Deutsche Bank downgrades Sunoco (SUN 62.36) to to Hold from Buy and lowers their tgt to $65 from $74, as distillate inventories are building up along with the danger of repeating last winter
CIBC upgrades Baidu (BIDU 112.69) to Sector Performer from Underperformer, based on better market data, weakening competition, faster than expected growth in search queries, and a more bullish stance on mobile search
.Piper Jaffray upgrades Pacific Sunwear (PSUN 19.58) to Outperform from Market Perform and raises their tgt to $25 from $18, based on business at the core stores that has stabilized, tight inventory that favors margin improvement and better visibility and margins support a growth based multiple.
Lehman Brothers downgrades MarkWest Hydrocarbon (MWP 48.55) to Underweight from Overweight
Merrill upgrades US Healthcares Stocks and U.S Consumer Staples to Overweight from Market Weight
Bear Stearns upgrades Merck (MRK 43.60) to Outperform from Peer PerformMerrill downgrades US Materials stocks to Underweight from Market Weight
Goldman downgrades Advanced Micro (AMD 20.35) to Sell from Neutral. AMD saab negatiivseid kommentaare ka ThinkEquity analüütikutelt.
Goldman downgrades Applied Materials (AMAT 18.45) and Credence Systems (CMOS 5.20) to Sell from Neutral
Wachovia downgrades Magna (MGA 80.55) to Mkt Perform from Outperform, and Lear (LEA 29.53) to Underperform from Mkt Perform, as both have substantial D3 truck exposure, which the firm expects to weaken in H207
Bofa downgrades General Motors (GM 30.72) to Sell from Neutral
Goldman upgrades Texas Instruments (TXI 64.23) and Micron Tech (MU 13.96) to Neutral from Sell
Thomas Weisel believes there are a number of names that are likely to benefit in 2007 from transitions that occurred in 2006. Rackable Systems (RACK) is firm's top pick going into 2007, and they believe the co is the best example of this transition theme. Firm's other best ideas highlighted here also play into this transition theme. They are Qlogic (QLGC), EMC (EMC) and Seagate (STX). In addition, firm highlights Lexmark (LXK) as one stock to avoid, based partly on this transition theme. In regards to RACK, firm believes investors should consider the following: 1) many potential "big" new customers entering the mix in 2007 vs. no "big" customers in 2006; 2) substantially improved storage offering compared to 2006; and 3) a lot of leverage in 2007 after significant infrastructure spend in 2006. Issues with LXK include: 1) transition back toward hardware market share gain mode could be a major drag on 2007 EPS (reduced hardware helped 2006 EPS); 2) exhausted U.S. cash limits share buyback, which was a major source of 2006 EPS upside; and 3) takeover premium built into current stock price disappears.
Jefferies calls TASR their top pick for 2007, saying that investments over the past two years should begin to pay off. Firm says these investments include manufacturing facilities, new products, quality control, R&D, strengthened mgmt, distributor network, legal defense, customer service, and media relations. Firm believes that Q4 weakness is likely already in the stock, but thinks that investors may shy away from the name until the numbers are reported.
NY Times reports the industry may be getting ready to try an even more dramatic third act — a possible attempt to merge the two services. The benefits of a merger have been promoted by the chief executive of Sirius (SIRI), Mel Karmazin, for a number of months, and Sirius officials continue to say that a merger would be a good thing. XM (XMSR) has not commented on the possibility, and neither co has said whether they have actually discussed the issue. "When you have two companies in the same industry, we have a similar cost structure. Clearly, a merger makes sense from an investor's point of view to reduce costs, and to have a better return," said David Frear, the CFO for Sirius. And if the cos were to merge and effectively double their subscriber base, the new co could reduce programming costs through increased negotiating clout, removal of duplicative channels and elimination of redundant employees.
SIRI Sirius Satellite exceeds 6 mln subscribers and achieves first cash flow positive quarter (3.54 ) Co announces that it ended 2006 with approx 6,024,000 subscribers, an 82% increase over the co's 2005 ending subscriber base of 3,316,560. SIRIUS added a record 2.7 mln net subscribers in 2006. Based on preliminary financial data, SIRIUS achieved its first ever quarter of positive free cash flow in Q406.
