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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AKAM, GAS, AAPL, ARMH, B, COST, XOM, FR, HTH, IART, IGT, MRK, P, PENN, PVH, RBS, SCCO, THOR)

Administrator — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:09:46 +0000

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

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.
AGL Resources Inc. (NYSE: GAS) Started as Underperform and named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Buy with $460.00 price target objective by Argus; maintained Conviction Buy List and target raised to $550 from $520 at Goldman Sachs.
ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Started as Underperform at Bernstein.
Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE: B) named as value stock of the day at Zacks.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) Cut to Underperform at Bernstein.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) Reiterated Buy at Goldman Sachs.
First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE: FR) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Hilltop Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HTH) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: IART) Cut to Hold at Argus.
International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) Removed from US Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) Downgraded to Hold at Jefferies.
Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) Started as Buy at Needham.
Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) Added to the US Focus List at Credit Suisse.
PVH Corporation (NYSE: PVH) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (NYSE: RBS) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

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

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, AKAM, ARMH, B, COST, FR, gas, HTH, IART, IGT, MRK, P, PENN, PVH, RBS, SCCO, THOR, XOM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (NLY, BHP, CELL, FTE, FIO, IVR, MDT, OKE, TLB, THOR, WOOF, WBMD)

Administrator — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:35:35 +0000

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

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Brightpoint Inc. (NASDAQ: CELL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) Raised to Neutral at UBS.
Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs; Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; Started as Neutral at JPMorgan; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
The Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB) Raised to Neutral at Janney Capital.
Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR) Started as Outperform with $43 target at Credit Suisse.
VCA Antech Inc. (NASDAQ: WOOF) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup; maintained Buy but cut target to $44 at Canaccord Genuity.

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: BHP, CELL, FIO, FTE, IVR, MDT, NLY, OKE, THOR, TLB, WBMD, WOOF

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALU, ADI, BKS, DLTR, EIX, EL, FDO, GMCR, INTC, LLTC, NFLX, CRM, THOR, X)

Administrator — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:27:09 +0000

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

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Edison International (NYSE: EIX) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) Raised to Outperform as the Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) Cut to Equal-weight at Barclays.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late-Monday call).
Linear Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LLTC) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Cut To Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

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: ADI, ALU, BKS, CRM, DLTR, EIX, EL, FDO, GMCR, INTC, LLTC, NFLX, THOR, X

Day Trader Alerts (RATE)(THOR)(PWAV)(GKK)

247wallst — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:06:16 +0000

New day trading alerts from VSInvestor

A 33% run-up in Bankrate (RATE), for more details.

Thoratec (THOR) up 12%, details.

Powerwave (PWAV) drops 45%, details.

Gramercy Park (GKK) up 55%, details.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Research Tagged: GKK, PWAV, RATE, THOR

Thoratec’s Hammering (THOR)

247wallst — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:06:32 +0000

Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR) is having a rough morning. The heart failure device company has a product recall it announced last Friday, and medical device recalls are not what the public likes to hear about.

Thoratec issued a worldwide medical device correction of all serialnumbers of the HeartMate II Left Ventricular Assist Systems havingCatalogue No. 1355 or 102139. These have been distributed since thebeginning of clinical studies in November 2003.

The company said that over time, wear and fatigue of the percutaneouslead connecting the HeartMate II LVAS blood pump with the SystemController may result in damage that could interrupt pump function,require re-operation to replace the pump and potentially result inserious injury or death.

It also said that the estimated probability of the need for pumpreplacement due to percutaneous lead damage is 1.3% at 12 months, 6.5%at 24 months and 11.4% at 36 months.

There is just one small problem with recalls and product defects inmedical device companies. Patients generally have to undergo a newsurgical procedure to have the recalled item removed and have to havenew devices inserted. This is almost always done at the same time, butit isn’t quite the same as taking your car in because the windshieldwipers have a 15% failure rate.

The other issue about medical device recalls is that they can destroythe image medical device company which issued a recall. Lastly, it canturn doctors away to competing products or encourage them to stop useof the recalled product even if the replacement is fine. Few doctorslike to admit it, but they also have to respond and react to publicopinion or negative press.

Thoratec shares are down 14% at $21.53, and the 52-week trading rangeis $12.92 to $29.72. The company is very lucky that this reactionisn’t worse.

Jon C. Ogg
October 27, 2008

Posted in Medical Tagged: THOR