Top Pre-Market Stocks Upgrades/Downgrades May 23, 2013

UPGRADES

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies – Hewlett-Packard upgraded by Jeffries to Hold, citing solid execution and cost controls following the company’s Q2 results. The firm raised its price target for shares to $24 from $18.50

Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank – Deutsche Bank (DB) upgraded Seagate citing the move towards higher-margin enterprise drives and expectations for HDD unit growth to resume in the second half of 2013. The firm raised its price target for shares to $46 from $40.

Energen (NYSE:EGN) target raised to $65 from $56 at Wunderlich.

American Eagle (NYSE:AEO) target raised to $23 from $21 at Janney.

Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO) target raised to $96 from $90 at Cantor Fitzgerald

FactSet (NYSE:FDS) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray

Atwood Oceanics (NYSE:ATW) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman

DOWNGRADES

ARM Holdings (NASDAQ:ARMH) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Exane BNP Paribas

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan

NEW COVERAGE

Chipotle (NYSE:CMG) coverage assumed with a Neutral at Credit Suisse – Target $360

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) coverage assumed with an Underperform at Credit Suisse – Target $73

HEADLINES

Ford (NYSE:F) is in the spotlight this morning after the company said it will stop building cars in Australia in 2016, resulting in job losses and delivering a painful blow to a government that’s been spending big to prop up its auto industry.

Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE:HPQ) shares were up more than 12% in premarket trading on Thursday after the firm reported better-than-expected earnings for the second-quarter. The tech-giant was able to hold margins on its products, despite a drop in earnings. The firm is going through a turnaround which could take several years, said Meg Whitman, who took over as CEO in 2011.

J.P. Morgan International Bank Limited, a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), was Thursday fined 3.1 million pounds ($4.7 million) by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority for systems and controls failings related to its provision of retail-investment advice and portfolio-investment services. The issues lasted for two years and were not fixed until the FCA mentioned it to the company, according to a news release. The FCA said it identified issues such as failure to keep client files up to date and problems with computer systems that did not allow sufficient information to be retained.

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