24/7 Wall St. » TKC

Eight Countries With Credit Ratings Set to Rise Next Year

Administrator — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:14:50 +0000

It seems that all of the nations around the world are facing sovereign credit ratings downgrades or warnings of downgrades. After the United States lost its prized “AAA” rating, the threat of downgrades hangs over all of Europe. Before assuming that the whole financial system is going down the drain with Europe, it is important to realize that some key developing nations are still growing strongly and have better credit metrics. More than 15 nations may even see one or more of the top three ratings agencies upgrade their sovereign credit ratings.

24/7 Wall St. has focused on the ratings with a “positive” outlook from Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and/or Fitch with a bias towards nations that investors can easily invest in via ADR shares, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The featured nations that may be upgraded in 2012 are Brazil, Chile, China (with Hong Kong), Indonesia, Peru, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey.

Read: Nations Set For Credit Ratings Beyond Upgrades, Beyond The Euro Crisis

There is another slew of countries for which S&P has a “positive” outlook stance: Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Latvia, Panama, and Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, these nations are almost impossible for Americans to invest in due to their size, the small number of public companies, and a lack of ETFs or mutual funds covering them.

The 24/7 Wall St. list is presented alphabetically and features relevant ratings. Also included are economic details and important developments to consider. Lastly, we have provided a list of the key closed-end funds, ETFs, and ADRs specific to each nation. Population estimates and purchasing power parity GDP for 2010 were taken from the CIA World Factbook.

Filed under: ADR, Austerity, Banking, Bonds, China, Commodities, Currency, Economy, Editor's Picks, Emerging Markets, ETF, International Markets, Labor & Unions Tagged: BAP, BBD, BCH, BRF, BRFS, BVN, BZF, CEE, CH, CHN, CZZ, ECH, EIDO, EPU, ERJ, ERUS, EWH, EWY, EWZ, FXI, GOL, GXC, IDX, IF, KEF, KEP, KF, LFL, MBT, MTL, PBR, PEK, PKX, RBL, RSX, RSXJ, SAN, SCCO, SKM, SKOR, SQM, TDF, TKC, TKF, TLK, TRF, TUR, VALE, VIP

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 (AEO, AAPL, AMR, ENOC, F, INTC, JCOM, JBLU, MA, MGM, NIHD, PETS, SLE, TKC)

Administrator — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:19:32 +0000

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

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Outperform and $500 target at Credit Suisse.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Reiterated Outperform on Focus List at Credit Suisse.
j2 Global Communications (NASDAQ: JCOM) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $325 at Argus.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
NII Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (NYSE: TKC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

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: AAPL, AEO, AMR, ENOC, F, INTC, JBLU, JCOM, MA, MGM, NIHD, PETS, SLE, TKC

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BX, COP, DISCA, GGP, HOLX, AGN, NVDA, STRA, TKC, UNH, URI, WM, WLP)

Administrator — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:02:21 +0000

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

The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Maintained Buy on Focus List with $81 target at Argus.
Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Hologic Inc. (NASDAQ: HOLX) replaced Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) on the Convition Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Strayer Education (NASDAQ: STRA) was named the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Turkcell (NYSE: TKC) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) Maintained BUY with $44 target at Argus.
WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

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: AGN, BX, COP, DISCA, GGP, HOLX, NVDA, STRA, TKC, UNH, URI, WLP, WM

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AEP, AAPL, APOL, CNI, CEO, DD, FDO, FLIR, KLIC, LIZ, TKC, VZ, WYNN, YRCWD)

Administrator — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:05:50 +0000

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

American Electric Power Co., Inc. (NYSE: AEP) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Buy but target raised to $385 from $340 at Barclays.
Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Started as Neutral at UBS.
Canadian National Railway Co. (NYSE: CNI) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Family Dollar Stores, Inc.(NYSE: FDO) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Monday call).
FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) Reiterated Buy at Needham.
Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: KLIC) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Liz Claiborne Inc. (NYSE: LIZ) Started as Neutral at SunTrust.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (NYSE: TKC) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) Cut to Underperform at Bernstein.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Cut to Market Perform at BMO; Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Monday call).
YRC Worldwide, Inc. (YRCWD) Started as Underperform at Morgan Keegan.

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: AAPL, AEP, APOL, CEO, CNI, DD, FDO, FLIR, KLIC, LIZ, TKC, VZ, WYNN, YRCWD

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AMAT, AZN, BSX, CCL, ENDP, JCG, KLAC, LRCX, LVS, MDT, MPEL, MGM, NVLS, PENN, DGX, TKC, WYNN)

Administrator — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 11:44:18 +0000

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

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Started as Neutral at Susquehanna.
AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) Cut to Hold at RBS.
Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ENDP) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
J. Crew Group (NYSE: JCG) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
KLA-Tencor Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) Started as Negative at Susquehanna.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Melcro Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) Started as Neutral at Susquehanna.
Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) Started as Buy at Kaufman Bros.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (NYSE: TKC) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, AZN, BSX, CCL, DGX, ENDP, JCG, KLAC, LRCX, LVS, MDT, MGM, MPEL, NVLS, PENN, TKC, WYNN

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (GENZ, IHS, KSU, MXIM, PBR, RIMM, SLRC, TUP, TKC, VOD)

Administrator — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:37:12 +0000

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

Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) Cut to Market Perform at Leerink Swann.
IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS) Started as Buy at Needham & Co.
Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) Raised to Strong Buy at Needham.
Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR) Cut to Hold from Buy at S&P Equity (late yesterday).
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Neutral at Baird; target cut to $70 at Raymond James; target cut to $90 at RBC; target cut to $65 at UBS; target cut to $100 at TD
Solar Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ: SLRC) Started as Outperform at BMO Capital
Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Turkcell (NYSE: TKC) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at Collins Stewart.

JON C. OGG

Go through the list of the 20 least and most productive and give my take on what they have in common.

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Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: GENZ, IHS, KSU, MXIM, PBR, RIMM, SLRC, TKC, TUP, VOD

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BRCD, GLW, DISCA, FSLR, KFT, MIR, PAAS, PALM, RIMM, TKC)

247wallst — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:47:12 +0000

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

Brocade Communications (NASDAQ: BRCD) Cut to Hold at Jefferies; Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Corning inc. (NYSE: GLW) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA) Cut to Equal-weight at Barclays.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Started as Sell at Wunderlich.
Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) Started as Outperform at Credit Suiise.
Mirant Corporation (NYSE: MIR) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS) Started as Outperform at BMO Capital.
Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Started as Hold at Stifel Nicolaus; Cut to Underperform at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Research-in-Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Turkcell (NYSE: TKC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: BRCD, DISCA, FSLR, GLW, KFT, MIR, PAAS, PALM, RIMM, TKC

Emerging Market Surprise: Turkey Upgraded by S&P (TUR, TKF, TKC)

247wallst — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:07:56 +0000

If you have read the news about Greece, Spain, and other PIIGS nations, you might think that the EuroZone and any neighboring states would be in the tank. If you asked about Turkey without making any quick research you might just lump it into the same pile. Well, Standard & Poor’s says differently. S&P has actually raised Turkey’s credit ratings today.

Turkey is still not the easiest country to invest in from ETFs, closed-end funds, and ADRs. But there is one of each that investors here in the U.S. can use. There is the iShares MSCI Turkey Invest Market Index (NYSE: TUR), the Turkish Investment Fund Inc. (NYSE: TKF), and Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (NYSE: TKC).

S&P has noted several positive issues in Turkey, and surprisingly talked up its banking system. Noted was that Turkey has steadily reduced its debt burden in the last decade.

Long-term foreign and local currency ratings to ‘BB’ and ‘BB+’;outlook is positive, possibly generating an additional upgrade in the next 12 to 24 months.
The ‘B’ short-term ratings were affirmed and the outlook is positive.
The Transfer and Convertibility Assessment was raised to ‘BBB-’ from ‘BB+’.
The ‘trAA+/trA-1′ Turkish national scale credit ratings were affirmed.

It is hard to not see a note about the “success of Turkey’s regulatory institutions in preserving the solidity of the financial sector…” S&P also called Turkey’s banking system one of the strongest and least-leveraged in Eastern Europe with a well capitalized banking system and a low leverage of the household sector.

iShares MSCI Turkey Invest Mkt Index (NYSE: TUR) is up 0.65% at $54.27 on almost 33,000 shares. The 52-week range is $19.05 to $59.19 and average volume is 250,000. Listed assets are $433 million.

Turkish Investment Fund Inc. (NYSE: TKF) is up 0.7% at $13.10 on only about 6,300 shares. The 52-week range is $4.05 to $14.48 and average volume is 40,000 shares. Listed market cap today is $98 million.

Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (NYSE: TKC) is the longest standing ADR in the region, operating a large cellular network in the country. The ADR is up 0.8% at $16.49 on 241,000 shares. The 52-week range is $10.90 to $19.99 and average volume is almost 700,000 shares. The market cap today is listed as roughly $14.5 billion.

JON C. OGG
FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Filed under: ADR, Analyst Calls, Banking, Bonds, Emerging Markets, ETF, International Markets, Mutual Funds Tagged: TKC, TKF, TUR

Top Analyst Downgrades & Cautious Calls (ATHN, ETFC, LM, MICC, TKC, AMTD, YUM)

247wallst — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:12:17 +0000

These are the top pre-market analyst downgrades or cautious notes we have seen early this Thursday morning from Wall Street brokerage firms with more than two hours until the market opens:

Athenahealth (ATHN) Started as Neutral at Baird.
E*TRADE (ETFC) Started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Legg Mason (LM) Started as Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Millicom (MICC) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Turkcell (TKC) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
TD Ameritrade (AMTD) Started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
YUM! Brands (YUM) Started as Hold at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AMTD, ATHN, ETFC, LM, MICC, TKC, YUM