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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AEG, BRCD, NPD, DE, KEP, SVM, SLW, WX)

Administrator — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 13:36:01 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls. As you would guess with a half day, the coverage universe is light today.

Aegon NV (NYSE: AEG) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (NYSE: BRCD) Reiterated Hold but Cut 2011 and 2012 estimates at Argus.
China Nepstar Chain Drugstore Ltd. (NYSE: NPD) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) Raised target to $91 at Credit Suisse; Raised target to $88 at Argus.
Korea Electric Power (NYSE: KEP) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE: SVM) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) Raised to Outperform at BMO.
Wuxi Pharmatech (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: WX) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

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: AEG, BRCD, DE, KEP, NPD, SLW, SVM, WX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AIB, AMAT, IRE, ENR, FCEL, GEOY, HBC, SNN, TEF, VVUS, WX)

Administrator — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:13:35 +0000

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

Allied Irish Bank Group (NYSE: AIB) Cut to Hold and Target Cut to 1.02 (Euro) at RBS; Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) Started as Hold at Needham.
GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HBC) Cut to Hold at RBS.
Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE: SNN) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Telefonica, S.A. (NYSE: TEF) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Cut to Sell at Brean Murray.
WuXi PharmaTech Inc. (NYSE: WX) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AIB, AMAT, ENR, FCEL, GEOY, HBC, IRE, SNN, TEF, VVUS, WX

Top Day Trader Alerts (ABK, AONE, BP, CRL, WX, DEPO, DG, SOL)

Administrator — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:16:24 +0000

We have many stocks on the move this morning, very few tied to earnings. Tuesday’s top day trader and active trader alerts are in Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK), A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE), BP plc (NYSE: BP), Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL), WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: WX), Depomed, Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG), and ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL). We have added in the news, the moves, and added in color and historic prices where applicable.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK) is soaring this morning on news that it has converted all of its remaining $16.4 billion of exposure to a group of CDOs of asset backed securities. Shares closed at $1.03 yesterday and the stock is indicated up at $1.23 for an almost 20% gain on about 500,000 shares in pre-market trading.

A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) is recovering about half of yesterday’s gains on a further pact announcement with Navistar. Shares are up 4.4% at $8.36 on fairly thin volume this morning.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) is trying to have one day of back to business, but its shares are indicated lower. The company and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) announced that the FERC has approved the venture plan to solicit interest in a $35 billion proposed natural gas pipeline between Alaska and Alberta in Canada. BP has also said that it will make an immediate payment of $60 million to Louisiana, which appears to be the first of six installments. ADRs are trading down 1.5% at $36.20 on close to 1 million shares in pre-market trading.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) and WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: WX) have a challenge to the proposed merger. Jana Partners has bought 4.7 million shares for about a 7% stake in Charles River and it said that it intends to vote against the Charles River planned $1.6 billion acquisition of WuXi. Volume is thin on this, but WuXi shares are indicated down around $17.00 after a $17.75 close and Charles River shares are indicated up over $33.00 versus a $32.44 close.

Depomed, Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO) is trading up after it announced that the FDA has accepted its New Drug Application for its investigational postherpetic neuralgia treatment DM-1796. This also triggers a milestone payment. Shares are up around $3.30 after a $3.03 close and we have seen almost 70,000 shares trade. The 52-week range is $2.32 to $6.40 and the average volume is close to 350K shares per day.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) is up after it beat earnings expectations and raised its guidance. The stock closed at $28.23 Monday and shares are indicated up around $30.50 versus a post-IPO trading range of $21.30 to $31.41.

ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) is trading down after filing to sell some $200 million in stock (ADS) from time to time. The market cap here was only $463 million as of yesterday’s closing bell. Shares are down 2% at $5.26 versus a 52-week range of $3.50 to $8.75.

JON C. OGG

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Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: AONE, BP, CRL, DEPO, DG, SOL, WX

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (APC, CRUS, LULU, MPEL, NFLX, NTAP, ODP, POZN, VRTX, WX)

Administrator — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:16:43 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Friday:

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) Cut to Buy from Strong Buy at Needham.
Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) Started as Hold at Jefferies.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Target Cut to $4.80 from $5.60 at Credit Suisse.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
POZEN, Inc. (NASDAQ: POZN) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
WuXi PharmaTech Inc. (NYSE: WX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: APC, CRUS, LULU, MPEL, NFLX, NTAP, ODP, POZN, VRTX, WX

Top Analyst Downgrades (AYE, AU, BJS, CEO, SLB, WX)

247wallst — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:49:53 +0000

These are some of the general analyst downgrades we have seen this Monday morning from Wall Street:

Allegheny Energy (AYE) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Anglogold (AU) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
BJ Services (BJS) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
CNOOC (CEO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Schlumberger (SLB) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
WuXi PharmaTech (WX) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AU, AYE, BJS, CEO, SLB, WX

Winning Stocks on a Down Week (ADY, BCRX, DDRX, DGI, FAZ, LORL, RHT, WX)

247wallst — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:10:26 +0000

This was a week of profit taking and a probable realization that a move of 30% and more from the lows in March was probably a bit much in the face of only consistent “less-bad” economic data. But as every optimist says, “There is always a bull market somewhere.” We saw a drop of about -3.6% to 8,268.64, while the S&P 500 Index slid by -4.% to 882.88. The NASDAQ was the ‘better’ of the losers with a drop of -3.4% to 1,680.14. But there are many standout stocks, and some of the key big movers and winners this week were American Dairy Inc. (NYSE: ADY), Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX), Diedrich Coffee Inc. (NASDAQ: DDRX), DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE: DGI), Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ), Loral Space & Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL), Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) and WuXi PharmaTech Inc. (NYSE: WX).

Believe it or not, some of these are up exponentially off of the lows. One is up 30-fold from the end of March, and amazingly the best winners were not in tech or biotech. We have provided a weekly synopsis and the reason for their from the lows.

American Dairy Inc. (NYSE: ADY) is one that many have not even heard of as a stock for the annals of winners. Yet Friday’s 54% gain to $28.48 made it the biggest winner of the day of all listed stocks, and the shares finished up 62% for the week. On a year-over-year basis, sales rose a sharp 191%, income from operations rose by 523%, and net income rose by 282%. The company is a producer and distributor of premium infant formula, milk powder and soybean, rice and walnut products in China. That is a new 52-week high, and up about 250% from its lows of the year.

Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX) rose 31% to $3.19 on heavy volume of more than 2.6 million shares on news of an ASCO pre-presentation abstract showing positive Phase II results from its clinical trial for forodesine in the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Because of heavy selling on Monday after disappointing flu drug news, BioCryst was ‘only’ up 8% for the week from the $2.95 close the prior Friday and this essentially took the stock back to last week’s highs. As a reminder, this was one of the speculative swine flu stocks, and its stock has come way off of the levels after the Swine Flu hit Mexico and then the U.S.

Diedrich Coffee Inc. (NASDAQ: DDRX) is coming back from the dead. Shares were only up 2.7% to $12.91 Friday, but this was up 30% from the prior Friday. You better be sitting down when we tell you this. Diedrich was a $0.42 stock at the end of March. The company has completed its transition to a premier coffee roaster and wholesaler that recently sold its Gloria Jean’s franchise operations. This is enough to make a man cry, but this stock is up over 30-fold since the end of March.

DigitalGlobe, Inc. (NYSE: DGI) completed its IPO this week. The first early huge gains did not hold, but the IPO did close the week up in positive territory. The IPO priced at $19.00, which is over 10% above the mid-point of the expected $16 to $18 expected price range. At $20.50 after a 4% drop, and even after seeing some initial prints at $25.00, we are welcoming this one as one of the week’s key winners. Digital imaging from satellites that powers defense agencies, oil and mining, and even Google, that is good enough considering how few IPO’s we have had in the last six months.

Maybe it takes a ‘triple-leverage inverse ETF’ to win when the banks and financials spend the week doing massive amounts of secondary offerings after huge recoveries from the March lows. The Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ) was the winner for that move, and it had the volume to prove it. This gained less than 6% on Friday to close at $5.90 for the week, but that is up over 30% for the week from a prior Friday close of $4.49.

Loral Space & Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL) hit a new 52-week high on Friday after closing up only 3%, yet shares finished up over 22% for the week and shares are up some 150% over the last two months. The company’s earnings this week were no major standout, but as the company CEO said, “We are buoyed by the steady overall industry demand, despite the economic climate… The strong backlogs at both Telesat and SS/L will continue to support our progress toward creating long term shareholder value.” Space, the Final Frontier.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was almost a stealth stock. On Friday, its shares rose by a sharp 9.6% to $19.86 after Jefferies reiterated a the stock with a Buy rating and lifted the target to $21.00. There has been speculation that IBM or Oracle or another player may want to buy the Linux software suite seller. After a $17.60 close the week before, Red Hat was up almost 13% for the week and is up almost 200% from its 52-week lows.

WuXi Pharma Tec (NYSE: WX) was a total screamer. You might even be able to say that the Chinese dug, biotech, and medical outsourcing company is coming back from the grave based on its performance. Earnings were good enough despite a drop, yet two analysts upgrades exacerbated the move. Shares rose over 40% Friday to end at $7.98, making this one up roughly 33% for the week.

JON C. OGG
May 16, 2009

Posted in HI/LOW, The Week, Trading Alert, Turnarounds Tagged: ADY, BCRX, DDRX, DGI, FAZ, LORL, RHT, WX

WuXi PharaTech, Worth More on Secondary Cancellation (WX)

247wallst — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:12:17 +0000

WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: WX) announced today that it has decided to postpone its follow-on offering of American Depository Shares "due to current market conditions and share price."

Credit Suisse Securities and JP Morgan Securities were lead underwriters and joint book-runners for the offering that was originally filed April 4. Some of the shares that were being sold were for existing shareholders and some share sale proceeds were to be used for existing factory expansions and for general corporate purposes.

The Chinese and U.S.-based pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device "outsourcing" company is trading up 2% at $19.10 in early morning trading and when the offering was first announced, WuXi was trading at about $23.50. WuXi has a 52-week range of $17.43 to $45.65.

You can join our open email distribution list to keep up with other developments in secondary offerings, IPO’s, mergers, spin-offs, and other specialty financings.

Rachel Lopez
May 6, 2008

WuXi PharmaTech Secondary Filing Pressures Stock (WX)

247wallst — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:44:47 +0000

WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: WX) has filed for a secondary offering of ADR’s in the US for 10,126,800 shares, or 11,645,820 if the overallotment option is used. The underwriting managers are listed as Credit Suisse and JPMorgan.

WuXi PharmaTech is a Chinese outsourced medical development company for biotech, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. It does research and development with operations in China and in the U.S. More specific services are as follows: laboratory services consisting of discovery chemistry, service biology, toxicology, pharmaceutical development, analytics, device testing, and other related contract R&D services. It also provides manufacturing services that focus on advanced intermediates, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and biologics-based manufacturing, testing and related services. The company acquired AppTec Laboratory Services, Inc., in January 2008, and had previously focused primarily on chemistry operations, providing services to more than 80 pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers.

Some shares are being sold by shareholders and some will be used for existing factory expansions and for general corporate purposes.

Facilities in China are as follows:

primary China-based facilities include a 630,000 square-foot R&D center in Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone;
a 220,000 square-foot process development and cGMP-quality manufacturing plant in Jinshan area of Shanghai;
and a 130,000 square-foot R&D center in Tianjin, which is mainly focused on discovery chemistry services.

The AppTec acquisition gave a U.S. presence and know-how in biologics, including three FDA-registered, U.S.-based facilities as follows:

a 63,000 square-foot R&D and manufacturing facility in St. Paul, Minnesota;
a 46,000 square-foot testing facility in Atlanta, Georgia;
and a 75,000 square-foot R&D, testing and manufacturing facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Its net revenues and income increases follows:

2005 showed $33.8 million revenues and $6.1 million net income;
2006 showed $69.9 million revenues and $8.9 million net income;
2007 showed $135.2 million revenues and $33.9 million net income;
unaudited post-AppTec acquisition results would show revenues of $205.5 million and net income $34.7 million.

WuXi Pharmaceuticals stock is trading down 5% today at $22.30 in early afternoon trading. Its 52-week trading range is $18.27 to $45.65, and the current market cap is listed as $1.37 Billion. As of last look on the NYSE short interest, we show the March 2008 short interest listed as just over 2.7 million shares.

To hear about other secondary offerings, IPO’s, special financings, and other special situations you can join or open email distribution list.

Jon C. Ogg
April 4, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (BA, OMTR, PAS, RRGB, CRM, PCU, TSM, TEVA, WLP, WX)

247wallst — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:09:13 +0000

Below are the top 10 analyst calls we are focusing on this morning:

Boeing (NYSE: BA) raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
PepsiAmericas (NYSE: PAS) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Red Robin Gourmet (NASDAQ: RRGB) raised to Overweight at JP Morgan; started as Buy at Jefferies.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Started At Buy at Broadpoint.
Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU) started as Underweight at JP Morgan.
Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM) raised to overweight at Lehman Brothers.
Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TEVA) cu to Hold at Citigroup.
WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) downgraded to Neutral at Banc Of America.
WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX) raised to Buy at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
March 14, 2008

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (September 18, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:07:22 +0000

CAM cut to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.
CYPB started as Buy at Citigroup.
DMAN started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
ENB raised to Outperform at CIBC.
ERTS started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
ETFC cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
FMC cut to Underperform at Wachovia.
GET started as Buy at Jefferies.
GM cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
HHS cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
ITW cut to Hold at BB&T.
KWD cut to Neutral at First Albany.
LCAPA started as Outperform at Wachovia.
LMT raised to Buy at Merrill Lynch.
MEND cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
MYGN started as Hold at Citigroup.
NCI cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
NLY started as Buy at JMP Securities.
ONNN raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
PETD started as Buy at Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.
RRR raised to Overweight at Lehman.
SRVY raised to Overweight at Lehman.
SSL cut to Neutral at UBS.
VC raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
WBD cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
WX started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
September 18, 2007