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business newsUpgrades and Downgrades: Bank of America Gets a Lift
By
Justin Sharon
Aug 23, 2010 8:30 am
Wall Street ratings agencies set the tone for today's stock market.
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A mixed bag of retail results continued to roll in. Investors sure saw the softer side of Sears (SHLD), which slid $4.96 after an earnings miss but Williams-Sonoma (WSM) reported record revenue driven by a 17% same-store sales surge at Pottery Barn. This on the day the last US combat brigade left Iraq, the nation having long ago learned the Pottery Barn rule. And America answered an age-old Beatles question in the affirmative as Sylvester Stallone, 64, ruled the box office once again in The Expendables. It’s a quiet day in economics but Tuesday Morning (TUES) are expected to report earnings this Monday morning.
Initiations
Itron (ITRI): The stock is initiated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse, which assigns it a price objective of $70.
Oxford Resource Partners (OXF): Wells Fargo begins Oxford Resource Partners with an Outperform.
Seanergy Maritime Holdings (SHIP): Rodman & Renshaw reinstates small cap Seanergy Maritime Holdings at Outperform with a $1.25 price target. The brokerage says strong growth in Asia should drive imports of minerals and grains.
Upgrades
Bank of America (BAC): The big bank gets boosted to Accumulate from Hold at Standpoint Research, which says that with shares trading at 1.15 times tangible book value the recent sell-off seems to have discounted a worst-case scenario. Also read Why Small Banks Are the Key to Recovery.
Lowe’s (LOW): Goldman lifts Lowe’s to Buy from Neutral.
First Solar (FSLR): FSLR is now Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Zep Inc (ZEP): Janney Montgomery Scott moves Zep Inc to Buy from Neutral.
Rosetta Resources (ROSE): The stock is raised to Buy from Neutral at Suntrust.
United Stationers (USTR): FBR Capital raises its rating on United Stationers to Outperform from Market Perform with a $57 target as the company is starting to grow its top line at higher rates than all others in the sector.
Downgrades
Corinthian Colleges (COCO): The education stock is cut to Hold from Buy at ThinkEquity Partners. For another opinion, see Enroll Now in Education Stocks.
Genuine Parts (GPC): GPS gets downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.
Universal Travel (UTA): Brokerage Brean Murray moves Universal Travel to Hold from Buy. The firm cites deteriorating margins of its existing packaged tour business among other issues.
No positions in stocks mentioned.
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