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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, ALU, ARMH, SID, CPX, BEN, MON, NOK, SIVB, TXN)

Administrator — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:13:31 +0000

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

Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) Reiterated Buy with $62 target at Argus.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs; Raised target to $7 at BofA/ML.
ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Started as Neutral at Cowen.
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (NYSE: SID) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Complete Production Services, Inc. (NYSE: CPX) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) Raised to Outperform and $61 target at Credit Suisse.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, ALU, ARMH, BEN, CPX, MON, NOK, SID, SIVB, TXN

JPMorgan Vs. Meredith Whitney on Regional Banks (CMA, KEY, SIVB, PBCT)

Administrator — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:28:46 +0000

You have to love it when there are two high profile calls on the same topic that effectively say the exact opposite of each other. That is the case when it comes to research calls on regional banks. Last week it was Meredith Whitney with a call against regional banks, but today comes a call from JPMorgan noting that regional bank stocks are poised to rise. A few of JPMorgan’s banks named were Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) and KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), followed by SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) and People’s United Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT).

Last week on CNBC, Meredith Whitney told Maria Bartoromo, “… The banks have been all over the place so to say at this point and time the banks are off a little bit. I don’t think there’s any way to make money on the banks. But in terms, the regional banks for the state’s reason alone are in an impossible situation. I would absolutely sell the regional banks.” It can’t get much stronger of a call against the regional banks.

JPMorgan sees the world a bit differently. The brokerage and banking giant is out loosely defending and recommending regional banking stocks. This research note calls for increased exposure to the regionals. The reason is based on credit improvement and as loan balance contractions are slowing. Despite the economic recovery’s pace having slowed down, JPMorgan feels that this is now reflected in current valuations. The call also notes that some of the regionals are likely to see double digit returns through 2011.

It is interesting when you see analysts using the same information and coming to opposite conclusions. That is what makes a ballgame.

JON C.OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Banking, Economy, Financial Stocks Tagged: CMA, KEY, PBCT, SIVB

CardioNet Sets IPO Terms (BEAT, SIVB)

247wallst — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:20:00 +0000

CardioNet, Inc. has set the terms for its IPO in an amended SEC filing. The systems provider for monitoring real-time patient information intends to sell some 6.6 million shares in a price range of $22 to $24 per share.

3.0 million shares will be from the company while 3.6 million of the shares will be from selling stockholders. The use of proceeds from the IPO will be to repay a term loan and to pay a fee to Silicon Valley Bank, part of SVB Financial (NASDAQ: SIVB); and the rest to make payments to former stockholders of PDSHeart Inc., a cardiac monitoring company CardioNet bought last March. The company has raised over $200 million in capital and initial efforts are focused on the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiac arrhythmias that is marketed as the CardioNet System. Since introduction of the CardioNet System in January 2003, physicians have enrolled over 109,000 patients.

Citigroup is the lead underwriter, with Lrhman, Leerink Swann, and Thomas Weisel also in the underwriting.

CardioNet will trade under the ticker "BEAT" on NASDAQ.

Jon C. Ogg
February 28, 2008