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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (APSG, MT, ARBA, ARMH, ATW, CEDC, CIEN, CRUS, FNGN, GMCR, MEE, PSA, SNDK, SOLF, TER)

Administrator — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:19:39 +0000

These are some of this Monday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

Applied Signal Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: APSG) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Ariba Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQL: ARMH) Started as Sell at Societe Generale.
Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE: ATW) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Central European Distribution Corp. (NASDAQ: CEDC) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Financial Engines, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNGN) Started as Buy at Needham.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Massey Energy Co. (NYSE: MEE) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) Raised to Buy at UBS.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Teradyne Inc. (NYSE: TER) Raised to Buy at Citi.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: APSG, ARBA, ARMH, ATW, CEDC, CIEN, CRUS, FNGN, GMCR, MEE, MT, PSA, SNDK, SOLF, TER

Rumor: Is There a Second Leaking Well in the Gulf? (DO, BP, RIG, NE, ATW, BHI)

247wallst — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:34:08 +0000

Satellite imagery has revealed what appears to be a second leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico about 10 miles offshore of Louisiana. The semi-submersible Ocean Saratoga, owned by Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) and operated on behalf of privately held Taylor Energy. The discharge was noted in satellite photos of the area, as seen in this photo from the European Envisat satellite.

The photo also shows the massive slick coming BP plc’s (NYSE: BP) leaking Macondo well as it approaches the Louisiana Coast. The second discharge appears to be small, and was first noticed by Skytruth.org. So far, Diamond Offshore has not commented on the apparent leak, nor has Taylor Energy.

The discharge was noted as a leak by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration in a map published on April 30th. The well is reportedly being sealed and abandoned. Federal officials have not responded to questions about the size of the leak, how long it has flowed, or whether it can be plugged.

Whether or not this second discharge is a leaking well, this is not good news for the drillers. Goldman Sachs today downgraded Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG), Noble Corp. (NYSE: NE), Atwood Oceanics Inc. (NYSE: ATW), and Diamond Offshore due to the six-month offshore drilling moratorium. FBR also cut ratings on Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Noble, and Diamond Offshore. Goldman also predicted that investors should expect “limited activity” offshore until 2012.

No federal officials have said anything about this possible second leak except that they know it’s been reported. That is not a sufficient response.

Can it be that federal agencies have “gone native” and identify more with the companies they are supposed to regulate than with the citizens they are supposed to serve? The president promised more than that, and he should find some people who will help him deliver on that promise. So far, the federal response to the BP spill and to this possible second leak has lacked both leadership and commitment. That has got to change.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Oil & Gas Tagged: ATW, BHI, BP, NE, RIG

Implications of Major S&P Component Changes (MJN, MBI, V, CIEN, CLF, DYN, KBH, GMCR, BTH, CHP, CVG, ROST, CLF, SNH, ATW, DY, KELYA, ELY)

247wallst — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:24:05 +0000

Standard & Poor’s often makes S&P index changes for the S&P 500, the S&P Mid-Cap 400 and the S&P Small Cap 600 at the end of the year. This probably is not going to be the last component shuffling before the end of the year, but this is likely to create some action in several very active stocks. Some of the big changes announced Friday evening were Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (NYSE: MJN), MBIA Corp. (NYSE: MBI), Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF), Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN), KB Home Inc. (NYSE: KBH) and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR).

Some of these changes will only have minor buy and sell effects from S&P index mutual funds and ETFs, but some will see significant changes.

Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (NYSE: MJN) will replace MBIA Corp. (NYSE: MBI) in the S&P 500, after Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) is splitting off its approximately 83% holdings in Mead Johnson Nutrition. MBIA currently ranks 500th in the index and is no longer representative of the S&P 500 index market cap space. That is called the MBIA boot.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) will replace Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) in the S&P 500. Ciena will move down an index rather than be booted entirely as it will replace Blyth Inc. (NYSE: BTH) in the S&P MidCap 400, and Blyth will replace C&D Technologies Inc. (NYSE: CHP) in the S&P SmallCap 600. C&D was the smallest component of the S&P SmallCap 600, and is now too small for even the small-cap index.

S&P MidCap 400 components Ross Stores Inc. (NASD:ROST), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLF) and SAIC Inc. (NYSE:SAI) will move up an index to replace Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN), KB Home Inc. (NYSE:KBH) and Convergys Corp. (NYSE:CVG) in the S&P 500 Index. Dynegy, KB Home and Convergys will move down an index and will replace Ross Stores, Cliffs Natural Resources and SAIC in the S&P MidCap 400 index.

S&P SmallCap 600 components Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAD: GMCR) and Atwood Oceanics Inc. (NYSE: ATW) will move up an index to replace Dycom Industries Inc.(NYSE: DY), Kelly Services Inc. (NASDAQ: KELYA) and Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY) in the S&P MidCap 400. Dycom, Kelly Services and Callaway Golf will move down an index rather than being eliminated and will replace Senior Housing Properties, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Atwood Oceanics in the S&P SmallCap 600 index.

As most of these are index moves, they tend to have less of a formal impact on the stocks. The big move will be Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V), which will now get to finally join the S&P 500. Its market cap varies from every source: $63.28 billion at Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance is $68.65 billion, and Bloomberg is at $60.4 billion. Shares rose over 3.3% in the after-hours session to $84.10 after closing down 1.2% at $81.34 versus a 52-week trading range of $41.78 to $83.40. We will have to make some calculations on Monday, but this will represent a significant buy-in trade for funds that track the S&P500 that will have to buy million of Visa shares.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Financial Stocks, Index, Mutual Funds Tagged: ATW, BTH, CHP, CIEN, CLF, CVG, DY, DYN, ELY, GMCR, KBH, KELYA, MBI, MJN, ROST, SNH, V

Top Oil & Gas Analyst Calls (December 18, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:05:39 +0000

These are the top analyst research noted that 247WallSt.com has seen in the oil, gas, and energy sector early this morning:

Approach Resources (AREX) started as Overweight at J.P.Morgan.
Atwood Oceanics (ATW) raised to Buy at Banc of America.
Cal Drive (DVR) started as Buy at Banc of America.
Diamond Offshore (DO) started as Buy at Banc of America.
Ensco (ESV) started as Neutral at Banc of America.
Grant Prideco (GRP) downgraded to Hold at Citigroup.
Gulfmark Offshore (GLF) raised to Buy at Banc of America.
Hornbeck Offshore (HOS) started as Buy at Banc of America.
Noble Energy (NE) started as Buy at Banc of America.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Pride International (PDE) started as neutral at Banc of America.
Transocean (RIG) started as Buy at Banc of America; Jim Cramer also noted this one as being one of his top 5-year stocks with earnings visibility.

Jon C. Ogg
December 18, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he produces the SPECIAL SITUATION newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.