Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) Raised to Neutral at BNP Paribas.

CME Group Icc. (NASDAQ: CME) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.

Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) Started as Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Reiterated Buy with $96 target at Argus.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised to Neutral at Stern Agee.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $58 at Argus.

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) Raised to Buy at Caris; David Einhorn did not discuss the issue at the Value Investing Congress on Wednesday; Reiterated Buy with $76 target at Canaccord Genuity.

Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) Raised to Buy with $55 target at Argus.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ: HBAN) Maintained Outperform but cut 2012/2013 estimates and maintained $8 target at Credit Suisse.

IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) Raised to Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

SINA Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) Maintained Buy but removed from the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox.  We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

Your email address

subscribe

terms and conditions

JON C. OGG

There is no limit to the number of companies that are willing to lose money for the time being in an attempt to challenge the leader positions Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has in the smartphone and tablet businesses. Most analysts who cover the new generation of portable computing say that Apple has extremely high margins on its products. Few, if any, other companies can claim likewise. New data from iSuppli show that the cost to make the Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) Kindle Fire is $201.70. The Fire is available for $199. That does not include shipping. Wall St. is already concerned with Amazon’s margins and the habit of CEO Jeff Bezos to spend large amounts of money to make money — particularly because the approach does not always work.

Bill Miller, the Legg Mason (NYSE: LM) stock picker who became an icon, will retire. His fame has been eclipsed by the army of hedge fund managers who have gained and lost billions of dollars over the past few years. The Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust, which he managed, outperformed the S&P 500 every year from 1991 to 2005. He managed money at a time when institutional investing was based on careful reviews of public company management and balance sheets. It was a period when quants had not yet taken over Wall St. Miller is gone, but he will not be missed by the traders who run the investing world now, some of whom have never heard of him.

Reuters reports that S&P will issue new ratings for the world’s 30 largest banks. The new ratings could hardly come at a worse time, since many probably will be accompanied by downgrades. The financial world is already worried about the balance sheets of financial firms, particularly those in Europe. S&P will say those banks, and some in the U.S., have exposure to sovereign debt and a new recession. Bank stocks will be hit by selling again, and faith in the credit system will further erode.

Gold: up 0.62% to $1,731

WTI Crude: up 0.4% to $99.30

U.S. 10-Year: up 0.03% to 1.99%

FTSE: -1.14% to 5,362

DAX: -0.57% to 5,817

Nikkei 225: -1.23% to 8,375

Hang Seng: -1.73% to 18,491

Douglas A. McIntyre

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) Started as Outperform at Baird.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
American Water Works Co. (NYSE: AWK) Started as Neutral with $32 target at Credit Suisse.
Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Harbin Electric, Inc. (NASDAQ: HRBN) Cut to Neutral at Roth Capital.
Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
Koninklijke Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) Cut to Underperform at Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) Maintained Buy but cut estimates and target at Argus.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) named Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Your email address

subscribe

terms and conditions

JON C. OGG

AmerisourceBergen Corp. (NYSE: ABC) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $50 at Argus.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $94 at Credit Suisse.
Central European Distribution Corp. (NASDAQ: CEDC) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse; Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ: FWLT) Reiterated Buy at Gabelli.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Started as Buy at UBS.
J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Started as Buy at UBS.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse; Maintained Buy at Gabelli.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $22 at Argus.
Mylan, Inc. (NYSE: MYL) Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP) Cautious as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE: RBA) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: SNDA) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research (lathe Tuesday).
SIRIUS XM Radio inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) Maintained Buy with private market value of $2.85 at Gabelli.
SurModics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
ValueClick, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) Raised to Buy at Jefferies; Raised to Buy at Needham.

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

While the report highlighted the relative value of BlackRock, the boosted dividend payment of late, and a relatively cheap P/E ratio for forward estimates (14.8), what stood out the most was that it seems very likely to 24/7 Wall St. that the competing asset management firms will begin offering higher payouts via dividend hikes.  Not all will catch up to BlackRock in yield with its 2.9% payout, but it still looks as though the rise in assets under management and the recovery of the stock market in the last two years will cause its rivals to follow suit.

Federated Investors, Inc. (NYSE: FII) also stood out in the pack of asset management firms.  Its dividend is close to 3.7%.  At $26.32, it trades at about 14.5-times the forward Thomson Reuters estimate of $1.81 EPS for fiscal Dec-2011.  With the exception of a higher payout in quarter a year ago, the dividend has been static at $0.24 per quarter back to 2008.

Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN) has a 0.8% dividend yield.  At $118.25, it trades at 14.2-times Thomson’s Reuters estimates of $8.32 EPS for fiscal 2011.  This one hiked its dividend back in December’s payout to $0.25 from $0.22 per quarter.

Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) has a 0.7% dividend yield. At $34.64, it trades at about 16.7-times the Thomson Reuters estimate of $2.07 for its March-2012 fiscal year-end.  It raised its dividend two quarters ago to $0.06 from $0.04 per quarter.

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TROW) has a 1.9% dividend yield.  At $63.15 it trades at 19.5-times the Dec-2011 fiscal estimate from Thomson Reuters.  The new 1.9% yield is also reflective of a dividend hike last quarter that went to $0.31 from $0.27 per quarter.

Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) has a 1.7% dividend yield.  At $25.51, it trades at about 14-times the Thomson Reuters estimate of $1.81 EPS for fiscal Dec-2011. Invesco’s dividend has been static at $0.11 per quarter for a year now.

Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV) has a 2.4% dividend yield.  At $31.25, it trades at about 17.8-times the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $1.75 EPS for fiscal October-2011.  Eaton Vance raised its dividend to $0.18 from $0.16 just two quarters ago.

There were also higher payouts elsewhere that were irregular and we stuck with companies that have predictable yields rather than fluctuating dividend yields.

If the current landscape remains relatively close today, it seems obvious that higher dividend payments are coming down the road from more asset management firms.  Most of these firms do not need massive growth capital and many have low dividend payout ratios and therefore high dividend coverage ratios.

JON C. OGG

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM) Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Edison International (NYSE: EIX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMCN) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Janus Capital Group (NYSE: JNS) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Raised to Buy at UBS.

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

A-Power Energy Generation Systems (NASDAQ: APWR) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) Cut to Hold at RBS.
Blackrock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Bucyrus International (NASDAQ: BUCY) Cut To Neutral From Buy By Goldman Sachs
Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Leap Wireless International (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray
Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) Cut to Reduce at Nomura.
NetLogic Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: NETL) Started as Buy at Gleacher.
Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE: SWX) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Stabucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $35 at BofA/ML.
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) Cut to Sell at Axiom.

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

Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) is not a price mover after the close but it was today after an IBD move.  Shares closed up 2% at $19.13, but the trading volume was over 3X at over 20 million shares.  We have seen prints for 7.3 million shares, some of which may be clean-up prints.  The price change is listed as only 0.1% at $19.15 but that takes the cake for a most active in hours trading.

Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) closed up 3.1% at $5.63 and shares are up almost 4% more at $5.85 on about 100,000 shares in the after-hours session after the company announced a new $255 million share buyback against a $914 million market cap.

Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) was hit after earnings showed a 4% drop in net income.  Shares closed up 3.4% at $30.08, but the stock is lower by 3.3% at $29.10 on over 70,000 shares since the closing bell.

Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSPD) is getting drummed in the after-hours trading session.  Revenues grew 8% to $43.3 million and non-GAAP was $0.18 EPS versus $0.15 last quarter… It expects Q4 revenue growth of 1% to 6% to $43.7 to $45.9 million.   Shares are down almost 3.5% at $8.50 on over 20,000 shares in the after-hours.

Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) beat its earnings estimates but guidance on revenue was light for next quarter.  This closed up 1.5% at $33.36 but shares are down 4.4% at $31.90 on more than 20,000 shares since the close.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) was already active in options today and shares closed up over 3% at $19.59.    There have been over 125,000 shares since the closing bell and the stock is up 6% at $20.70 ahead of the NVIDIA ruling.

Sanmina-SCI Corporation (NASDAQ: SANM) closed up 4.6% at $15.86 ahead of the EMS company’s earnings announcement: the company posted a profit on a mixed fanfare in the quarter and its guidance is mostly in-line.  Shares are selling off because this one recovered so much against its trading lows by exponential amounts.  Shares are down 6.3% at $14.85 on about 50,000 shares since the 4:00 PM Close.

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: UCTT) said that Q2 revenue was $105.9 million, up 7.5% from Q1 but up 355.4% from the same period a year ago.  This one is up 10.05% at $10.40 on more than 30,000 shares in the after-hours trading session.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) closed up 4.6% at $44.69 before earnings and after its halt was lifted the stock is up another 4% at $46.47 on over 250,000 shares.  The company beat earnings estimates and raised guidance, but keep in mind that the 52-week range is $14.06 to $54.50.

Zoran Corporation (NASDAQ: ZRAN) was down 0.1% before earnings but the stock is down 9.3% at $8.86 on almost 100,000 shares since it re-opened after a halt.  Q2 was mixed, but Q3 guidance is failing to live up to expectations.  This one is becoming a serial-disappointment.

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

Miller noted that the last time stocks were this cheap relative to bonds was in 1951, back when he was one year old.  Interestingly, Miller may have not meant to outline “you rich folks” in a political statement, but this is a solid example of where that $200,000 per year cut-off came from in politics:

• “The typical Wal-Mart shopper spends about all he or she earns, so their spending depends on having a job or getting a raise. But the top 5% of the population, those making more than $210,000, account for about 33% of total spending.”

Miller also noted that consumption is around 70% of GDP, and that U.S. economic growth relies heavily on a consumer able and willing to spend.  Miller is sticking with the thesis that financials will lead the rally, or will lead the market to further languishing.

JON C. OGG

Terrence Murphy, Chief Operating Officer of ClearBridge Advisors, a Legg Mason affiliate, is who Legg Mason has named as the Interim CFO.

Normally this could spook investors.  CFOs suddenly leaving financial firms can often bring up fears of accounting irregularities, general disagreements with auditors, and a host of other fears.  The good news is that it is probably not an ill omen that Legg Mason is about to have show and tell on a collection of skeletons in the closet.

The reason for the departure was that Daley was leaving “for a senior position with a privately held asset manager.”  He was quoted as saying, “I was unexpectedly presented with an entrepreneurial opportunity that was too attractive to pass up.”

Murphy, the new Interim CFO, has also served as CFO of Citigroup Asset Management prior to Legg Mason’s acquisition of the division business in 2005.

This is one of those instances where a red flag is probably not anything more than a speed-bump.  It is probably likely that Daley’s new employer had him sign affirmations that he has not knowingly been part of any unknown scandals or anything adverse to do with accounting at the firm.  That is not always the case, but it is certainly not out of the norm.

Legg Mason shares closed up 4% at $28.54.  If there was an anticipated problem or even a fear that this posed a new unknown risk, the stock would probably be lower than the $28.51 where shares are trading in the after-hours.

JON C. OGG