24/7 Wall St. » CLF

Cliffs Become Dividend Lesson of Coal & Mining (CLF)

Administrator — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:48:58 +0000

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) has remembered a trick that other companies often use to try to bolster confidence amidst a share price confusion…. It is increasing the shareholder dividend.

Cliffs decided that it would focus on more of a greater shareholder return rather than aggressive growth efforts. To foster that shareholder return, the dividend was raised by more than 100% to $0.625 per share per quarter from a prior $0.28 rate.

The new $2.50 annualized rate, coming to $350 million in total payments to holders, compares to Thomson Reuters estimates of $9.66 EPS for all of 2012 and compares to $11.65 EPS projected for all of 2013. The new dividend yield comes to 3.6% even after the 7% gain to $69.50 today. The 52-week trading range is $47.31 to $102.48.

Another consideration is that there is $521.6 million in cash and another $526.6 million in long-term investments. Before getting too aggressive on thinking that a payout of more than 25% can go to 50%, keep in mind that Cliffs has long-term debt burden of $3.6 billion and its total liabilities are $8.75 billion.

The coal and mining sector might want to pay attention to Cliffs today, particularly considering how those other stocks have performed of late.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Commodities, Dividend, Metals Tagged: CLF

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACOR, MT, BBBY, CHK, CLF, CMCSA, DELL, EMN, EPD, LEAP, PBR, RL, VLO, WYNN, ZNGA)

Administrator — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:09:29 +0000

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

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACOR) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) Reiterated Buy with $70 target at Argus.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) Cut to Buy from Strong Buy at S&P Capital IQ.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) Reiterated Buy and target set at $61 by Argus.
Leap Wireless International (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Neutral at Collins Stewart.
Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras, Cut to Equalweight at Barclays.
Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) Raised to Buy with $202 target at Argus.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Reiterated Outperform with $145 target at Credit Suisse.
Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) named as Aggressive Growth stock of the day at Zacks.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: ACOR, BBBY, CHK, CLF, CMCSA, DELL, EMN, EPD, LEAP, MT, PBR, RL, VLO, WYNN, ZNGA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALL, T, BBY, CELG, CLF, EQY, HIG, JCP, JNPR, KIM, PGR, SD, SYNA, UA, VPRT, ZOLL)

Administrator — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:27:24 +0000

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

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Reinstated as Neutral with $30 price target at Credit Suisse.
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) Started as Outperform with $32 target at Credit Suisse.
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) Cut to Hold on Valuation at Argus.
Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Equity One Inc. (NYSE: EQY) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray; Maintained as Buy but raised price target to $49 at Argus.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE: KIM) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
The Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) Started as Underperform at William Blair.
Sandridge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA) Raised to Buy at Needham; Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Reiterated as Buy with $102 price target at Canaccord Genuity.
Vistaprint NV (NASDAQ: VPRT) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
ZOLL Medical Corporation (NASDAQ: ZOLL) maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: ALL, BBY, CELG, CLF, EQY, HIG, JCP, JNPR, KIM, PGR, SD, SYNA, T, UA, VPRT, ZOLL

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (LULU, CLF, DPZ, WNR, SINA, GES, BIG, ZUMZ, RY, BNS, YRCWD, WDC, RIMM, THC, JASO)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:12:02 +0000

Stocks got off to a good start this morning following the Labor Department’s report on non-farm payrolls, up slightly less than expected at 120,000 new jobs, and an unexpected drop in US unemployment from 9% to 8.6%. Also supporting prices this morning was news that the European Central Bank would lend 100-200 million euros to the IMF to hand out to debtor nations in the Eurozone. Gains peaked in the early morning and have remained up only modestly since about noon. The dollar strengthened against both the euro and the yen, keeping gains for both crude oil and gold at under 1%. Crude oil is trading at $100.83/barrel and gold is trading at $1,747.10/ounce just before today’s close.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down less than 1 point to 12,019.42 (-0.01%), the NASDAQ rose less than 1 point (0.03%) to 2,626.93, and the S&P 500 fell 0.02% or less than 1 point to 1,244.28. Folks, that’s flat!

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) raised to ‘buy’ at KeyBanc. Other ratings action Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) started as ‘hold’ at KeyBanc; Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Sina Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; and Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading:
Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is down -8.6%% at $36.34; Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is up 23.9% at $28.95; Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) is up 3.4% at $47.82; and Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) is down -3.1% at $48.08.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCWD) is up 29.7% at $12.61. The freight hauler concluded a 1-for-300 reverse split that drove the share price to $9 from $0.03.

Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) is up about 7% at $31.30. The computer disk drive maker announced that it was resuming operations at one of its flooded Thai plants and raised its revenue estimate for the current quarter. More details here.

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down about -9.6% at $16.79. The smartphone and tablet maker announced an inventory writedown of $485 million for unsold PlayBook tablets and said that full-year earnings would be lower. Detailed coverage here.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) is down more than -10% at $4.20. The health care facilities operator likely is suffering from a lowered target price from BMO Capital Markets with rating of ‘market perform’.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down nearly -7% at $1.74. The solar PV maker is likely giving back gains made over the past two days. The was little reason for the gain in the first place, so that investors are taking it back should be no surprise.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted a speech due from Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans and short-term Treasury bill auctions in the morning. Here are other noteworthy events scheduled for Monday (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. – Census Bureau factory orders report
10:00 a.m. – Industrial Supply Management non-manufacturing index

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: BIG, BNS, CLF, DPZ, GES, JASO, LULU, RIMM, RY, SINA, THC, WDC, WNR, YRCWD, ZUMZ

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACI, AMT, BRK-B, CLF, CCI, DE, DPZ, GES, LOW, LULU, SINA, SNN, WNR, WAG, SLF, WPI, TEVA)

Administrator — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:19:44 +0000

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

Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) named as Bear of the Day with a $13.00 price target at Zacks.
American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.B) named as Bull of the Day with a $91.00 price target at Zacks.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Crown Castle International Corporation (NYSE: CCI) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) Started as Hold at KeyBanc.
Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank
Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE: SNN) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Argus made changes to its institutional model portfolio: added shares of Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) and sold out of shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF).

Credit Suisse is out positive on generics saying that the news flow on generic Lipitor has obscured the bigger picture on Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA). The firm recommends buying WPI after its recent weakness as strong fundamentals just got cheaper. It also recommends buying TEVA for the longer term and as a turnaround story for 2012.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACI, AMT, BRK-B, CCI, CLF, DE, DPZ, GES, LOW, LULU, SINA, SLF, SNN, TEVA, WAG, WNR, WPI

Coal Miners Win a Meaningless Battle over Mountaintop Removal Mining (ACI, ANR, BTU, CLF, CNX, PCX, KOL)

Administrator — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:17:20 +0000

Coal company stock prices hit a five-year high in the summer of 2008, just before the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy sent the entire global economy into a tailspin. Five-year lows hit most companies before the end of that year and they have been making a steady, if slow, comeback since then, posting 52-week highs in the first half of this year on expectations of a global economic recovery. Stock prices have turned down again, though, as the outlook for economic recovery continues to dim.

In addition to its struggles with a weak economy, the coal industry is almost continuously fighting rear-guard battles against environmentalists and regulators. The industry, or at least some of its players, have earned the scrutiny following deadly mine explosions and for continuing the widely denounced mining practice known as mountaintop removal. The US Environmental Protection Agency tried to rein in mountaintop removal mining by invoking provisions in the Clean Water Act. In a court ruling yesterday, the industry won a victory over the EPA when the judge ruled that the agency had exceeded its enforcement authority by failing to go through the formal rulemaking process before promulgating the restrictions on mountaintop removal.

The suit was filed by the National Mining Association, an mining industry group that includes large coal miners like Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI), Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR), Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF), Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX), and Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX). The court ruling is expected to remove restrictions on more than 70 mining permits that were holding up projects in Appalachia.

The EPA pointed out that the ruling is a procedural issue and that it does not affect the agency’s authority under the Clean Water Act. In fact, the EPA released in July its final guidance which replaced the interim guidance that the court ruled on yesterday.

This issue still has some time to go before it is finally played out, and coal miners will continue to struggle, but not because they can’t keep knocking the tops off Appalachian mountains. On Monday, Arch Coal revised its outlook for the 2011 fiscal year from EPS of $1.75-$2.15 to $1.00-$1.40. The company has lost production of metallurgical coal at one of its mines following a roof collapse. Several other miners have had similar problems producing the high-priced coal and that is sending mining companies back to Appalachian mines.

Typically, when production of coal is disrupted, the price of coal rises. That’s not happening this time as Australian shipments of coal are fast making up for the disruption to production following last year’s floods. And then there’s the overall weak economy, which cuts demand for energy even more.

Over the past year, all seven of the companies mentioned here have seen share prices drop from around -5% (Consol) to nearly -60% (Alpha). Whether the coal mining stocks are currently a great value or a looming value trap depends more the pace of recovery in the world’s economy than on winning a pyrrhic victory over the EPA. And today’s share price declines bear that out.

Shares of Arch Coal are down more than -2% at around noon today, at $15.44, in a 52-week range of $13.09-$36.99. Alpha’s shares are off -3.5%, at $18.49, in a 52-week range of $15.49-$68.05. Patriot shares are off more than -7.5%, at $9.28, in a 52-week range of $6.92-$29.20. The Market Vectors Coal ETF (NYSE: KOL) is up 0.3%, at $32.03, in a 52-week range of $27.42-$51.87.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Commodities Tagged: ACI, ANR, BTU, CLF, CNX, KOL, PCX

August’s New Massive Stock Buybacks… Over $30 Billion (LOW, CVS, CELG, COV, INTU, DISCA, HRS, LMT, RSG, LOW, ABC, MXIM, ANR, AVT, JAH, LUV, STJ, ECL, IPG, FRX, ACE, CLF, CTSH, KBR, NWL, VRX, AKAM, AOL, DLB, URBN, ACM, CHTR, MYGN, PFG, HSIC)

Administrator — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:00:52 +0000

The pace of stock buyback announcements in the month of August was almost unbelievable. The pace was stronger at the start of the month when earnings were still coming in droves, but the number of newly announced buyback plans and the extended or expanded buyback plans remained high throughout the entire month. Many companies announce share buybacks and never spend much on the actual plan. Today, these companies are by and large actually living up to their promises. These are The August Buyback Kings….

We would normally group these alphabetically, but not today. We grouped these in order of size and then we used an alphabetic order when it came to the same size of a buyback announcement. The first group is the billions of dollars.

We then grouped the stocks by size again from the under $1 billion down to $500 million, and then we grouped the buybacks of under $500 million down to $200 million. Usually we would cut the list off at buybacks of the $100 million and higher but the list was already too big so we cut the Buyback Kings off at $200 million for August. Lastly, we have a chart at the very end tallying it all up…. Some $28.7 billion for just the $200 million and higher in new or expanded buyback announcements. There were literally dozens of other buybacks that were closer to the $100 million mark and many more that were less than that.

The $1 billion and higher alone which were announced in August were as follows: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW); CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS); Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

Filed under: Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ABC, ACE, ACM, AKAM, ANR, AOL, AVT, CELG, CHTR, CLF, COV, CSCO, CTSH, CVS, CVX, DISCA, DLB, ECL, FRX, HRS, INTU, IPG, JAH, KBR, LMT, LOW, LUV, MXIM, MYGN, NWL, NWSA, PFG, RSG, STJ, URBN, VRX, XOM

Share Buyback Announcements Continue In Droves (PFG, BIN, CLF, LTM, ACM, FRX, IPG, MYGN, RSG, LO, NWL, TIVO)

Administrator — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:18:32 +0000

It was just last week that we had identified literally 25 big share buyback announcements from companies in the preceding two weeks. These companies were actually buying back the stock as well rather than the historic buybacks that are not required to spend a penny. It turns out that the trend for August remains. Many new buyback announcements have been announced and it seems like companies are unlocking cash to repurchase their shares in droves.

Some of the larger and more impacting buyback announcements have been made by the following companies: Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG); Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (NYSE: BIN); Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF); Life Time Fitness Inc. (NYSE: LTM); AECOM Technology Corp. (NYSE: ACM); Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX); Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG); Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN); Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG); Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO); Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL); and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO).

By now you already know that the attitude of 24/7 Wall St. is that dividends offer better long-term value than buybacks. We have shown what the dividend yield is for each here, or we have shown that there is no dividend.

Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG) announced that its board of directors has authorized a share buyback plan for up to $200 million in common stock. This represents about 8.5 million shares at current prices when average daily volume is 2.7 million shares. Its market cap is about $7.4 billion. The dividend yield is roughly 2.3% as of today.

Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (NYSE: BIN), also referred to as BFI Canada, announced a buyback of up to 4 million shares of common stock. That is about $80 million at today’s price. The market cap is $2.5 billion and the average daily volume is about 428,000 shares. The dividend yield is listed as being about 2.5%.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) has announced the authorization to buy back up to 4 million shares, close to $300 million in total per today’s dollars. The market cap is nearly $11 billion and the average volume is 3.7 million shares. The company’s dividend yield is only 1.5%.

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ACM, BIN, CLF, FRX, IPG, LO, LTM, MYGN, NWL, PFG, RSG, TIVO

Despite Woes, New Buybacks & Dividend Hikes Stay Strong (AOS, CLF, CMI, KLAC, NWS)

Administrator — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:58:54 +0000

The market is soft, the economy hit a soft patch, and now woes are building about Italy beyond Greece, while China and India keep applying the brakes on growth. This is taking the wind out of many top stocks, but some companies are trying to show the all-clear signal that things are not as bad in all aspects of business. We are getting more and more dividend hikes and even share buyback announcements from companies. The trends continue…

Today’s key dividend hikes and share buybacks are in shares of The A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE: AOS), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF), Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI), KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC), and News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS). We have added in price data and compared yields and the relative size to share prices if applicable.

The A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE: AOS) approved a 14% dividend hike in its quarterly cash dividend to $0.16 per quarter per share and payable on August 15 to shareholders of record July 29. The new yield is roughly 1.5% with shares currently down 1 cent at $41.87. Here is what is amazing, housing may stink but it appears that the replacement cycle is coming soon… A.O. Smith manufactures and sells water heating equipment to the residential and commercial markets.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) just announced last night that it will increase the quarterly cash dividend by 100% to $0.28 per share per quarter, payable on September 1 to shareholders of record as of the close on August 15. Doubling a dividend is usually a solid message. Still, this is a lower dividend yield of just under 1.2% now that shares are up marginally at $95.00 this morning. The iron ore and metallurgical coal player’s 52-week trading range is $45.18 to $102.48.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) is trying to signal that the engine business is fine for years ahead because this is one large dividend hike. Cummins hiked its quarterly dividend by about 50% to $0.40 per quarter per share from a rate of $0.2625 per quarter per share. The new rate is not a major yield but it is larger than most tied to auto or trucks as its new yield is above 1.5%. Shares are up 2% at $106.00 this morning and the 52-week range is $58.91 to $121.49.

KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) has authorized an increase in the quarterly dividend from $0.25 to $0.35 per share, taking effect in with the quarterly dividend to be declared in August 2011. This is nearly a 40% hike and represents its third dividend increase since initiating its dividend in April 2005. With shares down 2% around $41.30, KLA-Tencor’s new dividend will clock in at close to 3.4%. That is impressive for a technology stock.

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) has decided that the recent share weakness around its ‘News of the World’ and around its BSkyB buyout reached the “enough is enough” point. Today Rupert Murdoch and friends announced that a stock repurchase program totaling $5 billion. The new plan increases what was approximately $1.8 billion remaining under the prior buyback plan. What is different about this buyback from the prior buyback is that the company said it intends to buy back “$5 billion of Class A common stock and Class B common stock from time to time over the next 12 months.” We are talking about a $43 billion market cap and a company that has billions in cash on hand. Shares are up 2% at $16.44 and the 52-week range is $13.46 to $19.08. This was at $18.50 just on July 5.

Higher dividends and higher buybacks might not make shares rise if the market remains soft and nervous, but the dividend hiking trend remains the top reward for returning capital to shareholders.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Compensation, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Economy, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: AOS, CLF, CMI, KLAC, NWS

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACTV, AUO, BBBB, CNK, CLWR, CLF, DFS, EK, FSL, GIS, MAS, RGC, SNDK, SBUX, UA, WCG, YNDX)

Administrator — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:01:10 +0000

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

The Active Network, Inc. (NYSE: ACTV) Started as Buy at BofA/ML; Started as Buy at Citigroup.
AU Optronics Corp. (NYSE: AUO) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) dropped from Underperform at BofA/ML; Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Cinemark Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CNK) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) Raised to Outperform with $6 target at Credit Suisse.
Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) Reinstated Buy with $118 target at BofA/ML.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE: FSL) Started as Buy at Citigroup; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) Cut to Sell at Janney Capital.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Reiterated Buy but raised target to $45 at Argus.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Called out as “Overvalued” in the weekend Barron’s.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) called top Value at Zacks.
Yandex N. V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

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: ACTV, AUO, BBBB, CLF, CLWR, CNK, DFS, EK, FSL, GIS, MAS, RGC, SBUX, SNDK, UA, WCG, YNDX