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business newsUpgrades and Downgrades: DreamWorks Awakes To An Upgrade
By
Justin Sharon
Jun 23, 2010 8:45 am
Wall Street ratings agencies set the tone for today's stock market.
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Qualifying at the expense of the continent’s cradle of civilization was South Korea, fittingly enough on the eve of a survey today showing Asia has also overtaken Europe in the number of high rollers. And Britain’s finance minister, who is legally permitted to drink alcohol during his budget address, unveiled emergency austerity measures which were kind to pub owners if not the general population. Trimming Tony Hayward’s wayward annual salary of £3.158 million might be a good way to begin reigning in the country’s deficit. New single-family home sales figures for May are forecast to fall at 10:00AM Eastern and the Federal Open Market Committee concludes its two-day policy meeting at 2:15PM. On the corporate front earnings are expected from Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), CarMax (KMX), Nike (NKE), and Paychex (PAYX).
Initiations
Lululemon Athletica (LULU): The sportswear company is a new Neutral at Robert Baird, which sets a price objective of $49. While the broker remains positive on the yoga outfit’s strong growth prospects, recent share price outperformance has left a more balanced near term risk/reward profile.
Cablevision (CVC): JP Morgan initiates Cablevision at an Overweight.
Cbeyond (CBEY): Overweight is also the rating JP Morgan assigns on Cbeyond.
China Green Agriculture (CGA): Maxim starts China Green Agriculture with a Hold amid uncertainty surrounding valuation and an upcoming acquisition.
Energy Stocks: Swift Energy (SFY) at Outperform and Petroleum Development (PETD) at Neutral are among the oil and gas stocks initiated at Credit Suisse. Also read Why the BP Spill Won't Affect Renewable Energy.
Upgrades
Unilever (UN): The stock is upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse, which says the consumer products giant offers “quality growth” at an attractive valuation.
The Knot (KNOT): Peak wedding month sees The Knot lifted to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna.
Zymogenetics (ZGEN): ZGEN is now Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Consolidated Edison (ED): JP Morgan moves Consolidated Edison to Neutral from Underweight.
PPL Corp. (PPL): The stock gets a Buy-from-Hold boost at Soleil Securities.
Monster Worldwide (MWW): Believing fundamentals are bottoming, Oppenheimer increases Monster Worldwide to Outperform from Perform with a $21 price target.
Noranda Aluminum (NOR): NOR gets a new Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs.
DreamWorks Animation (DWA): The stock is raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel Nicolaus, which notes next year’s release of the sequel Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom could provide a catalyst. For a related story, see "Toy Story 3" Will Be a Big Play for Disney.
Precision Drilling (PDS): PDS gets boosted to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity. Also read Drilling Moratorium Debate Heats Up.
Downgrades
Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS): DPS is downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS on valuation.
Edwards Lifesciences (EW): The stock is lowered to Neutral from Buy at Goldman, which also pulls it from the Conviction Buy list.
Odyssey Healthcare (ODSY): The stock is now Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.
Tortoise North American Energy (TYN): Wunderlich takes Tortoise North American Energy to Hold from Buy after its premium to NAV has risen to an above-average 8%.
Wilmington Trust (WT): WT is downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Suntrust.
No positions in stocks mentioned.
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