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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AWK, BAC, BIP, CAT, C, CPO, DE, DMND, ECA, GPS, GOV, JOYG, JPM, OPEN, SSW, TXRH, USM, VLO)

Administrator — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:24:59 +0000

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

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) added to Strong Buy List at Zacks.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Hold at S&P Capital IQ (late-Tuesday).
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE: BIP) reinstated as Outperform with $32 target at Credit Suisse.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Cut to Hold at S&P Capital IQ (late-Tuesday).
Corn Products International (NYSE: CPO) named Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Started as Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML; Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Encana Corporation (NYSE: ECA) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) Raised to positive at Susquehanna.
Government Properties Income Trust (NYSE: GOV) Cut to Neutral at Janney.
Joy Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYG) Started as Equalweight at Morgan Stanley.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Cut to Hold at S&P Capital IQ (late-Tuesday).
OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML; Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan; Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity.
Seaspan Corporation (NYSE: SSW) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE: USM) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Reiterated Buy with $35 target at Argus.

We were also given a new updated list of the prized Gabelli Focus Five List showing that all five positions were new positions as special situation stocks that the firm feels are undervalued to the market expectations. This list outperformed in the last quarter and has significantly outperformed the S&P going back to the 2006 inception.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AWK, BAC, BIP, C, CAT, CPO, DE, DMND, ECA, GOV, GPS, JOYG, JPM, OPEN, SSW, TXRH, USM, VLO

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, ATML, BAC, CSIQ, CSCO, KO, CY, FNSR, ISRG, JDSU, MON, POL, RVBD, USM, VMW, YOKU)

Administrator — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:09:32 +0000

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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Outperform and $500 target at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $460 at Argus; Reiterated Buy and $515 target at BofA/ML.
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Reiterated Buy with $17 target at Gleacher.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Reiterated Buy with $24 target at Argus.
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY) Reiterated Neutral with $23 target at Gleacher.
The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $78 at BofA/ML.
Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Started as Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks; Added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Raised to Outperform at Baird; Reiterated Neutral and cut target to $37 at BofA/ML.
US Cellular (NYSE: USM) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $128 at BofA/ML.
Youku.com Inc (NYSE: YOKU) Started as Neutral at Susquehanna.

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, ATML, BAC, CSCO, CSIQ, CY, FNSR, ISRG, JDSU, KO, MON, POL, RVBD, USM, VMW, YOKU

Daily M&A: AT&T/T-Mobile Will Force Other Mergers (T, Q, CTL, VZ, VOD, S, PCS, LEAP, USM)

Administrator — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:01:54 +0000

It’s 12:00 PM and that means it is time for “The M&A Daily.” This weekend’s AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) $39 billion buyout of Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile is going to have some severe ramifications in the world of telecom and wireless communications here in the U.S. The deal is on the back of Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) merging with CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL), which has been approved with conditions.

This merger will probably help to lock in a near duopoly between AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). It should be no surprise that some will wonder if this will force an unlocking of the Vodafone PLC (NYSE: VOD) deal with Verizon as well.

We wanted to consider a couple of other possibilities for the wireless sector. First, this leaves Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) in a no-win position. Deutsche Telekom was recently rumored to be in some sort of deal with Sprint, but what is more important was that the two weaker wireless players have been rumored to be in a potential deal for longer than you could believe. Sprint Nextel shares are down 14% at $4.33.

Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) is up almost 13% at $13.70 with a $1.08 billion market cap and MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) is up 5.5% at $15.75 with a $5.6 billion market cap. There was a failed merger between the two pre-paid wireless carriers before. This leaves them with little choice but to go in and merge now if they want to remain relevant and to remain competitive on costs.

Perhaps the most overlooked and/or easiest to forget about is the thinly traded United States Cellular Corp. (NYSE: USM), more commonly known as US Cellular. With shares up 5% at $48.60, its market cap is $4.15 billion. The company has been rumored to be a M&A target in the past but so far nothing has ever happened.

It may seem odd to many that Verizon is up with AT&T. The logic behind it is simple: fewer competitors will translate to price stability and pricing power to be enjoyed by both. Verizon shares are up 2.4% at $36.71, more than the AT&T gain of 1.2% to $28.28 so far on Monday.

By now you know the drill with Wall Street’s mantra for greed begets more greed: Big mergers beget more mergers!

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Conglomerates, Mergers and Buy Outs, Telecom, WiMAX, Wireless Tagged: CTL, LEAP, PCS, Q, S, T, USM, VOD, VZ

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AXP, ATML, CLWR, STZ, CTCM, EXPE, FICO, INTC, MRVL, PCS, MSFT, NVDA, PT, USM)

Administrator — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:10:08 +0000

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

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Raised to Strong Buy from Buy at Needham.
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CTC Media (NASDAQ: CTCM) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday call).
Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE: FICO) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer; Credit Suisse issued Short-Term Buy and Raised target to $13 from $11.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Reiterated Outperform and $36 target at Credit Suisse.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (NYSE: PT) Cut to Underperform at BNP Paribas.
U.S. Cellular Corp. (NYSE: USM) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research/

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: ATML, AXP, CLWR, CTCM, EXPE, FICO, INTC, MRVL, MSFT, NVDA, PCS, PT, STZ, USM

Top Analyst Upgrades (BAC, CTRP, ENOC, FITB, RTP, THQI, USM)

247wallst — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:16:40 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades or positive research calls from Wall Street this Thursday morning:

Bank of America (BAC) Raised to Outperform at Baird; Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Ctrip.com (CTRP) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
EnerNOC (ENOC) Raised to Buy at Janney Montgomery.
Fifth Third Bank (FITB) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
THQ Inc. (THQI) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
US Cellular (USM) Raised to Neutral at Baird.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BAC, CTRP, ENOC, FITB, RTP, THQI, USM

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ADBE, ADSK, LLNW, NIHD, ORLY, QSFT, SLM, SNTA, USM)

247wallst — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:49:20 +0000

These are the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative research calls we have seen this Friday morning:

Adobe (ADBE) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Autodesk (ADSK) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.
Limelight Networks (LLNW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
NII Holdings (NIHD) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
O’Reilly Autoparts (ORLY) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Quest Software (QSFT) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
SLM (SLM) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Synta Pharmaceuticals (SNTA) downgraded at Lazard, Roth Capital, and Wachovia.
US Cellular (USM) Cut to Underperform at Baird.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ADBE, ADSK, LLNW, NIHD, ORLY, QSFT, SLM, SNTA, USM