After running a screen on FinViz, we identified some of the “premium” banks close to or above book value as being M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB), New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: NYB), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), TCF Financial Corporation (NYSE: TCB), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC).

Admittedly, there is often a reason and some of these are not quite apples-to-apples comparisons.  Still, the current trend is that book value is now a ceiling rather than a floor.  Value investing just became very convoluted.  We screened out other issues such as brief descriptions, prices and trading ranges, market capitalization rates, and added in other color if applicable.  We also looked at Finviz for price-to-book ratios and confirmed data in press releases from each bank if available.

M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) is the holding company for M&T Bank, offering commercial and retail banking services in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.  The market is capitalization is more than $10 billion with a share price of $84.67 and a 52-week range of $72.03 to $95.00. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $95.21.  Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 1.16, but that has not been confirmed in the most recent quarterly report.  The common equity book value per share at the end of 2010 was $63.54.

New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: NYB) is the holding company for New York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank, which offer banking products and services in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona.  Its market capitalization is about $6.5 billion with a share price of $14.85 and a 52-week range of $14.40 to $19.33.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $18.50 and Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of just under 1.2.  The latest earnings release showed that book value per share declined $0.02 to $12.67 per share.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC) is the diversified bank and financial services company with operations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Michigan, Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin.  It has some 2,446 branches.  Its market capitalization rate is $29.4 billion and the drop of 1.6% today has its shares trading at $55.90 versus a 52-week range of $49.43 to $65.19.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of about $71.00 on PNC and Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 0.96.  PNC’s latest book value in its press release for earnings showed that Book value per common share was $58.01.

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is a different sort of bank because it is a custodial bank per its most frequently recognized purpose.  The market cap is $21.5 billion after a 2.4% drop to $42.76 and its 52-week range is $34.37 to $50.26. Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 1.15.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of almost $55.00 on State Street.

TCF Financial Corporation (NYSE: TCB) is the holding company for TCF National Bank with over 440 branch offices spread out in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin, Arizona, Indiana, and 1 branch in South Dakota.  Its market capitalization is $2.03 billion after a 2.5% drop to $12.91 and its 52-week trading range is $12.83 to $17.37.  Thomson Reuters still has a consensus price target of $16.86 at this time and that 52-week low was hit today as well. Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of just over 1.2.  Its latest book value with earnings in April was listed as $10.74 per share.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is the second largest of the “above book value banks” in market cap at $47 billion after a 1.4% drop to $24.39.  Thomson Reuters still has a consensus price target of about $30.38 and its 52-week trading range is $20.44 to $28.94.  Generally speaking, it is considered a higher-end bank and it operates a network of approximately 3,000 bank offices.  Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 1.56, but the latest press release only shows a book value of $14.83 per share..

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a bit of a conundrum now as its market cap is still $140 billion after a 2.1% drop to $26.62.  Its 52-week trading range is $23.02 to $34.25 and the most recent earnings release has a book value of $23.18 per share.  Thomson Reuters still has a consensus price target of about $36.00 on Wells Fargo.  The bank has literally about 9,000 branches all over America.  Finviz currently shows a price-to-book ratio of 1.08.

The first thing to consider is that these book value are all going to change in the coming days and over the next week or two.  Another thing to consider is that many banks will just not trade in tandem.  State Street is not Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp is not Citi.  Still, TCB is not exactly J.P.Morgan by a long shot.  Another consideration is that some hidden values may be lurking in some of the premium banks.  Lastly, logic would dictate that if reports are coming about banks which trade above book value when peer leadership banks are under book value might lead us to make a simple reminder: perhaps that is a bottom.

All things considered, we wanted to identify those banks which screen out in the premium category.  Citi went out at about 0.8-times book value and J.P. Morgan went out at about 0.9-times book value. As a last reminder on book value, asset sales, charge-offs, write-offs, writedowns, quarterly losses, settlements, and a few dozen other items can actually help to lower stated book value per share even if these banks post earnings from normal operations.  Also, if things get worse on the debt ceiling debate with politicians in D.C. and if Europe continues its path to the bonfire you just have to assume that stated book values will only be items that bankers have to answer questions about how the numbers were derived.

Warren Buffett was quoted back in the 1990s saying, “Your goal as an investor should simply be to purchase, at a rational price, a part interest in an easily-understandable business whose earnings are virtually certain to be materially higher five, ten and twenty years from now.”  We don’t go along with the Buffett model of “buy and hold forever” any longer, but you get the idea.  Maybe he will put his money where is mouth is and show that he bought more of Wells Fargo C0. (NYSE: WFC), undeniably Mr. Buffett’s favorite bank stock.

JON C. OGG

What is interesting is that the opinion of how bad this will ultimately be can vary greatly from source to source. Our guess is that if you asked ten different members of the top brass at BofA what they thought their ultimate mortgage exposure is, you would probably get ten very different answers.

It turns out that Barron’s noted some of the banks trading close to book value, or under book value, this last weekend.  We have previously noted that both Bank of America Corporation and Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) are both trading under book value but that still has not prevented a slide in the stocks.  That might not matter if that book value keeps getting eroded even as BofA remains profitable.

We have also seen how shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: NYB), Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS), Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF), State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) have also mostly fallen since earnings season, but these are now all much closer to (or under) their implied book values reported with earnings.  Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) have also been under fire but these are now at much lower premiums to book value.

The pure-play for any bounce, if one is coming, in the banks is the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLF) ETF as it has the most exposure to the top banks in its tracking index.  The derivative tracking ETF is the Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and it is the most leveraged and liquid of all leveraged bank ETFs with three-times the intraday moves.  Keep in mind that it does have tracking error if held over longer periods of time.

Sanford C. Bernstein’s John McDonald issued a report on the mortgage woes at Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) this week with an outlook of $27 billion in new mortgage-related losses through the end of 2013.  How much?  The Charlotte-based bank has already booked $46 billion in mortgage losses during the financial crisis.

Aixtron SE (NASDAQ: AIXG) Cut to Sell at Canaccord Genuity.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Ener1, Inc. (NASDAQ: HEV) Cut to Sell at Wunderlich.
GNC Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNC) Started as Market Perform at BMO; Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse; Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY) Raised to Neutral at HSBC.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Huntsman Chemicals Corp (NYSE: HUN) Maintained Strong Buy and Value at Zacks.
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
New York Community Bancorp (NYSE: NYB) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. A (NYSE: QIHU) Started as Buy at Citigroup (late-Tuesday).
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Reiterated Buy and $42 target at Argus.
Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
The Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks. 

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

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) beat earnings estimates with 8% growth this morning at $0.57 EPS versus Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $0.48 EPS. The bank cited reduced credit costs, expense controls, corporate loan growth, and more. Book value per common shares was listed as $33.25 as of March 31 and shares closed at $37.46 on Monday with a 52-week trading range of $33.11 to $45.85.

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: NYB) missed earnings estimates by $0.03 EPS at $0.28 EPS versus estimates of $0.31 from Thomson Reuters.  The bank’s margin was 17 basis points wider from a year ago but three basis points narrower sequentially.  The bank said its interest rate spread and net interest margins were hit by the same factors affecting interest income.  Book value per share fell $0.02 sequentially to $12.67 per share, while tangible book value grew $0.03 sequentially to $6.94 per share.  Shares closed at $17.08 yesterday and the 52-week trading range is $14.40 to $19.33.

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) posted earnings of $0.61 EPS, down from $0.64 last quarter.  Net income was slightly lower sequentially and year over year at $151 million.  Return on average common equity was 8.9% versus 9.9% a year earlier and 9.1% a quarter earlier.  Northern Trust is often treated more like an asset manager than as a bank as you will see in book value comparisons: book value was $28.65 at the end of March, versus a close of $51.40 yesterday and versus a 52-week trading range of $45.30 to $58.37.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) is not deemed as being of the same quality as many banks. The earnings were $0.01 EPS versus -$0.10 EPS expected as a loss at Thomson Reuters. The bank noted that delinquencies declined again, criticized and classified fell again, non-performing loans declined by 23%, charge-offs fell by 29%, net interest margin improved again, and non-interest expenses fell 8%.  Regions showed that its tangible book value per common share was $6.00 per share.  Shares closed at $6.98 on Monday and the 52-week trading range is $5.12 to $9.33.

Sterling Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBIB) reported a net loss of $370 thousand, which rounds up to $0.00 EPS.  That as $0.02 shy of the Thomson Reuters estimate of $0.02 EPS.  As this has a pending merger with Comerica it doesn’t really matter.  Book value per common shares was listed as $6.10 per share, well under its $8.76 price.

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) managed to beat earnings by $0.02 with $0.88 EPS versus $0.86 expected from Thomson Reuters as revenues from operations grew about 10%.  The return on average common equity was 9.9% versus 10.0% in Q1-2010.  Tier 1 common was 17.5%, assets under management grew by more than 5% to $2.12 trillion; assets under custody and administration grew about 5% to $22.6 trillion. State Street is also treated differently than other banks due to its asset management and custodial role.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) beat earnings by $0.03 at $0.52 EPS versus the $0.55 estimate from Thomson Reuters.  Revenues rose over 4% to $4.52 billion, short of the $4.56 billion expected.  The bank saw a reduction in the provision for credit losses and it saw a small gain in the buy of First Community Bank of New Mexico. Average loan growth was 2.4% or 1.1% excluding acquisitions; non-performing assets fell 4.7%.  Book value rose by $0.47 to $14.83 per common share.  Shares closed at $25.56 Monday and the 52-week range is $20.44 to $28.94.

Book value comparisons are often a help, sometimes thay are not.  Some are trading relatively tight to book value while others are at substantial premiums.

 JON C. OGG

As this is one of our healthier banks in our universe for investors, we saw a note that came out of Fitch Ratings today which affirmed the bank’s long-term and short-term Issuer Default Ratings at ‘BBB’ and ‘F2′ respectively.  More important was this: its Rating Outlook has been raised to positive from stable.  The bank has been an acquirer and Fitch was discussing its  leading franchise in multi-family lending, strong performance of operations, and a solid asset quality compared to peers.  While non-performing assets have increased, Fitch believes these remain manageable.

How this comes into play with M&A is that NYCB has acquired FDIC-assisted deals with AmTrust and Desert Hills Bank.  More importantly, Fitch sees NYCB as being likely to continue to be an acquirer and in more traditional M&A rather than the few FDIC-assisted deals that are currently available.  Another positive is that NYCB traditionally raises capital around acquisitions, and that defers some of the immediate dilution that could be otherwise expected.

Here are some basic statistics for the Westbury, NY-based bank.  It had about $41 billion in assets at the end of 2010.  Its market cap is $7.64 billion, and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.33 EPS and $1.48 EPS for this year and next year.  In a blended normalized earnings scenario, that gives NYCB a forward expected earnings ratio of about 12.5-times forward earnings.  At a share price of $17.54, its 52-week trading range is $14.40 to $19.33.

With a solid dividend profile and with the bank being very selective in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona markets, we would expect that some of the smaller banks in adjacent regions could become targets of NYCB.

The bank split its stock what looks like nine different times throughout the 1990s and the first half of the 2000′s decade.  Its shares peaked above $30 in 2003 to 2004.

JON C. OGG

What is interesting is that you are not currently hamstrung at all in finding real banks with real dividend yields.  After all, what if the government delays its decision?  We recently ran a feature showing the highest yielding banks of all regions and all segments which had a 3.0% yield or higher, a market cap of $1 billion, and then which had earnings power to assure that these steady payout can continue.  If we carve these out by region from our screen of more than fifteen winners, these are five of the top payers by region are M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB), New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYSE: NYB), Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR), Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE: BOH), and Trustmark Corporation (NASDAQ: TRMK).

M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) is based in Buffalo, NY and is the holding company for M&T Bank.  As of a year ago it had 793 banking offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as a branch in George Town, Cayman Islands. The company is in the process of acquiring another.

• Share price of $87.58 compares to 52-week range of $72.03 to $96.15
• Market Cap is $10.5 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $6.12 EPS and $3.77 billion in revenues
• Dividend of $2.80/year generates a yield of 3.2%
• Dividend history during recession was unchanged

New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYSE: NYB) is the bank holding company for York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank and as of a year ago it had 241 community bank branches and 35 commercial bank branches throughout New York.

• Share price of $17.60 compares to 52-week range of $14.40 to $19.33
• Market Cap is $7.7 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $1.33 EPS and $1.25 billion in revenues
• Dividend of $1.00 per year generates a yield of 5.6%
• Dividend history during recession was unchanged at $0.25 per quarter since 2004.

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR) operates as Frost Bank and as of a year ago it had 110 financial centers in the Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Rio Grande Valley, and San Antonio regions of Texas.

• Share price of $57.60 compares to 52-week range of $50.04 to $62.59
• Market Cap is $3.5 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $3.52 EPS and $886.4 million in revenues
• Dividend of $1.80/year generates a yield of 3.1%
• Dividend history during recession was stable and was raised throughout the recession.

Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE: BOH) was surprising to see considering the Hawaiian economy of the recession. It is the holding company for Bank of Hawaii and as of a year ago it operated 71 Hawaii branch locations and 12 branches in the Pacific Islands.

• Share price of $46.60 compares to 52-week range of $42.59 to $54.10
• Market Cap is $2.25 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $2.96 EPS and $585.56 million in revenues
• Dividend of $1.80/year generates a yield of 3.8%
• Dividend history during recession was stable and raised during 2008

Trustmark Corporation (NASDAQ: TRMK) is the bank holding company for Trustmark National Bank in Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas and as of a year ago it operated 140 full-service branches and 17 limited-service branches.

• Share price of $22.27 compares to 52-week range of $18.83 to $26.88
• Market Cap is $1.42 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $1.56 EPS and $511.21 million in revenues
• Dividend of $0.92/year generates a yield of about 4.0%
• Dividend history during recession was stable and has been static since 2007

You can bookmark our site for the DAILY DIVIDEND AT 11:00 AM EST each day, although it technically at 11:01 AM EST.

JON C. OGG

We wanted to take a look at “all those other banks” out there that might have avoided the trouble that the big money center banks got into.  The screen pointed to M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB), Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY), New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYSE: NYB), Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK), People’s United Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT), First Niagara Financial Group (NASDAQ: FNFG), Astoria Financial Corporation (NYSE: AF), Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: NWBI), Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR), United Bankshares Inc. (NASDAQ: UBSI), FirstMerit Corporation (NASDAQ: FMER), Park National Corp. (NYSE: PRK), Trustmark Corporation (NASDAQ: TRMK), Hancock Holding Co. (NASDAQ: HBHC), F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE: FNB) and Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE: BOH).  In Canada there is Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), The Bank Of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS), Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM).It turns out that there are still many banks around the country that do pay higher dividends at above-market yields.

Our screen boiled down to a simple process.  We took a 3.0% Yield hurdle because that is what was implied as a future yield by JPMorgan this week if you use forward earning projections.  To avoid the micro-regional risks and to avoid the “so small no one cares if they fail” we also made a market cap hurdle of $1.0 billion.  After this we took a look at forward earnings expectations and also looked in the past to see what happened to their common stock dividends during the Great Recession when bank failure risks were systematic.

M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) is based in Buffalo, NY and is the holding company for M&T Bank.  As of a year ago it had 793 banking offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as a branch in George Town, Cayman Islands. The company is in the process of acquiring another.

• Share price of $89.85 compares to 52-week range of $72.03 to $96.15
• Market Cap is $10.76 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $6.12 EPS and $3.77 billion in revenues
• Dividend of $0.70/quarter generates a yield of 3.2%
• Dividend history during recession was unchanged

Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY) is the bank holding company for Valley National Bank and it had 197 full-service banking branches a year ago located throughout New Jersey and New York.

• Share price of $13.51 compares to 52-week range of $12.33 to $16.19
• Market Cap is $2.2 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $0.84 EPS and $550.98 million in revenues
• Dividend of $0.18/quarter generates a yield of about 5.3%
• Dividend history during recession was not effectively interrupted at all and it continued to pay a 5% stock dividend.

New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYSE: NYB) is the bank holding company for York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank and as of a year ago it had 241 community bank branches and 35 commercial bank branches throughout New York.

• Share price of $18.92 compares to 52-week range of $14.40 to $19.33
• Market Cap is $8.24 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $1.33 EPS and $1.25 billion in revenues
• Dividend of $0.25/quarter generates a yield of 5.4%
• Dividend history during recession was unchanged at $0.25 per quarter since 2004.

Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) is the bank holding company for Hudson City Savings Bank and as of a year ago it had 95 branches located in 17 counties throughout the State of New Jersey.

• Share price of $11.40 compares to 52-week range of $10.80 to $14.75
• Market Cap is $5.6 billion
• Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $0.77 EPS and $966.6 million in revenues
• Dividend of $0.15/quarter generates a yield of 5.3%
• Dividend history during recession was actually raised during 2009 when others were eliminating or cutting the dividend.  The dividend has been this rate since mid-2009.

AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) Cut to Underperform at RBC.
Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (NYSE: CHD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: NYB) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
QLogic Corp. (NASDAQ: QLGC) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Sterling Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: SBIB) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Symantec Corporation (NAASDAQ: SYMC) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
The Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB) Cut to Neutral at Nomura; Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

You can 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

Ace Ltd. (NYSE: ACE) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) Removed from Conviction Buy List but maintained Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Canadian Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) Cut to Hold at Auriga.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
CM Group Inc. (NYSE: CME) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Buy with $138 target at Auriga.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: NYB) Raised to Outperform at BMO.
Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Virgin Media, Inc. (NASDAQ: VMED) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

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: 3 Recovery Stocks to Own Now – Get the names of the best cheap stocks to rebuild your wealth in 2010 and beyond.

• BB&T (BBT) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
• Chubb (CB) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
• DealerTrack (TRAK) Cut To Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• F5 Networks (FFIV) Cut to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
• Hertz (HTZ) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• Juniper Networks (JNPR) Cut to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
• New York Community Bancorp (NYB) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
• NYSE Euronext (NYX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• SAVVIS (SVVS) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
• Southern Copper (PCU) Cut to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.

Jon C. Ogg
September 24, 2008