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Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (DVN, XOM, HES, ITW, LEA, NFLX, PALM, PARD, SPWRA, VRTX)

247wallst — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:01:51 +0000

These are this morning’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls:

Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Started as Buy at Collins Stewart.
Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Raised to Buy at Kaufman.
Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PARD) Cut to Market Perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
Sunpower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray; Cut to Market Perform at FBR Capital Markets.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.

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JON C. OGG

Posted in Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: DVN, HES, ITW, LEA, NFLX, PALM, PARD, SPWRA, VRTX, XOM

Top Analyst Calls (BT, CSCO, EMC, HAS, ITW, MAT, NTAP, OMC, TEN, VECO)

247wallst — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:25:39 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street with more than two hours until the market opens:

BT Group (BT) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) Started at Canaccord.
EMC Corp. (EMC) Started at Canaccord.
Hasbro (HAS) Started as Buy at KeyBanc.
Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Mattel (MAT) Started as Buy at KeyBanc.
NetApp (NTAP) Started as Buy at Canaccord.
Omnicom (OMC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Tenneco (TEN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Veeco Instruments (VECO) Started as Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BT, CSCO, EMC, HAS, ITW, MAT, NTAP, OMC, TEN, VECO

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABC, BWA, DRYS, FIS, ITW, JPM, MHP, NOK, SOHU, ZUMZ)

247wallst — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:48:38 +0000

There are not so many brokerage calls this morning for it being earnings season, but these are the top 10 analyst calls of upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street we have seen early this Friday morning:

AmerisourceBergen (ABC) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Borg Warner (BWA) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
DryShips (DRYS) Raised to Outperfom at Oppenheimer.
Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) Raised to Outperfom at Oppenheimer.
Illinois Tool (ITW) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Cut to In-Line at Foxx-Pitt.
McGraw-Hill (MHP) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Nokia (NOK) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Sohu.com (SOHU) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ABC, BWA, DRYS, FIS, ITW, JPM, MHP, NOK, SOHU, ZUMZ

Tuesday’s Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BJ, GLW, DRI, DTSI, ITW, RBS, VIA, BHP, COF, FITB, MAT, STO)

247wallst — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:29:26 +0000

These are some of Tuesday morning’s top pre-market upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street analysts with more than two hours until the open:

BJ’s Wholesale (NYSE: BJ) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Corning (NYSE: GLW) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Darden restaurants (NYSE: DRI) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Digital Theater Systems (NASDAQ: DTSI) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Illinois Toolworks (NYSE: ITW) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE: RBS) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Viacom (NYSE: VIA) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) Cut to Hold at ABN AMRO.
Capital One (NYSE: COF) Target cut by more than half to $18 at Goldman Sachs.
Fifth Third (NASDAQ: FITB) Target cut 75% down to $2.00 at Goldman Sachs.
Mattel (NYSE: MAT) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
StatoilHydro (NYSE: STO) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Jon C. Ogg
February 3, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BHP, BJ, COF, DRI, DTSI, FITB, GLW, ITW, MAT, RBS, STO, VIA

Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADSK, CVA, SFD, MMM, ATU, BLK, CBEY, ITW, RFMD, ROP, UPS)

247wallst — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:40:50 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and downgrades we are seeing this Tuesday morning:

AutoDesk (ADSK) Started as Buy at KeyBanc.
Covanta (CVA) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Smithfield Foods (SFD) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
3M (MMM) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
Actuant (ATU) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
BlackRock (BLK) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Cbeyond (CBEY) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
RF Micro Devices (RFMD) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Roper (ROP) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
UPS (UPS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
December 9, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ADSK, ATU, BLK, CBEY, CVA, ITW, MMM, RFMD, ROP, SFD, UPS

Cramer’s Week of Shotgun Merger Proposals (RTP, AA, BHP, FCX, ITW, MTW, NKE, UA, PFE, AGN)

247wallst — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:52:30 +0000

Jim Cramer came on CNBC’s MAD MONEY this week with several ideas for shotgun marriage merger proposals he wanted to throw out there where he was calling for more mergers from the cash rich companies.

Cramer’s Friday evening picks may have gotten some interest last year or even earlier this year, but these involve two companies which have already had their fair share of merger issues and non-events this year on top of the commodity bubble bursting. Cramer believes that Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) should buy Alcoa (NYSE: AA) before the antitrust powers are able to actually block mergers. Cramer also thinks BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) should go buy Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) now that the forced selling has taken the stock down to $16.00 to take over the copper and minerals mining giant.

Yesterday Cramer said he’s like to see Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW)buy Manitowoc (NYSE: MTW). Cramer also thinks the time has come forNike (NYSE: NKE) to finally acquire Under Armour (NYSE: UA) now thesmaller company’s stock has been killed.

Wednesday, Cramer called for Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to acquire Allergan(NYSE: AGN) now that Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) decided to takeout Mentor Corp. (NYSE: MNT) for a huge premium. Here was our own thought on the Allergan situation.

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Jon C. Ogg
December 5, 2008

Posted in Cramer, Mergers and Buy Outs Tagged: AA, AGN, BHP, FCX, ITW, MTW, NKE, PFE, RTP, UA

Cramer Calls For More Buyouts (JNJ, MNT, AGN, PFE, ITW, MTW, NKE, UA)

247wallst — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:43:28 +0000

On tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer called for companies with high cash balances to make acquisitions while competitors are dirt cheap and vulnerable. Yesterday, Cramer called for Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to acquire Allergan (NYSE: AGN) now that Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) decided to take out Mentor Corp. (NYSE: MNT) for a huge premium. We recently pondered whether that deal really made Allergan worth less money or more money over the competition. Allergan has been battered as many "self improvements and enhancement surgeries" are being put off because the public is having a major money pinch. Tonight, Cramer gave two more merger candidates and suitors.

He wants to see Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW)buy Manitowoc (NYSE: MTW). The companies got into a bidding war for acompetitor, but Manitowoc won and its stock has been ravaged. ITWcould buy it for a pittance now since Manitowoc has been hit so hard. Not all of the businesses overlap and itcould be a cheap merger that has a sweet revenge side to it.

Cramer also believes that the time has come for Nike (NYSE: NKE) tofinally acquire Under Armour (NYSE: UA) now the smaller company’s stock has beenkilled. It was over $3 billion in market cap last year and barely $1billion now. With Nike having over $2.6 billion in cash and spending$1 billion per year in buying its own stock back, Nike could take out acompetitor and take on another growth engine.

We agree that many larger companies should selectively do acquisitions. Our only issue with this notion is that many of thebig stodgy cash-rich companies are in total lock-down or have goneentirely defensive. The buyers cannot access loans right now and manyhave seen their lines of credit come under review or get cut. Ifthey have debt maturities coming due in the next 18 months they have tokeep the cash for that. The desire to do deals or to spend cash is frequently no different for big public companies than it is for Joe Public when times are tough.

Cramer said he”d have some more merger candidate picks Friday.

Jon C. Ogg
December 4, 2008

Posted in Cramer, Mergers and Buy Outs Tagged: AGN, ITW, JNJ, MNT, MTW, NKE, PFE, UA

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (September 18, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:07:22 +0000

CAM cut to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.
CYPB started as Buy at Citigroup.
DMAN started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
ENB raised to Outperform at CIBC.
ERTS started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
ETFC cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
FMC cut to Underperform at Wachovia.
GET started as Buy at Jefferies.
GM cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
HHS cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
ITW cut to Hold at BB&T.
KWD cut to Neutral at First Albany.
LCAPA started as Outperform at Wachovia.
LMT raised to Buy at Merrill Lynch.
MEND cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
MYGN started as Hold at Citigroup.
NCI cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
NLY started as Buy at JMP Securities.
ONNN raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
PETD started as Buy at Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.
RRR raised to Overweight at Lehman.
SRVY raised to Overweight at Lehman.
SSL cut to Neutral at UBS.
VC raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
WBD cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
WX started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
September 18, 2007