Below is a list of analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations in Wall Street research calls this Monday morning with roughly 30 minutes until the market opens.
Analyst Upgrades:
- Pinnacle West (NYSE:PNW) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup
- Korn/Ferry (NYSE:KFY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey ; price target set at $18
- Roth Capital raises LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) price target to $6 from $5
- Accenture (NYSE:ACN) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus ; price target set at $50
- General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
- Collins Stewart raises its price target on Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) to $47 from $38
- ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Securities
- Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Securities
- Oppenheimer raises its price target on Check Point Software (NASDAQ:CHKP) to $33 from $30
- Semitool (NASDAQ:SMTL) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham ; price target set at $12
- Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs
- Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at RBS
- SMSC (NASDAQ:SMSC) upgraded to Strong Buy from Buy at Needham ; price target set at $29
- Capital One (NYSE:COF) upgraded to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman Sachs
- Ultra Clean Holdings (NASDAQ:UCTT) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham ; price target set at 8
- Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Needham ; price target set at $85
- BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at RBS
- Nalco (NYSE:NLC) added to ‘Top Picks Live’ list at Citigroup based on stronger BRICs growth
- Comerica (NYSE:CMA) raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs
- Shanda Interactive (NASDAQ:SNDA) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital; price target raised to $60 from $53
- Credit Suisse raises its price target on Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) to $62 from $58
- Heidrick & Struggles (NASDAQ:HSII) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey
- Arcelor Mittal (NYSE:MT) upgraded to Overweight at HSBC ; price target set at $46
- FBR Capital adds Microsemi (NASDAQ:MSCC) to Top Picks based on improved gross margins and attractive valuation
- Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS
- PETsMART (NASDAQ:PETM) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery Scott
- Credit Suisse raises its price target on PSS World Med (NASDAQ:PSSI) to $24 from $22
- BB&T (NYSE:BBT) upgraded to Outperform from Market perform at Morgan Keegan
- IberiaBank (NASDAQ:IBKC) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley & Co.
- Quest Software (NASDAQ:QSFT) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Auriga U.S.A. ; price target raised to $20 from $17
- Auriga raises its price target on Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ:RVBD) to $20 from $19
- Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) upgraded to Buy from Hold at BB&T Capital Markets
- Health Management (NYSE:HMA) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Argus
- IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Argus upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James ; price target set at $115
- Plantronics (NYSE:PLT) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Morgan Keegan
- Convergys (NYSE:CVG) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup
- Syngenta (NYSE:SYT) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse
- AEGON N.V. (NYSE:AEG) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC Securities
- Manitowoc (NYSE:MTW) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Securities ; price target set at $12. Firm believes that the stability of the Foodservice business and benefit from working capital liquidation can generate significant levels of cash flow and therefore bridge the gap to Crane recovery
- DTS (NASDAQ:DTSI) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Securities ; price target raised to $32 from $28
- Endo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENDP) upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer ; price target set at $27
Analyst Downgrades:
- Advanced Micro (NYSE:AMD) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at FBR Capital ; price target lowered to $6 from $7
- Amicus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FOLD) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan
- Commvault Systems (NASDAQ:CVLT) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Morgan Keegan
- Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Securities
- Southwest Air (NYSE:LUV) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James
- FBR Capital removes Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) from Top Picks
- AMAG Pharmacautical (NASDAQ:AMAG) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies & Co ; price target lowered to $44 from $60
- ResMed (NYSE:RMD) downgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Adams ; price target set at $48
Coverage Initiated:
- Shanda Games (NASDAQ:GAME) initiated with a Hold and a $11.50 price target at Roth Capital
- Iridum Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) initiated with a Strong Buy at Raymond James ; price target set at $15
- Conexant (NASDAQ:CNXT) initiated with an Outperform and a $5 price target at Oppenheimer
- Sybase (NYSE:SY) initiated with a Buy at Bank of America/Merrill
- Wendy’s (NYSE:WEN) initiated with a Buy at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey
- Iridum Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) initiated with a Hold at Stifel Nicolaus
- Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) initiated with a Sector Perform at CIBC World Markets
- Arcelor Mittal (NYSE:MT) initiated with an Overweight and $46 price target at HSBC Securities
- DepoMed (NASDAQ:DEPO) initiated with a Buy at Merriman
On the news front this morning:
- The WSJ reports the Treasury Dept. on Monday plans to announce that three more investment funds will invest almost $2 bln into a federal government program to purchase soured real-estate related assets. The three additional firms are: BlackRock (NYSE:BLK); Wellington Management Co.; and AllianceBernstein LP (AB) and its subadvisers, Greenfield Partners LLC and Rialto Capital Management LLC. Collectively, the three funds’ commitments total $1.94 bln. As part of its Public Private Investment Program, Treasury will match the $1.94 bln investment dollar for dollar.
- Reuters reports Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a big investor in Citigroup (NYSE:C), urged the U.S. government to sell its stake in the bank as soon as this year to boost investor confidence, Emerging Markets magazine reported. “The earlier the U.S. government exits its investments in those companies, the better,” as long as the withdrawal is not done in a way that hurts the prices of U.S. banking stocks, the Saudi was quoted as saying in an interview published on Sunday. “We need to give confidence back to the shareholders and investors that these companies are moving along without government support.”
- The WSJ reports Brocade Communications Systems (NASDAQ:BRCD) has quietly put itself up for sale, people familiar with the matter said. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) is among those interested, these people said. Other companies including Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) may also be examining a purchase, said one of the people familiar with the matter.
- The WSJ reports that CIT Group Inc.’s (NYSE:CIT) proposed debt-restructuring plan, even if successful, may do little to fix the company’s broken lending business. The aim of the debt exchange is to get bondholders with about $31 billion in debt to cut it by at least $5.7 billion and to extend debt maturities. If a sufficient number of creditors sign on, this reduction in debt load will help CIT avoid bankruptcy court, for now. However, it may not help the lender grow its way out of its troubles.
