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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAP, A, ALIM, CNP, CIM, CWTR, GT, K, LOW, M, NU, NST, CRM, FIRE)

Administrator — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:39:41 +0000

These are some of Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Alimera Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALIM) Cut to Neutral with $2 target at Credit Suisse.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Coldwater Creek Inc. (NASDAQ: CWTR) Added to Strong Sell List at Zacks.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) Cut to Sell as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Raised target to $28 from $25 at Argus.
Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
NSTAR (NYSE: NST) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) Reiterated Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ: FIRE) Initiated as Buy at BofA/ML.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: A, AAP, ALIM, CIM, CNP, CRM, CWTR, FIRE, GT, K, LOW, M, NST, NU

Five Stocks That Will Cheer The Flash Crash Anniversary Passage (ACN, AAPL, CNP, EXC, PG)

Administrator — Thu, 05 May 2011 18:31:16 +0000

Friday, May 6, 2011 will mark the one-year anniversary of the 2010 Flash Crash. The Flash Crash has been blamed on many things and many investors still dispute the true cause or the single smoking gun. This was just one more blow to the credibility of the market place. There is one thing that is about to occur after Friday’s close after the Flash Crash anniversary. The notorious 52-week lows of many key stocks are about to change drastically and look more realistic. We are only highlighting some of the key names, but there were many. Companies like Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP), Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC), and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) will all be happy to see the date May 6, 2011 disappear into sunset so their 52-week trading ranges look a bit more normalized.

This may sound like something that only the most active or experienced traders should care about. That is only partly true. Retail investors now run stock screens with regularity when they look for value stocks and overvalued stocks alike. When they see that a utility or a consumer products company has doubled or more from its yearly low, they automatically throw these names out. The only reason for that low is because of the Flash Crash and the lows should have never been there in the first place. After Friday, these ranges will look normalized.

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) has an official 52-week trading range of $17.74 to $58.21, but the reality is that this is closer to $36 to $58.21. During the Flash Crash panic this one traded some 10 million shares at 3-times normal volume and somehow went all the way down to an official exchange price of $17.74 and then the stock closed back up at $41.09. This was one of the companies which reportedly went to $0.01.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one which will soon stop being mis-quoted for its highs and lows of the last 52-weeks after this Friday. On May 6, 2010, its shares went from a high of $258.25 down to a NASDAQ official low of $199.25 but they closed back up at $246.25 that day. I even know of one trader who made literally $20.00 per share that day and those trades were close enough to the market that the NASDAQ did not break those trades. Apple’s ‘real’ 52-week trading range should really be closer to $235.00 to $364.90.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) has an official 52-week range of $5.67 to $18.83, but this really should have been about $12.75 to $58.21 without the Flash Crash. We have this as one of the stocks that went to a penny. This one traded 9.3 million shares, more than twice its average volume and shares closed at $13.88 on that day.

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) is another one of the companies which reportedly went to $0.01 during the Flash Crash. The 52-week trading range is currently listed as $16.78 to $44.49, and that Flash Crash trading on the NYSE records now shows that shares went from a high of $43.35 down to $16.78 before closing all the way back up at $39.82. Excelon’s ‘real’ 52-week range should be closer to $37.50 to $44.49.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) has an official 52-week range of $39.37 to $66.95, but the reality is that this is closer to $59.00 to $66.95 with the exception of the Flash Crash. When this crashed that day it was on more than twice normal trading volume of 28 million shares and shares closed at a price then of $60.75 that day. If you recall, Jim Cramer touted this during the peak of selling saying that is an error or a gift, and he was right. Arguably, at the time you could have removed Greece, Ireland, and Portugal off the face of the world and P&G shares might not have ever fallen to that low of a price.

Again, these are just some of the stocks which experienced significant drops. There were many others that took share price hits, but some of those Flash Crash lows were actually taken out for real during the peak of the summer selling last year.

If you want to know what real nitpicking is, that is this view here… Thursday, May 5 should be the one year anniversary of the 2010 Flash Crash. It is due to the one day per year addition on the calendar. While the May 6 date this year is on a Friday, it was on a Thursday last year and it was also a day before key economic data. Regardless of how you look at ‘anniversaries,’ come Monday the 52-week trading ranges will have normalized in these five and many other stocks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Exchange News, Regulation, Restatements, Trading Alert Tagged: AAPL, ACN, CNP, EXC, PG

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADS, ARAY, CNP, RE, F, FCX, GME, GD, OPTR, POT, RIMM, VZ, AAPL)

Administrator — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:29:23 +0000

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

Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: ADS) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Accuray, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARAY) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) Raised to Outperform with $20 target at Credit Suisse.
Everest Re Group, Ltd. (NYSE: RE) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME) Reiterated Outperform and $28 target at Credit Suisse.
General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) Reiterated Buy with $86 target at Argus.
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTR) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $71 at Credit Suisse.
Research-in-Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) removed from Focus List but Maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) Reiterated Buy with $44 target at Argus.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a chart that is either wavering or one which is getting sick. Here is our detailed chart analysis and fundamental explanation regarding why this may be happening. Elsewhere, Canaccord Genuity raised its target to $480 from $460 on Apple this morning and shares are indicated up marginally pre-market.

You can 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: AAPL, ADS, ARAY, CNP, F, FCX, GD, GME, OPTR, POT, RE, RIMM, VZ

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALEX, BIDU, CNP, DPM, FSYS, GS, LVS, MS, MOS, RHT, SRE, SFG, STRI, TSCO, URBN, WFMI)

Administrator — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:27:52 +0000

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

Alexander & Baldwin (NASDAQ: ALEX) Raised to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Cut to Neutral at Mizuho (overseas).
CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) Reiterated Buy with $20 target at Argus.
DCP Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: DPM) Started as Outperform and $45 target at Credit Suisse.
Fuel Systems Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSYS) Reiterated Underperform at BofA/ML.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) lowered estimates but maintained $190 price target by Credit Suisse.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Added to Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) Cut to Sector Perform at Scotia.
Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Reiterated Buy and target raised to $57 at BofA/ML.
Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) Reiterated Buy with $61 target at Argus.
StanCorp Financial (NYSE: SFG) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
STR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRI) Cut to Sell at Auriga.
Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ: TSCO) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $65 at BofA/ML.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Maintained Buy with $40 target at BofA/ML.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALEX, BIDU, CNP, DPM, FSYS, GS, LVS, MOS, MS, RHT, SFG, SRE, STRI, TSCO, URBN, WFMI

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AZN, CNP, CEDC, FDO, GOOG, MAR, MGM, OPTR, CRM, SONS, UFPI, WFMI, XLNX, YHOO)

Administrator — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:17:07 +0000

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

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Central European Distribution Corporation (NASDAQ: CEDC) Started as Buy at Nomura.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Buy at B. Riley.
Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Reiterated Buy and $46 target at Argus.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Maintained Hold at Argus.
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTR) Started as Neutral at BofA/ML.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Sonus Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONS) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call).
Universal Forest Products Inc. (NASDAQ: UFPI) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Buy at B. Riley.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AZN, CEDC, CNP, CRM, FDO, GOOG, MAR, MGM, OPTR, SONS, UFPI, WFMI, XLNX, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ATML, AEG, CNP, CHK, COCO, DYN, EM, NE, RIMM, TDC)

Administrator — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:18:16 +0000

These are some of this Monday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms:

Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Cut to Market Weight at FBR.
AEGON NV (NYSE: AEG) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) Started as Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Raised to Outperform at BMO.
Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) Raised to Neutral at Macquarie; Raised to Neutral at UBS.
Emdeon Inc. (NYSE: EM) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Noble Corp. (NYSE: NE) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Maintained negative at Goldman Sachs.
Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) Started as Market Perform at William Blair.

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

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AEG, ATML, CHK, CNP, COCO, DYN, EM, NE, RIMM, TDC

Smart Grid Challenges and Opportunities (CEG, CNP, DUK, NEE, PGN, EXC, HON, ED, WHR, GE, ELON, MTZ, GRID)

Administrator — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:30:10 +0000

Of the $787 billion federal stimulus bill passed in 2009, more than $3.4 billion was targeted at modernizing the US electricity transmission and distribution systems and promoting investments in smart grid technologies. When corporate investment is added to the stimulus spending, more than $8 billion is about to be invested in making improvements to the US electricity grid.

A variety of utilities and companies have received federal grants to implement various pieces of the smart grid. Constellation Energy Inc. (NYSE:CEG), CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP), Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE), Progress Energy (NYSE:PGN), and Exelon (NYSE:EXC) have all been awarded the maximum $200 million stimulus grants. Honeywell International (NYSE:HON), Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED), and Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE:WHR) have been awarded grants for projects related to customer systems, electric distribution systems, and equipment manufacturing, respectively. General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) also recently announced a $200 million investment in smart grid. Two other companies, Echelon (NASDAQ:ELON) and MasTec (NYSE:MTZ) have been working on partnerships in smart metering and energy management (Echelon) and building out transmission and distribution lines (MasTec). There’s even an ETF play available, the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index ETF (NASDAQ:GRID).

The concept of the smart grid is to open a two-way, real-time communications path between utilities and consumers. The current grid is not able to handle real-time events, such as lower prices at certain times of the day when electricity rates are in less demand and therefore lower. Smart meters, sophisticated and scalable demand response systems, and meter data management all need to be able to communicate with one another as well as with utility companies and customers over all kinds of networks.

By comparison with today’s grid, the smart grid is a supercomputer replacing an abacus. Utility companies now get monthly meter readings and batch them up before sending them to the billing system. Under a smart grid system, the utility company will be able to handle millions of data transactions every day.

One research firm estimates that for every million smart meters a utility company’s smart metering operations must support every day over 2,000 meter sways, more than 1,000 customer moves, 10,000 missing reads, 20 meter failures, and more than 97 million meter reads. This is a sea change on an order of magnitude that utility companies have never faced before.

So let’s assume that the smart grid is in place. What are the benefits, both the utility and to the customer? The chief gain to a utility will come from its ability better to balance supply and demand, and to provide greater reliability by making their power purchases more rational. From a strategic perspective, better use of assets such as generating plants and other infrastructure will help utilities make better investment decisions. Operationally, load factors will improve and system losses and outages will decline. As a result, costs should fall.

For consumers get new tools that will help them see how much electricity they are using, when they are using, and how much it costs at exactly the time they use it. Savvy consumers will have far more control over their use of electricity, and once the initial cost of the smart meters and appliances is amortized, consumers will save money.

An almost forgotten benefit of the smart grid is the reduction in CO2 emissions. Because supply will be better fitted to demand, fewer new generating plants will need to be built. Electricity will be more efficiently used and, thus, less will be required. The federal government has targeted a 5%-8% improvement in energy efficiency by 2020 to go along with a 12%-15% renewable energy generation target.

Renewable generation projects using solar PV cost about $396/MWh, solar thermal projects cost about $257/MWh, and onshore wind projects cost about $149/MWh. Energy efficiency projects cost about $50/MWh. And energy efficiency is the goal of the push for a smart grid.

The US Energy Information Administration estimates that an investment of $520 billion in the smart grid will return $1.2 trillion in gross savings by 2020. No other technology even comes close to that kind of return.

Over the next four or five years investment in the smart grid could reach $215 billion, according to an analyst at the Bank of America. The total investment needed to revamp the US electricity grid could be into the trillions of dollars, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The takeaway here is that smart grid technologies boost energy efficiency, which the most cost-effective way we have to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Nothing else comes close.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Alternative Energy, Green Biz, Infrastructure, Utilities Tagged: CEG, CNP, DUK, ED, ELON, EXC, GE, GRID, HON, MTZ, NEE, PGN, WHR

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ACPW, ATHN, AH, CNP, COV, CTRP, POT, RLOC, RYL, TWX, USB, VOD)

Administrator — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:20:52 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research early this Tuesday:

Active Power Inc. (NASDAQ: ACPW) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Accretive Health, Inc. (NYSE: AH) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan; Started as Neutral at Baird; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Covidien plc (NYSE: COV) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Ctrip.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CTRP) Cut to Hold at RBS.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) target cut at Scotia Capital.
ReachLocal, Inc. (NASDAQ: RLOC) Started as Buy at Citigroup; Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Vodafone plc (NYSE: VOD) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Goldman Sachs also said this morning: BUY WARREN BUFFETT!!!

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACPW, AH, ATHN, CNP, COV, CTRP, POT, RLOC, RYL, TWX, USB, VOD

Early Bird Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CBY, CNP, DLTR, PHG, SFD, AGU, AIB, AAUK, IRE, CETV)

247wallst — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:10:19 +0000

These are the early bird analyst calls with upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street this morning with about two and a half hours until the market opens:

Cadbury (CBY) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
CenterPoint Energy (CNP) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Dollar Tree (DLTR) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Philips (PHG) Raised to Neutral from underweight at HSBC.
Smithfield Foods (SFD) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Agrium (AGU) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Allied Irish Banks (AIB) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Anglo American (AAUK) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Bank of Ireland (IRE) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Central European Media (CETV) Cut to Underweight at Thomas Weisel.

Jon C. Ogg
February 26, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AAUK, AGU, AIB, CBY, CETV, CNP, DLTR, IRE, PHG, SFD

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (LNT, CNP, ESLR, FORR, IFF, LTM, LQDT, NTRS, OPXT, REG)

247wallst — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:24:29 +0000

These are the top analyst downgrades and negative research calls we have seen on Wall Street this Friday with more than two hours until the market opens:

Alliant Energy (LNT) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
CenterPoint (CNP) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Evergreen Solar (ESLR) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Forrester Research (FORR) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.
International Flavors (IFF) Cut to Underweight at KeyBanc.
Life Time Fitness (LTM) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Liquidity Services (LQDT) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Northern Trust (NTRS) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Opnext (OPXT) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Regency Centers (REG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
February 6, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: CNP, ESLR, FORR, IFF, LNT, LQDT, LTM, NTRS, OPXT, REG