Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Lennar (NYSE: LEN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company's near-term liquidity profile is improved following the $400M debt issuance. The firm raised its target price to $12 from $11.
• Jefferies upgraded Rowan Companies (NYSE: RDC) to Buy from Hold as it believes jack-up drillers will continue to outperform deepwater names. The firm raised its target price to $27 from $20.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded First Financial (NASDAQ: FFIN) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect more positive loan data for the Texas banks. The firm raised its target price on shares to $44 from $38.
• MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
• Brinker (NYSE: EAT) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: LEN, RDC, FFIN, SII, AN, ACHN, UA, LULU, JST

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: LEN, RDC, FFIN, SII, AN, ACHN, UA, LULU, JST originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 May 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: O'Reilly Automotive, Corning and Lincoln National were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• William Blair downgraded O'Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY) to Market Perform from Outperform following weak Q1 results, citing the potential for further downward EPS revisions.
  
• Thomas Weisel downgraded Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) to Market Weight from Overweight citing balanced risk/reward given the backdrop of a maturing LCD penetration and generational upgrade cycle, and the challenging environment.
  
• Wachovia downgraded Lincoln National Corp. (NYSE: LNC) to Market Perform from Outperform as they believe the weak Q1 market weakness will impact profitability.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Smith International (NYSE: SII) was cut to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  
• Delphi Financial (NYSE: DFG) was downgraded at Friedman Billings to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• CIBC downgraded Biovail (NYSE: BVF) to Sector Performer from Sector Outperformer.

Analyst downgrades: O'Reilly Automotive, Corning, Lincoln National originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Smith International, Cerner and Coach were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded Smith International (NYSE: SII) to Overweight from Neutral citing better risk/reward vs. group, and upside to estimates from Latin America drilling and its deepwater rig fleet. Note that Oppenheimer downgraded shares of SII based on valuation.
  
• Jefferies believes Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) in-line results and solid domestic bookings could alleviate the pressure on shares. Shares were raised to Buy from Hold.
  
• Shares of Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) were raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup, citing sales stabilization and compelling valuation.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Medco Health (NYSE: MHS) was upgraded at Oppenheimer to Outperform from Perform.
  
• ThinkPanmure raised VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) to Buy from Accumulate.
  
• SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette.

Analyst upgrades: Coach, Cerner, Smith International originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.