Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning

Upgrades

BIDU – Baidu.com target raised to $172 from $144 at Stifel Nicolaus

NSC – Norfolk Southern target raised to $83 from $78 at Stifel Nicolaus

NOV – Natl Oilwell Varco upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup

XLNX – Xilinx target raised to $39 from $36 at Auriga U.S.A – following earnings

EQIX – Equinix target raised to $120 from $110 at Stifel Nicolaus

CTXS – Citrix Systems target raised to $80 from $70 at ISI Group

NUVA – NuVasive ticking higher; strength attributed to tier 1 firm upgrade

ABB – ABB Ltd upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

HES – Hess upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse

CVX – Chevron initiated with a Buy at Jefferies

MCO – Moody’s target raised to $43 from $38 at The Benchmark Company

NEWP – Newport target raised to $24 from $22 at Needham

Downgrades

ITRI – Itron downgraded to Sell at Wunderlich; tgt lowered to $44

PLCE – Children’s Place downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

COP – ConocoPhillips downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank – tgt cut to $85 from $90

NVLS – Novellus target lowered to $41 from $45 at Needham – following earnings

ESLR – Evergreen Solar downgraded to Sell at Wunderlich

MBLX – Metabolix downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray

WPI – Watson Pharm downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo

BK – Bank of NY trading lower; weakness attributed to tier 1 firm downgrade

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Gapping Up

GSK +2.1%, OTEX +2.1%, RPC +45.2%, VTAL +31.2%, LOOP +26%, INSP +18.5%, NTRI +13.4%, NEWP +8.8%, CEG +8.6%, FTNT +6.6%, DB +4.8%, CTXS +4.1%, MX +3.9%, ALL +3.3%, EQIX +2.5%, SIFY +2.3%, LSI+4.3%,ISSI +1.8%, BWLD +1.6%, XLNX +1.6%

Gapping Down

ESLR -14.4%, AKAM -10.9%, SBUX -1.7%, EXC -1.2%, AFL -0.9%, MLNX -5.1%, SKX -4.7%, LIZ -4.6%, CYH -3.7%, MORN -3.4%, IDCC -3.1%, LLNW -2.9%, SFLY -2.7%, AZN -2.2%, UL -1.8%, SAP -7%, FLEX -6.8%, NVLS -3.1%

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In Play

On the Wires

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“U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter as higher food and gasoline prices dampened consumer spending, and sent a broad measure of inflation rising at its fastest pace in 2-1/2 years.

But the pull back in output, which was also the result of harsh winter weather, a widening trade gap as well as weak government spending, will probably be fleeting given a firming labor market.

Growth in U.S. gross domestic product—a measure of all goods and services produced within U.S. borders—braked to a 1.8 percent annual rate after a 3.1 percent fourth quarter pace, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. Economists had expected a 2 percent growth pace.”

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“Economic bellwether Proctor & Gamble is seeing its shares slide in the pre-market after missing earnings by a penny, and offering an outlook for earnings that are below estimates.

This line stands out from the announcement:

Operating margin contracted 210 basis points primarily driven by lower gross margin.  Gross margin declined 140 basis points due to higher commodity costs and unfavorable geographic and product mix, which more than offset manufacturing cost savings, pricing and volume scale leverage.  Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) as a percentage of net sales increased 70 basis points behind foreign currency impacts and investments to support the Company’s innovation and market expansion plans, partially offset by a reduction in overhead spending as a percentage of sales.”

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Constellation pops 18%

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“NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol deliberately misled Warren Buffett when pitching an investment to him, the company’s board concluded in a scathing report that may add fuel to a pending SEC probe of Buffett’s one-time heir apparent.

The board said it may sue Sokol to recover the $3 million of trading profit he made when Berkshire bought chemicals company Lubrizol Corp and could seek damages from him for harm to the company’s reputation. The company will cooperate with any government probe in the matter as well.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing Sokol, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.”

Full story

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Company saw a drop of 8%  in earnings since the same period last year. Guidance was single digits in line with estimates.

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Company guided lower on the higher end of estimates.

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Markets traded slightly higher on good earnings. Oil retreated and most other commodities like grains and metals traded higher.

Asia

Europe

Commodities

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Morgan Stanley is out positive on Molycorp (NYSE:MCP) raising their Bull case to $240/share? Click here for story

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Akamai Tech on Conference Call- Guidance
Akamai Tech: sees Q2 EPS of $0.34-0.37 vs $0.38 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q2 revs in the range of $270-280 mln vs $280 mln consensus; see Q2 adjusted EBITDA margins of ~44-45 % vs 45.7% consensus; gross margins to be stable at approx 80%.,, not prepared to deliver annual guidance.

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Flowserve beats by $0.13, misses on revs; reaffirms FY11 EPS guidance (134.64 -0.31)
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.72 per share, $0.13 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.59; revenues rose 4.0% year/year to $997.2 mln vs the $1011.9 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY11, sees EPS of $7.10-8.00 vs. $7.83 Thomson Reuters consensus. Backlog increased to $2.81 billion, including currency benefits of approximately $71 million, compared to $2.59 billion in backlog at December 31, 2010.

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