Hershey (HSY) (EA) (JDSU) (LVS) (AKS) (BIG) Ratings, Price Targets

Hershey (NYSE: HSY), Electronic Arts Inc. (NYSE: EA), JDS Uniphase Co. (NASDAQ: JDSU), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS), AK Steel Holding Co. (NYSE: AKS) and Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) had ratings and price targets on them adjusted by analysts.

Hershey (HSY) had its “Hold” rating reiterated by Jefferies Group (NYSE:JEF).

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) had its price target lowered by Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) to $13.00.

JDS Uniphase Co. (JDSU) had its price target raised by Jefferies Group to $18.00.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) had its price target lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) to $61.00.

AK Steel Holding Co. (AKS) was downgraded by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a “Neutral” rating to an “Underperform” rating.

Big Lots, Inc. (BIG) was upgraded by MKM Partners from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $48.00 on the company.

Callaway (ELY) (JNJ) (OMC) (PC) (PDX) (EA) Ratings, Price Targets

Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Omnicom (NYSE: OMC), Panasonic (NYSE: PC), Mednax (NYSE: PDX) and Electronic Arts (NYSE: EA) ratings and price targets.

Callaway Golf (ELY) had its “Neutral” rating reiterated by DA Davidson. They have a price target of $6.00 on the company.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) had its “Neutral” rating reiterated by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM).

Jefferies Group initiated coverage on Omnicom (OMC). They placed a “Hold” rating and a price target of $41.00 on the company.

Panasonic (PC) was downgraded by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) to a “Neutral” rating.

Mednax (PDX) was downgraded by Stifel Nicolaus from a “Buy” rating to a “Hold” rating.

Electronic Arts (EA) was upgraded by Hudson Securities from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating.

POSCO (PKX) (EA) (FTR) (LNKD) (ROK) (USM) Ratings Reiterated

POSCO (NYSE: PKX), Electronic Arts Inc. (NYSE: EA), Frontier Communications (NYSE: FTR), Linkedin Co. (NASDAQ: LNKD), Rockwell Automation Inc. (NYSE: ROK) and United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE: USM) had ratings on them reiterated by analysts.

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) had its “Buy” rating reiterated by Sterne Agee. They have a price target of $27.00 on the company.

Frontier Communications (FTR) had its “Neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $5.50 on the company.

Linkedin Co. (LNKD) had its “Neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $67.00 on the company.

POSCO (PKX) had its “Neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $89.00 on the company.

Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK) had its “Neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $78.00 on the company.

United States Cellular Corporation (USM) had its “Neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $46.00 on the company.

Coinstar (CSTR) (SAN) (TROW) (WYNN) (ERTS) (FLR) (FL) Upgraded

Coinstar (NASDAQ: CSTR), Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE: SAN), T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW), Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), Fluor Co. (NYSE: FLR) and Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) were upgraded by analysts.

Coinstar (CSTR) was upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) from a “Neutral” rating to an “Overweight” rating. They have a price target of $50.00 on the company.

Banco Santander-Chile (SAN) was upgraded by Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $85.00 on the company.

T. Rowe Price (TROW) was upgraded by Ticonderoga from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $57.00 on the company.

Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) was upgraded by KeyBanc from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $145.00 on the company.

Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) was upgraded by Citigroup (NYSE:C) from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating.

Foot Locker (FL) was upgraded by UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Fluor Co. (FLR) was upgraded by Robert W. Baird from a “Neutral” rating to an “Outperform” rating. They have a price target of $70.00 on the company.

NetSpend (NTSP) (PETM) (PIP) (ERTS) (EV) (PPO) Ratings, Price Targets

NetSpend (NTSP), Petsmart Inc. (PETM), PharmAthene Inc. (PIP), Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS), Eaton Vance Corp. (EV) and Polypore (PPO) ratings and price targets.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. initiated coverage on NetSpend (NTSP). They placed an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Needham & Company initiated coverage on Petsmart Inc. (PETM). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $57.00 on the company.

WBB Securities downgraded PharmAthene Inc. (PIP) from a “Strong Buy” rating to a “Hold” rating. They have a price target of $2.00 on the company.

Needham & Company reiterated its “Buy” rating on Polypore (PPO).

Citigroup (NYSE:C) upgraded Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS0 downgraded Eaton Vance Corp. (EV) from a “Neutral” rating to an “Underperform” rating. They have a price target of $21.00 on the company.

Spansion (CODE) (GFIG) (KIM) (ERTS) (CNK) Upgraded

Spansion (NASDAQ: CODE), GFI Group Inc. (NASDAQ: GFIG), Kimco Realty Co. (NYSE: KIM), Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Cinemark Holdings Inc (NYSE: CNK) upgraded by analysts.

GFI Group Inc. (GFIG) was upgraded by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Spansion (CODE) was upgraded by Barclays Capital from an “Equal Weight” rating to an “Overweight” rating. They have a price target of $25.00 on the company, up from $22.00.

Kimco Realty Co. (KIM) was upgraded by UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) was upgraded by Cowen from a “Neutral” rating to an “Outperform” rating.

Cinemark Holdings Inc. (CNK) was upgraded by Caris & Company from an “Average” rating to an “Above Average” rating.

Range Resources (RRC) (NSC) (ODP) (BWLD) (ERTS) (ESV) (DLTR) Upgraded

Range Resources (NYSE: RRC), Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC), Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD), Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS), ENSCO PLC (NYSE: ESV) and Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ: DLTR) upgraded by analysts.

Range Resources (RRC) was upgraded by Citigroup (NYSE:C) from a “Sell” rating to a “Hold” rating. They have a price target of $65.00 on the company.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) was upgraded by Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) from a “Market Perform” rating to an “Outperform” rating.

Office Depot, Inc. (ODP) was upgraded by Nomura from a “Reduce” rating to a “Neutral” rating.

Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) was upgraded by Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) to an “Outperform” rating.

Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS) was upgraded by Brean Murray from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $29.00 on the company.

ENSCO PLC (ESV) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) from an “Equal Weight” rating to an “Overweight” rating. They have a price target of $80.00 on the company.

Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR) was upgraded by Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) from a “Neutral” rating to an “Overweight” rating. They have a price target of $87.00 on the company.

Lorillard (LO) (MHS) (ERTS) (ATVI) (EXPE) (SYMC) Ratings Reiterated

Lorillard Inc. (NYSE: LO), Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS), Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS), Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI), Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) have ratings reiterated by analysts.

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS).

BMC Equities reiterated a "Hold" rating Research Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS).

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Expedia, Inc. (EXPE).

BMC Equities Research reiterated a "Buy" rating on Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI). They have a price target of $15.00 on the company.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Lorillard Inc. (LO). They have a price target of $122.00 on the company.

Oppenheimer reiterated an "Outperform" rating on Symantec (SYMC). They have a price target of $21.00 on the company.

ReneSola (SOL) (SFY) (MRO) (FAST) (ERTS) Price Targets Changed by Analysts

ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL), Swift Energy (NYSE: SFY), Marathon Oil Co. (NYSE: MRO), Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST), Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS) had their price targets adjusted by analysts.

Pritchard cut its price target on Swift Energy (SFY) to $54.00.

Collins Stewart lowered its price target on ReneSola (SOL) from $6.50 to $3.60. They have a “Neutral” rating on the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) cut its price target on Marathon Oil Co. (MRO) to $35.00.

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) boosted its price target on Fastenal (FAST) to $39.00. They have a “Neutral” rating on the company.

UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) raised its price target on Electronic Arts to $27.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Electronic Arts closed Wednesday at $23.91, falling $0.26, or 1.08 percent. Fastenal closed at $34.50, up $0.02, or 0.06 percent. Marathon Oil ended the session at $31.71, rising $0.19, or 0.60 percent. ReneSola closed at $4.81, jumping $0.10, or 2.12 percent. Swift Energy closed at $38.41, gaining $1.17, or 3.14 percent.

Ratings on (AMAT) (CRI) (CW) (ERTS) (FMS) Downgraded

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT), Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE: CRI), Curtiss-Wright (NYSE: CW), Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Fresenius Medical (NYSE: FMS) get ratings downgrades.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) downgraded Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating. They have a price target of $14.00 on the company, down from $16.00.

BMO Capital Markets downgraded Carter’s, Inc. (CRI) from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating. They have a $25.00 price target on the company.

Wedbush downgraded Curtiss-Wright (CW) from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating. They have a price target of $36.00 on the company.

Kaufman Brothers downgraded Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating. They have a price target of $20.00 on the company.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) downgraded Fresenius Medical (FMS) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.

EA (ERTS) Ups Ante in (ATVI) Battle

The battle royal between Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) and Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq:ATVI) has been raised a notch as EA has launched a $100 million marketing campaign in hopes of making a dent in Activision's Black Ops behemoth.

After seeing its Medal of Honor game fail last fall, executives are setting their hopes on Battlefield 3 to take down Activision's Call of Duty franchise. And the stakes have gotten even larger after Black Ops generated $360 million of sales in its first 24 hours on the market.

Electronic Arts is striking back with a $100 million ad campaign that has the appearance of desperation written all over it. And Activision is playing defense by keeping Call of Duty users entertained with new content packs until its next release is out

EA has an uphill battle in trying to overcome the fastest-selling video game of all time. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sold 2.3 million units in March 2010, but that doesn't come even close to Call of Duty.

Electronic Arts closed Tuesday at $19.74, falling $0.11, or 0.55 percent. Activision closed at $11.02, down $0.11, or 0.99 percent.

Electronic Arts (ERTS) (THQI) (ATVI) (NTDOY.PK) Expected to Lead March Game Sales

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter gave his preview of gaming sales leaders in March, expecting offerings from Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), THQ (NASDAQ:THQI), Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Nintendo (OTC:NTDOY.PK) to lead the way.

Pachter noted: We expect March sales to be led by new releases Electronic Arts’ Crysis 2 (360, PS3, PC) and Dragon Age II (360, PS3, PC), Nintendo’s Pokémon Black and White (DS), and THQ’s Homefront (360, PS3, PC), with continued strong sales of Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops and Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2.

Other outlooks for March from Pachter:


* We expect March U.S. retail video game console software sales data to be released by the NPD Group after the market close on Thursday, April 14.

* We forecast software sales of $805 million, down 8% compared to last year’s $876 million, the fourth consecutive month of negative growth.

* Despite a strong release slate featuring two new Pokémon games and a pair of high-profile first-person shooters, we believe growth is unlikely due to a difficult comp of +10%, the Nintendo 3DS’ late-March release date (March 27) and relatively modest marketing campaign, and an unfavorable comparison to the Easter calendar shift.

* We expect hardware sales of 410,000 Wii units (down 26% year-over-year), 480,000 Xbox 360 units (up 42% y-o-y), 380,000 PS3 units (up 21% y-o-y), and 500,000 3DS units in its debut month due to strong pre-orders.

* Despite the long-awaited introduction of the Nintendo 3DS, we believe the industry outlook remains unclear.

Electronic Arts was trading at $19.64, down $0.21, or 1.06 percent, as of 1:37 PM EDT. THQ was at $4.42, falling $0.12, or 2.64 percent. Activision was trading at $11.01, dropping $0.12, or 1.12 percent.

Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox Sales Up 15 Percent on Kinect Demand

The overall videogame segment suffered a dismal January, as sales were down and no company but Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) with their Xbox was able to grow console sales year-over-year.

Microsoft said Thursday they sold 381,000 Xbox units in January, a 15 percent boost over January 2010. The company claims theirs was the only console showing growth for the month.

They could have sold a lot more consoles except for shortages driven by continuing demand for Kinect. Microsoft said that should show improvement throughout February.

According to NPD Group the only positive news for the overall sector was in accessories, which includes Microsoft's Kinect, which obviously was the story there as well.

Sale for accessories in January jumped to $235.1 percent, a six percent gain for the industry over last year.

The bad news in January for videogame software was sales dropped to $576 million, down 5 percent from last January. Hardware sales were worse, falling to $324 million, an eight percent plunge.

The top five selling games in January were Activision Blizzard’s (ATVI) Call of Duty: Black Ops, Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2, Electronic Arts’ (ERTS) Dead Space 2, Sony’s (SNE) Little Big Planet 2, and Majesco’s (COOL) Zumba Fitness.

Dell (DELL), Research In Motion (RIMM) Electronic Arts (ERTS), AMD (AMD), Yahoo (YHOO), Nvidia (NVDA) Drive Techs Higher

Wednesday was a good day for tech stocks, driven by Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), AMD (NYSE:AMD), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).

Dell's upward move was expected after it reported a surprisingly strong quarter. Nvidia jumped on expectations of its quarterly results which were reported after hours.

Research in Motion got a boost from Citigroup (NYSE:C), which upgraded the stock a couple of notches from "Sell" to "Buy."

Electronic Arts Inc. was driven by the promising pipeline revealed by CEO John Riccitiello at a Goldman Sachs conference. He said the company should gain market share on major rival Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI).

AMD and Yahoo seemed to rise with the broader tech sector, although the moves they made were strong. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) also ended the trading session solid.

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS), MEMC (NYSE:WFR) Drive Tech Sector Gains

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) and MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE:WFR) helped the tech sector be the only segment gaining of the S&P 500’s 10 industry groups.

Both companies finished trading on Wednesday up by over 15 percent. They tempered the disappointing results of Broadcom (Nasdaq:BRCM), which fell over 5 percent on Wednesday.

MEMC soared on news they turned a profit in its latest quarter, and Electronic Arts surged on upbeat guidance for 2011.

Broadcom was broadsided because of their reluctance to guide revenue and the increase in operational expenses expected going forward.

Broadcom closed Wednesday at $43.79, down $2.60, or 5.59 percent. MEMC closed at $13.42, gaining $1.79, or 15.39 percent. Electronic Arts closed at $18.09, up $2.47, or 15.81 percent.

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) Shares Jump After Hours on $600 Million Buyback

Shares of Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) soared in after hours trading on the news they were going to buy back $600 million in shares, sending the stock up over 9 percent.

That helped the company, which would have otherwise taken a hit, as they reported a quarterly net loss of $322 million, or 97 cents a share. Last year in the same quarter they had a loss of $82 million, or 25 cents a share.

Earnings on an adjusted basis for Electronic Arts came in at $59 cents a share, up from the 57 cents a share analysts were looking for.

The 59 cents a share was much better than consensus, and along with the share buyback, is considered very positive by shareholders, as evidenced by Electronic Arts after hours performance.

Revenue for the quarter rose to $1.41 billion, from $1.35 billion last year in the same quarter.

Electronic Arts closed the regular trading session at $15.62, up $0.03, or 0.19 percent. In after hours trading, they were trading at $17.10, up $1.51, or 9.67 percent.

Activision (Nasdaq:ATVI) Files $400 Million Lawsuit Against EA (Nasdaq:ERTS)

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) is the recipient of a $400 million lawsuit from Activision Over the alleged poaching of two former executives still under contract with them.

The two employees, Vince Zampella and Jason West, filed a $36 million lawsuit against Activision last March, saying they were fired because the company didn't want to continue paying them royalties on the lucrative "Call of Duty" franchise.

Activision claims Electronic Arts lured the two away from them via Creative Artists Agency. The two have formed a new company named Respawn Entertainment, which will develop games exclusively for Electronic Arts.

The new company hired 40 people away from Activision, generating even more hostility.

Claims against Electronic Arts are they deliberately interfered with the existing contracts of West and Zampella.

Activision says the two never did any direct work on "Black Op," which is poised to become one of the top selling games of all time, and was already in seventh place after less than one month: November. The game was released November 9, and sales remain brisk.

According to Activision, Black Ops has already surpassed $1 billion in sales.

Activision closed Tuesday at $12.23, up 0.02, or 0.16 percent. Electronic Arts closed at $15.93, up $0.08, or 0.50 percent.