Below is a list of analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations in Wall Street research calls this Friday morning with roughly half an hour until the market opens.
Analyst Upgrades:
- Raven Industries (RAVN) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Canaccord Adams
- Suntech Power (STP) upgraded to Hold at Soleil ; price target set at $13.50
- Hess Corp. (HES) upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley
- Goldman Sachs raise their price target on CONSOL Energy (CNX) to $58 from $54
- Liberty Media (LINTA) upgraded to Buy at Citigroup
- Kaufman raises their price target on Salesforce.com (CRM) to $70 from $65
- Martin Marietta (MLM) upgraded to Buy at UBS
- Empresas ICA (ICA) upgarded to Buy at Bank of America/Merrill
- Lexington (LXP) upgraded to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus ; price target set at $5.50
- Collins Stewart raises their price target on Marathon Oil (MRO) to $45 from $40
- Cyberonics (CYBX) upgraded to Overweight at Piper Jafray ; price target set at $20
- Vulcan Materials (VMC) upgraded to Buy at UBS
- Goldman Sachs raise their price target on Massey Energy (MEE) to $48 from $38
- Lazard (LAZ) upgraded to Buy at Pali Research
- Aflac (AFL) upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley
- CoBiz (COBZ) upgraded to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus
- Caris raise their price target on Sally Beauty (SBH) to $9 from $8
- Dillard’s (DDS) upgraded to Buy at Deutsche Bank ; price target raised to $28 from $13.50
- Goldman Sachs raise their price target on Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) to $56 from $50
- ScanSource (SCSC) upgraded to Outperform at Robert W. Baird ; price target set at $30
Analyst Downgrades:
- F5 Networks (FFIV) downgraded to Hold at Auriga U.S.A ; price target set at $48
- Research In Motion (RIMM) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at FTN Equity
- Fred’s (FRED) downgraded to Underweight at JP Morgan ; price target lowered to $8 from $12
- VeriSign (VRSN) downgraded to Neutral at Wedbush Morgan ; price target lowered to $23 from $25
- New Gold (NGD) downgraded to Underperform at Scotia Capital
- CSX Corp. (CSX) downgraded to Hold at Stifel N.
- Am Superconductor (AMSC) upgraded to Buy at Needham ; price target set at $40
- Peabody Energy (BTU) removed form Americas Conviction List at Goldman Sachs ; firm maintains however, its Buy rating and raises its price target on the co. to $56 from $50
- Brink’s Home (CFL) downgraded to Equal Weight at Morgan stanley
- Dominion (D) downgraded to Sell at Citigroup
- Chordiant Software (CHRD) downgraded to Neutral at Wedbush Morgan ; price target lowered to $3.50 from $4.75
- Bancshares of Florida (BOFL) downgraded to Sell at Sifel N.
Coverage Initiated:
- AGCO Corp (AGCO) initiated with an Equal Weight at Barclays Capital
- Cooper Industries (CBE) initiated with a Hold at KeyBanc Capital Markets
- Broadcom (BRCM) initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets
- Exco Resources (XCO) initiated with a Buy at Wunderlich ; price target set at $20
- Intel Corp. (INTC) initiated with an Outperform at BMO Capital Markets
- Lan Airlines S.A. (LFL) initiated with a Overweight at JP Morgan
- Legacy Bancorp initiated with a Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette ; price target set at $11
- Marvell (MRVL) initiated with an Outperform at BMO Capital Markets
- Open Text (OTEX) initiated with a Neutral and a $42 price target at Webush Morgan
- Texas Instruments (TXN) initiated with an Outperform at BMO Capital Markets
- Brinker (EAT) initiated with a Buy and a $17 price target at Jefferies & Co
- AMN Healthcare Services (AHS) initiated with a Neutral and a $10 price target at Robert W. Baird
- Altera (ALTR) initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets
- Procera Networks (PKT) initiated with a Buy at Merriman
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets
- Analog Devices (ADI) initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets
- NVIDIA (NVDA) initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets
On the news front this morning:
- Reuters reports Italian chocolate maker Ferrero could be interested in Cadbury’s (CBY) gum and candy division, a unit worth about 5 billion euros ($7.4 billion), in a possible joint takeover bid, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said on Friday. Unlisted Ferrero and Hershey (HSY) are considering a joint offer for the British confectioner, which is the target of a hostile bid from Kraft Foods (KFT). A Hershey-Ferrero takeover would have the goal of breaking up Cadbury, with Ferrero ending up with the gum and candy division, Il Sole said, citing unnamed sources. The controlling Ferrero family would like the division alone since it has historically shown it has little interest in sharing management.
- The WSJ reports some of the largest shareholders in Goldman Sachs (GS) have urged the company to reduce the size of its bonus pool, arguing that it should pass along more of its blockbuster earnings to investors, according to people familiar with the situation. The investors hold tens of millions of shares in Goldman Sachs, which is on track to make the biggest employee payout in the co’s 140-year history.
- NY Post reports the co Chairman John Malone won’t rule out a possible takeover by AT&T (T) or Verizon Communications (VZ), saying they will likely have closer ties to his company as they develop packages of phone and television service. “[Our relationship] may lead to some more ownership-oriented relationship, or it may not,” Malone said in an interview.
- Dendreon (DNDN) announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided written acknowledgement that the amended Biologics License Application (BLA) for PROVENGE (sipuleucel-T) is a complete response. The FDA has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of May 1, 2010, by which time it will respond to Dendreon’s amended BLA…The FDA considers this to be a complete, Class 2 Resubmission following the action letter the company received in 2007. The IMPACT study met its pre-specified primary endpoint demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in overall survival in men with metastatic CRPC.
- Gap Inc.’s (GPS) profit climbed 25% on year-over-year basis. Profit at one of the world’s largest apparel retailers by sales, rose to $307 million, or 44 cents per share, for the quarter ended Oct. 31, from $246 million, or 35 cents per share, a year earlier. The clothing chain’s overall sales climbed 0.8 percent to $3.59 billion.
- Ann Taylor Stores (ANN) said Friday that it swung to a third-quarter profit of $2.07 million, or 3 cents a share, from a loss of $13.4 million, or 24 cents, a year earlier. Sales fell to $462.4 million from $527.2 million. Excluding items, the women’s clothing retailer said it would have earned 20 cents a share. Analysts, on average, estimated the company to earn 7 cents a share on sales of $473.9 million.
