24/7 Wall St. » DVA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (DVA, DNDN, GS, HGG, KEY, MCD, MS, ORCL, RF, SBUX, ZNGA)

Administrator — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:15:28 +0000

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

DaVita, Inc. (NYSE: DVA) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) maintained Neutral with $14.00 target at Zacks; Started as Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Energy Partners Limited (NYSE: EPL) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) Cut to Underperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Cut to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer (valuation call).
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Cut to Neutral at Macquarie.
Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) Raised to Outperform at RBC Capital; Cut to Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) Started as Overweight at Barclays; Started as Overweight at JPMorgan; Started as Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

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: Analyst Calls Tagged: DNDN, DVA, GS, HGG, KEY, MCD, MS, ORCL, RF, SBUX, ZNGA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AGN, DVA, DNDN, ENTR, HES, MCD, STX, SKX, S, SWC, TWX, WFM)

Administrator — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:13:01 +0000

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

Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
DaVita, Inc. (NYSE: DVA) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse; Cut to Neutral at Baird; Cut to Hold at Needham; Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Entropic Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) Reiterated Buy with $95 target at Argus.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday call).
Skechers U.S.A. (NYSE: SKX) Called Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) Raised to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC) Kept as Outperform but cut target to $22 at Credit Suisse.
Time Warner. Inc (NYSE: TWX) Reiterated Outperform with $40 target on Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

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: AGN, DNDN, DVA, ENTR, HES, MCD, S, SKX, STX, SWC, TWX, WFM

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ADI, ABX, BRCM, DVA, FTNT, GRS, GM, GG, HNT, HMIN, NEM, POT, SVVS, SPWRA, STP, X, YGE)

Administrator — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 13:40:40 +0000

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

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Reiterated Buy but raised target to $46 at Gleacher & Co.
Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) Started as Overweight at HSBC.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Started as Buy at Gleacher & Co.
DaVita, Inc. (NYSE: DVA) Started as Neutral at Baird.
Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) Started as Buy at Needham.
Gammon Gold, Inc. (NYSE: GRS) Raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) Started as Hold at S&P Equity research (Details of the late Monday call).
Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
Health Net Inc. (NYSE: HNT) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. (NASDAQ: HMIN) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) Started as Overweight at HSBC.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Raised target to $155 at TD.
SAVVIS Inc. (NASDAQ: SVVS) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Maintained hold but cut target to $11 at Auriga.
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) Maintained neutral but cut target to $8.50 at HSBC.
United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late yesterday call).
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) Maintained underweight and cut target to $8.10 at HSBC.

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: ABX, ADI, BRCM, DVA, FTNT, GG, GM, GRS, HMIN, HNT, NEM, POT, SPWRA, STP, SVVS, X, YGE

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ARMH, BWLD, DVA, F, FORM, GFI, HMY, NSC, NVAX, X)

Administrator — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:02:02 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst calls seen so far this Tuesday morning from the upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street firms:

ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) targets raised at Nomura and at Goldman Sachs.
Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
DaVita, Inc. (NYSE: DVA) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was kept on the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs and the price target was raised to $16.00 from $15.00.
FormFactor Inc. (NASDAQ: FORM) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo; Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) Started as Buy at Lazard.
US Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) Reiterated Buy but target raised to $73 at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ARMH, BWLD, DVA, F, FORM, GFI, HMY, NSC, NVAX, X

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BBY, CB, DVA, DFT, FCX, FMS, MWE, MCHP, WFT)

247wallst — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:48:35 +0000

These are some of the top per-market analyst upgrades and positive calls we are seeing from Wall Street this Thursday morning:

Best Buy (BBY) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Chubb (CB) Raised to Buy at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
DaVita (DVA) Started as Outperform at RBC.
Dupont Fabros Tech (DFT) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Freeport McMorRan (FCX) Raised to Hold at Canccord.
Fresenius Medical (FMS) Started as Outperform at RBC.
MarkWest Energy (MWE) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Microchip Tech (MCHP) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Weatherford (WFT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
January 29, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BBY, CB, DFT, DVA, FCX, FMS, MCHP, MWE, WFT

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AIV, BBBY, DVA, LEH, MCD, OPLK, PERY, HOT, TLAB, WLP)

247wallst — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:54:26 +0000

These are the top analyst calls we are looking at this Friday morning:

Apartment Investment (NYSE: AIV) Cut To Neutral From Buy at UBS.
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) Cut To Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
Davita (NYSE: DVA) Raised To Buy From Neutral at UBS.
Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) Raised To Buy From Hold at Citigroup.
McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) Started At Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Oplink Communications (NASDAQ: OPLK) Cut To Sell From Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Perry Ellis (NASDAQ: PERY) Started At Buy at SunTrust.
Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) Cut To Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.
Tellabs (NASDAQ: TLAB) Cut To Neutral From Buy at UBS.
WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) Cut To Equal-weight From Overweight at Lehman.

Jon C. Ogg
March 28, 2008

Microcap Featured in Dialysis Investing (XCR, NXTM, DVA, FMS, DCAI)

247wallst — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:21:55 +0000

Xcorporeal, Inc. (AMEX: XCR) is a potential undiscovered gem in microcap and low-priced stock investing, and it is in the arena of kidney dialysis. This week’s "INSIDE WALL STREET" segment in Business Week featured this stock, and this may be their most unusual pick in months with perhaps the greatest upside potential if it can live up to the hopes and plans.

This one has been under review for our "10 Stocks Under $10" weekly letter, although we have not yet added it to the list because of its performance and lack of history. Xcorporeal first came to us after it’s Wearable Artificial Kidney (WAK) prototype device was featured in the December 15, 2007 journal issue of The Lancet, an influential medical journal.

It is entering a space dominated by public companies such as DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), Dialysis Corp. of America (NASDAQ: DCAI), Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (NYSE: FMS), and Nxstage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTM). Of the public dialysis companies, this is also the most risky stock of the ones we have reviewed in the dialysis companies.

It has a $55 million market cap and had about $20 million in liquidityas of September, 2007. With a $1.2 million estimated monthly cash burnrate on last look, it is obvious the company may have to do asecurities offering again. It is still in the prototype stage aswell. It has identified what it believes as a multi-Billion dollaropportunity, although from an analytical point the company could onlyexpect to get a fraction of that down. This came public via a reversemerger in August, 2007, so it has limited history as a public companythat so far has been an rewarding history after having raised over$29 million from two prior private placements. It moved to the AMEX onDecember 7, 2007, so it has an even more limited history as a listedcompany.

The Lancet noted, "WAK’s clearance rate, if sustained and usedcontinuously, could be more effective than conventional three timesweekly or daily hemodialysis treatment. This proof of concept studyalso provides preliminary indications on the safety features of the WAKand permitted the patient to be ambulatory during treatment……TheWAK is a battery-powered, wearable dialysis machine that will allowusers to have their blood cleansed round the clock instead of beingtethered to conventional dialysis machines, intermittently, for manyhours."

The company also makes portable machines for in-home use and forhospital use, and its first FDA 510(k) filing is not currently expecteduntil late in 2008 for hospital device and home dialysis device 510(k)is not currently expected until late 2009. The FDA decisions can notcurrently be considered as a given or an assured event despitepreliminary positive study results.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) is a large player in the field with a near $5Billion market cap, and it is trading close to its 52-week lows. Theother small cap play is Dialysis Corp. of America (NASDAQ: DCAI) has amere $71 million market cap and it too trades close to its 52-weeklow. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (NYSE: FMS) is a kidneydialysis company that provides dialysis treatment at its own dialysisclinics, as well as produces and supplies a range of machines anddisposables. It was the one that acquired Renal Care Group. GAMBRO isthe one that used to be public and is now private, was delisted fromStockholm. Nxstage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTM) has a portablehemodialysis system for the treatment of end-stage renal disease andacute kidney failure in the United States; it has fallen by two-thirdsover the last year and its market cap is $165 million.

Lastly, its management team and board members has an impressive rosterof medical and financial professionals with public company and fundraising experience, so it doesn’t look like a group of managers tryingout their first public foray. After reviewing the company, we haveclassified this as one of the all or none opportunities with along-term horizon before a pay-off can be expected. It is solely forpure risk-based capital that would have an expected return that eithersees exponential gains or one that implodes. We’ll be watching thisone closely for some time to come.

Jon C. Ogg
March 14, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ADBE, CRUS, DVA, EEQ, EQR, IP, LNCR, RGLD, WIN, BRL, MFLX, MYL, TEVA, WPI)

247wallst — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:59:00 +0000

These are not the only analyst impact calls, but these are the top research notes that 247WallSt.com is focusing on:

Adobe Systems (ADBE) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Cirrus Logic (CRUS) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
DaVita (DVA) raised to Buy at Oppenheimer.
Embarq (EQ) raised to Overweight at J.P.Morgan.
Equity Residential (EQR) raised to Overweight at Lehman.
International Paper (IP) raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Lincare (LNCR) downgraded to Neutral at Oppenheimer.
Royal Gold (RGLD) raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Windstream (WIN) downgraded to Underweight at J.P.Morgan.
BANC OF AMERICA ON DRUGS: Barr Pharma (BRL) started as Buy; Multi-Fineline (MFLX) started as Buy; Mylan Labs (MYL) started as Buy; Teva Pharma (TEVA) started as Buy; Watson Pharma (WPI) started as neutral; ZymoGenetics (ZGEN) downgraded to Neutral.

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.

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (September 4, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:12:49 +0000

ABY raised to Neutral at UBS.
AMD raised to neutral at Credit Suisse.
AG raised to neutral at Credit Suisse.
AEO raised to Outperform at Cowen.
BLOG started as Outperform at Wachovia.
DVA raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
EXEL cut to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.
FCSX raised to BUy at B of A.
HOKU raised to Mkt Perform at Piper Jaffray.
HSII cut to Sell at UBS.
INFA started as Outperform at CIBC.
KFN cut to Sell at UBS.
KOP cut to Hold at Jefferies.
KPN cut to Hold at Citigroup.
KSU raised to Buy at UBS.
MNST cut to Neutral at UBS.
MXIM started as Outperform at RBC Capital.
OII started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
OTE cut to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
PCG raised to Overweight at Lehman.
RDS/A raised to Buy at UBS.
RHI cut to Neutral at UBS.
RIMM cut to Peeer Perform at Bear Stearns.
SMOD cut to Hold at Citigroup.
SPR started as Overweight at Lehman.
TEF cut to Hold at Citigroup.
TMA raised to Outperform at FBR.
TYC raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
TYPE started as Buy at B of A.
TYPE started as Buy at Jefferies.
WEC raised to Overweight at Lehman.

Jon C. Ogg
September 4, 2007