Price Targets on Alcoa (AA) (ABX) (AVB) (CDE) Changed

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB) and Coeur d'Alene Mines (NYSE: CDE) had their price targets adjusted by analysts.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) cut their price target on Alcoa Inc. (AA) from $22.00 to $20.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Deutsche Bank cut their price target on Barrick Gold Corp (ABX) from $76.00 to $67.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Barclays Capital raised their price target on AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (AVB) from $123.00 to $125.00. They have an “equal weight” rating on the company.

Deutsche Bank cut their price target on Coeur d Alene Mines Corp (CDE) from $54.00 to $50.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Coeur d'Alene Mines closed Tuesday at $24.83, gaining $0.91, or 3.80 percent. Alcoa closed at $16.39, jumping $0.08, or 0.49 percent. Barrick Gold closed at $45.98, up $1.20, or 2.68 percent. AvalonBay Communities, Inc. closed at $134.39, rising $1.83, or 1.38 percent.

Price Targets on (AMGN) (AVB) (CCIH) (CLP) (CPT) Updated

Price targets on Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB), Chinacache International Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: CCIH), Colonial Properties (NYSE: CLP) and Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT) updated by analysts.

MP Advisors raised their price target on Amgen, Inc. (AMGN) from $63.00 to $65.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

FBR Capital raised their price target on AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (AVB) from $134.00 to $138.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

Oppenheimer cut their price target on Chinacache International Holdings Limited (CCIH) from $28.00 to $26.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

FBR Capital raised their price target on Colonial Properties (CLP) from $21.00 to $23.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

FBR Capital raised their price target on Camden Property Trust (CPT) from $58.00 to $60.50. They have an “underperform” rating on the company.

Associated Estates (NYSE:AEC) Avalonbay (NYSE:AVB), Essex Property (NYSE:ESS), Home Properties (NYSE:HME), Sovran (NYSE:SSS), U-Store-It Trust (NYSE:YSI) Top FBR Picks in Sector

Commenting on commercial real estate, FBR Capital give its top picks and those they believe will lag going into 2011, their top picks include Associated Estates Realty (NYSE:AEC) Avalonbay Communities (NYSE:AVB), Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS), Home Properties (NYSE:HME), Sovran Self Storage (NYSE:SSS), and U-Store-It Trust (NYSE:YSI).

FBR gave its reasoning, saying, "Commercial real estate looks to start 2011 in a curious place: pricing is robust in both private and public markets, investor appetite for yield continues unabated, and the cost to do business is at historic lows; just below the surface, however, fundamental recovery is ephemeral, at best - tainting outward market exuberance with an undercurrent of worry. As we start the year, we maintain positive views of most segments within our coverage universe. We believe that once again the single biggest risk lies within the credit markets, as an unsustainably low rate environment props prices, earnings, and hopes. That said, we continue to underwrite a low rate environment in the near term, given the stubbornness of the current economic malaise and reactionary monetary policy. We expect investors will continue to look a blind eye at this risk given the hunger for yield, which is especially beneficial to the finance and mortgage names."

"In this context, our top picks are generally focused on earnings growth, attractive (safe, in our view) yield, and pockets of fundamental recovery. We expect most of the group to remain in an expansionary period. Cap rate compression is likely to continue at the “B/C” asset quality level, while the “A” quality assets more or less stabilize. Along these lines, signs of further market bifurcation are likely in some sectors. We expect fundamental improvement to continue overall, with outright inflection in the short lease arena (lodging, storage, apartments), while longer lease recovery lags (office, industrial, retail)."

"Apartment and self storage. We maintain a positive view of the trajectory of multifamily and self storage fundamentals; however, we do remain cautious on the basis of valuations, given pricing today that is being propped by government-sponsored financing and aggressive core revenue performance expectations. We expect the short-lease REITs to remain in an expansionary period so long as access to low-cost capital remains, while operations continue to improve steadily. Overall, we expect aggregate returns for the multifamily stocks to be in line with the RMZ (+11% for the year). Our top picks within the sector include Associated Estates Realty,Avalonbay Communities, Essex Property Trust, Home Properties, Sovran Self Storage, and U-Store-It Trust; we expect Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT), Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR), Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA), and Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) to lag."

Associated Estates closed Monday at $15.22, down $0.15, or 0.98 percent. Avalonbay closed at $112.17, down $0.95, or 0.84 percent. Essex Property ended the day at $113.20, up $0.47, or 0.42 percent. Home Properties was at $54.77, up $0.07, or 0.13 percent.
U-Store-It Trust closed at $9, up $0.21, or 2.39 percent.

Colonial Properties (NYSE:CLP), Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA), Camden Property (NYSE:CPT) FBR's Top REIT Picks

Taking into account the regional outlook for REITs in 2011, FBR said their favorite picks in the group are Colonial Properties (NYSE:CLP), Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) and Camden Property (NYSE:CPT).

On the other hand, the weakest outlooks in the group are Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR), AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB), and Associated Estates (NYSE:AEC).

FBR said, "In our MSA Monitor screen, we utilize 3Q10 REIT data and current one-, two- and three-year forward forecasts from a variety of data providers, coupled with our proprietary model, and conclude that Colonial Properties Trust (Market Perform), Mid-America Apartment Communities (Underperform), and Camden Property Trust (Underperform) could have the strongest 12-month-forward regional outlooks. Equity Residential (Underperform), AvalonBay Communities (Outperform), and Associated Estates (Outperform) could have the weakest.

"Following the climb by HME were move-ups for CPT and MAA, unsurprising given the high Texas/Sunbelt exposure. Stocks that declined in the current ranking were ESS and AVB, both falling two spots, followed by single-spot drops by AIV, AEC, and UDR. Remaining unchanged were CLP and EQR."

Colonial Properties closed Friday at $17.96, up $0.39, or 2.22 percent. Mid-America was at $62.87, up $0.99, or 1.60 percent. Camden ended at $52.36, up $0.98, or 1.91 percent.

Equity Residential ended the week at $51.56, up Friday by $0.36, or 0.70 percent. Avalonbay closed at $113.12, up $2.64, or 2.39 percent. Associated Estates closed at $15.37, up $0.09, or 0.59 percent.