Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE: DANG) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Esterline Technologies (NYSE: ESL) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

GeoResources, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOI) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Infosys Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; Cut to Neutral at Macquarie.

Invesco, Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) Reiterated Hold at Argus.

Philips Electronics N.V. (NYSE: PHG) Named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Plains All American Pipeline. L.P. (NYSE: PAA) Reinstated as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

UIL Holdings Corp. (NYSE: UIL) Reiterated Hold at Argus.

Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Reiterated Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) Raised to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (NYSE: WDR) Raised to Neutral at Citigroup.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox.  We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

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JON C. OGG

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Reiterated Buy with $198 target at BofA/ML.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) maintained as Buy with $10 target at Argus.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $23 at Credit Suisse.
Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Raised target to $75 at RBC.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Reiterated Buy and raised targets at Argus.
NovaMed Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVA) Raised to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) Cut to Hold at Argus.
RigNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNET) STarted as Buy at Jefferies.
Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (NYSE: WDR) Raised to BUy at BofA/ML.

In case you missed the top six analyst calls of last week, we chose F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD), PDL BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDLI), Sterling Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBIB), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) as those top calls.  Also, in biotech and pharma there were many standout upgrades and downgrades during the week.

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

We have compiled the news or events on each company here and we have offered color and handicapping figures on each if applicable for the week ahead or for longer-term developments in each.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) has been stuck in a dead video game sector but it may have a new catalyst.  Rumors abound that its new World of Warcraft “Cataclysm” edition will be out in early December in time for the holidays.  Whether this will happen is unknown, but that might add a nice boost to end of year sales if it occurs.  For its part, the company is keeping quiet.  Speaking of video games, Barron’s called Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) a ‘bargain in the sagging video game sector’ and at $10.25 its 52-week range is $7.00 to $12.57.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) could see additional pressure as earnings season gets closer because even after a 2.1% drop to $153.71 Friday,  shares are almost 30% since before its last earnings.  A pair of analysts voiced concerns on high valuations and a 25% run in the last month.  As a reminder, Amazon.com has signaled in its prior quarter that margin issues are present and the competition for the eReader space is tight.  The 52-week trading range is $88.27 to $161.78.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is about to enter its second week after disclosing its accounting issues and SEC inquiry, and the damage could have more room to come as the class action suits are starting to come up.  Shares closed down again on Friday with a 5.2% drop to $29.57.  The stock was just under $30.00 as recently as late-July and the stock was at an adjusted $23+ handle when its 3 for 1 split went into effect in May.  With a $19.87 to $37.97 range over the last year, there could still be more weakness as a bear raid continues to gain strength.  Jim Cramer also added it to the SELL BLOCK this last week.

Fidelity National Financial Inc. (NYSE: FNF) and First American Financial Corp. (NYSE: FAF) could face continued pressure as reports of bank foreclosure document errors could throw millions of property titles into question.  It will increase these firms’ operating costs to review each mortgage title and will bring down more scrutiny on their operations ahead.  FNF closed down over 4% Friday at $15.04 versus a 52-week range of $12.60 to $17.00 and FAF closed down 3.1% at $14.48 versus a 52-week range of $11.90 to $19.57.  Stewart Information Services Corp. (NYSE: STC), owner of Stewart Title, was only down 1.24% at $11.18.

• 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.
  
  Filed under: Banking, Business Services, Calendar, Conglomerates, Cult Stock, Earnings, Economy, Editor's Picks, Media, Rumors Tagged: AMZN, ATVI, FAF, FNF, GERN, GMCR, GYMB, JPM, MON, NBG, NFLX, SDTH, SIRI, TSLA, TTWO, UAL, UTX, WDR ]]> http://247wallst.com/2010/10/03/the-unusual-suspects-for-the-week-ahead-atvi-ttwo-amzn-gmcr-fnf-faf-gern-gymb-jpm-mon-nbg-nflx-sdth-siri-tsla-ual-utx-wdr/feed/ 0 AMZNATVIFAFFNFGERNGMCRGYMBJPMMONNBGNFLXSDTHSIRITSLATTWOUALUTXWDR Administrator bull-and-bear-image http://247wallst.com/2010/05/26/top-analyst-upgrades-and-downgrades-cern-c-dwa-jcg-dwa-low-meru-nvda-slry-rig-wdr-zion/ http://247wallst.com/2010/05/26/top-analyst-upgrades-and-downgrades-cern-c-dwa-jcg-dwa-low-meru-nvda-slry-rig-wdr-zion/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 12:28:51 +0000 Administrator http://247wallst.com/?p=69040 ]]> These are some of this morning’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Wednesday:

  Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NASDAQ: DWA) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
  J. Crew Group, Inc. (NYSE: JCG) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
  The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: D) Raised to Buy at Longbow.
  Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Raised to Buy at Longbow.
  Meru Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: MERU) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
  NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
  Salary.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLRY) Cut to Market-Weight at Thomas Weisel.
  Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) Raised to Outperform at Macquarie.
  Waddell & Reed Financial (NYSE: WDR) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
  Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ: ZION) Raised to Outperform 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

  Sponsor: 5 best investments for 2010 – The next nine months represent a bold new era for investors.

  
  Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: C, CERN, DWA, JCG, LOW, MERU, NVDA, RIG, SLRY, WDR, ZION ]]> http://247wallst.com/2010/05/26/top-analyst-upgrades-and-downgrades-cern-c-dwa-jcg-dwa-low-meru-nvda-slry-rig-wdr-zion/feed/ 0 CCERNDWAJCGLOWMERUNVDARIGSLRYWDRZION Administrator http://247wallst.com/2010/05/15/the-unusual-suspects-aone-bidu-ire-gld-haup-kft-pcs-osip-tivo-wdr-hpq-dell/ http://247wallst.com/2010/05/15/the-unusual-suspects-aone-bidu-ire-gld-haup-kft-pcs-osip-tivo-wdr-hpq-dell/#comments Sat, 15 May 2010 13:02:38 +0000 Administrator http://247wallst.com/?p=67818 ]]> It is the weekend, and that means it is time for the new list of our UNUSUAL SUSPECTS for stocks on the move that need to stay on the radar or those that have events coming up this week.  This weekend’s cast of characters in the Unusual Suspects includes A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), Bank of Ireland plc (NYSE: IRE), SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD), Hauppauge Digital Inc. (NASDAQ: HAUP), Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS), OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIP), TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), and Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE: WDR).  We are also including short earnings previews for Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), although there are others on deck this week that matter as well and we compiled a full earnings calendar of major earnings on deck this coming week.

  Details, previews, expectations, news and more for the cast of characters in this weekend’s Unusual Suspects are below.

  A123 Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:AONE) announced today the initial public offering of 28,180,501 shares of its common stock at $13.50 per share on September 24, 2010.  This is now trading as a busted IPO, but shares have recovered $2.00 off the lows.  This was a hot IPO with a great future in lithium and future car battery operations and shares closed up 19% this last week after earnings despite a wider loss.

  Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is now THE battleground stock of the internet space now after its 10 for 1 stock split in the ADS shares took the stock from an implied $71.42 to over $82 before falling all the way back down to close the week out at $73.98.  Jim Cramer said SELL, and options contracts are now through the roof.  With an adjusted trading range of $23.23 to $82.29 over the last year, traders are active in the stock as the winner after Google left China.

  Bank of Ireland plc (NYSE: IRE) announced late on Friday that its rights issue will come at a 41.7% discount to theoretical ex-rights price, based on Friday’s closing share price of EURO 1.534.  This comes to a 64% discount to Friday’s closing price.  The state will now end up holding a maximum of 36% of the bank’s newly larger ordinary share count.  Shares of the ADR were down 4.4% on Friday at $7.75 but had been down about 7% before the rights issue came across the broad tape.

  I hate to say it, but the gold rush is getting silly.  SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) is THE go-to play for gold investors.  Inflows were big again over the last two weeks and the size of the fund is now listed on the site as having $48,253,849,630.33 worth of gold in the trust and Google lists the most recent implied market cap as $47 billion.  The current situation is entirely a move out of currencies and everyone knows there just is not enough gold to go around if actual demand comes in on top of asset demand.  This week I told OptionsZone the highest reward and lowest premium bet against gold with some time value was the the GLD June 110 Puts at $0.43 on Thursday; and due to the volatility picking up the contract went out at $0.56.  Ultimately gold can keep rising, but some moves are just too easy to take the other side of with very little premium.

  Hauppauge Digital Inc. (NASDAQ: HAUP) was this last week’s return of the Phoenix.  This graphics and tuner company announced this week that it now launched live support for the iPhone and iPad… Its WinTV-HVR TV tuner boards for PCs can now stream live TV over the Internet. The WinTV v7.2 application will include WinTV Extend and will be available directly from Hauppauge at a cost of $9.95.  Great right?  The problem is that Hauppauge went from $1.00 to as high as $4.80 before closing out the week at $3.93 and it traded over 29 million shares on Friday to end up with a market cap of $39.5 million.  This is now the newest cult stock in tech, but keep in mind that Hauppauge has been public for about 15 years and has a long history of big swings up then big swings down from before, during, and after the old tech bubble.

  Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) was given an article in Barron’s calling it very undervalued as shares are trading around $30.00, right where the stock came public in 2001.  The article did not give an exact upside target, but said that Warren Buffett called it cheap (largest holder of Kraft) and Ackman of Pershing Square recently bought and once said it could rise to $45.00 (but that is not a fresh call).  If the market doesn’t get shelled on Monday, we’d expect an opening price around $30.50 versus a 52-week range of $24.40 to $31.09.

  
  Filed under: Calendar, China, Commodities, Earnings, General, Mergers and Buy Outs, PC Companies, Technology Companies Tagged: AONE, BIDU, DELL, GLD, HAUP, HPQ, IRE, KFT, OSIP, PCS, TIVO, WDR ]]> http://247wallst.com/2010/05/15/the-unusual-suspects-aone-bidu-ire-gld-haup-kft-pcs-osip-tivo-wdr-hpq-dell/feed/ 0 AONEBIDUDELLGLDHAUPHPQIREKFTOSIPPCSTIVOWDR Administrator bull-and-bear-image2 http://247wallst.com/2008/01/29/pre-market-earn/ http://247wallst.com/2008/01/29/pre-market-earn/#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:22:52 +0000 247wallst http://247wallst.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/pre-market-earn ]]> We are right in the thick of earnings season and below is a snapshot of some of the key earnings reports with price changes if available:
  • Air Tran (NYSE: AAI) -$0.02 EPS vs -$0.02 estimate.
  • American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) $0.52 EPS vs $0.50 estimate.
  • American Express (NYSE: AXP) $0.71 EPS vs $0.71 estimate; stock fell 2% after-hours.
  • Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) $1.46 EPS vs $1.37 estimate.
  • Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) $0.90 EPS vs. $0.87 estimate, lowered guidance.
  • Chattem (NASDAQ: CHTT) $0.76 EPS vs $0.65 estimate.
  • Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) $0.11 EPS vs. $0.11 estimate; lending changes and reimbursement changes will lower earnings in second half to make 2008 at lower-end of expectations.
  • Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) posted earnings; maintained dividend; shares up 1.5% pre-market.
  • Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) $0.84 EPS vs $0.80 estimate;
  • Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) $0.90 EPS vs $0.87 estimate.
  • EMC (NYSE: EMC) $0.24 EPS vs $0.22 estimate
  • 3M (NYSE: MMM) $1.19 EPS vs $1.17 estimate; $6.2 Billion vs. $6.12B estimate; reiterated 10% EPS growth for 2008.
  • Accidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) $1.74 EPS vs $1.69 estimate; replaced 116% of its 2007 production.
  • SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) posted non-GAAP EPS of $0.69 vs. $0.64 EPS estimate, but guidance was disappointing; stock down 3%.
  • Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR) trading down 7% after restatements.
  • Smurfit Stone (NASDAQ: SSCC) traded up 6% after earnings.
  • T.Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW) $0.68 EPS vs $0.63 estimate.
  • Unisys (NYSE: UIS) $0.04 EPS vs $0.12 estimate; although shares up almost 4%.
  • VMware (NYSE: VMW) trading down 20% or more after revenue number was light.
  • Waddell & Reed (NYSE: WDR) $0.42 EPS vs. $0.42 estimate.
  • Zoran (NASDAQ: ZRAN) traded down 22% after beating earnings but lowering guidance.

  Jon C. Ogg
  January 29, 2008

  
  ]]> http://247wallst.com/2008/01/29/pre-market-earn/feed/ 0 AAIAXPBNICAHCFCCOCODOWEPSLLYMMMOXYSEPRSSCCTROWUISWDR 247wallst http://247wallst.com/2007/05/31/big_list_of_pri/ http://247wallst.com/2007/05/31/big_list_of_pri/#comments Thu, 31 May 2007 09:32:00 +0000 247wallst http://247wallst.wordpress.com/2007/05/31/big_list_of_pri ]]> There is a recent boutique research report from earlier in the week showing a list of potential private equity targets from a specialty brokerage firm that I was very positive on from even before its IPO: Keefe Bruyette & Woods (KBW).  The truth is that this company is probably only behind Goldman Sachs (GS) as far as its knowledge of what is going on in the North American financial services sector, and the argument is that KBW is considered the number one firm as far as independent coverage of the financial services sector.  It is too bad the company did not get this out at the end of last year to include many other names that have been gobbled up, but it really feels as though every firm is ‘cramming for finals’ in the M&A world with the private equity superstars.

  PROCESSING: Fidelity National Information Services (FIS); FairIsaac (FIC); ChoicePoint (CPS).  On a side note, Total SystemsSolutions (TSS) is Jim Cramer’s pick in the sub-sector. RATINGS: Moody’s (MCO).  INSURANCE BROKERS (P&C): Marsh and McClennan (MMC), AON Corp. (AOC).  INSURANCE: AFLAC (AFL), Conseco (CNO), and American Safety (ASI).  MONEY MANAGEMENT: Legg Mason (LM), Janus Capital (JNS), Waddell & Reed (WDR), Federated Investors (FII), National Financial (NFP).  LOANS, STUDENT LOAN: Nelnet (NNI).

  We have our own list of targets in this financial services sector for our newsletter subscribers.  Some of these companies make sense, and there are many others elsewhere in overlapping segments in financial services that may actually make more sense.

  Jon C. Ogg
  May 31, 2007

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

  
  ]]> http://247wallst.com/2007/05/31/big_list_of_pri/feed/ 0 AFLAOCASICNOCPSFICFIIFISGSJNSKBWLMMCOMMCNFPNNITSSWDR 247wallst