 20 advisors: Vahan Janjigian dials up AT&T originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

Sirenza Microdevices (NASDAQ: SMDI) is the top speculative play for 2007 from quantitative analyst Vahan Janjigian. The editor of The Forbes Growth Investor says, "Sirenza designs and supplies radio frequency (RF) components for equipment used in the defense, aerospace, and homeland security markets. It also does business in the commercial communications and consumer markets.

"Broomfield, Colorado-based Sirenza was off to the races in 2006, gaining 193% from the first of the year until July 3. The drop that was to come, however, was swift and ugly, finally culminating four months later after the stock lost more than 48% of its value.

"The shares began to rally after the October 31 acquisition of Micro Linear Corp., a semiconductor company specializing in wireless integrated circuit (IC) solutions used in a variety of wireless applications. Five weeks after its November 2 bottom, the stock had rallied 30%, and I believe there's more to come on the upside.

"SMDI sports a lean PEG ratio of 0.75 and 14.8 times expected 2006 full year earnings of $0.61 per share. For the September quarter, revenue was up 130% over the same quarter in 2005, while earnings per share shot up 189%."

To see Vahan's favorite conservative stock for 2007, click here.

Top Picks 2007: Janjigian tunes into Sirenza's frequency originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 25 Dec 2006 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.