24/7 Wall St. » TEVA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AVAV, AET, ALU, ANN, CAH, CMA, GLW, FDX, JAKK, M, PNC, PPO, RDS-A, SKX, TEVA, UA, WY)

Administrator — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:29:51 +0000

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

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Aetna, Inc. (NYSE: AET) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research.
Ann Inc. (NYSE: ANN) Cut to Underperform at Barclays.
Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH) Reiterated Buy with $52 price target at Argus.
Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Polypore International Inc. (NYSE: PPO) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Skechers U.S.A., Inc. (NYSE: SKX) Raised to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) Reiterated Buy with $90 target at Argus.
Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY) Cut to Sell at UBS.

If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: AET, ALU, ANN, AVAV, CAH, CMA, FDX, GLW, JAKK, M, PNC, PPO, RDS-A, SKX, TEVA, UA, WY

Pharma Value Beyond The Patent Expiration Cliff (PFE, MRK, BMY, TEVA, AMGN, GSK)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:37:24 +0000

The tide of patent expirations that is washing over big pharmaceutical houses is cresting now and investors have begun looking forward to how these companies will deal with some sharp blows to their revenues and profits. There are 21 drugs set to lose patent protection in 2012, and that will cost drug makers $11.5 billion in sales this year. We’ve looked at several of the larger pharmaceutical houses with a close eye on their upside potential in 2012.

The companies we’ve included are Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE: MRK), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY), Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), and GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK).

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) trades around $22.00 and the 52-week range is $16.63 to $22.00. With a $168 billion market cap, this one trades at about 15-times expected earnings and 9.5-times expected 2012 earnings. Thomson Reuters has a mean price target objective of $23.76, indicating implied upside of 8%.

Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE: MRK) trades near $38 and the 52-week range is $29.47-$39.00. With a $117 billion market cap, Merck trades at about 28-times expected earnings and 10-times expected 2012 earnings. The mean price target objective is $39.85, indicating a potential upside of 4.9%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) trades near $34 and the 52-week range is $24.97-$35.44. With a market cap of about $58 billion, this one trades at about 17-times expected earnings and 17-times forward earnings. The mean price target objective is $32.91, indicating that shares are fully valued and upside potential has gone missing.

Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) trades at about $44 and the 52-week range is $35.00-$57.08. With a market cap of $39 billion, Teva trades at about 13-times earnings and 8-times forward earnings. The mean price target objective is $53.15, indicating an implied upside of nearly 21%. The company has also seen gains since disclosing a new CEO.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) trades at about $66 and the 52-week range is $47.66-$65.70. With a market cap of $58 billion, this one trades at about 16-times earnings and 11-times forward earnings. The mean price target objective is $65.45, and, like Bristol-Myers, Amgen is fully valued and there is no implied gain at the current price.

GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) trades at about $44 and the 52-week range is $36.28-$46.50. With a market cap of $221 billion, this one trades at about 44-times earnings and 13-times forward earnings. The mean price target objective is $49.58, indicating an implied upside of 12.7%.

Only Teva and GlaxoSmithKline have double-digit upside potential percentage gains. Of the two, Teva’s upside potential is greater, largely because it just lost a patent dispute (which pushed the share price down) and gained a new CEO, an industry veteran from Bristol-Myers (which pushed the share price back up). The downside on the company is that it is trading down about -18% over the past 12 months, the only one of these six companies to show a loss for the period.

Glaxo is preparing a regulatory filing in the US with a replacement for the company’s Adair asthma drug which loses patent protection next year. Late-stage trials have been promising, and the stock could get a nice boost if the FDA grants approval. Glaxo also received three new drug approvals from the FDA in 2011,

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Drug companies, Pharmaceuticals, Regulation Tagged: AMGN, BMY, GSK, MRK, PFE, TEVA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (TEVA, AKS, AU, MTN, GGP, SHLO, EBF, RHT, WINN, SHIP, ZNGA, JAKK, BAC)

Paul Ausick — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:08:34 +0000

US equity markets opened a bit higher this morning, after futures trading pared early morning gains. Early optimism, however, was not to pan out, following some rather downbeat remarks from the president of the European Central Bank. Then investors started pounding on financial stocks absorbing finally the Federal Reserve’s intention to accept the Basel III raise to bank capital requirements. Crude oil has risen slightly in trading today, with WTI crude at $93.78/barrel and Brent crude at $103.58. Gold has finished slightly down, at $1,592.90.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 99 points to 11,766.79 (-0.84%), the NASDAQ fell more than 32 points (-1.28%) to 2,523.14, and the S&P 500 fell -1.18X% or more than 14 points to 1,205.32.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a $52 price target at Canaccord Genuity. Other ratings actions today include AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) raised from ‘market perform’ to ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) cut from ‘neutral’ to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; and General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) cut from ‘outperform’ to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Shiloh Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHLO) is up 0.35% at $8.52; and Ennis, Inc. (NYSE: EBF) is down more than -4% at $12.89. After markets close today, Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is scheduled to report third-quarter EPS of $0.26 on revenue of $289.6 million.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: WINN) is up nearly 71% at $9.27. The regional grocery chain has agreed to a buyout offer worth about $560 million from Bi-Lo, another regional chain in the southeastern US. The offer of $9.50/share represents a premium of about 75% to Winn-Dixie’s Friday closing price.

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHIP) is up more than 17% at $2.60, after posting a new 52-week low earlier today. The dry bulk shipper has received a time charter for one of its four Capesize vessels for a period of 11-13 months.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ) is down more than -5% at $9.00. The social game maker held its IPO last Friday, but shares have not been able to hold the $10/share offering price. More coverage here.

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) is down more than -19% at $14.00, after posting a new 52-week low of $13.45 earlier today. The toy and consumer products maker lowered full-year earnings and sales guidance this morning.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is down nearly -4.5% at $4.97, after posting a new 52-week low of $4.93 earlier today. The bank has been hit with concerns over new capital reserve requirements and the effect that will have on profits.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Here are other noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – November housing starts report
1:00 p.m. – Five-year Treasury note auction

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AKS, AU, BAC, EBF, GGP, JAKK, MTN, RHT, SHIP, SHLO, TEVA, WINN, ZNGA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AKS, AU, FTE, GGP, HON, LAZ, PNW, GOLD, TEF, TEVA, TMK, UNFI, URI, MTN, WCG)

Administrator — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:23:47 +0000

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

AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) Cut to Sell from Neutral by Goldman Sachs.

France Telecom S.A. (NYSE: FTE) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) Raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (NYSE: PNW) Cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Randgold Resources Limited (NASDAQ: GOLD) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Telefonica, S.A. (NYSE: TEF) Cut to Neutral from Overweight at HSBC.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) Reiterated Buy with $52 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI) Raised to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) Raised to Top Pick at RBC.
Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) named as value stock of the day at Zacks Investment Research.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AKS, AU, FTE, GGP, gold, HON, LAZ, MTN, PNW, TEF, TEVA, TMK, UNFI, URI, WCG

Get Ready for a Pfizer Dividend Hike… A Holiday Gift From Big Pharma (PFE, MRK, WPI, TEVA)

Administrator — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:14:28 +0000

We recently gave a full review of the DJIA components we expect to raise their dividend payouts in the weeks and months ahead. Among those we expect to raise the dividend is Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE). If last year is any trend-setting indicator, then Pfizer should be raising its dividend payout in the next week or so. Consider its a Christmas present from Big Pharma.

While we are expecting a dividend hike again, it seems unlikely that the boost will end up being a large dividend boost. Pfizer’s current $0.80 per year annualized payout compares to earnings estimates of $2.28 EPS for 2011 and $2.31 EPS for 2012. In short, Pfizer is not quite paying out 40% of its normalized income.

Drug rival Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) recently announced its first dividend hike in years. It was actually the first hike since the Vioxx scandal. That should only keep pressure on Pfizer to go ahead and raise its dividend.

There is a history of its dividend hike coming this time of year, but the payout hike won’t be realized as cash in the bank for investors for another 60 days or so. The dividend being raised was last announced on December 13, 2010 and previously on December 14 of 2009.

Pfizer noted last year that the move to $0.20 from $0.18 per quarter was roughly an 11% hike. Pfizer also has a game of catch-up to play as its dividend used to be much higher at $0.32 per quarter before the recession caused many companies to lower their very high yields and before its most recent large M&A deals.

Merck’s dividend hike was 11%. We will make a prediction for the coming hike: ).22 or $0.23 per quarter. That will translate to a 10% hike or a 15% hike to the dividend payouts. The current yield of Pfizer is 3.91% based on a share price of $20.45. Merck’s dividend was raised to $0.42 from $0.38 per quarter, and that translates to a dividend yield today of 4.72% based upon a current price of $35.55. The old yield at Merck based upon today’s price would still be 4.27%.

The Merck hike alone will have put pressure on Pfizer to hike its dividend. A 10% hike to $0.22 would generate a dividend yield of 4.30%. That would have caught it up to the old Merck payout. A hike to $0.23 per quarter would generate a current dividend yield of 4.5%. If you follow cause and effect theory, or action and reaction theory, Pfizer’s hike is a must. The boost would still be under or close to 40% of expected income from operations per share to be paid out.

Are there some risks that Pfizer might not raise its dividend? Yes, but they are just unlikely to matter. After Merck made the first jump in its dividend in years, Pfizer almost has to follow suit. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) is the local outfit which wins from the recent patent expiration of its blockbuster statin Lipitor, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) is set have a generic version of Lipitor after this coming May. While Pfizer’s market share on the entire Lipitor market may only be 40% of the past, this patent expiration date had been known for years.

Perhaps the biggest risk to ongoing dividend hikes is not just the endless restructurings of Pfizer, but its major acquisition trail. That effort has been almost endless. Its acquisition efforts have also given the company a very wide moat of a drug pipeline ahead and it has insulated its share price from the patent cliff.

At $20.45, Pfizer’s market capitalization rate is $157 billion and its 52-week trading range is $16.59 to $21.45. Merck’s $35.55 price generates a market cap of $108.2 billion and the share price compares to a 52-week range of $29.47 to $37.65.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Dividend, Drug companies, Healthcare, Medical, Pharmaceuticals, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: MRK, PFE, TEVA, WPI

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACI, AMT, BRK-B, CLF, CCI, DE, DPZ, GES, LOW, LULU, SINA, SNN, WNR, WAG, SLF, WPI, TEVA)

Administrator — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:19:44 +0000

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

Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) named as Bear of the Day with a $13.00 price target at Zacks.
American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.B) named as Bull of the Day with a $91.00 price target at Zacks.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Crown Castle International Corporation (NYSE: CCI) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) Started as Hold at KeyBanc.
Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank
Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE: SNN) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Argus made changes to its institutional model portfolio: added shares of Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) and sold out of shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF).

Credit Suisse is out positive on generics saying that the news flow on generic Lipitor has obscured the bigger picture on Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA). The firm recommends buying WPI after its recent weakness as strong fundamentals just got cheaper. It also recommends buying TEVA for the longer term and as a turnaround story for 2012.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACI, AMT, BRK-B, CCI, CLF, DE, DPZ, GES, LOW, LULU, SINA, SLF, SNN, TEVA, WAG, WNR, WPI

Winners as Pfizer Loses Lipitor Patent (PFE, TEVA, MYL, WPI)

Administrator — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:28:30 +0000

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has a big day ahead of it. While it has been known for years, it is a massive date: Lipitor goes off-patent and will have generic versions of the statin drug competitors. Big deal? The last quarter’s annualized Lipitor sales was about $6 billion and the peak sales were well above $10 billion.

Canaccord Genuity’s specialty pharma analyst Randall Stanicky believes that generics will have 60% market share in 2012. How the pie is divided is still subject to uncertainty and the analyst sees three possible scenarios:

Scenario 1 – base case: Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI) and Ranbaxy both launch. Under this scenario, it has no changes for Watson, Teva, and Mylan and it sees no surprises across the supply chain “where strategies and impact are well vetted.”
Scenario 2 – modest surprise: TEVA is involved, most likely via a deal with Ranbaxy. Stanicky is not convinced that generic Lipitor is TEVA’s “mystery” product but he continues to see it as an opportunity. This could offer modest upside to TEVA, although the call noted that a generic Lipitor is likely a June 2012 event for TEVA.
Scenario 3 – Other less likely scenarios include (1) Ranbaxy’s ANDA is rejected by FDA (or relinquished by Ranbaxy) and others come in; Mylan and TEVA would see an earlier benefit while WPI would be negatively impacted or (2) Ranbaxy is “parked” by the FDA, in which case WPI would benefit both by being alone on the market while TEVA and MYL could see delay to market (we have a hard time seeing the FDA allowing this given focus here.

As far as what others expect from Pfizer, two weeks ago brought a Leerink Swann downgrade where Pfizer was cut to “Market Perform.” All in all, Thomson Reuters shows a consensus price target objective from analysts as being $23.36. At $19.35 today, Pfizer’s 52-week range is $16.27 to $21.45.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) has been battered enough this year that this would be a big deal for its stock if there was a blowout win coming its way. Instead, shares are only up 0.6% at $38.51 while its 52-week range is $35.00 to $57.08. It would be up more if everyone thought this was a win for Teva. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) is up 3% at $67.80.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Biotech, Drug companies, FDA, Healthcare Tagged: MYL, PFE, TEVA, WPI

Whale Watching: Paulson & Co. Speared By Banks & Gold (BAC, COF, C, JPM, WFC, XL, NYX, GLD, TEVA, FDO, MGM, HPQ, AMCX, CEPH, COV, CVS, MYL)

Administrator — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:37:49 +0000

Paulson & Co. Inc. is another hedge fund group that investors use for Whale Watching, although this last quarter was not exactly kind to Mr. Paulson’s billions… The current 13F report shows total September 30, 2011 of $20.68 billion. While still huge, that is down from $29.057 billion just a quarter before. The biggest changes appear to be in the financial stocks and banks, as well as in gold. We have outlined come of the key changes of those and others below, including some new positions taken.

BANK STAKE GAINS: Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) was listed as a larger position at 64.3+ million shares, higher by almost 4 million shares. Keep in mind that there are also positions in warrants due 2018 and 2019 in the position at BofA. Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) was raised slightly to 22,200,000 shares worth $879.7 million, but the old stake of 21,100,000 shares worth $1.09 billion.

BANK STAKES LOWERED OR ELIMINATED (partial): Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was a much lower stake at 25.1 million shares worth $643 million versus a stake of 33.5 million shares worth some $1.395 billion a quarter earlier. J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was not even listed as a position, yet it was about 4.7 million shares at the June 30 report ( but there is still a warrant position). Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is a lower position of 23,847,900 shares worth $575 million versus the prior position of 33,600,000 shares worth $942 million. XL Group plc (NYSE: XL) was lowered as well to 23.675 million shares worth $445 million versus his previous larger position of 28.23 million shares worth $620 million. NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX) was dropped from the positions entirely after being listed as 3 million shares a quarter before.

PAULSON’s OTHER LOWERED POSITIONS (partial): SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) was cut by more than one-third down to 20,273,540 shares (now worth $3.2 billion) versus 31,500,000 shares worth nearly $4.6 billion previously. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) was cut by more than half to 1,976,900 shares worth $73.5 million from 4.18 million shares worth $201 million. The stakes in FAMILY DOLLAR STORES INC. (NYSE: FDO) and the stake in MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL (NYSE: MGM) were also lowered by Paulson. Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) was lowered to 15.2 million shares worth $340 million from 23.5 million shares worth $855 million a quarter earlier.

PAULSON’s NEW POSTIONS: AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX) is a new position of 5,000,000 shares worth $159 million, making Paulson a zombie fan for The Walking Dead. Cephalon Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH) is a new position of 3,684,000 shares worth some $297 million. Covidien PLC (NYSE: COV) is a new position of 2,000,000 shares with some $88.2 million. CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) was another new position of 2,500,000 shares worth almost $84 million.

Mylan, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL) was a higher stake of 24,896,500 shares worth $423 million versus 14,940,000 shares worth $368 million previously.

Fortunately for Mr. Paulson, the markets have recovered handily since the end of September and the start of October.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Activist Investor, Banking, Mutual Funds Tagged: AMCX, BAC, C, CEPH, COF, COV, CVS, FDO, GLD, HPQ, JPM, MGM, MYL, NYX, TEVA, WFC, XL

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week (ALU, AMZN, AAPL, CSCO, CSC, CXW, DF, EPD, GNW, GMCR, GRPN, HD, MPEL, PIR, SRDX, TEVA, VRTX, YRCW, ALIM)

Administrator — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:19:38 +0000

Each morning 24/7 Wall St. issues a summary list of key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations issued by Wall Street research firms. We review these calls and other calls made throughout the week to see which stand out the most. Some are great calls that were full of insight, while others were total flops. After reviewing and filtering all of these research reports, we end up with the top analyst calls of the week.

We had many key calls that stood out this week in shares of the following: Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU); Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC); Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE:CXW); Dean Foods Company (NYSE: DF); Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD); Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD); Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL); Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR); SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX); Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA); Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX); and YRC Worldwide. Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW).

We have broken each of these calls out and added in color where applicable.

Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) can’t get off the floor and it keeps disappointing. Shares even closed at $1.99 after seeing a year low of $1.92 on Friday. Alcatel’s chart looks almost the same as the chart of late-2008, but it cannot blame the market this time. We saw three downgrades worth noting this last week: Cut to Sell at Citigroup; Cut estimates and target at Argus; and Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) had two big calls this last week. The main call was on Friday when Nomura issued a very unenthusiastic NEUTRAL rating. The other call came on Thursday when Zacks added it to the STRONG SELL list. With valuations still very high and with profit margins running razor-thin, it seems that at least some caution should prevail unless the holiday season is going to blow the doors of the hinges here.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Research, The Week Tagged: AAPL, ALIM, ALU, AMZN, CSC, CSCO, CXW, DF, EPD, GMCR, GNW, GRPN, HD, MPEL, PIR, SRDX, TEVA, VRTX, YRCW

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AIXG, ALU, AZN, CXW, EMR, GSK, HON, HUM, KEX, MCHP, OVTI, PAA, RAX, STJ, TEVA, TRMB, VRTX, WFM)

Administrator — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:10:26 +0000

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

Aixtron SE (NASDAQ: AIXG) Raised to Equalweight at Morgan Stanley.
Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE:CXW) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Honeywell International (NYSE: HON) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $95 at Argus.
Kirby Corporation (NYSE: KEX) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Microchip Technology (NASDAQ: MCHP) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE: RAX) Raised to Buy at Kaufman Bros.
St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) Reinstated as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Trimble Navigation Limited (NASDAQ: TRMB) Started as Buy at Janney.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) Cut to Neutral at R. W. Baird.
Whole Foods Market Inc. (NYSE: WFM) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AIXG, ALU, AZN, CXW, EMR, GSK, HON, HUM, KEX, MCHP, OVTI, PAA, RAX, STJ, TEVA, TRMB, VRTX, WFM