Top Stocks Upgrades/Downgrades June 12, 2013

UPGRADES

American Electric (NYSE:AEP) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust – Target $50

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup – Target $20

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette

DOWNGRADES

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities

Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup – Target raised to $236 from $235

NEW COVERAGE

athenahealth (NASDAQ:ATHN) Are-initiated with a Neutral at Sterne Agee
Target $83

HEADLINES

Amgen’s (NASDAQ:AMGN) could come under pressure after a study showed that its popular drug Enbrel, which treats rheumatoid arthriti and generated sales of $4.23B last year, is no more effective than three generic drugs. The triple therapy costs just $1,000 a year for each patient, while Enbrel costs $25,000.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) sold its product to 3.3% of the US population, 7.9 million customers, in the last three months, according to a Nielsen study. These sales figures come with a distributor network of around 550,000. The company said the report confirms its status as a major US retailer.

Boeing’s (NYSE:BA) 787 dreamliner plane continues to have issues. All Nippon Airways cancelled Japanese flights on the model after one of the plane’s Rolls Royce engines failed to start. This is the third cancellation this week after Dreamliner services were recently renewed following a four-month grounding due to the well-publicized battery problems.

Yum’s (NYSE:YUM) Chinese same-store sales fell 19% on year in May due to avian flu fears. KFC stores saw particular weakness, with same-store sales falling 25%, but Pizza Hut stores picked up some of the slack as same-store sales rose 12%.

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