BloggingStocks

Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: CTXS, DE, GPI, NTAP, VMI, XNPT ...

Eric Buscemi — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST

Analyst Upgrades

JPMorgan upgraded Deere (DE) to overweight from neutral and raised its target on shares to $65 from $52. JPMorgan believes the company's fundamentals are improving and sees signs of a recovery in forestry, turf and earth-moving equipment.
Piper Jaffray upgraded Valmont (VMI) to neutral from underweight on valuation following the company's Q4 results. The firm lowered its target price on shares to $70 from $74.
Soleil upgraded Group 1 Automotive (GPI) to buy from hold on valuation with a $36 price target. The firm believes negative news flow for Toyota has created an opportunity to accumulate shares.
Bernstein upgraded Deutsche Telekom (DT) to outperform from market perform.
Nucor (NUE) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
American Eagle (AEO) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.

Eric Buscemi — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:45:00 EST

Analyst upgrades:

Citigroup upgraded shares of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q4 results as they believe fundamentals are stabilizing. The firm raised their target price to $22 from $12.
Baird upgraded Theravance (NASDAQ: THRX) to Outperform from Neutral. The firm said the company looks poised to realize the two-product success necessary to drive profitability, and Horizon will likely play a role in succeeding $7B+ Advair. Note that last night Theravance/Glaxo (GSK) reported positive results for Horizon.
RBC Capital said Aeterna Zentaris (NASDAQ: AEZS) is on the cusp of a Cetrorelix deal and has turned more positive on shares. Shares were upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform.
Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and added to the firm's Conviction Buy List.
Sangamo BioSciences (NASDAQ: SGMO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merriman.
Arthur J. Gallagher (NYSE: AJG) was upgraded at Piper Jaffray to Buy from Neutral.

Eric Buscemi — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:36:00 EST

MOST NOTEWORTHY: NuVasive, Buffalo Wild Wings and Invesco were today's noteworthy initiations:

Merriman believes NuVasive's (NASDAQ:NUVA) expanding product and distribution should continue to drive growth and feels the recent pullback provides a good entry point into shares. Merriman started NuVasive with a Buy rating.
Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) was initiated at Jefferies with a Hold rating and $30 target as they believe consensus estimates are aggressive and that shares are approaching fair valuation.
William Blair believes Invesco's (NYSE:IVZ) investment capabilities and diversified client base are key differentiators that will drive superior relative growth over the long term; shares were assumed with an Outperform rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

Baird initiated XenoPort (NASDAQ:XNPT) with an Outperform rating and $74 target.
KeyBanc assumed Felcor Lodging (NYSE:FCH) with a Buy rating and $14 target.
Trimble Navigation (NASDAQ:TRMB) was initiated at Thomas Weisel with a Market Weight rating and $30 target.