JP Morgan downgrades Sandisk (SNDK 76.95) to Neutral from Overweight on valuation
JP Morgan downgrades Dress Barn (DBRN 41.03) to Neutral from Overweight, as they remain positive on fundamentals yet cite valuation, tougher comparisons and optimistic street sentiment as concerns
CIBC downgrades CheckFree (CKFR 49.45) to Sector Perform from Outperform on valuation
CSFB raises their Apple (AAPL 80.86) tgt to $90 from $82 following MacWorld, based on the upside to the December quarter, their raised outlook on Mac sales, and the better-thanexpected iPod results
Merrill Lynch downgrades Yahoo (YHOO 42.98) to Neutral from Buy
Stifel downgrades their Semiconductor Capital Equipment sector to Neutral from Overweight and downgrades Cymer (CYMI $40.19) to Hold from Buy, KLA Tencor (KLAC $ 52.77) to Hold from Buy, LTX (LTXX $5.22) to Hold from Buy, FormFactor (FORM $28.19) to Hold from Buy, Lam Research (LRCX $38.76) to Hold from Buy, and Varian Semiconductor (VSEA $48.49) to Hold from Buy
Jefferies initiates Blue Coat (BCSI $41.36) with a Buy and sets a $48 tgt, saying the co has solid technology, attractive growth profile, new product roadmap, and solid margin expansion
BRCM Broadcom upgraded to Buy at UBS; tgt upped to $70
AAPL Apple Computer tgt upped to $87 at Banc of America
Prudential upgrades Hewlett Packard (HPQ 30.78) to Overweight from Neutral Weight; while HPQ's longer-term strategic issues still concerns them, they expect these issues to be overshadowed in 2006 by the benefit of continued cost reductions, improved tactical execution, consistency and credibility, as well as strong earnings growth momentum
ThinkEquity upgrades Sohu.com (SOHU 21.49) to Accumulate from Source of Funds and raises their tgt to $22 from $16; while SOHU may still have some mgmt issues, they think the mkt may have overly discounted the value of the co's online advertising business and other assets
Jefferies raises their tgt on Red Hat (RHAT $30.47) to $34 from $22 based on new est following the co's FQ3'06 results
AAPL Apple Computer tgt upped to $92 from $80 at First Albany