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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMZN, BIP, XLS, GM, GPRN, ICE, LLTC, PRXL, PKD, PVH, GOLD, RIO, LUV, SHW, TXN)

Administrator — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:15:49 +0000

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

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.

Exelis, Inc. (NYSE: XLS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) Cut to Neutral with $20 target at BofA/ML; Cut to Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.

IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) Cut to Neutral at UBS.

PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ: PRXL) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.

Parker Drilling Company (NYSE: PKD) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

PVH Corporation (NYSE: PVH) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Rangold Resources Limited (NASDAQ: GOLD) Cut to Neutral at Nomura.

Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.

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.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMZN, BIP, GM, gold, GPRN, ICE, LLTC, LUV, PKD, PRXL, PVH, RIO, SHW, TXN, XLS

Morning Movers (VRNG, FFN, RSH, MTH, PRXL)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:26:07 +0000

There are several stocks trading more heavily than usual this morning, and also experiencing large gains or drops in share prices. These include Vringo Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG), FriendFinders Network Inc. (NASDAQ: FFN), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE: MTH), and Parexel International Inc. (NASDAQ: PRXL)

After the first 45 minutes of trading this morning, Vringo is up more than 46% at $1.70. Volume is nearly 20x the daily average of about 65,000 shares traded. The social media software maker is apparently basking in the glow of the coming IPO of Facebook. See our coverage here.

FriendFinders is up more than 30% at $1.38. Volume is already about 4x the daily average of about 213,000 shares traded. The adult social media company is likely also being bought up on the prospective Facebook IPO.

RadioShack is down more than -28% at $7.35 after posting a new 52-week low of $7.15 earlier. Volume is already 9x the daily average of about 2.6 million shares traded. The electronics retailer pre-announced quarterly earnings this morning and the outlook for gross margins is killing the stock. See more coverage here.

Meritage is down more than -8% at $24.96. Volume has already nearly equaled the daily average of about 456,000 shares traded. The homebuilding company reported a larger quarterly loss this morning.

Parexel is up more than 14% at $23.35. Volume is already more than double the daily average of about 421,000 shares traded. The pharmaceutical maker guided next quarter earnings above consensus estimates.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: FFN, MTH, PRXL, RSH, VRNG

Top Analyst Upgrades (AKAM, BSX, CLX, CVA, ESRX, MCRS, PRXL, PFE, QSII, SGMS)

247wallst — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:48:44 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive calls we are seeing this Monday morning:

Akamai (AKAM) Raised to Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Boston Scientific (BSX) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Clorox (CLX) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Covanta (CVA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Express Scripts (ESRX) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Micros Systems (MCRS) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
PAREXEL (PRXL) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
Pfizer (PFE) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Quality Systems (QSII) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Scientific Games (SGMS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
February 2, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AKAM, BSX, CLX, CVA, ESRX, MCRS, PFE, PRXL, QSII, SGMS

The 52-Week Low Club (PDGI)(PRXL)(LVS)(USG)(MF)(CVG)

247wallst — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:01:16 +0000

Convergys (CVG) Posts a loss and weak forecast. Drops to $6.82 from 52-week high of $19.18.

MF Global (MF) No major news. Drops to $1.93 from 52-week high of $32.20.

USG Corporation (USG) May have violated lending agreement. Falls to $14.23 from 52-week high of $40.25.

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) Casino stocks out of vogue. Sells down to $4.32 from 52-week high of $148.76.

PAREXEL International (PRXL) Revenue shortfall. Plummets to $6.84 from 52-week high of $36.16.

Pharmanet (PDGI) No news. Sells off to $1 from 52-week high of $43.02.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: CVG, LVS, MF, PDGI, PRXL, USG

High Volume Stock Tankers (GS, MS, DWT, CRDN, ACF, PRXL)

247wallst — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:42:22 +0000

We are seeing many high volume price drops in actively traded shares today. In most cases, the earnings are to blame, but there are other issues affecting some stocks as well. Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Britannia Bulk Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DWT), AmeriCredit (NYSE: ACF), Ceradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: CRDN), and Paraxel International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) are all being hit on strong trading volume. Below are links for a full synopsis on each.

Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) have beenbeaten and battered. Some of the drop is rumor, and some is tradersattacking what they can after determining their de-leveraged models arelikely to result in much lower income. FULL SYNOPSIS

Britannia Bulk Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DWT) looks like it is dead meat.The company got everything wrong from operations tohedges and gave a dire warning to common stock holders. Keep granny’smoney out. FULL SYNOPSIS

AmeriCredit (NYSE: ACF), Ceradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: CRDN), and ParaxelInternational Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) are all down sharply on earnings.FULL SYNOPSIS

Jon C. Ogg
October 28, 2008

Posted in HI/LOW, Trading Alert Tagged: ACF, CRDN, DWT, GS, MS, PRXL

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BXP, DWA, DUK, MET, MTB, PRXL, POR, PFG, PSA, UDR)

247wallst — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:02:08 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst calls we are seeing this Friday morning:

Boston Properties (BXP) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
DreamWorks Animation (DWA) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Duke Energy (DUK) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
MetLife (MET) Resumed at Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
M&T Bank Corp (MTB) Raised to Neutral at Baird.
Parexel (PRXL) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Portland General (POR) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Principal Financial (PFG) Raised to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Public Storage (PSA) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
UDR Inc. (UDR) Raised to Outperform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
October 10, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BXP, DUK, DWA, MET, MTB, PFG, POR, PRXL, PSA, UDR

Major March Short Interest Increases (CSCO, LOGI, MCRL, PRXL, PTEN, SPLS, JAVA, TROW, YRCW)

247wallst — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:57:03 +0000

We routinely look over major changes in short interest from period to period. While the more frequent twice-monthly reporting is conducted by exchanges, it sometimes gives a little insight into the psyche of traders and trends. The most important issue to look at is in the larger and more active names that have large positions that grew rapidly in percentage terms.

We screened many different names after the short interest data came out last night from NASDAQ, so we looked for a minimum of 5 million shares short and we looked for those names whose short interest grew by more than 30%. These are not all of the names, but here is a representation of the screen:

Comapny (Ticker)                            MARCH 14    FEB 29    CHANGE
Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO)       73,069,889 48,631,811 50.25%
Logitech International (LOGI)          8,017,620 5,464,404    46.72%
Micrel, Incorporated (MCRL)          7,719,618 5,242,192    47.26%
PAREXEL International (PRXL)       6,204,152 3,137,862    97.72%
Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN)       14,068,305 9,336,158 50.69%
Staples, Inc. (SPLS)                         20,708,717 15,097,693 37.16%
Sun Microsystems (JAVA)             23,630,955 17,562,322 34.55%
T. Rowe Price Group (TROW)       15,997,024 11,341,287 41.05%
YRC Worldwide, Inc. (YRCW)       22,782,135 16,007,172 42.32%

Jon C. Ogg
March 27, 2008

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

Cramer’s Drug Research/CRO Stocks (CVD, PRXL)

247wallst — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:16:00 +0000

On tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer came out with a positive tease early on in the contract research organization sector (CRO’s) as it pertains to drugs, biotech, and medical research. He thinks this sector is recession proof and is set to continue growing whether the market rises or falls. For growth and cost cutting this sector is mandatory for an ailing drug and pharma sector. His picks tonight were:

His pick that does both early and late stage: Covance (NYSE: CVD) is Cramer’s best pick of the group and is 50/50 in early and late stages and a high customer diversification. They can save customers the most by outsourcing, and the balance sheet is immaculate with new factories/offices opening.
Paraxel (NASDAQ:PRXL) is another he likes in the CRO sector.

This sector has seen some incredible performance over the last 12 to 18 months, yet only Quest has a $10 Billion market cap. The multiples have gotten higher of late, but that is the price for being defensive now. He isn’t at all convinced that today is the start of a market trend and he thinks the market will roll over again, so he wants to look at safety names besides tonight’s key oversold and overlooked tech stock picks he gave tonight.

Jon C. Ogg
January 14, 2008

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (June 27, 2007)

247wallst — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 06:54:35 +0000

BRKR raised to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
CYT raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
FFIV cut to Neutral at Baird.
FIRE raised to Buy at Jefferies.
KSS raised to Outperform at Baird.
MLNM raised to Mkt Perform at FBR.
MOS cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
MTH started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
PHM started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
PRXL raised to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
RYL started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
TRS started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
TSO cut to Sell at Citigroup.
VLO cut to Sell at Citigroup.
VMSI cut to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.

Jon C. Ogg
June 27, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.