24/7 Wall St. » SNV

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, BLK, BWLD, COH, CPO, GM, KBH, KR, MSFT, MS, NTRS, RHT, SBAC, SNV, AMTD, VE)

Administrator — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:19:20 +0000

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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has seen targets raised this morning by Oppenheimer to $700 and by UBS to $675; see the strange downgrade from Thursday.

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Cut to Neutral at Wedbush.

Coach. Inc. (NYSE: COH) Raised estimates and target to $83 from $75 at Credit Suisse; Started as Buy with $90 target at Argus.

Corn Products International Inc. (NYSE: CPO) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) Cut target to $29 from $30 at Jefferies.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

The Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Raised to Buy with $39 target at Argus.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Started as Neutral with $49 target at BofA/ML.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

SBAC Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SBAC) named as Top Pick at Credit Suisse.

Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE: SNV) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE) Raised to Neutral from Sell 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: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, AMTD, BLK, BWLD, COH, CPO, GM, KBH, KR, MS, MSFT, NTRS, RHT, SBAC, SNV, VE

Small Caps With 50% Upside in 2012 (TEN, WNR, APO, SNV, MTZ)

Administrator — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:45:44 +0000

2011 is all but gone and research firms are handing out their top picks for 2012. We have been reviewing some of the “Small Cap Stocking Stuffers” from the top small cap ideas for 2012 generated by Credit Suisse and it turns out that some of the stock picks are expected to have upside of 50% or more in the year ahead. The $1.0 to $2.5 billion in market capitalization is called the Small Cap Sweet Spot by Credit Suisse, and the firm’s Favorite Ideas list in this value range features the following: Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN), Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR), Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO), Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE: SNV), and MasTec Inc. (NYSE: MTZ).

Other new additions to this were made but the rest did not have an implied 50% upside. We have offered details on each.

Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) is in the auto components sector and sports a $1.8 billion market capitalization rate. The stock trades at $29.97 and the firm’s price target is $53.00 as a growth pick, well above the Thomson Reuters consensus price target of $45.10. This gives implied upside of over 70%, but keep in mind that the firm added it to the Top Picks list in June when shares were around $37.50.

Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) is in the Oil and Gas Refining sector and at $13.29, it has a price target of $20.50 at Credit Suisse and a consensus price target from Thomson Reuters of $18.75. This pick was newly added in December to its best ideas list with an “Outperform” rating and was listed as a value pick.

Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) may seem like a surprise since it is in private equity. Credit Suisse’s $1.5 billion pick in market capitalization currently has a unit price of $12.30 and a market cap of about $1.5 billion. The firm expects that its shares will trade up to $21.00 versus a Thomson Reuters consensus target of $17.77. This pick was added in December with an “Outperform” rating as a value pick and leaves an implied 70% upside if the firm’s projections were correct.

Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE: SNV) wa surprising to see on the list since very few investors are willing to enter the troubled sector. The market value for this regional banking outfit is currently $1.15 billion based upon a $1.46 share price. This was added as an “Outperform” rating as a value pick in December when shares were about $1.35, but the price target objective from Credit Suisse is $2.25. That leaves 52% upside remaining and the Thomson Reuters price target is also at $2.10.

MasTec Inc. (NYSE: MTZ) is valued at $1.48 billion in the Construction & Engineering sector. The current price of $17.48 leaves “only” 37% implied upside to Credit Suisse’s $24.00 price target. The reason for this inclusion is that the most recent price on the updated list was at $15.11 and that was above the 50% threshold even if this is under the price when added to the best ideas list in September as a growth pick.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Value Investing Tagged: APO, MTZ, SNV, TEN, WNR

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ALTR, ABFS, CVLT, GDOT, JKS, LYV, MICC, MCP, OXY, PT, SNV, WAT, WERN)

Administrator — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:31:15 +0000

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

Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) Maintained Neutral and $32 target at Gleacher.
Arkansas Best Corp. (NASDAQ: ABFS) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan; Started as Neutral at UBS.
JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) Cut to Hold at Auriga.
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: LYV) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ: MICC) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Portgual Telecom SA (NYSE: PT) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE: SNV) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.
Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) Started as Buy at Auriga.
Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

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: ABFS, ALTR, CVLT, GDOT, JKS, LYV, MCP, MICC, OXY, PT, SNV, WAT, WERN

Top Day Trader Alerts (AKAM, ATSI, BIDU, DNE, EK, ETFC, FSLR, GMCR, OSK, PALM, SNV)

Administrator — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:00:12 +0000

These are this Thursday’s top day trader and active trader alerts:

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) rose after its Q1 profit rose 10% and announced a $150 million add-on to its stock buyback plan. Shares are trading up 11% at $36.81 on over 125,000 shares. The prior 52-week trading range was $15.86 to $34.86.

ATS Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: ATSI) is the biggest gainer of the trading day as Medtronic is acquiring it for $4.00 per share after a $2.59 close. Shares are trading up 53% at$3.96 on over 3 million shares, so it is already close to 15-times normal trading volume.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is trading up after Q1 earnings rose over 100% on acceptance of its new ad system and on Google woes in China. Shares are trading up 15% at $715.92. The prior all-time high and 52-week high is $651.50. We have barely seen 100,000 shares in teh pre-market, but it only trades 1.5 million shares.

Dune Energy Inc. (AMEX: DNE) is trading higher after reaching an agreement in principle to sell its interests in the South Florence field for $30 million to a private party. It also gave its drilling plan for 2010. Shares are trading up 11% at $0.27 on about 40,000 shares. A big percentage gainer, but tiny volume and a tinier share price.

Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) is trading lower despite the notion that it swung to a first-quarter profit from recent patent deals and due to a revenue rebound. Still, this was short of estimates, so even good news is not good enough news for Kodak. Shares are trading down 6.6% at $7.80 on about 150,000 shares.

E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) is lower after affiliates of Citadel filed to sell up to 170 million shares of common stock. Shares are trading down 4.9% at $1.75 on over 5 million shares, but this was down almost 7% in some trading last night.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) has caught 4 analyst upgrades after its earnings and guidance beat expectations on order pushouts. Shares are trading up 8.7% at $19.26 on active trading of about 215,000 shares.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is a disappointment despite that its earnings rose 90% and despite a raised outlook for the year. Nothing goes up forever. Shares are trading down 10.8% at $77.50 on about 135,000 shares of stock. The 52-week range is $34.73 to $99.61, so this is now down over 20% from highs.

Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK) is still a winner on military-ATV sales as earnings sailed past estimates. Shares are indicated up 4.6% at $44.40 on thin trading volume. The 52-week range is $9.25 to $44.57.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is a top gainer this morning and up over 25% above $5.80 after H-P announced it would buy the smartphone maker for $5.70 per share. Shares are trading up 26% at $5.83 on over 35 million shares with almost 45 minutes still to go before the open. This traded over 50 million shares alone in the after-hours session last night.

Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) is lower after it priced 255 million shares in a common stock offering at $2.75 per share, which is effectively a 14% discount to the closing bell price. It also sold 12 million tangible equity units at $25.00 each. Shares are trading down 7.5% at $2.94 on over 38 million shares.

JON C. OGG

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Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: AKAM, ATSI, BIDU, DNE, EK, ETFC, FSLR, GMCR, OSK, PALM, SNV

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AMD, CAR, BRCM, BKC, CHK, GLW, GED, HBC, INTC, MU, NDAQ, NKE, NVDA, SNV)

247wallst — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:28:00 +0000

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

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) Started as Underperform at Macquarie; Removed from Conviction Sell list Goldman Sachs (still Sell rates).
Avis Budget Group (NYSE: CAR) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) Started as Neutral at Macquarie; Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Hold at Lazard.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) Started as Neutral at Macquarie.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Started as Underperform at Macquarie.
Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Started as Outperform at JMP Securities.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) Started as Neutral at Macquarie.
Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) Cut to Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMD, BKC, BRCM, CAR, CHK, GED, GLW, HBC, INTC, MU, NDAQ, NKE, NVDA, SNV

Short Interest Data Not Telling The Whole Story (UMC, M, C, SNV, ALU, WNR, LIZ, EEE, MBI)

247wallst — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:27:05 +0000

The headlines this morning are that short interest rose a tiny bit on the NYSE and fell on NASDAQ. However, after looking closer into the numbers a different story is being told for the most recent release and several of the past releases.

In terms of the Top 50 NYSE Jumps In Shorts, a couple stocks stand out. First United Microelectronics (NYSE: UMC) a large semiconductor company out of Taiwan saw a rather hefty increase in short interest with a jump of 10,193,708 shares and the short ratio moves to 10.03. Recently, they raised estimates. Shorts continue to pile into Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) as short interest rose 4,664,144 and the short ratio is at 3.13. A tendency remains for shorts to add to stocks with prices under $5 and include such tickers as Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C), Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV), Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR), Liz Claiborne Inc. (NYSE: LIZ), Evergreen Energy, Inc. (NYSE: EEE) and MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI).

There is a mix in the overall short interest data from exchange to exchange.

Short interest numbers for the NYSE were reported after the close yesterday for the period ended settlement date November 30th and rose to 13,202,567,761 from 13,173,105,311 which is a revised number. Each new period the NYSE revises the prior number. Our calculation shows an increase of 29,462,450 or 0.22%. There were 1,714 issues increasing on an absolute basis and 1,109 issues decreased.

Short interest for NASDAQ are reported for the period of settlement date November 30th and fell to 6,452,841,088 from 6,495,260,406 for a decrease of 42,419,318 or -0,65%. There were1,714 issues increasing on an absolute basis and 1,109 issues decreased. Over the last three releases, we have seen more stocks with shorts increasing to both NYSE and NASDAQ names. Could the shorts be positioning for 2010 with no respect to the traditional Santa Claus Rally and January Effect?

For a complete review of the top increases and decreases in short interest we would direct you to the area at Good Morning Wall St.

Geoffrey A. Garbacz, GoodMorningWallSt.com

Posted in Short Interest, Trading Alert Tagged: ALU, C, EEE, LIZ, M, MBI, SNV, UMC, WNR

S&P Looking For More Bank Losses (WFC, CMA, USB, BBT, RF, COF, FITB, HBAN, SNV, WTNY, FAS)

247wallst — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:40:14 +0000

Standard & Poor’s may still have at least some relevance in its debt ratings. This morning we saw a wave of downgrades at banks by the debt ratings agency on systematic-risk and non-systematic risk. We tried to shorten this up to the most concise report in rating groups as this is hitting many of the bank stocks pretty hard this morning. Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Comerica (NYSE: CMA), USBancorp (NYSE: USB), BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN), Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) and Whitney Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: WTNY) were all in the wave of S&P downgrades. This news has the extremely volatile Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) triple leverage financial sector ETF down 7% at $8.60.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was cut to AA- from AA. It is off watch but the outlook is negative. Comerica (NYSE: CMA) was cut to A- from A, and it is off watch and the outlook is negative. USBancorp (NYSE: USB) was cut to A+ from AA, and it is off watch and the outlook is stable. BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was cut to A from A+, and is off watch and the outlook is stable.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was cut to BBB+ from A, and it is off watch but the outlook is negative. Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was cut to BBB from BBB+. Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was cut to BBB from A- and the outlook is negative. KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was cut to BBB+ from A-, and is off watch and the outlook is negative.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) is now junk. S&P cut it to BB+ from BBB, and it is off watch but the outlook is negative. Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) and Whitney Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: WTNY) were also cut to Junk Rating.

Associated Banc Corp. (ASBC), Astoria Financial (AF), PNC Financial (PNC), Susquehanna (SUSQ), Valley National Bancorp (VLY), Webster Financial (WBS), and Wilmington Trust (WL) were also part of this major downgrade.

It seems that S&P has figured out that the future of banks will not be as good as things were in the past. It sees stress tests pointing to more pain ahead and losses above current expectations. S&P sees weaker operating conditions ahead. Before you go run into a panic about write-downs and losses, keep in mind that S&P has had many of these banks under review for more than six months. It is also not exactly as though S&P (and Moody’s for that matter) was ahead of the curve in catching the banking and lending crisis that got us where we are today.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Analyst Calls, Banking, Financial Stocks Tagged: AF, ASBC, BBT, CMA, COF, FAS, FITB, HBAN, PNC, RF, SNV, SUSQ, USB, VLY, WBS, WFC, WL, WTNY

The 52-Week Low Club (RF)(SNV)(IP)(FITB)(CENX)

247wallst — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:05:47 +0000

NOVA Chemicals (NCX) Bad Q4 and a downgrade by RBC. Falls to $3 from 52-week high of $32.46.

Regions Financial (RF) Downgrade by Bernstein. Runs off to $3.40 from a 52-week high of $25.84.

Synovus Financial (SNV) Bad analyst call. Drops to $3.88 from 52-week high of $13.58.

International Paper (IP) Big quarterly loss. Sells off to $9.06 from 52-week high $33.77.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) Bernstein downgrade sends shares plunging to $2.36 from 52-week high of $28.58.

Century Aluminum (CENX) Company plans to sell more stock. Dips to $3.43 from 52-week high of $80.52.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: CENX, FITB, IP, RF, SNV

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACTI, BCE, KSU, MYL, TEVA, AXP, AAPL, ROCK, SNV, TKC)

247wallst — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:37:09 +0000

It is getting rather thin in analyst coverage, but these are the top ten analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen this Wednesday morning:

ActivIdentity (NASDAQ: ACTI) Started as Buy at Stanford Group.
BCE (NYSE:BCE) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Mylan (NYSE:MYL) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Teva (NASDAQ: TEVA) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
American Express (NYSE:AXP) Started as Reduce at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Gibralter (NASDAQ: ROCK) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Turkcell (NYSE:TKC) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
December 17, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, ACTI, AXP, BCE, KSU, MYL, ROCK, SNV, TEVA, TKC

52-Week Low Club: Transport, Semiconductors & Financials (January 2, 2008)

247wallst — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:23:11 +0000

Truckers led the drop after a fake $100 oil print and after a YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) acquisition write-down, pulling down Arkansas Best (NASDAQ: ABFS) and others. With no surprise, airlines followed suit with Airtrain (AAI), AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL), Delta (NYSE: DAL), FedEx (FDX), Jetblue (NASDAQ:JBLU), Mesa Air (NASDAQ: MESA), Northwest Air (NYSE: NWA), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), US Air (NYSE: LCC).

Chip and tech stocks on 52-week lows: AMAT, AMD, ADTN, ARRS, ATML, BBND, CHRT, FCS, FEIC, IDTI, IM, KLAC, KLIC, LRCX, LSCC, LSI, MCRL, MRVL, MU, NSM, STM, TER, XLNX

Financial Giants on 52-Week lows: BAC, BBT, BSC, CYN, DFG, EFX, FIC, FITB, FHN, MCO, NCC, PNSN, SNV, SBP, WFC, ZION.

We kept the REIT’s and the usual suspects in retail off the list that have been here day in and day out (although many hit new 52-week lows). Here is the huge list of others 52-week lows:

Automatic Data (ADP), Cardinal Health (CAH), Career Education (CECO), Diebold (NYSE: DBD), EchoStar (DISH), Superior Offshore (DEEP), Dow Chemical (DOW), Eastman Kodak (EK), Emmis (EMMS), Ford (F), Fortune Brands (FO), General Motors (GM), Hasbro (HAS), Helen of Troy (HELE), Interpublic (IPG), Mattel (MAT), McClatchy (MNI), Media General (MEG), Nortel Networks (NT), Owens Corning (OC), Paychex (OPAYX), PHH Corp. (PHH), Playboy (PLA), Radio Shack (RSH), Rite Aid (RAD), Sherwin Williams (SHW), Sprint Nextel (S), Starbucks (SBUX), Starwood Hotels (HOT), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Symantec (SYMC), Travelzoo (TZOO), VF Corp (VFC), Warner Music Group (WMG), Waste Management (WMI), Weight Watchers (WTW), Wendy’s (WEN)

Imagine how large this list would have been if retailers and REIT’s were included.
Jon C. Ogg
January 2, 2008