vmed posts
FeedPosted Jan 22nd 2009 11:44AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Best Buy (BBY), Kellogg Co (K), Hershey Co (HSY), Activision Inc (ATVI), Analyst initiations, SanDisk Corp (SNDK)
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Analyst upgrades:
- Thomas Weisel upgraded SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) to Market Weight from Underweight. Thomas Weisel said they are less negative on the outlook for memory industry dynamics but they do expect SanDisk shares to be range bound.
- Citigroup upgraded shares of Hershey (NYSE:HSY) to Buy from Hold as they believe Hershey is benefiting from increased advertising spending and the consumer trade-down to less expensive chocolate. The firm maintains a $39 target on the stock.
- Deutsche Bank upgraded Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) to Buy from Holdas they believe the company will be a beneficiary from the Circuit City liquidation.
- Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
- Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) and Virgin Media (NASDAQ:VMED) were raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
- NewMarket (NYSE:NEU) was upgraded at KeyBanc to Buy from Hold.
Analyst downgrades:
- Citigroup downgraded Kellogg (NYSE:K) to Hold from Buy as they believe the company's U.S. trends are decelerating and that FX trends will have a negative impact. The firm lowered their target price to $47 from $58.
- Jefferies downgraded Cerner (NASDAQ:CERN) to Hold from Buy following Eclipsys' (NASDAQ:ECLP) negative pre-announcement as they believe both companies are suffering from a downturn in hospital spending. Jefferies lowered their target on Cerner to $38 from $51.
- Oppenheimer cut Amdocs (DOX) to Perform from Outperform following the weak Q1 results citing lack of near-term catalysts and the macroeconomic slowdown.
- Eclipsys (NASDAQ:ECLP)was downgraded to Underperform from Buy at Jefferies and to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray.
- PetSmart (NASDAQ:PETM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
- Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) was lowered to Underperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
Analyst initiations:
- Wunderlich initiated Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) with a Buy rating and $30 target and believes the company should enjoy sustainable pricing leverage following the merger with Waste Management.
- RBC Capital initiated Elan Corp (NYSE:ELN) with an Underperform rating and $4 target based on Tysabri uncertainty, bapineuzumab clinical risk, MS competition, and debt overhang.
- Oppenheimer expects Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) to become an aggressive acquirer of financially distressed biotech companies with the completion of the acquisition of Pharmacopeia. Shares were assumed with an Outperform rating and $5 target.
- Zebra Tech (NASDAQ:ZBRA) was initiated with a Neutral rating and $25 target at JP Morgan.
- Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) was reinitiated at Friedman Billings with an Outperform rating and $14 target.
- Ameren (NYSE:AEE) was assumed with a Hold rating at Jesup & Lamont.
Posted Apr 14th 2008 9:10AM by Laurie Pasternack (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Citigroup Inc. (C), ,
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MAJOR PAPERS:
- Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) could announce a capital infusion of several billion dollars from outside investors as early as Monday, people familiar with the matter said. While final terms of the deal are still being worked on, the Wall Street Journal reported that the bank is expected to receive between $6B-$7B, in return the investor group would receive shares priced at roughly $23-$24 per share.
- According to people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) is seeking to sell as much as $20B in debt to a 'collection of investors,' which include private-equity firms.
OTHER PAPERS:
Posted Apr 10th 2008 11:05AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Pfizer (PFE)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Patterson Companies, Virgin Media and MannKind were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- Patterson (NASDAQ:PDCO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Baird, as the firm's checks indicate industry fundamentals have softened and it sees greater near-term risk for dental consumables than dental equipment.
- Virgin Media (NASDAQ:VMED) was cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies as they believe the company's results could be under pressure given the continued competitive activity and potential weakening of the UK economy.
- Piper downgraded shares of MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) to Neutral from Buy and lowered their target to $1.50 after Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) discontinued inhaled insulin Exubera due to an increase in lung cancer cases.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- Lehman cut Cheniere Energy (LNG) to Equal Weight from Overweight.
- Pantry (PTRY) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings.
- JP Morgan lowered Watsco (WSO) to Neutral from Overweight.
Posted Jul 13th 2007 9:10AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, General Electric (GE), Morgan Stanley (MS), Zoltek Co (ZOLT)
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MAJOR PAPERS:
- General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) has hired Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to find a buyer for its WMC Mortgage subprime mortgage unit, signaling its exit from the mortgage business, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
- GE's CNBC cable business news channel and the Financial Times Group are in discussions to share resources and shore up their Web business, reported the Wall Street Journal.
- VeriSign Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN), which oversees dot-com and dot-net domain names registry, has recorded an additional $160M in compensation expenses related to stock option grants made between 1998 and 2006, causing the CFO to resign, reported the Wall Street Journal.
- The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Virgin Media Inc (NASDAQ: VMED) has hired financial services company UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) yesterday to pursue strategic buyers.
OTHER PAPERS:
- From BusinessWeek's "Inside Wall Street" column:
Posted Jun 1st 2007 11:25AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Dell (DELL), Cintas Corp (CTAS), RadioShack Corp (RSH)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Labopharm (DDSS), Dell (DELL) and Nasdaq (NDAQ) were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- Labopharm Inc. (NASDAQ: DDSS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch and to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink Swann after the 2nd approval letter from the FDA said Tramadol did not show efficacy. CIBC World Markets downgraded shares of Labopharm to Sector Performer from Outperformer and at Canaccord Adams to Sell from Hold.
- Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch, which recommended investors take profits following the strong earnings reports. The firm does not believe the drivers behind the earnings upside are sustainable. Dell was also downgraded at Morgan Stanley, to Equal Weight from Overweight, based on valuation.
- The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman, as the firm believes the stock is range-bound for the next several months following the OMX acquisition announcement.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- Robert W Baird downgraded shares of DiamondRock Co. (NYSE: DRH) and Chesapeake Utilities Corp. (NYSE: CPK) to Neutral from Outperform on valuation.
- Bear Stearns downgraded shares of Emmis Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: EMMS) to Underperform from Peer Perform, as the firm does not believe the CEO will make another bid to take the company private.
- Matrix USA downgraded shares of Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) to Hold from Buy.
- Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) Underweight from Equal Weight, citing growth concerns, and downgraded shares of Virgin Media Inc. (NASDAQ: VMED) to Equal Weight from Overweight, citing higher customer churn and weaker pricing power.
- Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) to Neutral from Buy.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).Posted May 21st 2007 9:20AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Internet, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA), salesforce.com inc (CRM),
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MAJOR PAPERS:
OTHER PAPERS:
- The U.K. Times reported that Warner Music Group Corporation (NYSE: WMG) is expected to offer EMI Group (OTC: EMIPY) a "£100 million sweetener" to try and keep the company from accepting an offer from private equity.
- According to The Observer, Royal Bank of Scotland (OTC: RBSPY), along with its partners Fortis and Banco Santander Central Hispano (NYSE: STD), hope to "table" a £47 billion offer for ABN Amro Holdings (NYSE: ABN) this week.
- The Observer reported that a private equity consortium is considering a $15 billion offer for Virgin Media Inc (NASDAQ: VMED).
- Cadbury Schweppes ADS (NYSE: CSG) is planning to return £5 billion to shareholders through a special dividend or share buyback, according to The Observer.
- The Sunday Telegraph reported that UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) will offer to buy out the pension schemes of some of the leading FTSE100 companies next week.
- Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) may be looking to acquire British social networking site Bebo, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
- The Bollywood film producer, Eros International, is expected to announce a partnership with Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited's (NASDAQ: TEVA) Copaxone will face generic competition for the first time, but will not see an impact immediately, Ha'aretz reported.
WEBSITES:
- The Orange County Register blog looked at a transcript from IndyMac Bancorp Inc's (NYSE: IMB) first quarter conference call, where the CEO Michael Perry said: "When you see that delinquency number in the press of 13% subprime delinquencies, it's hugely understated. It is absolutely hugely understated. And the prime delinquencies are overstated. The subprime delinquencies are more like 18, 20, 22% delinquencies and that's where I think you're going to see the problems."
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