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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (CETV, CQB, CME, CFX, JAZZ, OSG, PII, UBS, WBS)

247wallst — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:21:49 +0000

These are the top early-bird analyst calls with upgrades and downgrades seen this Friday morning with over two hours until the market opens:

Central European Media (CETV) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Chiquita Brands (CQB) Raised to Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott.
CME (CME) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Colfax (CFX) Raised to Buy ar KeyBanc.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Polaris (PII) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
UBS (UBS) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Webster Financial (WBS) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
June 26, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: CETV, CFX, CME, CQB, JAZZ, OSG, PII, UBS, WBS

S&P Looking For More Bank Losses (WFC, CMA, USB, BBT, RF, COF, FITB, HBAN, SNV, WTNY, FAS)

247wallst — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:40:14 +0000

Standard & Poor’s may still have at least some relevance in its debt ratings. This morning we saw a wave of downgrades at banks by the debt ratings agency on systematic-risk and non-systematic risk. We tried to shorten this up to the most concise report in rating groups as this is hitting many of the bank stocks pretty hard this morning. Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Comerica (NYSE: CMA), USBancorp (NYSE: USB), BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN), Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) and Whitney Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: WTNY) were all in the wave of S&P downgrades. This news has the extremely volatile Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) triple leverage financial sector ETF down 7% at $8.60.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was cut to AA- from AA. It is off watch but the outlook is negative. Comerica (NYSE: CMA) was cut to A- from A, and it is off watch and the outlook is negative. USBancorp (NYSE: USB) was cut to A+ from AA, and it is off watch and the outlook is stable. BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was cut to A from A+, and is off watch and the outlook is stable.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was cut to BBB+ from A, and it is off watch but the outlook is negative. Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was cut to BBB from BBB+. Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was cut to BBB from A- and the outlook is negative. KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was cut to BBB+ from A-, and is off watch and the outlook is negative.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) is now junk. S&P cut it to BB+ from BBB, and it is off watch but the outlook is negative. Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) and Whitney Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: WTNY) were also cut to Junk Rating.

Associated Banc Corp. (ASBC), Astoria Financial (AF), PNC Financial (PNC), Susquehanna (SUSQ), Valley National Bancorp (VLY), Webster Financial (WBS), and Wilmington Trust (WL) were also part of this major downgrade.

It seems that S&P has figured out that the future of banks will not be as good as things were in the past. It sees stress tests pointing to more pain ahead and losses above current expectations. S&P sees weaker operating conditions ahead. Before you go run into a panic about write-downs and losses, keep in mind that S&P has had many of these banks under review for more than six months. It is also not exactly as though S&P (and Moody’s for that matter) was ahead of the curve in catching the banking and lending crisis that got us where we are today.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Analyst Calls, Banking, Financial Stocks Tagged: AF, ASBC, BBT, CMA, COF, FAS, FITB, HBAN, PNC, RF, SNV, SUSQ, USB, VLY, WBS, WFC, WL, WTNY

Top10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABB, APD, BP, BRCD, NAT, OSG, OVTI, TEVA, TRMB, WBS)

247wallst — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:45:19 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades that are independent of earnings news from Wall Street this Thursday morning:

ABB (ABB) Cut to Hold at Societe Generale.
Air Products (APD) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
BP plc (BP) Raised to Buy at RBS.
Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Nordic American Tanker (NAT) Cut to Sell at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Overseas Shipholding (OSG) Cut to Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.
OmniVision (OVTI) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Teva (TEVA) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Trimble Navigation (TRMB) Raised to Outperform at William Blair.
Webster Financial (WBS) Cut to Underperform at FBR.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ABB, APD, BP, BRCD, NAT, OSG, OVTI, TEVA, TRMB, WBS

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (FCX, INCY, JEF, LPX, TU, WBS)

247wallst — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:40:25 +0000

Below are some of the top early bird analyst upgrades we have seen early this morning with more than two hours to the open:

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Incyte (INCY) Started as Buy at Stanford Group.
Jefferies (JEF) Raised to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) Raised to Sector Perform at RBC.
TELUS Corp. (TU) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Webster Financial (WBS) Raised to Buy at Sander O’Neill.

Jon C. Ogg
October 7, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: FCX, INCY, JEF, LPX, TU, WBS

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (APD, C, HBAN, MEOH, WFR, PPDI, SANM, SPG, WBS)

247wallst — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:38:15 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst Upgrades and positive calls we are seeing this Thursday Morning:

Air Products (APD) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Citigroup (C’) raised to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Methanex (MEOH) Raised to Buy at UBS.
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Sanmina-SCI (SANM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Simon Property Group (SPG) Started as Overweight at Lehman.
Webster Financial (WBS) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Jon C. Ogg
July 24, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ABH, ETN, HES, LECO, LPX, MVSN, MUR, NVO, SWS, WBS)

247wallst — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:33:01 +0000

These are not all of the analyst calls affecting shares this morning, but these are ten that we are focusing on this Monday morning:

AbitibiBowater (NYSE: ABH) started as Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.
Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Hess (NYSE: HES) Added to Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ: LECO) started as Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX) started as Underperform at RBC Capital Markets.
Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN) raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Murphy Oil (NYSE: MUR) cut to Underweight at JP Morgan.
Novo-Nordisk AS (NYSE: NVO) raised to Neutral at HSBC Securities.
SWS Group (NYSE: SWS) started as Market Perform at KBW.
Webster Financial (NYSE: WBS) raised to Outperform at KBW.

Jon C. Ogg
June 9, 2008

The 52-Week Low Club (BRLC)(PFE)(NOK)(WBS)

247wallst — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:59:40 +0000

Webster Financial (WBS) Bank needs to raise cash. Falls to $21.77 from 52-week high of $46.40.

Pfizer (PFE) Concerns about product pipeline. Sells down to $18.45 from 52-week high of $27.33.

Nokia (NOK) Drop in consumer spending will hurt cellphone sales. Trades down ot $26.36 from 52-week high of $42.22.

Syntax Brillian (BRLC) CEO is out. Crushed down to $.51 from 52-week high of $7.14.

Douglas A. McIntyre