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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANF, A, BBVA, CME, CROX, DE, DELL, DKS, HLF, HP, HBAN, ICE, LM, SINA, V, WAT)

Administrator — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:23:52 +0000

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

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) Raised to Neutral at BNP Paribas.

CME Group Icc. (NASDAQ: CME) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.

Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) Started as Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Reiterated Buy with $96 target at Argus.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised to Neutral at Stern Agee.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $58 at Argus.

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) Raised to Buy at Caris; David Einhorn did not discuss the issue at the Value Investing Congress on Wednesday; Reiterated Buy with $76 target at Canaccord Genuity.

Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) Raised to Buy with $55 target at Argus.

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ: HBAN) Maintained Outperform but cut 2012/2013 estimates and maintained $8 target at Credit Suisse.

IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) Raised to Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

SINA Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) Maintained Buy but removed from the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: A, ANF, BBVA, CME, CROX, DE, DELL, DKS, HBAN, HLF, HP, ICE, LM, SINA, V, WAT

Over $40 Billion in Share Buyback Announcements in February (KSS, DOX, DDS, TJX, WLP, WAT, LEA, PLXS, ARG, CVC, KLAC, VAR, COP, MMM, CHKP, ISRG, ALL, CMI, GME, GD, ROST, MHS, ERTS, PFE, TUP)

Administrator — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:51:54 +0000

Many shareholders argue that share repurchase and stock buyback plans are generally a waste of shareholder capital aimed solely as a short-term share price targeting mechanism. Many would prefer to see dividends. Still, share buyback plans remain a top method of ‘returning capital to shareholders’ and the share buybacks in February have come at a feverish pace.

The feverish buyback pace we are showing does not even include the many buyback plans of under $200 million. The companies leading the buyback charge with new announcements so far in February are as follows: Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS); Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX); Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS); The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX); Wellpoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP); Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT); Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA); Plexus Corporation (NASDAQ: PLXS); Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG); Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC); KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC); Varian Medical System Inc. (NYSE: VAR); ConocoPhilips (NYSE: COP); 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM); Check Point Software Tecnologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP); Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG); Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL); Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI); Gamestop Corporation (NYSE: GME); General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD); Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST); Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS); Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS); Pfizer, inc. (NYSE: PFE); and Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP).

The tally here in just these plans comes to about $41 billion in new buyback announcements so far just in February, and that is after a whopping $34 billion identified in January. We did not break these out by date and these are most recent to farthest back in February.

Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) increased its share repurchase authorization under its existing share repurchase program by $2.6 billion to $3.5 billion. That added 2.6 billion compares to a market cap of $15.7 billion today.

Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) declared $1 billion over 2 years against a market cap of $5.5 billion.

Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) added some $250 million to its prior buyback plan and its market cap is $2.6 billion .

The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) allocated some $1.2 billion this year and that compares to a market cap of $19.5 billion.

Wellpoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) expanded its prior plan by $1.6 billion and that is against a market cap of close to $25 billion.

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ALL, ARG, CHKP, CMI, COP, CVC, DDS, DOX, ERTS, GD, GME, ISRG, KLAC, KSS, LEA, MHS, MMM, PFE, PLXS, ROST, TJX, TUP, VAR, WAT, WLP

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ALTR, ABFS, CVLT, GDOT, JKS, LYV, MICC, MCP, OXY, PT, SNV, WAT, WERN)

Administrator — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:31:15 +0000

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

Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) Maintained Neutral and $32 target at Gleacher.
Arkansas Best Corp. (NASDAQ: ABFS) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan; Started as Neutral at UBS.
JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) Cut to Hold at Auriga.
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: LYV) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ: MICC) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Portgual Telecom SA (NYSE: PT) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE: SNV) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.
Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) Started as Buy at Auriga.
Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ABFS, ALTR, CVLT, GDOT, JKS, LYV, MCP, MICC, OXY, PT, SNV, WAT, WERN

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, ASCA, KMX, DNDN, FRO, MEOH, PGR, VRSN, WAT)

247wallst — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:23:05 +0000

These are the top ten analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street early this Monday morning with more than two hours until the market opens:

Accenture (ACN) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.
Ameristar Casinos (ASCA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
CarMax (KMX) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Dendreon (DNDN) Raised to Hold from Sell at McAdams Wright Ragen.
Frontline Ltd. (FRO) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Methanex (MEOH) Cut to Outperform at Raymond James.
Progressive (PGR) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
VeriSign (VRSN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Waters (WAT) Raised to Outperform at Robert W. Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
June 22, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, ASCA, DNDN, FRO, KMX, MEOH, PGR, VRSN, WAT

Earnings Warnings Hardly Affecting Many Stocks (LSCC, UTX, STLD, FUL, WAT)

247wallst — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:40:05 +0000

Earnings warnings are generally bad omens that rarely have a one quarter impact. But with many of these stocks already pricing in really bad scenarios. So when companies come in and say that revenues are down 3% or 12%, in many cases these are being rewarded by bottom-fishing traders who are trying to get into the stocks when the shares have sold off in many cases 50% or 75% (or more). Some companies which issued earnings warnings are Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ: LSCC), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD), H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL) and Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT)

Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ: LSCC) issued an earnings and revenuewarning last night saying its expects a sequential revenue drop of 12%to 16% rather than flat to -4%. With shares close to $1.00 this mightbe all in the stock, but it joins the semiconductor warnings game.Shares are up a tad, but less than 1% at $1.28; 52-weektrading range is $1.04 to $4.00. Stock trades at under tangible bookvalue as long as its cash balances hold up.

United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) predicted that revenue would declineby 3.3% in 2009 and it put earnings at plus or minus 5% and expects theeconomic deterioration to cause a drop in revenues next year. $4.90 isthe pivot point that is the basis of a +/-5%, and First Call hadestimates at $5.03 for 2009. Shares are actually up by a fraction of apercent after spending the first 25 minutes of trading and thepre-market in negative territory.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) guided for earnings to come at a loss of-$0.35 to -$0.40 versus $0.15 First Call consensus estimates. What thecompany said was that it believes the drop in scrap metals has run itscourse and may start to improve. Wall Street is trusting this as sharesare up less than 1% at $10.85. Its 52-week trading range is $5.18 to$40.92.

H.B. Fuller (NYSE: FUL) warned and gave guidance of $0.24 EPS versus$0.39 First Call consensus estimates. The adhesives and chemicals company said revenues were put at roughly$350 million, versus $367.58 million as the First Call consensus.Shares are down 1.5% at $13.84.

Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) is one of the few which is trading way off onearnings warning. The analytical instrument manufacturer warned thatrevenue and earnings would be under expectations as new orders werenot completed. Waters sees revenue at $410 million to $420 million for thequarter, yet analysts were looking for almost $450 million and thelowest estimate was $441 million. This one has also taken four analystdowngrades this morning from Deutsche Bank, Leerink Swann, Baird, andCowen. Shares are down 16% at $35.14.

Based upon what we are seeing from the trends in earnings warnings, if a company is only going to fall short of estimates by 10% or 15% then they better get that data out while Wall Street is still in a decent mood before the holiday bills and pink slips coincide with each other in January and February. We did not include the financial firms nor any companies who are entirely tied to the auto industry in any of this analysis. The reasons should be evident as to why.

Jon C. Ogg
December 12, 2008

Posted in Earnings Warning, Economy, Trading Alert Tagged: FUL, LSCC, STLD, UTX, WAT

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (AXL, AXP, COF, DRYS, EXPD, FII, F, LEA, SAP, TRW, VE, WAT)

247wallst — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:47:26 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative calls we are seeing this Friday morning:

American Axle (AXL) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
American Express (AXP) Started as Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Capital One (COF) Started as Sell at Deutsche Bank.
DryShips (DRYS) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Expeditors International (EXPD) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Federated Investors (FII) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Ford (F) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Lear (LEA) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
SAP AG (SAP) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
TRW (TRW) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Veolia (VE) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Waters (WAT) Downgraded at 3 firms: Baird, Deutsche Bank, & Leerink Swann.

Jon C. Ogg
December 12, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AXL, AXP, COF, DRYS, EXPD, F, FII, LEA, SAP, TRW, VE, WAT

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (HD, ILMN, MFE, NAV, OMX, VTA, VRNM, WAT)

247wallst — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:59:38 +0000

These are some of the top upgrades or positive calls we are seeing from analysts this Friday morning:

Home Depot (HD) Started as Outperform at FBR.
Illumina (ILMN) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
McAfee (MFE) Started as Buy at American Technology & Research.
Navistar (NAV) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
OfficeMax (OMX) Started as Outperform at FBR.
Van Kampe Dynamic Credit Fund (VTA) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Verenium (VRNM) Started as Buy at Lazard.
Waters Corp. (WAT) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Jon C. Ogg
September 5, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AYR, ARST, GLS, HCBK, JRN, MAKO, PFCB, TLM, WAT, WW)

247wallst — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:05:39 +0000

These are the top analyst upgrades and downgrades that 247WallSt.com is focusing on in pre-market trading this Wednesday morning:

Aircastle (NYSE: AYR) Downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
ArcSight (NASDAQ: ARST) started as Outperform at Wachovia; started as Equal Weight at Lehman Brothers.
Genesis Lease (NYSE: GLS) Downgraded to Neutral from overweight at JP Morgan.
Hudson City Banc (NASDAQ: HCBK) Downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at FBR.
Journal Commun (NYSE: JRN) started as Outperform at Bear Stearns.
MAKO Surgical (NASDAQ: MAKO) Started as Market Perform at Wachovia; Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
P.F. Chang’s (NASDAQ: PFCB) Downgraded to Underperform From Market Perform at FBR.
Talisman Energy (NYSE:TLM) raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
Waters (NYSE: WAT) Raised To Overweight From Neutral at JPMorgan.
Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) raised to Buy from Hold at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
March 26, 20008

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (July 17, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:43:31 +0000

AMR raised to Neutral at UBS.
BEAS raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
BHP cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
BTU cut to Neutral at HSBC.
COGN raised to Strong Buy at JMP Securities.
CPA raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
CRZO cut to Hold at Jefferies.
DAL raised to Neutral at UBS.
DK started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
EME started as Buy at KeyBanc/McDonald.
GFIG cut to Hold at Citigroup.
GSIC started as Hold at Jefferies.
IACI started as Neutral at B of A.
JEC started as Buy at KeyBanc/McDonald.
NLS cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
ORB raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
PWR started as Buy at KeyBanc/McDonald.
RCI started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
ROH raised to Buy at Citigroup.
SAPE raised to Outperform at FBR.
TWB raised to Outperform at FBR.
UAUA raised to Neutral at UBS.
VSCN cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
WAT started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
WTSLA started as Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.

Jon C. Ogg
July 17, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.