MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Buckingham Research downgraded Kohl's Corp (NYSE: KSS) to Neutral from Strong Buy as they believe December will mark the third month of sales deceleration. They believe comps will get tougher going forward.

• Telik Inc (NASDAQ: TELK) was downgraded by UBS to Neutral from Buy with a $5 target, by Thomas Weisel to Underweight from Market Weight, and to Hold from Strong Buy at Needham based on the disappointing Phase II Assist data.

• Matrix USA downgraded Central Parking (NYSE: CPC) to Sell from Buy based on valuation.

Analyst downgrades 12-27-06: Kohl's downgraded to Neutral originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 27 Dec 2006 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Telik Inc's (NASDAQ: TELK) January option implied volatility collapsed after disappointing data. Telik was recently down $11.47 to $4.79. TELK Phase 3 trails related to its cancer drug Telcyta (treatment for non-small cell lung cancer & ovarian cancer) "did not achieve statistically significant improvement in overall survival." JANY & STFL downgraded Telik to sell. Telik's January option implied volatility was at 85, according to Track Data, below a level of 215 from last week, suggesting decreasing risk.
  

• Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) January 55 calls were active on 6,163 contracts as Lilly rallies. Eli Lilly recently rallied .43 to $51.77, after a Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. ruled its 2011 Zyprexa patent was valid. Lilly faced pressure last week on documents leaked to the NY Times indicating Zryprexa (schizophrenia treatment) had understated weight gain and diabetes risk. Lilly's Zyprexa accounts for approximately 25% of Lilly's sales & 50% of its EPS. Lilly's January option implied volatility of 19 was near its 26-week average of 19, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risks.
  

• U.S. Bancorp's (NYSE: USB) calls active on company going ex-dividend on 12/27/06. USB goes ex-dividend on 12/27/06, paying a dividend of .40 cents. USB total intra-day call option volume was heavy on over 962,946 contracts, according to Track Data. Heavy call volume was attributable to traders hoping to take advantage of option exercises, call pricing discrepancies and low option transaction commission fees.
  

Daily option update 12-26: Markets up in light trading originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• The travel commerce company, Sabre Holdings (NYSE: TSG), was downgraded to Sell from Buy at Soleil Securities after they agreed to be bought by Texas Pacific and Silver Lake Partners, two private equity firms, for ~$5 billion.

• Telik Inc. (NASDAQ: TELK) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at Stifel following the disappointing ASSIST data.

• Movado Group (NASDAQ: MOV) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Matrix USA, citing valuation.

Analyst downgrades 12-26-06: Sabre Holdings, Telik & Movado all to sell originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Dec 2006 12:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.