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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMR, BAC, STD, CREE, DELL, EMC, EPB, INTC, NRGY, IRDM, MAS, NTAP, QCOM, RVBD, SEM, TOL, X, VCLK, VECO, WLP, XLNX)

Administrator — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:11:30 +0000

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

AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Cut to Sell at Ticonderoga.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Removed from U.S. Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Reiterated Buy with $22 target at Argus.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Buy with $32 target at Argus.
El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB) added to U.S. Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Reduce at Nomura; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $29 at Gleacher.
Inergy, L.P. (NYSE: NRGY) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday).
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) Reiterated Outperform at CRedit Suisse.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.
Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE: SEM) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday).
ValueClick, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday).
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $41 at Gleacher & Co.

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: AMR, BAC, CREE, DELL, EMC, EPB, INTC, IRDM, MAS, NRGY, NTAP, QCOM, RVBD, SEM, STD, TOL, VCLK, VECO, WLP, X, XLNX

Week’s Market Losers: JC Penney, Schwab, News Corp And More

247wallst — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 11:58:39 +0000

News Corp (NYSE: NWSA) share dropped 3.5% as the company faced a large bribery and phone hack scandal in the UK and closed it New of the World paper. The stock was down more midweek before the paper was shuttered. News Corp’s chance to take over BSkyB, which might has been CEO Rupert Murdoch’s crowning achievement, were damaged.

June retail sales were strong for most firms in the industry. A notable exception was J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP which posted figures below expectations. It has hired a senior retail executive from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to turn around its fortunes. The move could not happen soon enough. The stock was down almost 4% for the week.

Charles Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW) was ordered to pay back investors in its YieldPlus Fund. The fund took undisclosed risks. Schwab share closed the week off by 3.6%.

S&P 500 WEEK: BOTTOM 10 (01 JUL – 07 JUL)	Ticker	Weekly Price Change (%)	Close Price 7Jul11	Close Price 1Jul11	Market Cap ($Mil)
Noble Corp	NE	-5.0	37.69	39.67	9504.1
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc	WFR	-4.3	8.21	8.58	1891.7
J. C. Penney Company Inc.	JCP	-3.7	33.73	35.03	7191.5
Schwab (Charles) Corp	SCHW	-3.6	16.12	16.72	19452.5
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc	MMI	-3.6	22.64	23.48	6677.8
News Corp	NWSA	-3.5	17.43	18.06	31863.9
Masco Corp	MAS	-3.4	12.04	12.46	4311.5
Morgan Stanley	MS	-3.2	23.00	23.76	35527.1
WellPoint Inc	WLP	-3.1	78.27	80.79	28737.8
Western Union Co	WU	-2.8	19.68	20.24	12443.0
Source: Capital IQ

Filed under: Research Tagged: JCP, MAS, MMI, MS, NE, NWSA, SCHW, WFR, WLP, WU

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACTV, AUO, BBBB, CNK, CLWR, CLF, DFS, EK, FSL, GIS, MAS, RGC, SNDK, SBUX, UA, WCG, YNDX)

Administrator — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:01:10 +0000

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

The Active Network, Inc. (NYSE: ACTV) Started as Buy at BofA/ML; Started as Buy at Citigroup.
AU Optronics Corp. (NYSE: AUO) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) dropped from Underperform at BofA/ML; Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Cinemark Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CNK) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) Raised to Outperform with $6 target at Credit Suisse.
Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) Reinstated Buy with $118 target at BofA/ML.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (NYSE: FSL) Started as Buy at Citigroup; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) Cut to Sell at Janney Capital.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Reiterated Buy but raised target to $45 at Argus.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Called out as “Overvalued” in the weekend Barron’s.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) called top Value at Zacks.
Yandex N. V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACTV, AUO, BBBB, CLF, CLWR, CNK, DFS, EK, FSL, GIS, MAS, RGC, SBUX, SNDK, UA, WCG, YNDX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALTR, BSX, COH, CMCSA, GFA, KKR, MAS, MU, ORCL, POM, RHT, SO, TSM, TIF, VRSN)

Administrator — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:32:58 +0000

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

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Gafisa SA (NYSE: GFA) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) Started as Neutral with $18 target at Credit Suisse.
Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Maintained Buy but Cut target to $12 at Gleacher & Co.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Reiterated Outperform and $42 target at Credit Suisse.
Pepco Holdings Inc. (NYSE: POM) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday).
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday).

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALTR, BSX, CMCSA, COH, GFA, KKR, MAS, MU, ORCL, POM, RHT, SO, TIF, TSM, VRSN

Lumber Prices Have Crashed On Weak Outlook For Builders

247wallst — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:03:01 +0000

On May 17th and May 25th, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange stopped trading in lumber futures because the contract price had fallen by the maximum allowable amount of $10. On the 25th, lumber was halted at a price of $225/thousand board feet, which is the price that the contract opened at again this morning. The July contract is trading now at $234. Since April 21st, the contract price is down more than $100.

This price drop will have an impact on the four large US lumber companies, Weyerhauser Co. (NYSE:WY), Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE:LUK), Masco Corp. (NYSE:MAS), and Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE:LPX) as well as paper makers International Paper Co. (NYSE:IP) and Fibria Celulose S.A. (NYSE:FBR). Nor is this good news for the rest of the year for homebuilders such as Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL), KB Home (NYSE:KBH), Lennar Corp. (NYSE:LEN), or PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE:PHM).

Traders believe that the homebuilders and paper makers, especially, are not buying in anticipation of even lower prices to come. The rush of buyers into the market in March and April was due to the expiration of the federal homebuyers’ credit on April 30th. That is expected to kill demand for new homes in the near-term, keeping the market for new homes soft for the next six months.

Just a few months ago, builders faced lumber prices that were rapidly rising, threatening their margins. With lumber above $300/thousand board feet, about $1,400 would have been added to the cost of new house. In a soft housing market, builders were confronted with the nasty choice of eating the higher cost or risking a rise in price.

Now that prices have fallen, the belief is that demand for new houses has declined and the builders don’t need to buy more. Suppliers, like Weyerhaeuser and Louisiana-Pacific were already planning for softer lumber prices in the current quarter which will weigh on profits.

Here’s a chart of the DJ US home construction index for the past 3 months:

Paper companies were already expecting a boost in demand this year, following five years of declines. The demand for corrugated and paperboard boxes for items like food and beverages is the main driver of the better forecast. Corrugated and solid fiber boxes account for more than 70% of paper good shipments.

In its quarterly earnings report, International Paper suffered from the high wood prices, but noted that its costs were moderating, that prices would rise because demand was up. As long as supplies are readily available, the paper makers should see improvement in profits and revenues.

Here’s a chart of the DJ US forestry & paper index for the past 3 months:

When you see the two charts together, the two paths they trace are almost identical. Lumber, home construction, and paper making are all dancing to the same tune. And that tune is concern about the US economy in the second half of 2010.

The end of the homebuyers tax credit, the almost invisible recovery in employment, tight consumer credit, and the lower predicted effects from last year’s $787 billion economic stimulus package are all going to weigh down the second half of the year.

Today’s market rebound, now up more than 2%, is almost entirely due to China’s denial of a rumor that it would no longer invest in European debt. Oil prices are rising again, to more than $74/b. The shares of the lumber companies mentioned in this article are up between 1.5% and 4.5%. International Paper shares are up about 3% and FBR shares are up more than 8%. Pulte is up about 2.5% and the other homebuilders are up less than 1%.

Today’s advancing stocks number 8x more than decliners on the first bit of good news in over a week. Prospects for the second half of the year are not as rosy.

Paul Ausick

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Filed under: Commodities, Housing Tagged: FBR, IP, KBH, LEN, LPX, LUK, MAS, PHM, TOL, WY

Top Analyst Downgrades (BKC, IPCM, MAS, POT, VOD)

247wallst — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:29:35 +0000

These are some of the cautious analyst calls and analyst downgrades we have seen from Wall Street firms with more than two hours until the market opens this Tuesday morning:

Burger King (BKC) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
IPC The Hospitalist Co. (IPCM) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Masco (MAS) Cut to Underweight at JP Morgan.
Potash Corp. (POT) Target cut to $100 at UBS.
Vodafone (VOD) Cut to Neutral at UBS.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BKC, IPCM, MAS, POT, VOD

Top Analyst Downgrades (DNB, GG, HIG, MAS, MR, RMG)

247wallst — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:35:47 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and cautious research calls we have seen early this Tuesday morning with about two hours until the open:

Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) Started as Neutral at Baird.
Goldcorp (GG) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Hartford Financial (HIG) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Masco (MAS) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Mindray Medical (MR) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Risk Metrics (RMG) Started as Neutral at Baird.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: DNB, GG, HIG, MAS, MR, RMG

Disappearing Dividends At America’s Best-Known Companies (DOW, HOG, MAS)

247wallst — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:55:13 +0000

In this horrible market, dividends have been one of the few saviors for investors. But the latest trend of big-name companies slashing their dividend is concerning. Sadly, this trend will likely grow.

Today it was Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW), Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) and Masco (NYSE: MAS) cutting their dividends. The cuts were likely much anticipated by the market, with dividend yields of 16%, 10% and 12% before the cuts. What is concerning though is that some of these companies were out defending their dividends not too long ago.

When Will The Rest Of Ford’s (F) Board Leave?

247wallst — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:33:24 +0000

Most corporations have bylaws about how many board members they must have. The federal government requires that boards of directors keep enough outside members to maintain independent audit and compensation committees.

Ford (F) may have some trouble with these rules and regulations. Yesterday, two of its most prominent board members left: John R.H. Bond and Jorma Ollila. Bond is chairman of Vodafone (VOD). Ollila is chairman of Nokia (NOK) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS). Neither is exactly at retirement age. Their departure follows that of the Ford CFO by less than a week.

Ford still has eleven board members, but, the company is in such deep trouble, others may leave. Some analysts think that Ford could run low on money next year.

Bond and Ollila said they were worried that they could not spend adequate time working with Ford while it muddles its way though the global automotive crisis. Each said he would need to spend more time in Europe which is moving into a deep recession.

Some of Ford’s other board members may have to leave. Ford does not have a real public company board. The Ford family controls the vote, so it may not need a full complement of directors.

Here are some of the other people on Ford’s board and why they may leave:

Stephen Butler is the retired head of KPMG. The accounting firm may need him back because it will be required to spend additional time looking at the complex year-end write-offs at clients in the banking and brokerage industries.

Kimberly Casiano is president of Casiano Communications, a publishing and direct marketing firm in Puerto Rico. She may resign because she has absolutely no qualifications to be on the board of a multi-national car company, or any other large corporation for that matter.

Irvine Hockaday is the retired CEO of Hallmark Cards. A recession could do substantial damage to the greeting card business and he might be called upon to take back his old job to steer the company through a very difficult period.

Richard Manoogian is chairman of Masco (MAS) a home improvement and construction materials company. Since the housing market is in its worst slump since The Great Depression, his firm will require all of management’s time to save the company.

Ellen Marram runs the Barnegat Group. She has worked at Seagram and Tropicana. Since Barnegat is an obscure business advisory firm, she may not be renominated due to lack of credentials.

Homer Neal is a professor of Physics at The University of Michigan. In order to get the grants to hold onto his large salary at U of M will require much more of his time during a recession.

Gerald Shaheen is the head of Caterpillar (CAT). The global downturn in heavy construction will almost certainly undercut his company’s earnings and keeping Cat on track will require more and more of his time.

John Thortan is a former senior executive at Goldman Sachs (GS) and is now a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Since China is replacing the US as the leading global economic power, he may simply decide that spending time working in the declining American business environment is not worth his effort.

That will leave CEO Alan Mulally, William Clay Ford, Jr. and Edsel Ford II to go down with the ship.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Autos Tagged: CAT, F, GS, MAS, NOK, RDS, VOD

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BWA, CSTR, ESRX, JNPR, M, MAS, NSR, SKS, SYMC, UNH)

247wallst — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:49:56 +0000

These are ten of the top Wall Street analyst upgrades we are seeing from this Friday morning with more than two hours to the open:

Borg Warner (BWA) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Coinstar (CSTR) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Express Scripts (ESRX) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Juniper Networks (JNPR) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Macy’s (M) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Masco (MAS) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
NeuStar (NSR) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Saks Inc. (SKS) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Symantec (SYMC) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
UnitedHealth (UNH) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
October 17, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BWA, CSTR, ESRX, JNPR, M, MAS, NSR, SKS, SYMC, UNH