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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AET, AMR, ADM, MT, BG, CINF, COH, EXPE, FAST, HGSI, NSIT, JNPR, KMB, PCLN, RYL, LCC, SAFM, WAG)

Administrator — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:11:21 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Tuesday morning.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Started as Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) Cut to UNderperform at BNP Paribas.
Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) STarted as Overweight at Barclays.
Cincinnati Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: CINF) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Started as Buy at Brean Murray.
Insight Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: NSIT) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) Raised to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) Started as Outperform with $720 target at Credit Suisse.
Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Sanderson Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ: SAFM) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADM, AET, AMR, BG, CINF, COH, EXPE, FAST, HGSI, JNPR, KMB, LCC, MT, NSIT, PCLN, RYL, SAFM, WAG

Midwest Floods & Fifth Third Hit Cincinnati Financial (CINF, FITB)

247wallst — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:43:10 +0000

Cincinnati Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: CINF) issued its preliminary 2008 guidance after yesterday’s close. Based upon its insurance target market, you probably already know it is one of the stocks that has been a victim of the Midwest flooding. Recent reports put 16% of Iowa’s crops out for the year, and that is one of its target markets.

Based on current and lower market values of common stock holdings, the company noted that its book value at June 30 could be at least 10% under the $33.40 book value reported for March 31, 2008.

To make matters worse, Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) is the company’s largest common stock holding and it has been cut in more than half since March 31. That alone will contribute about $3.00 to the decline in book value.

The company gave its preliminary estimates, but the problem with this metric is that it is through June 12 and many claims will have been filed since then. Its catastrophe losses for Q2 are already $115 million. The combined ratio saw a hit of 15%, compared with 5.6% of catastrophe losses reported in the first quarter. The company further noted that Q1 was even above normal storm activity. To compares this to last year, its Q2-2007 catastrophe losses were atypically low at $11 million and 1.4%, while Q2-2006 catastrophe losses were $64 million and 8.0%.

The company expects a record level of catastrophe losses for the first six months of 2008 and it believe catastrophe losses net of reinsurance could contribute as much as 9 percentage points to its full-year 2008 combined ratio. This will be an all-time high according to its projections.

If you think it is all gloom and doom, don’t. Shares are actually back up in positive territory after opening down today. Shares are up 1% at $28.89, and the 52-week trading range is $27.51 to $45.04.

Jon C. Ogg
June 20, 2008