MOST NOTEWORTHY: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, YRC Worldwide and Syniverse were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Soleil upgraded shares of Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to Buy from Hold on improving fundamentals, as they believe the economic stimulus package should drive consumer demand in 2H08.
Stephens upgraded shares of YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) to Overweight from Underweight as they believe management is making meaningful changes.
Syniverse (NYSE: SVR) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan. The firm upgraded shares based on accelerating organic growth from consumer wireless data usage.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Deutsche Bank upgraded NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) to Buy from Hold.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Microsoft, IPC The Hospitalist Co and DuPont were today's noteworthy initiations:
Jefferies believes Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) bid for Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and more conciliatory tone towards regulators signals a shift in strategy from defense to offense. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $33 target.
Wachovia believes IPC The Hospitalist (NASDAQ: IPCM) is well-positioned to gain share in the fragmented hospitalist market given its experienced management team, operating history, and proven track-record; shares were initiated with an Outperform rating at Wachovia and with an Outperform rating and $27 target at Credit Suisse.
DuPont (NYSE: DD) was initiated with an Outperform rating and $57 target at Credit Suisse, as they believe the company's number two seed position in North America looks secure.
Morgan Stanley initiated Liberty Entertainment (NASDAQ: LMDIA) with an Overweight rating; shares were also initiated with an Outperform rating at Wachovia.
Credit Suisse added shares of Elan Corp (NYSE: ELN) to its Focus List and started shares with an Outperform rating.
The choppy/consolidating (or perhaps worse) market conditions sometimes give the impression that growth plays do not exist, but that is not the case, and one growth company worth reviewing is Vasco Data Security. (Note: Vasco is only for investors who can tolerate high-risk.)
Analysts like Vasco's security tokens, handheld devices, and related software used for authenticating a person's identity to computer networks. VACMAN Controller serves the banking and e-commerce markets, while VACMAN Middleware provides user authentication to existing Radius based environments.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Certain banks, VASCO Data Security and Bankrate were today's noteworthy downgrades:
UBS downgraded shares of Discover (NYSE: DFS) and Capital One (NYSE: COF) to Sell from Neutral and American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Sell from Buy, as they believe a U.S.-led recession will lead to increased credit losses.
Jefferies downgraded shares of VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI) to Hold from Buy to reflect the company's exposure to the financial services market, as they believe 2008 will be a tough year for small companies selling into tightening IT budgets.
Merriman lowered its rating on Bankrate (NASDAQ: RATE) to Neutral from Buy on valuation, as they believe the stock is pricing in upside from strong website traffic seen in January driven by refinance activity and Fed rate cuts. Citigroup downgraded shares to Hold from Buy on valuation, as they find the risk/reward less compelling at current levels.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
JP Morgan removed SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) from its Top 3 Picks List.
Goldman downgraded CSK Auto (NYSE: CAO) to Neutral from Buy and removed Google (GOOG) from its Conviction Buy List.
Baird lowered Comerica (NYSE: CMA) to Neutral from Outperform.
Each quarter brings a new batch of earnings plays, so which ones should you trade?
I've had my fair share of successful calls, but I've also been burned badly before. One time, I put in a solid week's worth of research (pdf) to pick Vasco Data Systems (NASDAQ: VDSI) right before earnings, and what happened, they totally blew it. A 30% drop. It still stings. This is just the latest reminder that you can't trust companies, analysts or really anyone on Wall Street.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) all had very solid quarters, but where did it get investors? Nowhere -- all three stocks are flat since then.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cephalon, Activision and VASCO Data Security were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Friedman Billings upgraded Cephalon (NASDAQ:CEPH) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the market opportunity for Treanda in indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is not fully appreciated by investors.
Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman following the Vivendi deal.
ThinkEquity upgraded VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ:VDSI) to Buy from Source of Funds and believes risk in shares is reflected in current valuation.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Schawk (NYSE:SGK) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: NYMEX, Imperial Chemical, Qualcomm and Infineon were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Citigroup upgraded shares of NYMEX (NYSE: NMX) to Buy from Hold following the recent share weakness, as they believe record high oil will bring a period of extended energy volatility. Citigroup also believes NMX is the most likely takeover candidate among U.S. exchanges.
JP Morgan raised its rating on Imperial Chemical (OTC: ICIYY) to Neutral from Overweight, as they believe the deal with Akzo Nobel (OTC: AKZOY) will go through and is positive for shareholders.
JP Morgan also raised Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect the strong outlook for the QCT chip business as well as Qualcomm's product pipeline.
Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Infineon (NYSE: IFX) to Buy from Neutral on valuation, as they believe the current share price factors in no value for the company's 77.5% stake in Qimonda (NYSE: QI).
OTHER UPGRADES:
Citigroup upgraded the bank sector to Overweight from Market Weight.
UBS upgraded Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) to Neutral from Sell.
Credit Suisse upgraded VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI) to Outperform from Market Perform.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Omnicare, Masco, Smart Modular and VASCO Data Security were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Matrix downgraded shares of Omnicare (NYSE: OCR) to Hold from Buy to reflect the company's very weak performance and higher than average risk.
Merrill Lynch downgraded Masco Corp (NYSE: MAS) to Sell from Neutral to reflect expectations for a decline in U.S. housing starts and remodeling in 2008. The broker recommends swapping into Texas Industries (NYSE: TXI).
Smart Modular (NASDAQ: SMOD) was downgraded to Market Outperform from Strong Buy at JMP Securities following the Q4 pre-announcement.
VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings on valuation.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
KMG America (NYSE: KMA) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings on valuation.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sanofi-Aventis (SNY), Dow Jones & Co (DJ) and AutoDesk, Inc (ADSK) were today's more notable downgrades:
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was downloaded from a multitude of companies after a U.S. FDA panel rejected the company's Zimulti weight-loss pill because the medicine was linked to suicides:
To Hold from Buy at Societe Generale
To Neutral from Outperform at BNP Paribas
To Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan and HSBC
To Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch
To Sell from Hold at ABN Amro
Elsewhere, UBS cut Dow Jones & Co Inc (NYSE: DJ) to Reduce from Neutral as they believe there is no guarantee the controlling Bancroft family will accept News Corp's (NYSE: NWS) offer; they think another bid is unlikely given NWS's aggressive bid and cautions that shares could drop back to mid $30 range if the bid is not accepted.
Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ: ADSK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman on valuation.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: The more noteworthy companies initiated today were ValueClick, Inc (VCLK), Delta Air Lines, Inc (DAL), 24/7 Real Media, Inc (TFSM), Knology, Inc (KNOL) and Allos Therapeutics, Inc (ALTH):
Banc of America believes ValueClick Inc (NASDAQ: VCLK) is well-positioned for continued strong secular online ad growth and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $35 target.
Lehman is positive on Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) valuation and earnings growth, starting shares with an Overweight rating and $26.50 target.
Banc of America believes 24/7 Real Media's (NASDAQ: TFSM) valuation is full at current levels and started shares with a Neutral rating and $12 target.
RBC believes shares of Knology (NASDAQ: KNOL) are fairly-valued and would wait for a pullback, initiating shares with a Sector Perform rating.
ThinkEquity started Allos Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ALTH) with a Buy rating and expects significant news flow data on PDX in 2007-2008. In addition, the firm expects to hear an update on enrollment from the PROPEL study, which could be ahead of expectations, and Phase I data in NSCLC in the fall...
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Goldman resumed coverage with Mylan Laboratories (NYSE: MYL) and Exco Resources, Inc (XCO) with Neutral ratings.
Merrill Lynch resumed coverage of News Corp (NYSE: NWS) with a Buy rating.
Lehman started Input/Output, Inc (NYSE: IO) With an Overweight rating and $18 target.
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MOST NOTEWORTHY: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, YRC Worldwide and Syniverse were today's noteworthy upgrades:.gif){kind=logo}
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