Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) raised to Buy with $39 target at Citigroup.

AU Optronics Corp. (NYSE: AUO) raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) started as Market Perform a Wells Fargo.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) started as Buy at Jefferies.

Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) started as Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) cut to Hold at KeyBanc.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) started as Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) started as Hold at Jefferies.

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

JCPenney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

LG Display Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LPL) raised to Buy at BofA/ML and cut to Neutral at UBS.

LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) started as Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) raised to Buy at Citigroup.

Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI) started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Netapp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) started as Hold at Jefferies.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) started as Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) started as Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.

JON C. OGG

While Vical shares are surging, it is hard to know what the company will net out of the deal. As you often see in these biotech and drug pacts, the exact financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Vical’s CEO was quoted saying, “This agreement represents a meaningful step toward monetizing a common use of our broadly applicable intellectual property asset, and establishes a template for additional agreements with others working in the field.”

As you can see here, Vical has an extensive drug candidate pipeline. Its shares are surging higher by 14% to $4.30 after a $3.77 close on Wednesday, and the 52-week trading range is $2.22 to $4.82. Today’s gain puts Vical with a market cap of close to $370 million, and the consensus analyst target price on the stock was listed as $5.50, according to Thomson Reuters, before the effects of this license news.

JON C. OGG

The most recent deal in the biotech and emerging pharma sectors was Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) finally being acquired at a large premium by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY). The more than $5 billion deal was almost 50% higher than the price that analysts valued the company. So, who is next? 24/7 Wall St. has a regular list of merger candidates in biotech and emerging pharma, and here are some of the possible candidates. We have added color on each, if applicable.

First and foremost, it is important to consider who the buyers will generally be. Companies like AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN), Sanofi (NYSE: SNY), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) were all Amylin suitors, and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was reportedly interested before backing out due to valuation of the company. Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) recently was cited as a possible buyer of Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) to fill its pipeline and to regain some momentum. Will Celgene look elsewhere?

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) often arises as a possible takeover name, but it is worth about $11.2 billion in its market capitalization, and that would put it on the high side of biotech M&A values. Shares have been very volatile on drug news of its own, as well. The Thomson Reuters consensus target of $66.40 compares to a share price of $52.85 and a 52-week high of $66.10.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) remains in the hopeful biotech merger rumor mill. The company has a low-ball tender offer from GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) valuing it at $2.6 billion. Now that the company has opened up its options, it has another week or so for pharma and biotech parties to make an offer for the company after GlaxoSmithKline has just refused to raise its offer.

While we wanted to focus on the possibility of a Human Genome Sciences deal, the real action is that many biotech outfits may be up for grabs. Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) finally got its buyout, and the deal from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) came in above $5 billion. The valuation there was nearly 50% higher than where the fundamental analysts were valuing the company on a standalone basis.

It is important to keep in mind that Amylin had many “reported on” and rumored suitors as the rumor mill had mentioned companies like AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN), Sanofi (NYSE: SNY), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) all as suitors. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) also had reportedly been interested, but its interest waned as the price rose. If these companies were even remotely serious about buying Amylin when it was under a drug partnership, any of these other biotech targets could come up as fair game ahead.

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) has been cited recently as a possible buyer of Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI). The problem we see is that Celgene’s stock has now corrected by about 20% from its highs after massive growth was met by mixed drug news. The market cap of the shares is almost $29 billion and Wall St. analysts have a price target of about $75.50 on the stock against a current share price of $64.90 and against a high of $80.42. Would Celgene chance $3 billion or more for a lupus drug to expand its lupus ambitions and to grow its pipeline?

The earnings previews are for the following: Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML); Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC); Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB); Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM); IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE); Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT); Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO); News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA); PAA Natural Gas Storage L.P. (NYSE: PNG); Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NYSE: PAA); Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU); Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL); Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI); Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S); Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX); Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL); Visa Inc. (NYSE: V); and Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM).

We have compiled earnings preview on each company using Thomson Reuters consensus estimates and added color on each if applicable.  Some are market moving, some are sector moving, and some are just interesting for traders to watch around the earnings reports.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) has estimates of $0.40 EPS and $311.26 million in revenues.

Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) has estimates of $0.09 EPS and $401.5 million in revenues.    Growth is gone, but it still screens as value.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) has estimates of $0.43 EPS and $11.23 billion in revenues.  Preliminary preview notes are available.

Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) has estimates of $0.58 EPS and $3.98 billion in revenues.  As a reminder, CSC has warned on earnings.  This one shows up as a value stock in all sorts of investor screens but it is a value trap.

After reviewing and filtering all of these research reports, we end up with the top analyst calls of the week.  The top analyst calls of the week were in the following stocks: American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK); Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY); ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH); Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C); J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM); Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT); Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO); Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL); and YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW).

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was down on Friday, but earlier in the week it was added to the #1 Strong Buy List at Zacks.  Despite its performance and valuations, we still see this one as a favorable stock for most investment portfolios.

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) saw shares slide this last week but we had an analyst duel.  Wells Fargo raised Annaly to Outperform on Thursday, but Ladenburg Thalmann cut the rating to Neutral from Buy.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was given a much better upside call against Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) by BMO Capital Markets mid-week, but this call goes against what the consensus analyst group is calling for.  BMO raised ARM to Outperform and simultaneously downgraded Intel to Market Perform in the call.

Banking Sector Alert: On Tuesday afternoon came a bank sector downgrade by S&P Capital IQ, where Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) were both downgraded to “Hold” from “Buy.” On Wednesday morning Credit Suisse actually raised Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) to “Outperform” and it gave a $48 price target.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was one of the few infrastructure players given a positive call by a new round of research calls by Morgan Stanley this last Wednesday.  The firm started Caterpillar with an “Overweight” in a call which was cautious among many infrastructure and farming equipment makers.

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) Raised to Outperform at Wedbush.
Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Energy Recovery Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE: PPG) named as Value stock of the Day at Zacks.
Plexus Corporation (NASDAQ: PLXS) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Randgold Resources Limited (NASDAQ: GOLD) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) Cut to Sector Perform at National Bank.
SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (NYSE: SWK) Raised to Buy at Argus.
SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Cut to Underperform at Macquarie.
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) Cut to Underperform at Macquarie.
Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) Cut to Neutral at Macquarie.
Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) Started as Outperform with $7 target at Credit Suisse.
VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Started as Outperform with $15 target at Credit Suisse.
YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) Raised to Hold fro Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.

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JON C. OGG

AEGON N.V. (NYSE: AEG) maintained “Buy” but removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) Started as Outperform with $20 target at Credit Suisse.
Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Ardea Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEA) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ: CERN) Added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) Started as Outperform with $62 target at Credit Suisse.
Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) Started as Buy at BofA/ML; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Reinstated as Buy at Needham; Reiterated Buy with $800 target at Canaccord Genuity.
ICICI Bank Ltd. (NYSE: IBN) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) Started as Neutral with $65 target at Credit Suisse.
Peabody Energy Corp (NYSE: BTU) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC) Started as Outperform with $24 target on Focus List at Credit Suisse.
STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM) Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) Reiterated Buy with $8 target 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

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) was a call that we are highlighting due to its timing rather than due solely to its impact.  On Friday came new coverage from ThinkEquity with a “Buy” rating and a $50.00 price target.  What makes this key is that this comes ahead of earnings and the firm cited better than expected growth in Provenge sales.  This is actually our second time this month that Dendreon was in the top analyst calls of the week.

Infospace Inc. (NASDAQ: INSP) was one we were surprised to see pop this week after beating earnings expectations and slightly raising guidance.  If there is one of the old great dot-com bubble stocks that deflated and became dead money it is Infospace.  Then came a call this week from S&P Equity Research and the ratings agency raised the stock rating to “Buy” and gave a price target objective of $11.00 per share.  This is above the consensus average target and the high for the year is $10.91.  This stock was at $8.78 before earnings.  S&P’s key note, “we note that the core search business showed sequential improvement with the addition of a number of a new distribution partners.”  Our food for thought here for a company trades close to book value… maybe Infospace can catch some of the Groupon mojo like we highlighted in other names.

Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) may be peaking.  This last week brought a downgrade from Gabelli & Co., although the downgrade did not really take much wind out of the stock.  What is important here is that at some point more analysts will likely be forced to join in as the valuation is something we have cited as going from excessive to one of crack and meth.  Molycorp actually closed up $5.00 this week, but the downgrade may have put a cap on it after that Monday rally. 

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was one where we issued our own outlook of what to expect with some warnings after the stock hit $2.00 early in the week.  It was only about 12-hours later that SIRIUS XM was given a downgrade on valuation by Lazard.  This is ahead of its earnings report and the downgrade was followed by a call from Wunderlich advising clients not to chase SIRIUS XM shares.  What made this stand out even more is that SIRIUS XM shares totally ignored the calls.  Yep, what seems to be one of the top calls turned out to be a dud as shares closed at $1.985 after having hit $2.00 for a 52-week high on 3 different days this week versus a $1.93 close the prior Friday. 

Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) was impossible to not have on the list of the gutsiest and greatest analyst calls of the week.  Canaccord Genuity issued a “Buy” rating but not just any ordinary “Buy” rating.  The firm is looking for shares to rise about 146% from its pre-call price.  The research call created a 10% pop, and we have another fund manager who tipped us off on this one with more positive insight ahead through 2011.  Full details of the Vical call with background data are at BioHealthInvestor.com.

The technical analysis call of the week goes to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  While it did not mention the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) nor the ETFS Physical Silver Shares (NYSE: SIVR) exchange-traded products, the report should have as these will be the direct winners if it comes true… The firm sees a technical breakout calling for not just $50 silver… Bank of America Merrill Lynch gave the technical reasons for why it sees $80 silver, and gave chart updates as well. 

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

Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) Reiterated Buy and $108 target at Argus.
Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Cut to Hold at Argus.
ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) Raised target and estimates at Citigroup.
Athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) Started as Underperform at Oppenheimer.
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Corn Products International Inc. (NYSE: CPO) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late-Monday call).
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Reiterated Buy with $26 target at Argus.
Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $70 at Argus.
Ingersoll-Rand Plc (NYSE: IR) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Cut to Underperform with $11 target at Credit Suisse.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Cut to Sell with $170 target at Janney; reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Spansion Inc. (NASDAQ: CODE) Reiterated Buy and $28 target at Gleacher & Co.
Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) Started as Buy at Canaccord.
Wynn Resorts, Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
YUM! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $61 at Credit Suisse.

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