Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: WFMI, HPQ, XOM, HAS ...

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Comcast Cl'A' (CMCSA), Hasbro Inc (HAS), Analyst initiations

• Jefferies upgraded Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company is taking the right steps to turn its operations around. The firm raised its target price to $13 from $11.
  


• Pali upgraded Whole Foods to Buy from Sell following the Q1 report based on better than expected cost containment, labor costs, capex cuts, and plans to rationalize the store base.
  


• Thomas Weisel upgraded Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to Overweight from Market Weight. The firm believes HPQ's risk/reward has improved given overdue reduced FY09 guidance and attractive valuation.
  


• Bernstein upgraded Talisman (NYSE: TLM) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuation.


• Navistar (NYSE: NAV) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
  


• Sovran Self Storage (NYSE: SSS) was upgraded to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer.
  


• Suncor (NYSE: SU) was upgraded at Barclays to Overweight from Equal Weight.

• Citigroup downgraded BioMarin (NASDAQ: BMRN) to Hold from Buy to reflect management's "disappointing" guidance and a lack of near-term catalysts. The firm lowered its target price to $17 from $22.
  


• Collins Stewart downgraded BioMarin following the weak Q4 report and guidance to Hold from Buy.
  


• Bernstein cut Occidental (NYSE: OXY) to Underperform from Market Perform citing relative valuation.
  


• Morgan Joseph downgraded Jakks Pacific (NASDAQ: JAKK) to Hold from Buy following the weak Q4 report.


• Comcast (NYSE: CMCSA) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy List.
  


• Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays and to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
  


• LeapFrog (NYSE: LF) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray.

• Maxim recommends Questcor (NASDAQ: QCOR) based on Acthar's sustainable revenues, potential share buybacks and low valuation. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $11 target.
  


• Morgan Joseph believes Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is well positioned for growth given its strong stable of product lines and hit movie releases. Shares were started with a Buy rating and $28 target.


• SAP (NYSE: SAP) was started at HSBC with a Neutral rating.
  


• Keegan Resources (AMEX: KGN) was initiated at Canaccord with a Speculative Buy.

 

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