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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALTR, NLY, ADM, GLW, MCD, P, PTEN, PEP, RMBS, TKC, UA, VFC, VIP, XLNX, YOKU)

Administrator — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:21:25 +0000

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

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) Started as Neutral at UBS.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Corning, Inc. (NYSE: GLW) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research.
Pandora Media, Inc. (NYSE: P) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (NYSE: TKC) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Started as Buy at Argus.
V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
VimpelCom Ltd. (NYSE: VIP) Started as Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
Youku.com Inc (NYSE: YOKU) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADM, ALTR, GLW, MCD, NLY, P, PEP, PTEN, RMBS, TKC, UA, VFC, VIP, XLNX, YOKU

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ARX, AMSF, AMAT, MT, BP, BTI, CRZO, LFC, DOLE, ITMN, LNKD, MCD, MHP, NCR, ONXX, PTEN, PAA)

Administrator — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:21:01 +0000

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

Aeroflex Holding Corp. (NYSE: ARX) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Amerisafe, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMSF) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
BP PLC (NYSE: BP) Started as Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
British American Tobacco plc (NYSE: BTI) Raised to Overweight at CRedit Suisse.
Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LFC) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Dole Food Company Inc. (NYSE: DOLE) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Intermune, Inc (NASDAQ: ITMN) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Started as Hold at Argus.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Reiterated Buy with $102 target at Argus.
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MHP) Raised to Buy at Argus.
NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) Started as Buy at Oppenheimer.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) is the Value stock of the day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, AMSF, ARX, BP, BTI, CRZO, DOLE, ITMN, LFC, LNKD, MCD, MHP, MT, NCR, ONXX, PAA, PTEN

Federal Panel Wants Controls on Fracking (HAL, SLB, WFT, CPX, KEG, PTEN, RES, SWSIP, BHI, CHK, RRC)

Administrator — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:42:29 +0000

The boom in natural gas production resulting from horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has come at a price. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that the chemical stew of fluids used in fracking causes damage in some cases to both air and water quality. What’s lacking is any rigorous proof that fracking does or can cause these problems. Oil field services companies that make and use the fluids have denied any harmful effects, but they have a dog in the hunt and stand to lose big if the fluids are shown to be dangerous.

A US Department of Energy panel has recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency institute tighter controls on air emissions, disclosure of the contents of the fracking fluids, and more study on the possible contamination of drinking water from the use of the fluids. The EPA requested and received information from nine oil field services companies on the make-up of their fracking fluids. The nine were Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL), Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), Weatherford International Inc. (NYSE: WFT), Complete Production Services, Inc. (NYSE: CPX), Key Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: KEG), Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN), RPC Inc. (NYSE: RES), Superior Well Services (OTC: SWSIP), and BJ Services, since acquired by Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI).

The services companies have invoked an amendment to the 2005 Energy Act, usually called the ‘Halliburton Amendment’, which allows the companies to treat the make-up of their fracking fluids as company-confidential. All of the fluids are primarily water and sand with generally small amounts of chemicals intended to increase the amount of natural gas and oil that can be squeezed out of the shale rocks. One of the chemicals in use is ordinary diesel fuel, which contains benzene, a known carcinogen.

The industry argument is that fracking fluids contain essentially trace amounts of these chemicals and that these amounts are harmless. That may be true, but fracking a well uses millions of gallons of fluids so that even trace amounts eventually add up.

Natural gas producers like Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) and Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) have called on the services companies to reveal the composition of their fracking fluids because these companies also stand to lose big if federal and state governments impose really strict controls on drilling. The CEO of Range Resources has referred to the secrecy surrounding the composition of fracking fluids as “a little silly.”

He’s right of course. It’s a little hard to believe that tiny differences in the composition of these fracking fluids make any significant difference at all to the amount of gas that actually flows from a well. The whole thing looks like a case of secrecy for its own sake in an attempt by the services companies to boost their own profits either by using dangerous chemicals or by selling snake oil.

Pressure from producers like Chesapeake and Range Resources is far more likely to have an impact on the services companies than is the threat of federal regulation. The producers have even more to lose than the services companies because if they can’t pump gas out of the ground, they lose both the revenue and the lease rights.

The question the services guys and the producers should be asking themselves is how much less gas would we extract if we used non-toxic chemicals in our fluids. The answer is probably ‘Not much.’

If that’s the case, the natural gas industry and the services companies could have avoided a lot of the negative news about hydraulic fracturing. But for some reason, they’d always rather fight than adapt.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Oil & Gas Tagged: BHI, CHK, CPX, HAL, KEG, PTEN, RES, RRC, SLB, SWSIP, WFT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BHI, BIIB, BRCD, COF, CLS, CNX, FGP, TFM, INTC, DATE, KOS, MCK, MCP, PCX, PTEN, BTU, PFCB)

Administrator — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:25:27 +0000

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

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) Raised to Buy at ISI Group.
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) Maintained Buy with $7.50 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) Reiterated Sell at Argus.
Celestica Inc. (NYSE: CLS) Maintained Buy but cut target to $11 at Argus.
Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) Started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Ferrellgas Partners (NYSE: FGP) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
The Fresh Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: TFM) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Maintained Buy with $28 target at Gleacher.
Jiayuan.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ: DATE) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE: KOS) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) Covered as Value Stock at Zacks.
Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. (NASDAQ: PFCB) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

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: BHI, BIIB, BRCD, BTU, CLS, CNX, COF, DATE, FGP, INTC, KOS, MCK, MCP, PCX, PFCB, PTEN, TFM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABB, BAC, BK, ABX, CVX, PLCE, KOF, COP, EBAY, ESLR, DD, HES, INTC, ITRI, JNPR, ERIC, NOV, PTEN, URBN, YUM)

Administrator — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:43:25 +0000

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

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse; Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
The Children’s Place Retail Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Coca-Cola Femsa (NYSE: KOF) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Evergreen Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: ESLR) Cut to Sell at Wunderlich.
EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Maintained as Strong Buy and Value at Zacks.
Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Cut to Sell at Wunderlich.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Reiterated Buy and $49 target at Argus.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.
Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $62 at Argus.

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

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ABB, ABX, BAC, BK, COP, CVX, DD, EBAY, ERIC, ESLR, HES, INTC, ITRI, JNPR, KOF, NOV, PLCE, PTEN, URBN, YUM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMR, CVS, KR, FSLR, GRMN, SOLR, K, LDK, OXY, PTEN, PWER, TSO, TIF, WAG, ADTN, EK)

Administrator — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:29:14 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) Cut to Hold at Argus.
CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) replaced The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) on Credit Suisse’s Focus List.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Hold at Kaufman Bros.
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) Raised to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
GT Solar International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOLR) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) Raised to Hold at Argus; Raised to Outperform at BMO.
LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) Started as Neutral at Collins Stewart.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) Reiterated Buy but raised target to $110 at Argus.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Power-One Inc. (NASDAQ: PWER) Maintained Buy but cut target to $13 at Auriga.
Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.

ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) Raised to Outperform at Zacks Investment Research as the Bull of the Day. Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) Cut to Underperform from Neutral and called the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADTN, AMR, CVS, EK, FSLR, GRMN, K, KR, LDK, OXY, PTEN, PWER, SOLR, TIF, TSO, WAG

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ADI, ASML, BIDU, HUM, IRM, ITRI, NBR, PTEN, PBR, SD, TSO, TXN, VIA, DIS)

Administrator — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:05:31 +0000

These are some of this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research notes:

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Started as Neutral at Sterne Agee.
ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Maintained Buy but Target raised To $115 from $93 at Citigroup.
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE: IRM) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Raised to Hold from Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.
Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras, Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) Started as Hold at KeyBanc.
Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) Cut to Underperform at Raymond James.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Started as Neutral at Sterne Agee.
Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA) Raised to Buy at Janney; Started as buy with $44 target at Nomura.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) Started as Buy with $40.50 Target at Nomura.

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: ADI, ASML, BIDU, DIS, HUM, IRM, ITRI, NBR, PBR, PTEN, SD, TSO, TXN, VIA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CLS, GLW, EFX, FNFG, INTU, MFE, MPEL, PTEN, RIMM, CRM, YGE)

Administrator — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:18:52 +0000

These are some of this Thursday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms:

Celestica Inc. (NYSE: CLS) Raised to Outperform at Scotia.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
First Niagara Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) Cut to Neutral at Janney (late yesterday call).
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) Maintain Outperform and Raised target to $45 at Oppenheimer.
McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Melco Crown PBL (NASDAQ: MPEL) Started as Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) Cut to Neutral at Sterne Agee.
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Maintained Buy and Raised target to $120 at Kaufman Bros.
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) Reiterated Buy and Raised Target at Auriga.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: CLS, CRM, EFX, FNFG, GLW, INTU, MFE, MPEL, PTEN, RIMM, YGE

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AEP, CEDC, CBOE, EL, INTU, KMB, PTEN, SNY, SLB)

Administrator — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:40:36 +0000

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

American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Central European Distribution (NASDAQ: CEDC) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
CBOE Holdings (NASDAQ: CBOE) Started as Market Perform at BMO; Started as Neutral at JPMorgan; Started as Market Perform at KBW; Started as Neutral at UBS.
Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL) Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) Started as Outperform at Cowen & Co.
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) Removed from Conviction Sell List by Goldman Sachs.
Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) Cut to Neutral at Capital One; Reiterated Outperform at FBR.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AEP, CBOE, CEDC, EL, INTU, KMB, PTEN, SLB, SNY

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BKD, EOG, ITRI, K, PTEN, PEET, PGR, THRX, VALE, VRSN)

Administrator — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:38:05 +0000

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

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) Removed from Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) Raised to Outperform at RBC Capital.
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) Cut to Market Perform at BMO Capital.
Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Peet’s Coffee and Tea (NASDAQ: PEET) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Progressive Corp (NYSE: PGR) Raised to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer.
Theravance Inc. (NASDAQ: THRX) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) Raised to Buy at Canaccord.
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BKD, EOG, ITRI, K, PEET, PGR, PTEN, THRX, VALE, VRSN