24/7 Wall St. » JNPR

Jefferies Top Stock Picks for Tech, Media, Telecom Ahead of TMT Conference

Lee Jackson — Wed, 01 May 2013 11:55:10 +0000

Wall Street firms have a tradition of hosting conferences to highlight market sectors in which they specialize in research coverage. Next week, May 7 through May 9, Jefferies will host its annual Global Technology, Media and Telecom conference in New York City at the Westin Hotel. With 240 participating companies and more than 1,500 attendees, the conference will feature an extensive range of public and private companies across the TMT landscape.

With keynote speakers ranging from Ajay Banga, the CEO of MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) to Bill Smith, president of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Network Operations, every aspect of technology, media and telecom will be open for discussion.

Jeffries has asked all of its TMT analysts to present one controversial stock or theme ahead of the conference. It requested stocks or themes where the analysts felt that information or data presented at the conference may have an impact. It makes sense to keep an eye on the stocks mentioned during next week’s conference, as any catalyst may move the stocks one way or another.

We present the stocks from the Jefferies analysts by sector.

Semiconductors: Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) will be the featured stock. It is always volatile, as DRAM chip pricing tends to fluctuate, and Jefferies sees capacity restraint translating into long-term pricing stability. The Jefferies price target for this stock to buy is $15. The Thomson/First Call consensus estimate is $12.

Computer Services and IT Consulting: Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) is one of the focus stocks in this category. Cognizant provides information technology (IT), consulting and business process outsourcing services worldwide. The issue to be discussed will be an immigration bill proposed in the Senate that could affect work visas for offshore hiring. The Jefferies price target for this stock to buy is $80. The consensus target is even higher at $86.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) had a recent and highly successful initial public offering, and it is on the radar at Jefferies. The interest at the conference will be in the corporate switch from old line HR companies like Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) handling HR/payroll outsourcing to new cloud-based competitors like Workday. Jefferies has an Underperform rating on ADP and a $55 price target. The consensus is $63. Workday is a stock to buy, with a $76 price target. The consensus is much lower at $60. This could be an interesting pair trade.

Technology Software: Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is another stock that will be looked at closely. The market fears that Red Hat’s strong growth rate may be slowing. Look for management to outline the strength of current bookings and discuss how Linux workloads are outperforming Windows workloads. The Jefferies price target for the stock is $65. The consensus target is lower at $59.

Technology Communication Equipment: Investors are concerned about the current pace of carrier capital spending, particularly in North America. Jefferies expects a relatively positive backdrop for communication infrastructure as carriers globally (particularly in North America, China and Germany) increase their spending on routing, optical and wireless infrastructure. Expected to benefit are JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU), Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) and Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN). All three are stocks to buy at Jefferies, but we did not have price targets.

Other Wall Street firms have been known to stake out observers at competitors’ conferences to gain access to information. You can be sure also that there will be lots of media coverage via CNBC and financial websites. Stocks in the past have shown movement either up and down over conference commentary, so investors may want to keep an eye on these stocks and see if they react.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls, Media, Technology, Telecom & Wireless Tagged: ADP,, CTSH, INFR, JDSU, JNPR, MA, MU, RHT, T, WDAY

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — April 24, 2013: Markets Mixed at Open, Mixed at Close

Paul Ausick — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:10:43 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened mixed this morning as investors and traders tried to make sense of more than 150 earnings reports that were released between last night’s closing bell and this morning’s opening. The most attention was paid to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), where results were not altogether pleasing and the stock has zigged and zagged all day today. There was relatively little economic data released today. In Germany, the IFO business climate index fell sharply (more coverage here) and retail sales were weaker than expected in Italy. In Shanghai, bargain hunters pushed the market up 1.6%. In the U.S., the report on durable goods orders was worse than expected and indicates a weak GDP report coming later this week (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index is trading down 0.16% today, now at 82.912. The GSCI commodity index is flat at 607.11. WTI crude oil closed up 2.5%, at $91.43 a barrel after today’s report from the EIA on petroleum inventories (more coverage here). Brent crude trades up 1.1% at $101.44 a barrel. Natural gas is down 1.4% today at about $4.18 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 1.1% today at $1,423.70 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 43 points to 14,676.30 (-0.29%), the NASDAQ rose less than 1 point (0.01%) to 3,269.65, and the S&P 500 was flat at 1,578.79.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including EBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) raised to ‘buy’ at SocGen; CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) raised to ‘outperform’ with a price target of $54 at Oppenheimer; Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) cut to ‘equal weight’ at Morgan Stanley and ‘neutral’ at Citigroup (more coverage here).

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is up 0.4% at $407.67 (more coverage here); Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) is up 7.1% at $35.33; Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) is down 22.4% at $64.24 after posting a new 52-week low of $63.50 earlier today; Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is down 9.7% at $15.67; Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) is up 7.2% at $68.74; Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) is up 7.5% at $18.90 (more coverage here); Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) is up 6% at $13.91 (more coverage here); Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is down 0.1% at $13.35 (more coverage here); Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is down 5.5% at $77.46 (more coverage here); and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is up 0.4% at $7.13 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Angie’s List Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI), Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI), Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO), O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY), Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), Vale SA (NYSE: VALE), Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC), Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), HealthSouth Corp. (NYSE: HLS), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE: POT), Proto Labs Inc. (NASDAQ: PRLB), and Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

SuperValu Inc. (NYSE: SVU) is up 11% at $5.95. The supermarket chain reported a wider loss this morning, but investors apparently like what the company had to say about the next few quarters.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is down 5.2% at $36.97. The telecom giant is just too big to expect growth. More coverage here.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) is up 4.2% at $14.93. The smartphone maker is adding Skype to its app lineup, and combined with some analysts’ concerns about Apple, that appears to be enough to boost the shares.

Stay tuned for Thursday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
11:00 a.m. – Kansas City Fed manufacturing index
1:00 p.m. – 7-year note auction
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, ABX, ANGI, BBRY, BG, BHI, BRCM, BYI, CIT, EBAY, EW, F, FIO, GLW, HAL, HLS, JNPR, MMM, MO, ORLY, PG, POT, PRLB, QCOM, S, SVU, SWY, T, VALE, WDC, XOM, YUM, ZNGA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — April 23, 2013: Flash Crash Has No Impact on Rising Stocks

Paul Ausick — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:07:07 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning despite low flash PMI readings from the eurozone. Germany’s manufacturing PMI reading was especially notable, falling to 47.9 from 49, and the country’s services PMI fell as well (more coverage here). In Asia, China’s flash manufacturing PMI fell from 51.60 last month to 50.50, which was worse than expected (more coverage here). In the U.S., the flash PMI reading fell from 54.6 to 52, which is still positive, but barely (more coverage here). U.S. house prices rose in February (more coverage here) and new home sales were also up after a drop in January (more coverage here). An afternoon “flash crash” followed a false report of an explosion at the White House caused by a hacker attack on the AP Twitter feed.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.43% today, now at 83.032. The GSCI commodity index is flat at 609.10. WTI crude oil closed flat today, at $89.18 a barrel on the June futures contract. Brent crude trades down 0.1% at $100.26 a barrel. Natural gas is down 0.8% today at about $4.23 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 0.9% today at $1,408.80 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 152 points to 14,719.53 (1.05%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 36 points (1.11%) to 3,269.33, and the S&P 500 rose 1.04% or more than 16 points to 1,578.78.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Bankrate Inc. (NYSE: RATE) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) raised to ‘overweight’ with a price target of $100 at J.P. Morgan; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $25 at SunTrust Robinson Humphreys; and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a price target of $25 at Argus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is up 24.9% at $217.81 after posting a new 52-week high of $219.38 earlier today (more coverage here); Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) is down 1.5% at $53.22; Stillwater Mining Co. (NYSE: SWC) is up 1.2% at $10.99; Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) is up 2.5% at $35.67 after posting a new 52-week high of $36.23 earlier today (more coverage here); AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) is up 0.5% at $2.94; Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) is up 10.5% at $55.88; Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is down 5.2% at $19.94; Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) is up 1.5% at $97.24 after posting a new 52-week high of $99.49 earlier today (more coverage here); and RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is up 2.1% at $3.21 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR), Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX), Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), and Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is up 9.8% at $16.62. The air lines reported decent earnings today, but is forecasting lower fuel costs going forward. More coverage here.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is up 5.2% at $40.60. The insurer won a lawsuit dismissal in California today.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is down 5.9% at $4.60. The coal miner’s quarterly report came in as poorly as expected and its outlook is now particularly strong. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
1:00 p.m. – 5-year note auction

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, ABX, ACI, AIG, AKS, BRCM, CAT, COH, DAL, EW, F, GCI, GE, GILD, GLW, JNPR, LMT, MS, PG, RATE, RSH, S, SWC, T, TXN, VMW, YUM

Argus Makes Model Portfolio Changes (NUE, HCP, MDT, AMGN, HUM, ADI, JNPR, ELX, IPG)

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:15:46 +0000

Argus offers what is truly considered to be independent investment research. This gives the firm the lack of any or most of the traditional conflicts of interest that can be the case as far as Wall St. sell-side upgrades and downgrades are concerned. That is perhaps one of the top reasons why we give them high marks when their team of CFAs and analysts come up with research ideas.

In the Equity Income model portfolio, the firm says to add to positions in Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) and in HCP Inc. (NYSE: HCP).

In the Growth & Income model portfolio, Argus said to buy Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) and Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN). It also said to sell its positions in Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) and in Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI).

The final model portfolio changes came in the Mid-Cap Growth portfolio. Argus recommended buying a full position in Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) at $17.82 and selling the full position in Emulex Corp. (NYSE: ELX), as well as selling out the position in Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (NYSE: IPG).

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls, Value Investing Tagged: ADI, AMGN, ELX, HCP, HUM, IPG, JNPR, MDT, NUE

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (JNJ, JNPR, LLL, MCO, NOC, PEG, RBCN, SAP, SSNI, PLCE, TTS, MTN, VALE, VRTX)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:35:28 +0000

Investors and traders remain on the lookout for new ideas for profits and income. 24/7 Wall St. looks over numerous research calls to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. Many of these are stocks to buy and to sell in reports of Wall St. analysts and independent research firms.

These are some of this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from select Wall St. research calls.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) cut to Neutral from Overweight on valuation at J.P. Morgan.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) raised to Buy with $22 target at Argus.

L-3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LLL) cut to Underweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Northrup Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) raised to Neutral from Underweight at J.P. Morgan.

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) cut to Hold at Argus.

Rubicon Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCN) raised to Buy with $12 target at Stern Agee.

SAP A.G. (NYSE: SAP) added to European Focus List and raised target by more than 6% in ordinary shares at Credit Suisse.

Silver Spring Networks (NYSE: SSNI) initiated in new coverage as quiet period ends: Outperform with $26 target at Credit Suisse, Outperform with $22 target at Baird, Neutral at Goldman Sachs and Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

The Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Tile Shop Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: TTS) started as Outperform with $26 target at Credit Suisse.

Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) raised to Buy from Hold with $21 price target at Canaccord Genuity.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) started as Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Deutsche Bank also provided its list of stocks to buy now, even if you have missed the bull market so far.

Here are the nine most promising big turnarounds of 2013.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Value Investing Tagged: JNJ, JNPR, LLL, MCO, MTN, NOC, PEG, PLCE, RBCN, SAP, SSNI, TTS, VALE, VRTX

Bloodbath for Network Stocks (FFIV, JNPR, CSCO, RVBD, FTNT, CIEN, ALU)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:00:47 +0000

After markets closed last night, F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) cut its estimates for earnings per share and revenues, and the stock took a beating. Shares are down about 19% in early trading today, and F5’s warning is rippling through other networking stocks.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is down more than 6%, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is down nearly 4%, Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) is down nearly 3.5%, Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) is down nearly 3.5% and Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) is down about 3.1%. Even Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), which jumped about 10% yesterday, is down nearly 2% this morning.

F5 blamed the cuts on slowing sales in North America and its Europe, Middle East and Africa region. The company also noted that sales to the U.S. government were down “significantly” compared with the year-ago quarter.

The bloodbath at F5 has the shares down more than 19% at $72.69, after posting a new 52-week low of $71.95. The 52-week high is $139.20.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Earnings Warning, Internet, Technology Companies Tagged: ALU, CIEN, CSCO, FFIV, FTNT, JNPR, RVBD

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (CELG, CMCSA, FB, FFIV, JPM, JNPR, KMB, NWSA, PDCE, AET, CI, HUM, UNH, WLP)

Jon C. Ogg — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:15:50 +0000

Investors and traders are usually on the hunt for new ideas that will generate positive returns or income. 24/7 Wall St. looks over numerous research calls to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. Many of these are for stocks to buy and stocks to sell, and some come from Wall St. and some come from independent research firms.

These are some of this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from select Wall St. research calls.

Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) started as Neutral at Baird.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) raised to Buy from Hold with $36 target at Argus.

F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray, cut to Neutral at Citigroup and cut to Market Perform at William Blair; earnings warning has shares down 17% around $75 this morning to a new 52-week low.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) raised to Overweight at Evercore.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) cut to Equal Weight at Barclays; shares are down 5% after F5 Networks warning too.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) cut to Underperform at BMO Capital Markets.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

PDC Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PDCE) raised to Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphreys; maintained Outperform but cut target to $63 from $65 at Credit Suisse.

Health care insurance stocks started in new coverage at UBS: AETNA Inc. (NYSE: AET) started as Buy, CIGNA Inc. (NYSE: CI) started as Buy, Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) started as Neutral, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) started as Buy and WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) started as Neutral.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls, Healthcare, Value Investing Tagged: AET, CELG, CI, CMCSA, FB, FFIV, HUM, JNPR, JPM, KMB, NWSA, PDCE, UNH, WLP

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — March 19, 2013: Market Closes Mixed Without Solution in Cyprus (JNPR, RIO, CHK, EBAY, EA, FF, SBLK, FDS, WAG, ADBE, CTAS, FTEK, WSM, FDX, GIS, LEN, AFFY, S, HAL, SLB)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:05:06 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning but worries about a resolution to the banking crisis in Cyprus soon took over and pushed shares down. In other parts of Europe, Spain’s bad loan ratio rose to 10.78% in January and eurozone economic sentiment came in far below expectations. German 10-year bond yields fell on a rising dollar. In Asia, China’s central bank will drain 39 billion yuan in liquidity with a short-term repurchase agreement after foreign direct investment fell less than expected in the month. In the U.S., the report on housing starts was somewhat better than last month, with an annualized 917,000 new homes being built (more coverage here). The Cypriot parliament rejected a revised tax proposal on bank deposits (more coverage here), so it’s anyone’s guess what tomorrow may bring.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.35% today, now at 82.983. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.3% at 650.30, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil closed down 1.7% today, at $92.16 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 1.8% at $107.50 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.1% today at about $3.96 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.4% today at $1,611.30 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 4 points to 14,455.90 (0.03%), the NASDAQ fell more than 8 points (-0.26%) to 3,229.10, and the S&P 500 fell -0.24% or nearly 4 points to 1,548.35.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to ‘underperform’ at Sterne Agee (more coverage here); eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $56 at Cantor Fitzgerald; and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) cut to ‘hold’ at Needham.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE: FF) is down 9.2% at $12.40; Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ: SBLK) is up 5.7% at $6.50; FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS) is down 5.6% at $92.52; and Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) is up 5.2% at $44.65 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS), Fuel Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: FTEK), Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM), FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS), and Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Affymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) is down 62.6% at $1.09 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.02 earlier today. The drugmaker fired 75% of its workforce today and will begin exploring “strategic alternatives” including bankruptcy. More coverage here.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is up 2.9% at $6.05 after posting a new 52-week high of $6.09 earlier today. The telecom company had no big news today, but led a sector that was up on a down day.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is down 3.4% at $39.36. The oil field services company fell on comments from competitor Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) that North American drilling activity was weaker in the first calendar quarter of the year. Halliburton depends far more heavily on North American drilling than does Schlumberger, hence the downturn.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concludes its two-day meeting this afternoon. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:30 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
2:00 p.m. – FOMC meeting announcement and forecast
2:30 p.m. – Ben Bernanke press conference

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ADBE, AFFY, CHK, CTAS, EA, EBAY, FDS, FDX, FF, FTEK, GIS, HAL, JNPR, LEN, RIO, S, SBLK, SLB, WAG, WSM

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ADT, BAC, BHP, CHK, CI, GLW, DE, EBAY, EA, JCP, JNPR, LULU, MNTA, OGE, RSH, RIO, TEF, RIG, UNM)

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:25:19 +0000

Investors and traders constantly seek new good research-driven ideas for stocks to buy and for stocks to sell. Some of these come from independent research and some come from the large sell-side investment banking firms on Wall St. We often see ideas in value stocks and growth stocks. We also find many special situation calls. These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from select Wall St. research calls.

ADT Corp. (NYSE: ADT) reiterated Hold with $48 target as the shares are fully valued at Argus.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was given the big buy signal with $15 near-term target by Meredith Whitney after the close on Monday.

BHP Billiton PLC (NYSE: BHP) cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to Underperform at Stern Agee.

Cigna Inc. (NYSE: CI) maintained Outperform with $72 target price at Credit Suisse.

Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) maintained Outperform with $15 target at Oppenheimer.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) cut to Neutral at UBS.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) raised to Buy with $56 target at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) cut to Hold at Needham.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) reiterated Buy with $25 target price at Argus.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) cut to Neutral at Stern Agee and maintained Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTA) cut to Underperform at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE: OGE) cut to Hold at Argus.

RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch (FULL NOTE).

Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Telefonica S.A. (NYSE: TEF) raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Transocean Ltd. Co. (NYSE: RIG) reiterated Buy with $62 target at Argus.

Unum Group (NYSE: UNM) cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Deutsche Bank gave a seriously good analysis of why it is time to rotate semiconductor stocks based on historic valuations and the market cycle.

J.P. Morgan offers a list of 15 stocks to buy based on current market conditions.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls Tagged: ADT, BAC, BHP, CHK, CI, DE, EA, EBAY, GLW, JCP, JNPR, LULU, MNTA, OGE, RIG, RIO, RSH, TEF, UNM

7 Active Trading Big Volume Spikes (CHTR, GLUU, INCY, JNPR, PCRX, SLCA, VCLK)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:55:20 +0000

Active traders and more active investors looking for news lists of stocks to buy or other investing ideas often look at stocks which are very active in trading volume. Some are up big, some are down big. Either way, large spurts of trading volume often lasts for multiple days. These are the major volume spikes tracked by 24/7 Wall St. this Monday.

Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) just had a very unusual volume spike as shares were halted on an intraday circuit breaker. Dow Jones reported that Liberty’s John Malone is close to buying a 25% stake in the company. Stay tuned as shares are up 9% at $98.20 on 1.4 million shares versus almost 1 million shares on an average day.

Glu Mobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLUU) was raised to Outperform at Northland Capital and that was somehow enough to send shares through the roof with a 9% gain to $3.64. What was impressive was that the rise was on over 18 million shares in mid-day trading versus about 2.5 million shares. Perhaps that new $4.50 target implying 35% upside from the $3.34 close had something to do with it.

Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY) is approaching a 300% volume spike on news that one of its patients under treatment developed the brain infection PML. Shares are down 6.6% at $23.20 on over 6 million shares versus an average daily volume of 1.63 million shares.

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) will not look like a huge unusual volume spike with 7.2 million shares having traded against a 6 million average daily volume. The problem is that the share volume on the sell-side was so large at the market open that shares opened down about 5% at $19.08. The stock is now down only 1% at $19.97 on the day.

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCRX) is down over 7% at $27.78 after it was pointed out that insiders were selling shares. What stands out is volume at 300% of normal at about 1.4 million versus average volume of 413,000 shares per day.

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) remains above normal in trading volume as an institutional investor was shown to be selling shares last week. The stock is actually up 3% at $22.36 so far on Monday and the 2+ million shares compares to average volume of 744,000 shares.

ValueClick, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) somehow did not even make our top analyst upgrades and downgrades this morning, but Jefferies raised the rating to Buy from Hold and raised the target price by $12 to $35 and sent the stock up. This was a gain of 9.5% mid-day to $30.40, and the share count of 1.8 million compares to an average volume of only about 955,000 shares per day.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Active Trader Tagged: CHTR, featured, GLUU, INCY, JNPR, PCRX, SLCA, VCLK