Wall to Wall Street Coverage: Upgrades and Downgrades

• By Justin Sharon
• On 8:55 am EDT, Wednesday September 30, 2009

In a delicious irony, archaeologists unearthed Nero's dining room a year to the day after Congressional fiddling while Rome burned caused stocks to crater. Yesterday's decline in the Dow, though the fifth in six sessions, wasn't nearly as steep and the index is on course to close out its best quarter in over a decade.

Walgreen's (WAG) was one of Wall Street's few green screens, up 9.2% on impressive earnings. Moody's (MCO), the market's most aptly named equity, gained almost 11% after last week's 20% plunge. Diedrich Coffee (DDRX) jumped 18.4% on an upgrade, Starbucks (SBUX) slipped on the day it unveiled instant and The Wall Street Journal concluded "communal coffee carafes" could contain copious contagions. The final reading on second-quarter GDP is released at 8:30AM Eastern and expect earnings out of Actuant (ATU), Diamond Foods (DMND) and Lawson Software(LWSN).

Initiations

Discount Retailers:Dollar Tree (DLTR) (Outperform) and Family Dollar (FDO) (Sector Perform) are each initiated at RBC Capital, with respective price objectives of $58 and $30.

More Retail: Sanford Bernstein starts research on Target (TGT) (Outperform), Walmart (WMT) and Costco (COST) (Market Performs on each).

Canaccord Adams initiates Allergan (AGN) with a Buy. PMC-Sierra is picked up at Auriga (ARGA) (Buy; $13 target) on a strong product cycle.

CBRL Group is covered at Wells Fargo (WFC) with an Outperform.

Keefe Bruyette initiates Alliance Data Systems (ADS) with an Outperform and a $76 target price.

In the medical technology sector, Goldman Sachs starts Zimmer Holdings (ZMH) (Buy), Baxter International (BAX), Boston Scientific (BSX),Medtronic (MDT), and Stryker (SYK) (Neutrals) and Becton Dickinson (BDX) and St Jude Medical (JUD) (Sells).

Upgrades

Nike (NKE) The apparel company could spike after a Buy-from Neutral upgrade at Goldman.

AmerisourceBergen (ABC) The stock gets boosted to Buy from Neutral by Goldman.

Novartis (NVS)The tech company is upgraded (Buy from Hold) at Citigroup, which cites cost savings and a favorable currency backdrop among other factors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM)The company is taken to Outperform from Market Perform by BMO Capital Markets.

Downgrades

Healthcare Companies:Humana (HUM) is downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets, which also cuts competitor Wellpoint (WLP) to Market Perform from Outperform.

Target UBS takes Target to Neutral from Buy.

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

Buzz up!