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Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (C, DRI, DLTR, FDO, FMCN, NITE, MA, PFE, PG, VLCM)

Administrator — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:19:09 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen early this Friday morning in Wall Street research calls:

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Started as Strong Buy at Raymond James (late yesterday call).
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMCN) reiterated Buy and raises target to $24 from $23 at Auriga.
Knight Capital Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NITE) Raised to Outperform at BMO.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) Raised to BUy at Janney.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) STarted as Buy at Jefferies.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) Started as Buy at Janney.
Volcom Inc. (NASDAQ: VLCM) Cut to Underweight at KeyBanc.

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

Sponsor: 5 best investments for 2010 – The next nine months represent a bold new era for investors.

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: C, DLTR, DRI, FDO, FMCN, MA, NITE, PFE, PG, VLCM

Top 10 Anlayst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (AXP, COF, DE, DHI, JEF, NITE, NDAQ, SLB, SBUX, WLP)

247wallst — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:32:44 +0000

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

American Express (NYSE: AXP) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Capital One (NYSE: COF) Started as Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Deere (NYSE: DE) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Knight Capital (NASDAQ: NITE) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
NASDAQ OMX (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Wellpoint (NYSE: WLP) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, mergers and acquisitions, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AXP, COF, DE, DHI, JEF, NDAQ, NITE, SBUX, SLB, WLP

Knight Capital Out-Jousts Peers (NITE)

247wallst — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:48:10 +0000

Knight Capital Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NITE) is doing what other trading shops aren’t: it is winning in uncertain times. The trading and brokerage firm posted earnings of $0.40 on revenues of $269.9 million, while First Call had estimates pegged at $0.24 EPS and $211.5 million in revenues.

Despite September getting off to a rough start, the firm said thatclients turned to it for guidance and execution on electronic tradingand on direct voice brokerage executions. This led to market sharegains and gains in share volume traded. Its average daily dollar valuetraded in September 2008 was up over 52% from August 2008 to $24.2billion and up almost 75% from September 2007. Average daily equitytrade volume of 3.3 million was a gain of over 62% from August 2008 andup over 137% from September 2007.

There were some segments which weren’t great. Its asset management operations had approximately $2.7 billion under management at October 1, 2008, down from $4.4 billion at October 1, 2007. Its Q3 corporate segment reported a pre-tax loss of $18.8 million, compared to pre-tax income of $3.9 million in the third quarter of 2007. All in all, this is a far better report than what we are seeing from peers.

The company does not give guidance, but shares are up over 5% at $15.15this morning, and the 52-week trading range is $11.03 to $19.75. Somefirms do well while others flounder. You know which camp Knight fitsinto today.

Jon C. Ogg
October 22, 2008

Posted in Brokerage Firms, Earnings Tagged: NITE

Early Bird Analyst Upgrades (ALVR, ABV, ABC, NITE, MSSR, NDAQ, PCX, TRMB)

247wallst — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:23:56 +0000

These are some of the analyst upgrades and positive calls coming from Wall Street this Wednesday morning with more than two hours to the open:

Alvarion (ALVR) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
AmBev (ABV) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
AmerisourceBergen (ABC) Raised To Buy at Merrill Lynch.
Knight Capital (NITE) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
McCormick & Schmick’s (MSSR) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ) Raised To Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Patriot Coal (PCX) Started as Buy at UBS.
Trimble Navigation (TRMB) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Jon C. Ogg
September 24, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ABC, ABV, ALVR, MSSR, NDAW, NITE, PCX, TRMB

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (WTR, BYD, CNET, CTRP, GOOG, SOLD, NITE, NYX, SOHU, VDSI)

247wallst — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:01:17 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst calls we are focusing on this morning:

Aqua America (NYSE: WTR) cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) started as Sell at Banc of America.
CNET (NASDAQ: CNET) started as Buy at Kaufman Bros.
Ctrip.com (NASDAQ: CTRP) cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) started as Buy at Kaufman Bros
Housevalues (NASDAQ: SOLD) raised to Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Knight Capital Group (NASDAQ: NITE) cut to Equal Weight at Lehman Brothers.
NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Sohu.com (NASDAQ: SOHU) cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI) raised to Buy at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
May 7, 2008

Financial Earnings Winners & Losers (BLK, JPM, NITE, MER, WFC)

247wallst — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:52:25 +0000

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) posted a 25% gain in earnings, but reported $1.90 EPS versus $2.00 estimates; Assets under management are now $1.364 Trillion. Shares are trading down by 2% pre-market.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) $0.69 EPS vs. $0.64 est.; $2.6 Billion markdowns; expect weakness to continue and expects capital market stress to continue; sees issues affecting results for remainder of 2008 or longer; shares are trading up over 2% in pre-market.

Knight Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NITE) $0.35 EPS vs. $0.30 estimates; trading volume surged in dollar terms and decreased in volume for march, noted de-leveraging of financial markets; stock trading up over 6% pre-market.

Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) is taking another $6.8 Billion in write-offs according to WSJ, although shares are up almost 1% pre-market.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) posted an 11% decrease in earnings but earnings were $0.60 EPS vs $0.57 est; setting aside $2.03 billion to cover delinquencies and defaults among mortgages and other loans; non-performing assets up 16% to $4.5 billion as of March 31, up from $3.87 billion at December 31, 2007; Shares are trading up over 7% in pre-market trading.

Jon C. Ogg
April 16, 2008

Jon Ogg produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter. He can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Goldman Sachs Makes Key Financial Calls (BEN, JNS, NYX, NDAQ, MET, FII, NITE, OZM)

247wallst — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:00:04 +0000

Goldman Sachs has issued a call on its asset manager universe, and says it’s time to go on the offensive. Its rating on the group is now attractive. The bulge bracket brokerage leader has also made some key calls in the financial sector this morning.

In the call it has raised the following to Buy from Neutral:

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN), Janus Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE: JNS), NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX), MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET)

There were actually some downgrades as well, with the following downgraded to Neutral from Buy:

Federated Investors, INC. (NYSE: FII), Knight Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NITE), Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZM).

It has maintained a Neutral rating on NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ), although it raised estimates by $0.10 for both 2008 and 2009.

Jon C. Ogg
April 8, 2008

Goldman Sachs Lowers Financial Estimates (AB, ABLk, BLK, CLMS, CME, BEN, GBL, IVZ, JNS, NITE, LAB, LM, MKTX, NYX, TROW, PZN, NDAQ, TRAD)

247wallst — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:22:38 +0000

Goldman Sachs has lowered estimates on many financial services players this morning:

AllianceBernstein (AB) (buy);
AMBAC Financial (ABK) (neutral);
Blackrock (BLK) (buy);
Calamos Asset Mgmt. (CLMS) (neutral);
CME Group (CME) (buy);
Franklin Resources (BEN) (neutral);
Gamco Investors (GBL) (sell);
INVESCO plc (IVZ) (neutral);
Janus Capital (JNS) (neutral);
Knight Trading (NITE) (buy);
Labranche (LAB) (sell);
Legg Mason (LM) (neutral);
Marketaccess Holdings (MKTX) (neutral);
NYSE Euronext (NYX) (neutral);
T. Rowe Price (TROW) (neutral);
Pzena Investment Mgmt. (PZN) (neutral);
The NASDAQ Stock Market (NDAQ) (neutral);
TradeStation (TRAD) (neutral)

Jon C. Ogg
January 10, 2008

The 52-Week Low Club

247wallst — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:11:00 +0000

Enterra Energy (ENT) Second big daily drop after suspending dividend. Down to $1.63 from 52-week high of $10.30.

Bearingpoint (BE) Management consultants. Not doing a very good job of it. Drops to $4.51 from 52-week high of $9.00.

Navigant Consulting (NCI) Financial and regulatory consultancy company to do reorganization, may hit financial statement. Consulting must not be a very good business. Down to $12.55 from 52-week high of $22.63.

Animal Health (AHII) Distributor of animal health products posts earnings and Wall St. is not happy. Falls to $8.78 from 52-week high of $15.74.

Syntax Brillian (BRLC) LCD TV maker still dropping after weak numbers. Down to $3.58 from 52-week high of $11.70.

Knight Capital (NITE) Wall St. unhappy that NITE owns a hedge fund. Shares keep moving down. Hit $11.73 from 52-week high of $21.78.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Media Digest 8/29/2007 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron’s

247wallst — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:14:39 +0000

According to Reuters, Isuzu and GM (GM) will increase their cooperation in South America to improve their share in the truck market.

Reuters writes that Knight Capital (NITE) may have to refund fees collected by one of its funds which has been affected by market turmoil.

The Wall Street Journal writes that it has told the UAW that it may sell some non-core assets which have union employees

The Wall Street Journal reports that the CFO of Google (GOOG) will step down.

The Wall Street Journal writes that job losses in the Mexican community are hurting Wal-Mart (WMT) sales.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Home Depot (HD) will continue with plans for a share buy-back.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Lockheed Martin is looking for growth in its IT business to offset slowing defence sales.

The New York Times writes that phone companies in Europe are stepping up their investment to bring internet TV to consumer’s homes.

The FT writes that BMW and Daimler are warning China that it is copying models of their cars.

The FT writes that Merrill Lynch (MER) is moving aggressively into India.

Barron’s writes that Apple (AAPL) may introduce new models of the iPod at a Sept 5 event.

The Inquirer writes that Google (GOOG) may introduce a phone in September.

Douglas A. McIntyre