Wall to Wall Street Coverage: Upgrades and Downgrades

• By Justin Sharon
• On 8:50 am EDT, Thursday October 15, 2009

One month ahead of Heather Locklear's return to Melrose Place the Dow is back above 10,000; a man with a van Winkle would say we've been singing the same song for a decade. Planes (AMR Corp (AMR) +6.00%), trains (CSX Corp (CSX) +6.28%) and automobiles (AutoNation (AN) +6.78%) moved the market higher, with help from Harley Davidson (HOG) (+6.57%). A (JPMorgan) Chase (JPM), a (10K) run, and a Rush dominated a day when Wall Street could crow.

Bruce Springsteen bid Giants Stadium goodbye on Friday and Bruce Wasserstein left us on Wednesday, taken too soon. The Frieze Art Fair, Europe's largest, hopes to benefit from thawing credit when it opens in London today. Weekly unemployment claims and September's Consumer Price Index are out at 8:30AM Eastern followed ninety minutes later by the Philadelphia Fed Index for October. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Biogen Idec (BIIB), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), Google (GOOG), IBM (IBM), Nokia (NOK) and Southwest Airlines (LUV) are among a battery of earnings announcements.

Initiations

TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT): The stock is initiated with an Outperform at Raymond James.

Xilinx (XLNX): Credit Suisse starts Xilinx with Neutral and $25 price target amid cyclical tailwinds and uncertainty on 2010 wireless capex.

DuPont (DD): Ticonderoga Securities assumes coverage of DuPont with a Hold as much of the upside is already priced in.

Weyerhaeuser (WY): RBC Capital picks up Weyerhaeuser with a Sector Perform and $38 target price.

International Paper (IP): The broker also intiates International Paper (Outperform; $27) on strong free cash flow.

Oil Refiners: Morgan Stanley begins coverage of refiners including Frontier Oil (FTO), Western Refining (WNR), Tesoro (TSO), and Valero (VLO) (all Equal-Weights); and Sunoco (SUN) (Overweight).

Upgrades

JPMorgan Chase (JPM): The financial is upgraded to Outperform from In-line at Fox Pitt, which takes its target up $8 to $55. See more on JPM in What the Future Holds for JPMorgan Shares.

Donaldson (DCI): The stock gets a 180 degree upgrade (Outperform from Underperform) at Credit Suisse, which takes its target to $41 from $28 and adds it to its US Focus List on upside in the engine aftermarket business.

DeVry (DV): Education company DeVry could fly after being boosted by RBC Capital to Outperform from Sector Perform.

Schlumberger (SLB): Citigroup increases Schlumberger to Buy from Hold.

PG&;E: The firm is upgraded at UBS to Buy from Neutral.

SunPower (SPWRA): The solar company is upgraded at Robert Baird (Outperform from Neutral; target to $40 from $28) as its ASP's are ahead of peers.

Comcast (CMCSA): Citigroup adds Comcast to their Top Picks Live list on a belief the company can gain full control of NBC Universal. For more on this, please read Ten Ways NBC Can Save Itself.

Downgrades

Charles Schwab (SCHW): Bank of America/Merrill Lynch lowers Charles Schwab to Neutral from Buy due to "regulatory and litigation risk".

Granite Construction (GVA): The company gets cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.

Lazard (LAZ): Oppenheimer downgrades Lazard to Perform from Outperform ($45 price objective maintained) after the passing of CEO Bruce Wasserstein.

The Travelers Companies (TRV): Keefe Bruyete cuts Travelers Cos (Market Perform from Outperform; $51 target) on an uninspiring upcoming underwriting outlook.

Baker Hughes (BHI): The stock is cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.

BJ Services (BJS): Citi also cuts this stock to Sell from Hold.

Nothing contained in this article is intended as a solicitation for business of any kind or for investment in the firm.

Buzz up!