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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMGN, AON, EQT, EXEL, IPI, ERIC, MDVN, NKE, NIHD, NYX, POT, RAX, RRC, SYMC, TSLA, UA, UNH)

Administrator — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:27:50 +0000

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

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $80 at Argus.
AON Corporation (NYSE: AON) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) Raised to Hold from Sell with $50 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Intrepid Potash (NYSE: IPI) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Maintained Buy but target now at $14 from $19 at Argus.
Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) Raised to Buy at Argus.
NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) named Momentum stock of the day at Zacks.
Range Resources Corporation (NYSE: RRC) Raised to Hold from Sell with $59 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Reiterated Buy and $24.00 price target at Argus.
Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Raised to Buy at Needham.
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

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: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AMGN, AON, EQT, ERIC, EXEL, IPI, MDVN, NIHD, NKE, NYX, POT, RAX, RRC, SYMC, TSLA, UA, UNH

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CAL, HAL, HMY, HD, IBI, KLAC, KORS, NFLX, NIHD, NVLS, PAAS, TXN, UNP, ZUMZ)

Administrator — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:14:33 +0000

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

Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) Reiterated Buy but lowered target to $54 at Argus.
Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) Reiterated Buy and raised price target to $51 at Argus.
Interline Brands, Inc. (NYSE: IBI) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE: KORS) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley; Started as Outperform at Baird; Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Maintained Outperform with $100 target at Credit Suisse.
NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) maintained Outperform but lowered estimates at Credit Suisse.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $40 at Credit Suisse; Cut to Hold at Kaufman Bros.
Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $130 at Argus.
Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: CAL, HAL, HD, HMY, IBI, KLAC, KORS, NFLX, NIHD, NVLS, PAAS, TXN, UNP, ZUMZ

Pigs of the Pageant: Huge Losers on a Great Day (MDR, ORRF, TQNT, HGR, AXTI, AVP, NIHD, BRY)

Administrator — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:11:11 +0000

The market may be up huge today (DJIA now up over 300 points and over 12,000) on a Eurozone bailout fund agreement and on a positive GDP report, but there are some serious stinkers out there today. Today’s biggest losers are as follows: McDermott International, Inc (NYSE: MDR); Orrstown Financial Services Inc. (NASDAQ: ORRF); TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT); Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc. (NYSE: HGR); AXT Inc. (NASDAQ: AXTI); Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP); NII Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD); and Berry Petroleum Company (NYSE: BRY).

We have compiled news summaries, added in color, and shown the price moves as needed. When the DJIA is up 300 points, you have to ask yourself how bad the reactions here would have been if the market was down on the day. These are today’s pigs in the beauty pageant.

The biggest and worst offender is McDermott International, Inc (NYSE: MDR). Shares are down 31% at $10.09 on the day on exponential trading volume after the company lowered guidance and gave an outlook to 2012. The engineering and construction company sees only $0.03 to $0.05 EPS rather than $0.29 EPS. Ouch! The only good news is the quote “it should be made clear that this quarter’s expected results are not indicative of our outlook for the future.”

Some company called Orrstown Financial Services Inc. (NASDAQ: ORRF) is the next to worst performer and Orrstown is full of a bunch of ‘Orffing Orrfers’ today as a result. The company runs Orrstown Bank, with 21 banking offices and 2 remote service facilities located in Cumberland, Franklin and Perry Counties, Pennsylvania and Washington County, Maryland. This is after earnings and no dividend. Shares are down 31% at $9.10 and the new 52-week range is $8.80 to $29.50.

TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT) is supposed to be a winner from the iPhone 4S, isn’t it? This chip-maker is getting battered and bruised after beating earnings expectation but giving a weak forecast. This one is down almost 27% at $5.25 and the 52-week range is $4.66 to $15.20.

Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc. (NYSE: HGR) is taking it in the chin after earnings last night. The orthotic and prosthetic patient care center operator is down 19.6% at $17.01 and the 52-week range is $16.33 to $28.47.

AXT Inc. (NASDAQ: AXTI) is often overlooked in the field of compound and single element semiconductor substrates for use in wireless communications, lighting display applications, and fiber optic systems. Short sellers are not overlooking it. The company’s earnings report from last night has shares down 22.2% at $4.60 and the new 52-week range is $4.31 to $12.23.

Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) is still in need of a new Chief Executive Avon Lady. The company posted a 1% drop in earnings but disclosed an SEC probe. Volume is already approaching 300% above normal and the stock’s drop is down over 18% at $18.79. The 52-week range has not yet been breached but is $18.17 to $34.87.

NII Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) is the Nextel of Latin America, and this morning it is being called “Nextel Pinche” by its shareholders after what appears to be an awful earnings report with a net loss. Shares are down a whopping 16.4% at $25.48 and the new 52-week trading range is $25.03 to $46.32.

Berry Petroleum Company (NYSE: BRY) looked like good earnings on the surface with at $134 million, or $2.42 EPS. Those earnings were boosted by a non-cash “gain on hedges and a non-cash loss on extinguishment of debt” that boosted the report by $90 million or by $1.63 EPS. Shares are down 13.7% at $37.25 and the 52-week range is $30.59 to $61.17.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: HI/LOW, Trading Alert Tagged: AVP, AXTI, BRY, HGR, MDR, NIHD, ORRF, TQNT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AGU, CLH, COP, DNDN, FDX, IPI, KBR, MDR, N, NIHD, ORCL, MOS, SFSF, TXN, VLO, VIP, ZION)

Administrator — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:05:25 +0000

These are some of this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research calls.

Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE: CLH) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) maintained Buy but cut target to $85 at Argus.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Cut to Neutral at Roth.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Intrepid Potash, Inc. (NYSE: IPI) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR) listed as the value stock of the day at Zacks.
McDermott International (NYSE: MDR) called Bear of the Day at Zacks.
NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
NII Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
The Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
SuccessFactors, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFSF) Removed from U.S. Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Maintained Buy but target to $35 at Argus.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
VimpelCom Ltd. (NYSE: VIP) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Zions Bancorp. (NASDAQ: ZION) Cut to Underperform at Stern Agee; Maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AGU, CLH, COP, DNDN, FDX, IPI, KBR, MDR, MOS, N, NIHD, ORCL, SFSF, TXN, VIP, VLO, ZION

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AEO, AAPL, AMR, ENOC, F, INTC, JCOM, JBLU, MA, MGM, NIHD, PETS, SLE, TKC)

Administrator — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:19:32 +0000

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

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Outperform and $500 target at Credit Suisse.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Reiterated Outperform on Focus List at Credit Suisse.
j2 Global Communications (NASDAQ: JCOM) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $325 at Argus.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
NII Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (NYSE: TKC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

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: AAPL, AEO, AMR, ENOC, F, INTC, JBLU, JCOM, MA, MGM, NIHD, PETS, SLE, TKC

Gabelli Changes All ‘Focus Five’ Stock Picks (ASCMA, CCE, CVS, NAV, YHOO, BLK, ITT, MSG, NFG, NIHD)

Administrator — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:17:36 +0000

Gabelli & Co. is rather well-known for looking at companies for their value in special situations and in possible mergers, to the point that Mario Gabelli is known as “Dr. Love” by the investment community. We have now been given the firm’s list of changes in the Gabelli Focus Five list. The changes made were Ascent Media Corporation (NASDAQ: ASCMA), Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: CCE), CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS), Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). Those companies removed from the Gabelli Focus Five list this week were BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK), ITT Corporation (NYSE: ITT), Madison Square Garden (NYSE: MSG), National Fuel Gas Co. (NYSE: NFG), and NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD).

If you want to know why this list matters, the numbers speak for themselves. In 2006, this list performed 19.18% versus 9.51% for the S&P 500; in 2007 that was 4.69% versus -6.93% for the S&P 500, in 2008 that was 9.21% versus -38.30% in the S&P 500, in 2009 that was 88.80% versus 30.03% for the S&P 500, and in 2010 that was 24.38% versus 19.76% for the S&P 500. The return was lower during the first quarter of 2011 at 2.37% versus 6.03% for the S&P 500 Index. We have outlined some of the bullet points below.

Ascent Media Corporation (NASDAQ: ASCMA) is highlighted for its recapitalization with a Buy rating during the sale of media assets and the acquisition of Monitronics, holding $260 million in cash, $60 million in real estate, and significant NOLs (loss carry-forwards). Gabelli’s so-called private market value is put in the mid-$60′s versus about $48.50 currently.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: CCE) as the Western European bottler is expected to generate about $3.7 billion in cash flow thru 2015 for more repurchases. With a share price around $28.40, the Gabelli private market value was put at $36.00. For a comparison, Thomson Reuters has a mean objective price target of only about $30.25.

CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) is one called ‘time to split’ as its trades at a discount to peers with some $5 billion in contract losses and lower margins. Gabelli thinks new management should consider a split-up of the company and gave a sum of the parts value of $52.00 per share versus $36.22 today. For a comparison, this is well above consensus as Thomson Reuters has a mean objective price target of about $38.90.

Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) is seeing more freight shipping, high fleet utilization, and what is an aging national truck fleet that should all drive demand. Its private market value was put at $80.00 versus about $69.50 today. For a comparison, this is above-consensus as Thomson Reuters has a mean objective price target of about $77.27.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is perhaps the biggest or most easily recognized call from Gabelli for investors, with the call that cash and minority stakes in Alibaba Group and Yahoo! Japan come to a value of “at least $13.60 per share” alone in value and believes there is limited downside at only about 2.5-times expected 2011 EBITDA. Gabelli’s private market value was put at $23.00 per share versus anout $17.70 in the market. For a comparison, this is well above average as Thomson Reuters has a mean objective price target of about $19.26.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Shareholder Issues, Turnarounds, Value Investing Tagged: ASCMA, BLK, CCE, CVS, ITT, MSG, NAV, NFG, NIHD, YHOO

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (SATS, FSLR, LVS, MCP, MWW, NIHD, NUVA, HOT, VVUS)

Administrator — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:13:21 +0000

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

EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Neutral at Macquarie.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
NII Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
NuVasive Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) Downgraded at BMO, Needham, JPMorgan, and Stifel Nicolaus.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE: HOT) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

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: FSLR, HOT, LVS, MCP, MWW, NIHD, NUVA, SATS, VVUS

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AMLN, BAC, KOF, LLY, JNPR, MOS, NIHD, STRA, WDC)

Administrator — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:32:26 +0000

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

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) Cut to Hold at Citigroup; Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; Cut to Underperform at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Coca-Cola Femsa S.A.B. (NYSE: KOF) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Strayer Education Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA) Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) Reiterated Strong Buy at Needham.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMLN, BAC, JNPR, KOF, LLY, MOS, NIHD, STRA, WDC

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ADBE, ADSK, LLNW, NIHD, ORLY, QSFT, SLM, SNTA, USM)

247wallst — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:49:20 +0000

These are the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative research calls we have seen this Friday morning:

Adobe (ADBE) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Autodesk (ADSK) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.
Limelight Networks (LLNW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
NII Holdings (NIHD) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
O’Reilly Autoparts (ORLY) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Quest Software (QSFT) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
SLM (SLM) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Synta Pharmaceuticals (SNTA) downgraded at Lazard, Roth Capital, and Wachovia.
US Cellular (USM) Cut to Underperform at Baird.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ADBE, ADSK, LLNW, NIHD, ORLY, QSFT, SLM, SNTA, USM

The 52-Week Low Club (SCA)(CNXT)(ODP)(AMD)

247wallst — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:01:09 +0000

Security Capital Assurance (SCA) Bond insurance company does not have enough capital to keep strong bond rating. Drops to $3.56 from 52-week high of $34.52.

CSK Auto (CAO) Company gets brokerage downgrade. Falls to $4.30 from 52-week high of $19.14.

Office Depot (ODP) Still falling after warning on sales. Drops to $14.11 from 52-week high of $41.06.

Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) FDA rejects company’s sleep drug. Shares off to $5.01 from 52-week high of $14.88.

NII Hldgs (NIHD) Company is participating in a December 18 third-generation license auction in Brazil. No other news. Falls to $43.37 from 52-week high of $90.43.

Conexant (CNXT) No news, but down to $.95 from 52-week high of $2.21.

AMD (AMD) Bad reaction to analyst day presentations. Falls to $8.42 from 52-week high of $23.

Douglas A. McIntyre