Analyst upgrades 2-14-07: Applebee's gets a tip, FedEx delivers

Posted Feb 14th 2007 11:41AM by Kevin Shult
Filed under: Before the Bell, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Good news, Applied Materials (AMAT), Ciena Corp (CIEN), Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), FedEx Corp (FDX)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: FedEx Corp (FDX) and Applied Materials Inc (AMAT) were today's notable upgrades:

Morgan Keegan upgraded FedEx Corp (NYSE: FDX) to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm said recent data indicates that the company's core business segments are well-positioned for operational improvements given current initiative; data also indicates that we may have reached a bottom in the economy and can potentially expect a soft landing.

Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ: AMAT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold with a $25 target at First Albany and Stanford, as they believe the company's memory cycle is better than investors may think.

OTHER UPGRADES:

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE: CCE) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein because the firm no longer sees any major negative catalysts ahead.

Apria Healthcare Group Inc (NYSE: AHG) was upgraded to Hold from Sell with a $30 target at Deutsche Bank. The firm said Apria reported a solid fourth quarter and near-term momentum was more clear.

JP Morgan upgraded King Pharmaceuticals inc (NYSE: KG) to Neutral from Underweight on valuation and the potential of a prolonged delay of generic Skelazin.

Citigroup upgraded Ciena Inc (NASDAQ: CIEN) to Buy from Hold, but still considers JDS Uniphase Corp (NASDAQ: JDSU) their top pick for capacity exposure.

Jefferies raised Applebee's Int'l Inc (NASDAQ: APPB) to Hold from Underperform to reflect the company's decision to seek strategic alternatives.

Prudential upgraded Nasdaq Stock Market Inc (NASDAQ: NDAQ) to Neutral from Underweight with a $30 target.

JMP Securities upgraded KB Home (NYSE: KBH) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $60 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Tags: ahg, amat, analyst, appb, Applebee's, applied materials, AppliedMaterials, apria, cce, cien, Ciena, coca-cola ent, Coca-colaEnt, fdx, fedex, kb home, kbh, KbHome, kg, King, nasdaq, ndaq, rating change, RatingChange, ratings, theflyonthewall.com, upgrade

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-14-2007 @ 12:48PM

steve said...

I will never eat at an Applebee's again. Last time I was there, the waiter asked if I had seen the movie "Waiting" after I sent the order back because it was incorrect. The manager laughed at me, saying the waiter was "just joking". The corporate headquarters responded with "we will do some training". If any of you know, "Waiting" is about how restaurants tamper with food.

2-16-2007 @ 3:10PM

redvette said...

Check your credit card bills from Appleby's. We recently found two credit charges from our local Appleby's. In both cases a $6.00 tip became a $16.00 on our statement. We went to the manager who confirmed that for 3 months a waiter was inflating tips by putting a 1 in front of the tip total or changing a 3 or 5 to an 8. When we asked what was done about (over 60 confirmed customers) the manager said he felt sorry for the 19 year old kid and decided to let him go and not press charges. So I guess this guy is doing it somewhere else now in another restaurant. Manager just blew it off. They lost us as a customer.